How to set up a consistent email schedule
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Running an ecommerce business is hard work. You’ve got a million things to do and I’ve no doubt you’re on social media a good amount of time, but how much time do you dedicate to your email strategy? If you’re struggling to get a consistent email strategy implemented then this is the post for you!
How to set up a consistent email schedule
It sounds boring, and you may even have a lot of resistance (which is inevitably futile) but if you knew for sure that at least 33% of your income would come from email, then wouldn’t you make that a priority to leverage that part of your business? Especially if it’s been neglected like my overgrown allotment in the next village :(
Well, I’m about to lay down some truths so you can finally decide that email is going to be a priority. There are a bunch of reasons why you might not have a consistent email schedule, but I can guarantee that fear is probably the biggest reason, and probably the only reason if you look beneath the surface of all the other reasons.
So let’s “feel the fear and do it anyway”... Did that just make you want to throw up? It’s one of those self-help mantras which, whilst nauseating, is in fact the truth. You’ve just gotta put your big girl pants on and do it (and by pants I mean knickers – who needs trousers?).
So, I could start and finish this article with the advice of JUST DO IT.
Because that’s all you’ve got to do. Just start emailing your list and keep it up. But that wouldn’t be as helpful as the process I’m going to walk you through now, but it does all boils down to the fact that you’ve just got to do it. 🤪
Here are the steps you can take to at least START emailing your subscribers consistently.
My 6 step process to help you email your subscribers consistently
1. Commit
Just like I said before, the first step is that you decide that this is something you’re going to do. Period.
You also decide that it’s not going to be a flash in the pan (write a few emails, then ghost your subscribers) but that you WILL email your subscribers “on the regular”. This is now a non-negotiable in your business… just as breathing is a non-negotiable for you to live, email SHOULD be something that you commit to.
Your subscribers signed up for a reason. They love your products and want to hear about them. Get over the fear that you might email them too much by thinking… “there are people out there who need my products and if I don’t remind them that I (and my products) are here, then I am doing them a disservice”.
Don’t worry about people who unsubscribe from your emails. They may return one day, maybe they were never going to buy, let people leave the room who know they’re not meant to be there.
It’s like Glastonbury. Have you ever been? There are hundreds of stages. Big, small and micro stage with a variety of performers. You may wander around (with your beer in hand and your wellies squelching in the mud) looking for something that takes your fancy. You might end up staying in one tent for a few hours, or at the big stage for the rest of the day. People will come and go depending on their tastes and their needs at that moment.
And so it is with your email subscribers. They will come and go, and it’s perfectly natural for you to see them unsubscribe. Never let the number of unsubscribes dictate your email schedule.
But what if you start seeing a HUGE amount of unsubscribes from your list? Read this: What to do when you get lots of unsubscribes
2. Choose a schedule that works for you
Next step is to choose a schedule for your emails. I would suggest once a week at the bare minimum. That might be all you dare to do at first until you get used to seeing results come in from your emails. Then you can crank it up.
For e-commerce, I would suggest three times a week. This may make you feel scared, and of course it may depend on how many products you have. The more products, the more emails! If you have one flagship product, then you may want to alter the schedule.
You could even consider segmenting your emails so that non-purchasers (people who have yet to purchase any products) receive two emails and those who’ve purchased before receive three. Maybe you reserve that extra email with special content for past customers.
The choice is yours. Don’t spend too long on the merits of how many to send, after all, once you start you can always alter the frequency as you start to see the results and analyse the data and metrics.
Related content:
3. Block your calendar
Just as committing to send emails is a non-negotiable, so should be the time you put aside for writing your emails. Take a look at your calendar and block out some time for this each week, or if you prefer to get them all done at once, every two to four weeks.
Using a batching method can be a great way to organise your week. Assign themes to your days so you can be more productive. Perhaps Mondays you reserve for marketing and spend the morning writing emails, and the afternoon writing your social media posts (if that’s part of your strategy).
If you create a habit of focusing on your content at a specific time of the week or month, you’re more likely to be consistent. If you want to learn more about building habits, a great book is Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Giving yourself permission to be more organised in your business will set yourself up for success. And it’s a great feeling at the end of the day knowing you’ve been highly productive because you’ve focused on just one thing rather than flitting in and out of a variety of tasks all week. Reward your brain with some dopamine for all those things you achieve once you batch your work.
4. Plan your content
So once you’ve committed to a schedule and you’ve blocked off time to do the work, there are three stages that make up the writing process. The first is the planning stage.
You don’t need to fully plan out every email beforehand, but having an idea of the purpose or goal behind your emails, and implementing your ideas into a schedule so you know what’s coming up, will allow you more space for creativity.
I find I get ideas for emails all the time, so I make sure I have a digital notebook (Google Keep) at hand to scribble down my ideas. Then when it comes to planning emails, I always have something to talk about, whether it’s a story, a tip I can share or a push to content on my blog.
When it comes to promotions, you’ll want to plan out what you’ll be promoting when and have a consistent approach to your email campaigns to support your promotional strategy.
Related content:
15 ideas for your e-commerce emails
5. Write your email(s)
Since you have blocked out time in your calendar, you’re already on the right track. However it’s easy to procrastinate when you sit down to write (he’s been a friend of mine for a long time – Ol’ Procras’ I call him) so I know it can be hard. But when you’ve already scheduled your time and have your ideas ready , all you need to do is get started. Once you start you’ll find it easier to keep going.
A great tip to help you move through this process is to set yourself a timer and only allow yourself that segment of time to write. Then give yourself a short break and then return to do more. I’ve always found the more time I have I tend to fill it with unnecessary stuff. When I’m on a tight deadline or have only given myself a set amount of time – with a reward at the end, of course (a cup of tea and a biscuit usually) – then I magically get more done in shorter chunks of time. Who knew, right?
6. Set them up
I always find when I batch my days, that it’s better to do my creative tasks in one day and my logical tasks another. So writing emails, blogs and content are all done on one or two days of the week, then setting up the tech to implement and schedule these are all done on a different day.
I find that getting some distance or headspace after the creative process allows me to then go back and edit with a fresh approach before implementing into my ConvertKit account.
If you have a team member doing this work for you, make sure you have a process in place for double checking all the pieces of the email like links are going to the correct places as part of your quality control before sending or scheduling.
Will you keep your word?
That concludes my process for creating a consistent email schedule. One thing about this process though is that you HAVE to keep your word to yourself. It’s all very well setting up systems and processes to help you organise your business and become more efficient, but if you don’t stick to your commitment, it all goes out the window.
You need to consider what it means for you to say yes you’ll do this and why it is you want to do this. I’m getting a little woo-woo here but it’s a case of really connecting into your dream or even your future self so that you can tap into the energy that allows you to be the person who emails regularly and keeps their commitments to themselves.
A great book to dive deeper into this philosophy is “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. It’s not a business book, but a powerful tool to look at how you’re showing up for yourself and your business (if you shift your perspective on what these agreements mean for your e-commerce store and the difference you are creating with your products).