How to Write High Converting Emails: Expert Interview

 

The easy way to write emails that convert!

Building an email list is one of the most important aspects of running a successful blog. The sooner you make it a priority, the sooner you’ll see the (very lucrative) benefits. But if you freeze up every time you sit down to write your newsletter, chances are you’re looking for a little help.

I invited email marketing expert, Liz Wilcox, to chat with me about how to write high converting emails your audience will be excited to open.

 

This post contains affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own. Read my full disclosure here.

 

Update!

Back by popular demand, Liz is opening up her membership’s annual pass until December 31st, 2023! If you buy the membership for a full year, you also get all her other products!

As a Passholder, you get access to ALL OTHER PRODUCTS for free. Yep. Free. Including the ones she creates over the next 365 days.

Learn all about it (and why it’s so popular) HERE.

 

 

First thing’s first…

WHO is Liz Wilcox?

The Fresh Princess of Email Marketing, Liz Wilcox is an Email Strategist and Keynote Speaker showing small businesses how to build online relationships and make real money with emails.

She’s best known for selling a blog, turning a $9 offer into multiple six-figures (without ads), and helping you untangle the email “knot” with pop culture references.

She loves the 90s, headbands, and the beach.

 

It was such an honour to chat with Liz. She’s fun, easy going, and a true expert in her niche. Let’s dive into the Q&A!

 

You started out as an RV blogger. (SO fun, btw.)
How did you come to be an email marketing expert? 

Ha! Yes! Unlike many email marketers out there, I did things a little different. (You’ll notice that’s a bit of a theme in my life + business.)

I wanted to travel the country in my RV, but I had no idea how to make money remotely. So I got on Google and every search result seemed to scream “start a blog!!”

So I did.

But remember, I started this blog as a way to make money. So I took it very seriously and searched for themes among other bloggers that were making the kind of 💰💰💰  I was trying to make.

And one stood out.

Email marketing.

All the “gurus” seemed to have their success because of a little something called an email list.

So I started building that on the very day I launched my blog to the world. And by world, I mean my Facebook profile. 

Within 7 months, I had launched my first product. And made about $7k in the first 90 days.

I went on to launch a handful of various products before tackling the beast of digital products–the online course.

I put feelers out on the course and 141 people on my email list indicated they’d be interested in the product.

So I got to work and premiered it to my email list about 100 days later.

And made 141 sales.

*that’s the jaw drop moment.*

Word got around. And I started to really realize that wasn’t normal.

The average course conversion rate to your email list is about 1-3%. But here I was with 100%. 

So (no joke!) I sold that blog and went all in on email marketing. I really couldn’t believe other people weren’t getting results like mine…and now I get to spend my worklife teaching people how to do it. 

It’s amazingly fulfilling. Like I said before, email marketing changed my life. And I want it to change yours, too.

 

 

Why do you feel email marketing (and sending good emails!) is such an important aspect of blogging? 

The short answer?

Cash money.

Your blog can’t start making you real money without people, right? 

You need traffic to make money from ads. Get sponsors. Buy from your affiliate links.

And if you’re like me and want to create your own products one day (or get people to buy the ones you might have already)…

You need people.

That’s where the email list comes in. 

Chances are you’re already getting some sort of traffic. Even if it’s just a couple dozen folks. And you’ve probably worked way harder than you ever thought you’d have to in order to get those people onto your site! #bloglife

You’ve got to find a way to get those people on your email list so they don’t just visit your website one time! They visit over and over again because you’re sending them GOOD emails that take them from someone who casually took a look at your site that one time…all the way up to the person who:

• loves your website almost as much as you do
• looks forward to reading your latest blog post 
• always uses your affiliate links when purchasing
• and is excited to buy when you finally launch your own digital product.

Imagine if you had a list of 100 people like that. 1,000. 10,000.

It’s one hundred percent possible.

But you’ve got to build your list. And send out emails they want to read.

Think of it like this–

The inbox is the same as the mailbox.

You go out to check your mail.

That’s a bill. I know I don’t need to open that until the 11th. Junk drawer.
That’s for Steve. He moved out years ago. Trash.
Oh wow! Karen Whitfield sent me something? I’m opening this right away. 

We do the same with our inbox.

That’s a bill. It’s not due yet. Snooze until next week.
That’s for a guy that I don’t know. Spam.

Oh wow! Liz Wilcox sent me an email. I gotta open this right now.

When you send out good emails–you create that “oh wow!” factor for yourself. 

And THAT is what gets people to click back to your site. Read your blog posts. Purchase through your affiliate links. Et cetera…et cetera!

 

 

Can you tell me a little about your popular email marketing membership? 

Yes! This is one of my favorite topics, of course! 

Email Marketing Membership (EMM) is a simple newsletter template subscription service. 

Every week, I send out a newsletter template for you to “take and make” your own. Think of it as a sort of mad-lib style document where I create the bones and you fill in the blanks with what makes sense for your brand, your business, and the relationship you’re trying to create with your subscribers.

It also comes with monthly LIVE q+a, guest experts, and templates to help you get clicks, replies, and even sales.

But what I think is much more interesting about EMM than its features…is how it was created.

The first thing you gotta know about Liz Wilcox is that email changed my life. 

I grew up poor and never believed (or dared dream) that I could go past a certain point of success in life.

Until I learned about email. 

Until I learned that with consistent action and some clicks of the mouse, I could unlock my dreams. 

And I have. 

Email made it possible to buy my dream car! A 1989 Ford Bronco. Yep. Eddie Bauer Edition, baby.

 

But unfortunately, not everyone is as *jazzed* about email marketing as me. Even with the promise of a $42 return on every dollar you spend. 

So I thought about what I’d have to do to convince the most amount of people to get started. And what they would need in order to do so.

That’s when I thought of the weekly newsletters. And writing templates every single week so you (quite literally) never have to write your newsletter from scratch again.

And on top of that, I put all my marketing expertise behind each template so you know they aren’t just an email for the sake of email. But instead, they are newsletters designed to build the Know Like Trust Factor so you can get more clicks, replies, and buys.

 

 

How can your email templates possibly work for any niche? What makes them unique over someone else’s? 

I call this a template membership–but it really goes beyond that. 

Just like you asked, my first “objection” in my head about creating EMM was, 

“This can’t work for the masses…”

So I put my head down and thought of how it could.

That’s when I decided that each template needed to be broken down into 4 different parts.

It couldn’t just be the typical “I wrote these emails for my B2B business so you should be able to just copy + paste and figure it out.”

As a blogger first + foremost…I know that stuff doesn’t work. I needed something better. You need something better.

That’s why you don’t just get an email newsletter template every Monday–you get a private lesson on email marketing and specific examples on how to vary the content. Yep. Every single week.

This membership was built with the blogger in mind.

So you get:

-The Email Explanation + Video Walkthrough:

 

Every template starts off with the WHY of the email. 

Why send this email out in the first place? What is it going to do to help me in my pursuit of making money with email?

I know the hardest thing about email is just getting started. And I also know that people are more likely to do something if they know WHY they are doing it. 

And since I want you to actually take action and use these templates (no matter what your niche)…I first share the WHY.

I know once you can understand WHY you’re sending out this email, you can start to put the pieces of the puzzle together…aka see how this will work for your individual business.

 

-The Skeleton Outline:

The second thing you see in the template–this shows you the BONES of the email. 

While it’s easy to go on Tik Tok and (literally) hear + see what’s trending…it’s not that easy with emails. 

That’s why the Skeleton Outline exists. 

I want you to see the basics of each email so over time, you know what a good email consists of, you can more easily see patterns in other people’s emails, and can write your own.

 

-The Detailed Template:

 

This is the ad-libs part of it all. This is what you can literally copy and paste into your email service provider…and then fill in the blanks.

It’s made super simple, and when coupled with the video walkthrough…you should be able to fill out the template in just 20 minutes or less. 

It’s also designed in a way so that a podiatrist and a goat farmer could use the same template and you’d never know. 

 

-The Swipe Examples:

 

Swipes are A+ examples for you to see the template “in action.” 

And with every weekly template, you get two of them. Written for two entirely different business. Written by entirely different personality types.

One swipe might be from a course creator who feels incredibly nervous every time she send a newsletter. The other– an ecommerce brand that has an extrovert writing their emails.

This is the GOLD of the membership. It’s the equivalent of a fashion brand showing you models with all different body types.

And the longer you’re in the membership….
The more you see these A+ examples…

The more you’re going to feel incredibly confident to write your own emails in your own voice.

**

When you first look at the template piece by piece, and then holistically–you’ll be able to put together a newsletter that not only works for your unique niche and business…but one that feels really good to hit send on!

 

 

I think your website is one of the most fun places on the internet! Can members expect the same vibe from your templates? 

Oh heck yes! When everyone zigs, Liz Wilcox zags.

That’s why the membership is built directly on my site, lizwilcox.com, and not something like Kajabi, Teachable, or even MemberVault. 

I wanted an incredibly simple-but-fun experience.

 

 

I know email marketing feels hard. And I created Email Marketing Membership to remove as many barriers of entry to the email game as possible. 

And I’ve worked really hard to make it as fun as possible so you actually log in every single week, send an email, and see progress in your business.

 

How much does the membership cost? 

It’s just $9/month!

When I first started my business, I was extremely committed to making it work.

But my bank account? Not so much. 

For years, I felt gate kept from information I desperately needed to get to the next level of business. 

 

 

But I pressed on and got really good at email marketing.

And email was the thing that unlocked it all for me. It helped me break the cycle of poverty in my family. Got my mom out of the ghetto. (Literally. 8 Mile in Detroit. Ever heard of it?)

I want everyone to have the power of email by their side to unlock whatever doors they can’t seem to open right now.

That’s why the membership is $9/month. And that’s why it will continue that way.

 

How long are you locked into the membership? 

It’s just like Netflix. A month to month thing where you can cancel anytime.

I never want someone to feel “locked in.” 

 

 

Do you offer a free sample for people hesitant to jump in without getting a sense of your writing style?  

Great idea, Karen! 

You can take a look at this template designed to help increase your click rate. It’s one of my best. Feel free to use it, too! If you see results (aka: your people click!)…then I invite you to join Email Marketing Membership. 

I’d love to help you untangle the email marketing knot.

But I want you to know something first–Karen mentioned “my writing style.” 

Remember, these templates are about YOU and YOUR writing style. Not mine. I work really hard to make sure as a member, you find your unique voice. I highly recommend 

• Watching the video walkthroughs
• Reading the A+ swipes
• Spending 5 minutes comparing the template to the Skeleton Outline

 

Together, these things are going to help you sound more like YOU. 

And when you can be yourself in your email newsletters–well, that’s where the magic happens.

 

You offer WAY more great email related products than the membership. What are some others you’d recommend to newer bloggers who are on a budget, but still ready to invest in creating a lucrative email list? 

Totally! Thanks so much for asking. I do have two introductory workshops that anyone who wants to dabble in email (but is finding that it feels like one impossible knot to untangle!) should check out.

 

List Building ($12)

Spend 90 minutes to learn how to finally start building a list of people that will buy from you. 

You’ll learn:

• The 3 DOs (and 3 DONTs) of building an email list
• The right way to create a freebie
• 12+ ideas to put your freebie out in the world (depending on your personality + goals) 

With an ad spend of ZERO. That’s right. I don’t teach you to run Facebook ads. You work hard for your money and the people that run social media shouldn’t get it.

 

Email Staircase ($12)

Consider this your Email Theory 101 crash course. Learn the foundations of email and how to write a welcome sequence that turns freebie-suckers into people… 

• interested in your personality
• know your vision for working together
• and share the same values.

All very important things to get them to buy the things you sell.

If you know little to nothing about email, THIS is what I want you to buy and watch.

 

Of course, if you join Email Marketing Membership, you get both trainings for free.

**

For the more advanced entrepreneur who is already making money and wants to really learn more about how email works…and how they can use that to increase sales across the board, I suggest two different trainings:

 

Building Community with Email ($12)

We’ve all heard why social media is great for building community. But here’s how email can do it even better.

Perfect for you if social media gives you a headache and you’re ready to make some real connections with your audience. You know, so you can stop feeling like you’re screaming into the void!

In this 90 minute workshop, you’ll learn the simplest way to finally understand how email works, why it’s the best place to start for community, and how to turn 1:many into 1:1…aka create a community of buyers!

 

Sales Page Training + Template! ($100)

This 2-hour workshop focuses on the 3 types of sales pages and when to use them. We go deep on

• How to write copy for your sales page (even if writing gives you hives)
• How +when to incorporate things like images, GIFs, and video
• Thorough explanation of each section of the sales page, when to use them + when you can nix ‘em, and how to sprinkle in testimonials
• Resources to find inspo, sales page examples, and live sales page teardown

You also get a plug-n-play sales page template because after all, templates are my jam. This template includes EVERY section you need with side-by-side detailed examples that make this template easy to read, understand, and actually use.

**

Of course, you can always go to my Products Page here to find all my workshops + templates so you can choose for yourself what you need right now.

 

 

Any final thoughts or words of wisdom to pass on? 

Will Smith tells this great story about when he was growing up…

His dad owned a building and knocked down a wall. He then instructors his kids to rebuild it. 

As you can imagine, after a day or two, Will was over it. He told his dad that this was an impossible task. “We can’t just build a wall!” 

His dad picked up a brick and said…

“You don’t build a wall, son. You just lay one brick at a time, as perfectly as a brick can be laid. Do that, and soon you’ll have a wall.”

This is how I approach email marketing.

You don’t just build an email list full of customers.

You lay one brick at a time (ahem, send your newsletter) and one day, that list will be full of customers. 

I hope that inspires you.

Thank you so much Karen for having me!

 

How to write high converting emails – the easy way!

I hope this interview serves as a helpful review of Liz’s Email Marketing Membership and gives you a sense of how fun she is.

And therefore how fun her (and your) emails can be! Don’t you want your email newsletters to be fun for your audience?

People check their emails for the same reason they scroll social media. They’re looking for an escape.

If you need a little help providing your list with this escape, this is the easiest way to help you do that. And at a fantastic price with no long term commitment!

To write high converting emails, get in on the Email Marketing Membership HERE.

And if you just can’t spare the $9, you can always give the free swipes a try first 😉

 

You may also like:
How to Get Started With Email Marketing (to make money)
5 Proven Steps to More Effective Email Marketing
How to Grow Your Email List with PLR Products

 

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Email Marketing Membership for High Converting Emails