Why Your Email Marketing Isn’t Converting (And What to Fix First)
Does this sound familiar?
You put in the time to craft the perfect email newsletter. You figured out what to write, wrote it, looked it over, maybe even added some pictures…
You hit send, and then…nothing really happens. 😑
The sales are not coming in hot, your audience isn’t opening your emails as much as they used to, and you open Threads and see people touting how much money they make with their email list.
Especially if you’re a creator business, you know an email list is the way to take your audience off the rented land of social media.
But, instead of feeling like a helpful tool in your business, email starts to feel like this constant thing hanging over your head.
Good news: it’s not just you, and this can be fixed!
But the first thing to understand is: business owners aren’t struggling because they’re doing nothing. They’re struggling because they haven’t taken a step back to actually understand what’s going on with their own email marketing in the context of their own business (this last part is SUPER important and I’ll get into it!)
When you stop guessing and start looking at what’s really happening, you get clarity and direction.
Email starts to feel a lot more manageable, especially when you build it around your actual capacity.
So let’s get into it!
Effective Email Marketing Strategies When You Feel Stuck
In this post, I’m going to walk you through four simple ways to do that so your email marketing feels less stressful and a lot more effective.
Strategy 1: Audit Your Email List
Before you try to fix anything, you need to know what you’re working with.
That’s where an email list audit comes in.
You want to go into your email service provider (ESP) and look at who is opening your emails, who is clicking, and who has completely stopped engaging.
From there, I recommend cleaning out inactive subscribers. 🧼
How to “clean” your list depends on how complicated your email marketing is and which ESP you use.
But generally, you should be able to filter for people on your list who haven’t opened an email in over six months. You should select those users and archive them.
“But I don’t want to shrink my email list after I worked so hard at growing it,” you say.
But I say: if someone hasn’t opened an email from you in over 6 months, they’re likely not interested anymore. And actually, keeping them on your list can hurt your deliverability and key metrics like open rate and click-through rate.
Of course, there’s a lot more that comes with email (like segmenting), but for now, just focus on cleaning out old subscribers.
When you clean your list, you’re left with people who actually want to hear from you. That alone can make your emails feel more effective.
If you’d like more direction, I have 1-hour email audit sessions where I walk you through what to look for, what to clean up, and how to keep your list healthy moving forward so you’re not guessing every time you hit send. 📧
Strategy 2: Assess Your Capacity
This is my bread and butter because it’s what most marketing advice skips! The real-life, human part of running a business and marketing it: your capacity.
This is your new affirmation: My marketing burnout ends here.
Everyone tells you what you should be doing: more emails, more funnels…more everything.
But no one really asks how much you can realistically handle. (You’re a human after all! And if you’re not human, then this doesn’t apply 👽)
So let’s look at that.
→ Are you running your business solo?
→ Are you creating regular social media content for your business?
→ Are you juggling clients, admin, content, and marketing all at once?
If yes, your email strategy needs to reflect that.
Another question to think about:
→ If you had to hand off your email marketing tomorrow, could you?
If not, that usually means things are either too complicated or not clearly defined.
This is actually the first thing I look at in any service I provide. I help you build your email strategy around what you can realistically maintain, not what some random Joe Shmoe on the internet says you should be doing.
Because if you can’t keep up with it, it’s not going to work long-term.
Then, what’s even the point?
Strategy 3: Create a Simple Template
If writing emails feels like a chore, this will help a lot.
A template takes away that “what do I even say” feeling every time you sit down to write.
Instead of starting from scratch, you have a simple structure to follow. Your audience gets used to your style, and you don’t have to overthink it every week.
And just to say it clearly: your emails do not need to be long to work.
Time for another affirmation: my emails do not need to be long to work.
Most effective emails are around 200 to 300 words! In fact, I spend a lot of time cutting down emails for my clients because their ideal clients simply weren’t reading them.
A simple email structure could look like:
A relatable opening (a question, a story, anything that hooks attention)
One main point or tip
A clear takeaway or next step
That alone is enough. That’s pretty much what my newsletter is! (You can subscribe here if you want to take a look at my format.)
Having a template, especially if you’re prone to burning out with email, is a huge relief. 😮💨
Strategy 4: Take a look at your Welcome Email Series (and other email sequences)
Sometimes your audience doesn’t convert because your email copy doesn’t lead them to do so. That means your messaging may not be clear in one or more places.
One of the most important email sequences you can write is your Welcome Series (Also called a “Welcome Flow” or “Welcome Sequence”). This is a series of 3-5 emails that introduces you to someone who’s joined your email list.
Common mistakes I see as an email marketer include:
A “thank you for downloading my freebie!” email that leaves leads hanging
Sequences that are too unfocused and don’t lead to a clear offer
Welcome series that focus too much on your business and not enough on the subscriber’s problems (HUGE issue!)
So how do you fix this? 🧐
Especially if your capacity is limited or your email marketing feels all over the place, less is more!
(Yes, I am telling you to do less if email marketing is overwhelming you!)
Try:
Templating your newsletter into something shorter
Reducing images and including more plain text emails
Revisit your welcome sequence and other email sequences to make sure they’re up-to-date
Also, remember that your job is not to just “give value” in emails, at least not in the way the marketing bros will have you think. 😵💫
There is value in simplifying your emails to not overcrowd inboxes. There is value in a funny story that personalizes your connection with the reader. There is value in being you, so be you!
(Should I start life coaching?)
All of these things help your conversions. Not overnight, but it’ll start orienting your mind in the right direction when you email your list.
If you need help writing your Welcome Email Series, Welcome Email Lab is the perfect fit for you!
Are you like… where should I even start?
I got you!
If everything feels a little messy right now, start with an email list audit. I can help you with that in a 1:1 session!
Cleaning out inactive subscribers and seeing what your engagement actually looks like will give you a clear starting point. From there, it’s much easier to decide what to adjust.
Bringing It All Together
If your email marketing isn’t converting the way you want, here’s what to focus on:
Audit your email list so you know what’s working and what isn’t
Take a look at your own capacity so your strategy actually fits your life & business
Create a simple template so showing up feels easier
Revisit your key email sequences (especially your welcome sequence!)
When you do this, email marketing will start to feel a lot less overwhelming. You’re going to actually know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, all while honoring your capacity as a business owner and human being. 🙌🏻
Next Steps
If you want help making your email marketing feel simpler and more doable, make sure to subscribe to my emails!
I send one capacity-first email tip each week. My emails are short and structured so they won’t add to the inbox noise - I promise! 🤞🏼