You send questions, I answer them for all the world to see. A rising tide lifts all boats, so make sure you steal, er…. adapt these answers and ideas to your own email marketing sends!

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Q. I was going to start an email newsletter, but someone told me it’ll probably just end up people’s SPAM folders. Is this true?

A. If you’re just sending to a big BCC list using something like Gmail account – probably, yes. Don’t do that.

“There are a lot of spammers using @gmail.com to send out mass emails. So to protect their sender’s reputation, Google has strong anti-spam policies that often block bulk emails, whether it is spam or not,” says Email Octopus.

Use a for-real “Email Service Provider” like MailChimp or Substack. They’re built for sending to lots of people (unlike Gmail), and have better tools to get people to subscribe to your list, too, with landing pages (a fancy term for “a website where people can sign themselves up for your email list).

If you send with something legit, your email probably won’t go to spam. That said, you can still fuck things up! Check out Mailchimp’s ‘How to Avoid Spam Filters,’ and “only email people who have given you permission!”

Q. I’m thinking of starting an email list to let people know about my upcoming shows. I’m thinking about starting a YouTube account to post video, too. Google says Constant Contact is the best platform for embedded video in email. Do you think this is true? (from SH)

A. The way I’ve been “embedding” videos is screen shots of the YouTube player, and putting that into Mailchimp (or Klaviyo, or Substack), like this:

Adding a button helps, too. People love buttons.

“Using a call-to-action button instead of just a text link got us a 28% increase in click-throughs,” says Campaign Monitor in a test they did.

“Lastly, don’t assume the reader only clicks on the CTA button. Curious people often try to click different elements in the email like the logo, headlines, and images. Consider adding the same link to those elements if you think it will help the reader,” says MailerLite.

This is why I always link video screen shots to the video, too!

You could also use an animated GIF for your video, too. Just be mindful of the file size. “Ensure you GIF is sized at 0.5 MB or 1 MB maximum,” says Send In Blue. Check out ‘A guide to animated GIFs in email’ from Litmus for lots of insight.

Video is tricky in emails, so I’m a big believer in using the most “basic” method, to makes sure it works for everyone.

Many thanks to RH, our first reader-submitted specimen for EMAIL AUTOPSY!

If you’re new here, I dissect email campaigns from bands and labels, breaking them down to show how other metal folks do it!

This week we have the mighty Conjurer from the UK, who signed to Nuclear Blast back in February.

SUBJECT LINE: ‘We’re Back, Baby’ from Conjurer

CLINICAL SUMMARY: Laid back tone from a laid back bunch of guys. I had the pleasure to talk to these guys a few times over the years, and the messaging here totally reflects their chill demeanor.

Above is a good example of “giving.”

Yes, we sign up to get updates from bands all the time. And 99% of the time those emails are pretty self-serving; pre-order our album, watch our video, buy our shirt. And that’s fine – we know what we’re signing up for!

But then Conjurer goes ahead and does something like this, linking you to another band entirely.

This is a nice surprise, and they’re linking to a good band. Perhaps they’ll link to another band in their next email? Oooh, that means I better open their next email they send, right? SMART.

Turns out Sugar Horse is pretty good, too.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: If you’re a goofball, be a goofball in your email marketing. Don’t ever be afraid to share you personality throughout your messaging.

“The more consistent you are with voice and tone, the more recognizable your brand will be to customers who receive your email. That consistency helps your email stand out from all of the other messages in their inbox,” Square

“In general, your marketing is better served with a more personal touch that lends it some distinctness. This is especially true in an age where society craves authenticity,” Axel & Associates

“Blueprinted emails quickly bore the boots off your readers,” says Copy Blogger. Think about it – how many bands just say “new album out now,” or “check out our tour dates?” Don’t be afraid to spice things up.

BLACK FRIDAY IS COMING UP!

Consider sending an email on Monday (Nov 22) with some sort of offer for the week – you’re competing with Target and BestBuy, along with family get togethers, and travel, so make it easy for your audience to purchase something from you this week. Send sooner than later.

Don’t worry about being “spammy” by sending an email campaign to your audience this coming week.

“Spam” is unwanted, not relevant, a waste of time.

But your audience signed up to get your updates! They bought something from you. They gave you their email address.

Lead with a photo that you posted to Instagram that got a lot of likes. Expand on the original caption (not everyone saw that post in the first place). Include a story – a wild Thanksgiving memory, a show you went to, something from your youth.

Then, sure… include that record you put out earlier this year, or that zine you printed over the summer. IT’S OKAY. Especially during the holidays. Give your fans a chance to support you!

Hello! In this email I’m answering a question from reader LT, and hoping it’s helpful for everyone, too. If you ever have a question, just reply to any email, or email me at seth@socialmediaescape.club

Q. Best ways to get people to sign up, besides orders?

A. Send a newsletter people want to sign up for!

Figure out why someone should sign up for your email list.

This is your “lead magnet,” which is a horrible term used in the email marketing world, but it works.

Don’t just say, “sign up for tour dates,” say, “sign up to see photos from our last tour,” which then gets people to subscribe. Then you eventually send them your new tour dates.

As I recently wrote, “consider starting a newsletter for something adjacent (and more popular) to what you’re doing, and then you’re able to promote your main project just by association.”

If you’re a guitar player, and you nerd out with effects pedals, start a newsletter talking about your favorite gear. Your current set up. Talk to other guitarists (from other bands) about their effects pedals.

If you’re an artist, highlight some of your favorite album covers, or show posters. Swap emails with other artists and present them as interviews.

Think about everything surrounding what you do and consider using that as the focus of your newsletter. That’s your lead magnet for your email list.

Even the stuff you’re already posting on social media can be your lead magnet. As I wrote in 2018, from ‘What Would I Even Put in an Email Newsletter?’

For years you’ve been providing social media networks with your content for free, willy-nilly. You, and 324328 other bands and labels and distros and brands. All those behind the scenes photos, updates from the road, show reports, new product announcements.

Yeah, that’s the stuff you put into a newsletter. Then you start “sharing” less of that on social media.

What gets you the most engagement on social media? Use that. Keep posting a few of those things, and sneak in something like, “hey, sign up for my newsletter for more.”

Hey, friends – time for another three emails that I rip open and examine for your benefit. This week I try to offer some ideas you can steal and use for yourself.

SUBJECT LINE: ‘Asking Alexandria, Slipknot, Scorpions’ from Stream N’ Destroy

CLINICAL SUMMARY: This newsletter from Ryan Downey covers a lot of data in the heavy music world – stream and video plays, sales #s; lots of “insider baseball” stuff.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: I’m featuring this email for all you writers out there. If anyone could just link to a bunch of interviews and articles they’ve written, it’d be Ryan. But he had something else to offer – insider knowledge, insight, patience (he’s been doing it for years), and friends in the business who’d appreciate an informative email like this.

YOU have insider knowledge and insight, too! You don’t just write posts and interview bands, you are on the cutting edge of culture, and I’m not just saying that to be dramatic – music industry careers have started in mosh pits and VFW halls.

The shows you attend, the access you already have – it’s easy to take that for granted, but there’s a lot of people who won’t ever go “backstage,” or be on a tour bus. Share that experience with them.

ALSO:

• ‘125 Newsletter Ideas That’ll Impress Your Readers For Sure’ from Send In Blue – obviously not the most metal site around, but some good ideas in here.
• ‘27 Newsletter Ideas You Can Use to Engage Your Readers’ from Active Campaign

SUBJECT LINE: 🔵 Only one week until Things Take Time, Take Time 🔵 from Courtney Barnett

CLINICAL SUMMARY: While Courntney Barnett may be a heavy metal icon, but it’s very metal to credit everyone involved (see the links to the poster designer and photographer)! It takes a team – which got me thinking…

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: Consider doing a collaborative newsletter – not everything needs to be a solo endeavor.

Maybe you’re friends with an artist, and you’re a writer, and neither of you want to start a newsletter on your own. You could start a newsletter about album art. If a videographer and a photographer started a newsletter about music videos? Hell yes, sign me up.

And hey, most podcasts are started by two people – why not a newsletter?

The cool thing is it doesn’t have to be directly about your main project. It’s easier to get people to sign up for a newsletter about horror movies or baseball than it is… your band. Lots of metal fans already love horror movies, but they don’t know about your band (not yet).

Consider starting a newsletter for something adjacent (and more popular) to what you’re doing, and then you’re able to promote your main project just by association.

SUBJECT LINE: THE DOWNBEAT: Live in London TICKETS from The Downbeat, which is Stray from the Path drummer Craig Reynolds and his (award winning) podcast and clothing brand.

CLINICAL SUMMARY: All three links here go to the same thing – the ticket site. That’s how you do a call to action.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. In a basic sense, the above example could be a post on social media – image, text, link.

SEE ALSO:

• ‘Event Reminder Emails: 5 Effective Strategies’ from Beefree
• ‘Events Newsletter Design Gallery and Examples’ from MailerLite

No one signs up for a social media account and says, “don’t worry, I’ll only post once a month, I don’t wanna be too spammy!”

So why do we act like that with email newsletters?

Maybe because when you donate to a political campaign they start emailing you twice a day?

Or when you buy from an online retailer they bombard you with emails a few times a week?

Well, you’re not them.

The stuff you post on socials – the photos from shows, the work-in-progress videos, the rants, the albums that you love – could all go into an email.

Remember these two facts:

1. Not everyone follows you on social media.
2. Even if they do, algorithms will prevent them from seeing your posts.

So your live-action shots and clips from the studio go unseen – mostly (probably) by your biggest fans.

The ones who buy your albums, your prints, you shirts, your art.

Yes, if you email once a week with just PURCHASE NOW or BUY TICKETS messages, people are going to unsubscribe.

So don’t do that.

Your fans subscribed because they love you, and want more of you. Give them more of you.

You can literally scroll back through your socials from each week, see what resonated, and copy and paste that into your email.

Write more about some of your thoughts from the week.

Post some photos from your art opening on your site, then mention them in your newsletter. “Hey, click here to see more.”

That’s not a hard sell. That’s not trying to get anyone to pull out their wallet when they’re in line at Dunkin Donuts.

It’s a passive ask, friend to friend:
Here’s the lyrics to our next single.
Sneak peek at our next shirt design.
This is the inspiration for our next album.

Yes, include your album art and a pre-order link. Below the fold. Think of it like an ad in a magazine. You read the interview, then notice the full page ad on the next page.

Your fans aren’t ATMs, they’re your friends, followers, people who gave you their email address and said, “yes, I want more from you.”

Give more of you.

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Some resources for your own study:

“Never treat people like units of data, create buyer personas complete with photos for each segment to maximize results. This will help you create and send not just the right content, but also define the perfect email frequency. Additionally, conduct your own experiments to test email frequency for every segment,” from Snov Labs.

“Our data suggests every two weeks is the “sweet spot” for getting the most people to see your emails without burning out your subscriber list. Though of course, you should always test to see what works best for you,” says Campaign Monitor.

“Once you’ve established an email cadence you’re comfortable with (and that you think your subscribers will enjoy), your main focus should be on providing quality, relevant content. If it’s something your subscribers will enjoy, they’ll look forward to every email you send,” says AWeber.

“You should err on the side of more, not fewer, emails,” says Jilt, with lots of data behind it.

Artist Joan Pope sends out a weekly email, serving as “an overview of my creative works made in the past week.” Read it here.

Another week, another few emails to dissect! This week we got emails from Gus G, She Shreds, and Mastodon. I’m digging through real emails, from real artists and outlets, so you can see how it’s done, and maybe you can take some ideas and apply them to your email efforts.

If you have questions, hit reply or leave a comment. And if you dig these emails, please consider subscribing so you don’t miss anything.

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SUBJECT LINE: Gus G Newsletter: Please Confirm Subscription from Gus G.

CLINICAL SUMMARY: This email from Gus G takes the idea of a standard (and boring) confirmation email and adds a free song download. Love this.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: Every interaction with a fan on the internet could be the last – so do what you can to make it memorable. Use your “thanks for signing up” page to drive fans to your latest single or video, your upcoming tour dates, or offer a discount to your online store.

“The first (and simplest) step to attracting more subscribers is to optimize your email signup form,” from Campaign Monitor.

“Promising high-value content that they want, providing social proof that your newsletter is valuable, holding giveaways or contests, and being transparent about what they can expect signing up are all ways to provide the incentive,” says HubSpot in ‘How to Increase Email Sign Ups With Better Forms.’

SUBJECT LINE: 🌎 GET THIS SOUND 🌏 from She Shreds

CLINICAL SUMMARY: This is a section from a recent newsletter from She Shreds promoting articles in their archive. Solid branding, conscise copy, simple call to action.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: Like @bigsto says, set up a press page on your website, then post the interviews and reviews you get from various outlets.

Once set up, you send a newsletter with a link to your press page, instead of driving traffic to YouTube or Spotify.

This is a solid way to avoid coming off “pushy” about your latest project or promotion. Just link to a cool interview you did (that half your fans probably don’t know about), and then fans will go to your website where they will probably see your most recent project.

SUBJECT LINE: ‘Hushed And Grim’ OUT NOW from Mastodon

CLINICAL SUMMARY: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This is a pretty standard release-day email, with the bit of personal intro text to spice things up. The “LISTEN UP” link goes to the standard lnk.to page, which includes links to the various DSPs and their official merch store.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS:

Try planning some emails using the “inverted pyramid model.” What the heck is that?

“It’s essentially a framework for structuring the elements of your email campaigns (headers, imagery, buttons, etc.) so that they work together to draw people in, deliver the key messages of your campaign, and get them to click through,” says Campaign Monitor.

“A study indicates that nearly 54% of emails are now accessed on smartphones. When most users view your emails on-the-go, fast-loading, and well-rendered designs with the ease of navigation are the needs of the hour,” via Uplers

Remember – we’re learning together here! Let’s get you going with an email newsletter in 2022! Hit reply with your questions, or leave a comment.

This week we welcome Professor Pizza of Axeslasher, a thrash-tastic band from Denver, Colorado that leans heavy into horror, gore, and other delicious death-metal themes.

But we’re not talking about any of that. Oh no, we’re talking about email marketing! Social media! Bandcamp!

Yes, we’re talking about how the heavy metal sausage gets made on the internet here in 2021, which helps get people to come to your shows, to buy your shirts, and listen to your new music. This is what you signed up for!

Oh, you’re reading this on the web, and you’re not signed up? Subscribe today so you don’t miss out on the next email I send out!

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You told me a bit ago, “I’ve been testing every avenue we’ve used for the last 10 years. Guess which one generates the most traffic and revenue,” with the answer being email. Can you speak a bit to how much WORK goes into email campaigns?

I’d start by saying we’re not particularly adept at email marketing. I always kind of considered it old-fashioned but knew we should be doing some form of it. Axeslasher rode the wave of social media really well until recently. Back in the days of chronological sorting we were able to find an audience quickly, especially on Instagram. I’m a super visual person and focusing on creating killer images really appealed to me, and when it was actually getting shown to our audience we caught lots of traction. 

Additionally, we were able to really take advantage of paid marketing1 on social media to increase our reach. There was a time where I could consistently count on a 2:1 return on marketing dollars spent to revenue made. 

But, that’s not the case any more.

Algorithmic sorting and the sheer amount of people paying for ads now has caused that reliability to plummet. Creating on those platforms feels an awful lot like working for Facebook and not myself. The mental math equation went from “What do I think our fans would like?” to “What do I think will break through the algo that our fans will tolerate?”

“The short answer is you have to start looking at and leveraging trends, which by-in-large, are fucking lame.”

We’re a thrash band comprised of ghosts of vengeance. We shouldn’t be doing funny hand dances, or the running man.

All that pre-amble is leading somewhere, I promise.

In regards to how much effort it takes to create an email campaign, I’d say it’s slightly more. I’m not a great writer so it takes me a little longer to craft longer-form messaging to make a marketing email worth reading. However, the whole time I’m doing that, I’m back to thinking “what will our fans like?” Which is exactly the head space I want to be in. 

How long have you been managing an email list, and how do you get new people onto your email list in this digital and social media age?

We’ve been tepidly maintaining an email list since 2012. I say tepidly because we’ve really only been sending three to six emails a year. However, over time, that list has grown to about 1,200 subscribers. It’s not the world’s biggest list, but the way we’ve built it has made it extremely valuable and effective. 

The main source of email subscriptions is through online sales. On Bandcamp and merch.axeslasher.com folks who buy our merch have the option to opt-in to our email list.

The key here is that they’ve already shown major interest in the band by putting their hard-earned dollars into the equation. By opting-in at purchase, the audience on that list is much more engaged and more likely to be interested in things we do in the future.  

I got your recent October Horror Marathon email on October 1st. The last email was from July 31st. Is there any set schedule you stick to with these things?

Nope, and I feel like that’s something we need to be better at. Until recently I’ve always looked at email as an additional boost for announcements. New merch, new music, festival appearances. Things like that. 

Lastly, you use Mailchimp, which I recommend to a lot of folks. Do you have any one little secret tip or “hack” you picked up over the years with using it?

I love Mailchimp. The UX of creating, sending, and measuring campaigns is top-notch.

If I had one hack, it’d be to connect it to your online store6. You can start to see things like how much sales revenue your campaigns generate, as well as let you segment your list by amount spent. You can basically make a segment of your folks who are most invested, literally, and hit them with special offers or poll their opinion on what merch to make next. They’re the ones spending their own money on your dream — give them what they want!

Hello, friends, and welcome to this week’s EMAIL AUTOPSY. Yeah, I’m really laying on the metal themes here, right? But whatever, I think it rules.

Each week I’m going to highlight some actual emails I get from the music community, and make fun of them like ‘Beavis and Butthead.’

Just kidding.

I’ll chime in with some ideas, but also link out to some resources that I think might be helpful, or offer insight into why I suggested something.

There are lots of resources out there for starting and growing email lists, but I’ll link to the best stuff, from reputable names and brands, saving you the time and trouble of wading through a ton of bullshit (there’s so much bullshit). If you got questions, leave a comment, or reply to this email

Enjoy!

SUBJECT LINE: Let’s party 🔪🍕📼🎃

CLINICAL SUMMARY: This is from the band Axeslasher. I love unique, personal intro text. As a band or artist, you probably shares LOTS of your personality in Tweets and IG stories – jam that into your email newsletters!

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: Send me a follow-up email loaded with photos, reactions, and stories from the performance!

SEE ALSO:

• “To earn your subscribers’ trust, consider showing personality by sharing behind-the-scenes (BTS) pictures. These show your business’s human side so it’s a quick way to gain your audience’s trust,” says Send In Blue.
• “Sharing yourself and all that you’ve experienced is one of the greatest gifts that you can give to the world and to your readers. They’ll think you’re far more interesting if you talk about what’s really going on with you than if you solely send out promotional emails and lists of upcoming events,” from ‘50 engaging email newsletter ideas’ over at GoDaddy.
• “Send a follow-up message to them after the gig to get their feedback… this user-generated content is great for promoting future tours. And you could even ask them to share their pictures and videos across social media using a hashtag, then use those photos and videos to continue promoting the rest of your tour,” from Emma.

SUBJECT LINE: Thanks For Signing Up!

CLINICAL SUMMARY: A very standard confirmation email from Joyous Wolf; links to social media, boilerplate “thanks for signing up” language.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: Someone just gave you their email address – that’s a commitment in 2021! Offer a discount to your store, or a link to an unlisted video on YouTube thanking them for signing up. That’s a “call to action” (or CTA for the email marketing nerds). It’s the thing you want people to click or do when they open an email, and since most people are going to open that confirmation email, make it count.

SEE ALSO:

• “By welcoming your new subscriber, showing them some love, and adding value while leveraging store data to recommend amazing products they might like based on past buyer behaviors, chances are good they’ll make a second buy,” from Boost Your Ecommerce Sales With These Welcome Email Examples
• ‘5 subscription confirmation email examples’ from Stripo

SUBJECT LINE: Make Your Own Sad Skeleton Memes, Pre-Save to Win an Ibanez Guitar, Pre-Sales are SELLING FAST, so HURRY!

CLINICAL SUMMARY: Sign up for the Carnifex email newsletter, and this is the first thing you see when you open the email. That skeleton is from the cover of their latest release, and they’ve been getting their fans to download the cut-out and make their own memes, which get shared by the band.

HEAVY METAL EMAIL RECOMMENDS: I love this. It’s not trying to make a sale right away, but instead shows off a casual, fun side of a band that writes songs with titles like ‘Dead Bodies Everywhere.’

SEE ALSO:

• “Examine the priorities, engagement habits, buying behaviors, favored pricing, social media activity, and other details of your current audience for commonalities. Then, use this data to inform or refresh your outreach,” from ‘7 Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Audience’ by MailChimp. A band like Carnifex saw that their audience was into this, and they leaned into it.
• “Use (a) live event as a piece of gated content. Promote it on social media in the days or weeks prior. Let fans know that they need to be signed up for your email list to join. You can host private streams on YouTube quite easily. Just set the stream’s privacy to ‘unlisted’ and share the direct link with your email list,” from New Artist Model.

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There’s lots standard ways to write your newsletter, but I always say that what resonates with your audience is what counts most of all.

When I ran my metal trivia Twitter years ago, I offered a nightly email newsletter with the answer to the question I posted that day. Yes, a NIGHTLY email. But my audience knew that when they signed up, and it had like a 40% open rate.

Don’t be afraid to send an email once a week. No one ever wrote “I promise I won’t post often, I don’t wanna be spammy!!” as their first or second post on social media.

People signed up – give ‘em something!

As you’re not always pitching to make a sale at the top of each email, you can totally send more often.

And remember these two very important points:

1. Not everyone is on social media.
2. Not everyone who follows you on social media will see your post.

An email newsletter is a great place to curate your finest work from socials, expand on those ideas, and reach your fans directly.

If you got questions, just reply to this email. Thanks for reading.