3 Reasons New Business Owners Give Up on Email Marketing (And Why They Should Stick With It Instead)
In our experience, many business owners who start off with a DIY (Do It Yourself) email marketing effort soon discover that it’s not as quick and easy as they’d hoped. The discouragement and give-up rate is high. Here are the top 3 reasons:
1) Time: The first reason DIYers give up on their email marketing efforts is that it takes more time and attention than they thought it would. You need to 1) determine a fresh content strategy and write copy for every new email, 2) adjust the template, enter images and links, and 3) test and schedule the email.
This combination of creative and technical effort can quickly become the most dreaded time of the week or month. This is why Email Marketing Services like ours are helpful.
Why Stick With It: It’s actually incredibly time-efficient!
For perspective, compare the email process with the time it takes to get your works ready for in-person sales:
The Gallery experience requires prepping, packing, shipping, and waiting for foot traffic to possibly sell one of your works.
The Art Show experience requires much more.
But it takes far less time to prep, write, and test an email to possibly sell one of your works, plus it’s sent to hundreds+ of already-interested subscribers.
It’s not an either/or … you should strive for both in-person and online sales strategies, but take comfort in the knowledge that online is actually time-efficient.
2) Open Rate: The second reason DIYers tend to give up on email marketing is the psychological reaction to the dreaded Open Rate. The average Open Rate across all industries is a mere 21% (see table), resulting in statements like:
“Why would I put my time into email marketing if 79% of my subscribers don’t even bother to open the email?”
Why Stick With It: Focus less on percentages and more on the people.
Let’s say you’re new with a small list of 50 people. With an Open Rate of 20%, 11 people open your email. That’s 11 people showing interest in your art and what you offer while you’re just going about your typical day, not at an art event showcasing your work.
That’s 11 more than if you did nothing.
Now imagine that with consistent social media and other efforts, your list has grown to 300 people over time. With a 20% Open Rate, 60 people open each email to see your work.
Let’s say you end up with 1 sale/month from your email marketing efforts. That’s still 1 sale you did not have through any other means.
What about when your list reaches 1000? That’s 200 people taking a look.
3000? That’s 600 people looking at just one email.
If you send 4 emails/month, that’s over 2400 sets of eyes looking at your work in your email.
Isn’t any of that better than 0?
There are also ways to improve Open Rates, starting with writing compelling subject lines. Listicles, event news, causes, and giveaways are ideal subject lines. Or hire a marketing expert adept at writing engaging subject lines, well-written copy, and selecting strong images.
3) Impatience: The third reason DIYers neglect email marketing is impatience. First, selling art online usually takes longer than selling art in-person. Viewing art in an email or via a website is less likely to result in impulse spending. Online art purchases usually involve thought, measurement, comparison, and multiple visits to the product page.
Second, depending on their skills, artists might lose patience with the technical tools for designing and sending email marketing. Whether you’re using MailChimp, Constant Contact, or the built-in tools with Squarespace or Shopify, these platforms frequently change the user experience in the name of innovation.
Why Stick With It: As we like to say …
Business is a long game.
Persistence is prerequisite.
Resilience is required.
Thinking long-term and investing time and money into your online art marketing should pay off over time.
First, online art sales have steadily increased over the past 5 years and will continue to do so, especially with advances in augmented reality technology.
Secondly, the potential exposure of an artwork online is significantly higher than foot traffic in any gallery or art fair. Hundreds of thousands could see your artwork online if you stay patient and consistent with your marketing efforts.
Third, if you build your list and get no sales in a year, it means something else needs to change. It could be your pricing, your tone, your subject lines, needing to create a more exclusive feel, or envisioning new ways of offering your art.
While you should not compromise the pricing on your original works, you could consider a “loss leader” to gain some momentum.
Finally, it’s just a fact of life that technical tools constantly change. If your dread of email marketing is because of this factor, it’s wise to consider support from our team.
Read more about Email Marketing: 5 Reasons Why Email Marketing is Essential for Artists
Online art marketing is a long-term strategy requiring persistence, patience, consistency, and resilience. Build your list and keep them engaged! When you’re ready for help, learn about our Email Marketing services.
