👉 a clever little newsletter trick for you

(everyone should be doing this)  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

​ Hey, I have a really cool trick for you today. The best thing about this trick is that anyone can do it, and adapt it to their individual needs. Actually, the very best thing is that the benefits from this tactic scale. It provides value for everyone from beginners to experts, the benefits will be ongoing and increase as your subscribers increase. I'll show you how I'm using it on this list, how you can do it for yourself, and how you can adapt it to your individual needs - it's super flexible. I strongly recommend that everyone implements this technique because there is zero cost aside from a short bit of set-up time, and the benefits will start accruing immediately - and keep delivering over time, without further intervention from you. I'll break it all down here in this email... right after a word from our sponsor. In partnership with Jotform​ New book by Aytekin Tank ― Automate Your Busywork: Do Less, Achieve More, and Save Your Brain for the Big Stuff ​ Say goodbye to manual work and save your brain for the big stuff. In the book, Automate Your Busywork, SaaS CEO and no-code enthusiast Aytekin Tank provides a guide on how to finally have the time to accomplish your most important work. Order today! ​Order!​ Marketing on Autopilot I've spent most of this week horizontal after twanging my knee in quite a spectacular way on the beach. These days though, my business doesn't grind to a halt just because I have a hot date with an icepack. I've been on a mission to automate as much of my business as possible over the last few years. This isn't a ChatGPT thing, but more about setting things up in a smart way that require little human intervention once up and running. An obvious place you can do that is with your newsletter welcome sequence, as we have discussed before at length. There was one really cool little trick I didn't mention though, because it's so good that it's worthy of it's own email. Regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of double opt-in, and strongly recommend that you use it too - for all the reasons I have outlined many times in the past. But here's one I never mention: the confirmation email that goes out automatically when you use double opt-in, and someone joins your list, is a huge marketing opportunity. Here's what I do with it. When someone signs up to this mailing list, they get sent this confirmation email. ​ If you have double opt-in enabled at your Email Marketing Service (EMS), then you likely send out something similar even if you don't know it - although perhaps more generic. Perhaps you know that you send these out, but you don't know that you can personalize them. (Please be careful doing this - especially with the subject line which is super sensitive to spammy words.) Or perhaps you know you can personalize these emails, but don't know that you can customize that button to send subscribers wherever you like. Oh yes. And you really should pick somewhere to send them because the default is usually some lame and generic page like this one which does nothing for no one. ​ Well, that's not quite true - at least ConvertKit aren't wasting this marketing opportunity. But maybe you should grasp it instead? It's not just ConvertKit BTW - all providers do some version of this with double opt-in. Something that could be pushing you instead of them. In case the value of this isn't obvious, let me underline it: every single subscriber to your list will click this button, and you get to decide where they go. You Send Me The highest value place you might want to send your new subscribers could be, well, anywhere you like. And because you can change the destination whenever you want, you can cycle through things depending on your business needs at that moment. You can push readers to your latest release on Amazon. You can send them to your series page instead. You can tempt them with the free/cheap first in a series. Or you can send them to your website, which will have links to all your books at all the retailers where they are available. All of those things are possible, and valid choices - indeed they are things I have done in the past, and will do again. However, these days I'm more likely to warm readers up a little more before looking for a purchase from them. Giving before asking, and so forth. I really like to overdose on the gives and then be kind of shameless about the asks, but you'll find your own balance with that over time. Your list is not my list, after all. I also like to set-and-forget with these things generally, rather than fussing with them all the time - but you do you. There are lots of high-value things you can do with this button, other than simply hawking books - and I recommend considering all the options and choosing your favorite. For example, you could push readers to your Facebook Page, your reader group, or your ARC team - the possibilities really are endless here. I like to do something else though, which helps me streamline my welcome sequence as well, and achieve a few other goals for me. When readers click that big red button to confirm their subscription to this list, I send them to this page on my site. ​ We spoke about how to create a video welcome for readers last month, so check out that link for the finer details on creating your own (it's much easier than you think, and you can just use your phone). I won't go into this side of things too much as you can read the link above if you want more, but the short version is that a video like this doesn't just create high engagement right off the bat, it also sets expectations for your subscribers - and puts a face to the name too. And as you will see from that previous newsletter, this is one factor helping me towards a stellar open rate of 90% on the first email of my welcome sequence, which has a positive knock-on effect on my open rates in an ongoing way. More people read my emails as a result, more people receive my emails. But that's not all. As I mentioned before, the space below the video is another marketing opportunity where you can - once again - do whatever you like, depending on your current needs. I could sell books here. I could push for a social follow. Instead, I decided to do something super boring and deeply unsexy... but also incredibly important: I ask readers to add me to their Gmail contacts. What was formerly referred to as whitelisting but is often referred to these days as allowlisting or safelisting, asking readers to add you to their Gmail contacts is a quick-and-easy way of achieving that goal for most readers on your list. Well, to be brutally honest, most readers will never whitelist you no matter what carrot you dangle, but it's so valuable that it's always always worth trying. In fact, it's so valuable to me that I do it here on the video welcome page, and then again in the second email of my welcome sequence - but you might have other priorities, which is totally fine. And because I'm sending people to my site, rather than someone else's, I can customize this page as much as I like, and I have links to my YouTube, my Facebook Page, some popular guides on my site, and then the Facebook Pixel is tracking everyone too so I can retarget them with ads the next time I release a book. And as a final bonus, the time spent watching the video gives time for the reader magnet to be delivered, and reduces my inbox. Nifty. To recap, here's what I do: Customize the confirmation email (carefully!) to improve responses. Change the destination URL of the confirmation button to a private page on my site. Embed an unlisted YouTube video on that page, welcoming my readers to my list. Ask readers to add me to their Gmail contacts underneath the embedded video. You can - and should! - execute this differently for your own list. My needs and priorities are far different for my fiction readers, for example. For the steps you need to follow, there are detailed Help pages on both ConvertKit and MailerLite showing you how to customize these emails and send people wherever you want. Just note that ConvertKit calls it the "incentive email" and suggests delivering your reader magnet with that email - whereas I strongly prefer to keep this email just for confirming the subscription and then immediately triggering the welcome sequence which delivers that magnet by separate email... once they hit confirm. Just so you know. Now go change your buttons! Dave P.S. Soundtrack to my painkillers is Hélène Vogelsinger with Reminiscence. Broomfield Business Park, Malahide, Co. Dublin K36 AT04 ​Unsubscribe | Update your profile​