With billions of users worldwide, email usage has grown rapidly from just a means of sending and receiving messages to a money-making tool. If you have an email list of subscribers, you can make money off your subscribers by delivering them newsletters with compelling and valuable content.
An email newsletter is a very affordable marketing method yet with a huge ROI (return of investment.) It can be easily integrated with other marketing channels. It keeps your subscribers well informed about your business and generates website traffic. So, knowing how to make a newsletter in a captivating manner makes all the difference in your online marketing adventure.
5 Ways to Monetize Your Email Newsletters
Below are the tried-and-tested email monetization ways that you can use when creating your email newsletter.
- Sell space for ads
- Add affiliate links
- Add a donation button
- Sell your products and courses
- Charge access fees
1. Sell space for ads
Giving up space for ads is one of the most effective email monetizations But people tend to entertain the fear that placing ads in email newsletters can force subscribers to opt-out. This may happen if the newsletter ads are not in any way relevant to your subscribers.
Just like any mobile app or website, your email newsletter can effectively feature an ads space without scaring your subscribers away. When it comes to email newsletter advertising, there are many ways you can do this. First, it’s something you can do yourself and approach interested third parties to place their ads in your newsletter. This means you have to sort through advertisers.
Before reaching out to more extensive networks, try engaging some clients to gauge their interest in placing ads in your newsletter. It is also worth mentioning that local business ventures typically pay more to advertise in relevant email newsletters than display their ads in networks.
2. Add affiliate links
Affiliate links are URLs that include your username or unique ID. Each time a reader clicks on the affiliate link and buys a linked item, you will get paid. Retailers can work with you as a publisher through affiliate programs. When you mention a particular product in your email newsletter, you are entitled to a commission depending on the sale price. This is how most publishers monetize links.
Unlike display advertising, you don’t need a lot of traffic to start generating revenue when you add affiliate links to your email newsletter. When it comes to affiliate newsletter advertising, quality is considered more important than quantity.
3. Add a donation button
Getting your email newsletter subscribers to make donations to you is one of the unusual yet feasible ways to monetize your email newsletter. Through platforms like Ko-fi and Patreon, your readers can donate to your brand.
4. Sell your products and courses
If you have got a product to sell or a course to promote, you can utilize the power of email marketing. If you want your audience to know more about a product, service, or even an upcoming event, you need to establish a rapport with them first. Email is a great way to do that.
5. Charge access fees
Apart from affiliate programs, native advertising, or display advertising, one of the most effective ways to monetize newsletters is by charging fees for access to your content. You can use platforms like Memberful to collect membership fees. But to be very effective in this email monetization method, you need to offer your subscribers highly relevant and valuable content they are not likely to get for free. These valuable packages can come in different forms like exclusive educational programs and modules, extended articles, or invites to in-person sessions.
Steps to Start and Send Sponsored Emails
A sponsored email is an email sent to your subscribers (audience) based on the request of a third-party sponsor. In other words, you’re getting paid by a sponsor for sending a promotional message to your email list on their behalf. This is unarguably one of the easiest ways to monetize your email newsletter.
Set prices
The price you charge depends on factors such as the size of your email list, target audience, the type of product or service you want to promote, etc. The general pricing model is $50 per 1,000 opens.
Define the list of sponsors
The next step is to define a list of sponsors. There are some questions to consider before choosing a promotional partner:
- Is their product or service relevant to your subscribers?
- Will email newsletters be sent to your list at regular intervals?
- Which of your competitors do they work with?
Prepare a proposition
Your proposition should cover these four elements:
- Briefly explain the features or benefits that your sponsor’s service or product offers;
- Point out their customer’s major problem;
- Depict how your sponsor’s product or service can solve a customer’s problem;
- Explain why their company is better than other competitors.
Email newsletter monetization is a great way to leverage your email list and earn a competitive advantage for your products or services. Though there is so much uniqueness when it comes to a specific audience type, at least one of the ways explained above or their combination can work wonders for you.