The 3 Emails That Helped Liz Wilcox Generate Over $700k in Revenue [Ep. 151]

 
 

Click play to hear about Liz Wilcox's $9 Email Marketing Membership:

 
 

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Here’s what to expect from this episode:

Today marks our very first guest takeover (while I'm on maternity leave) from email strategist and keynote speaker Liz Wilcox. Liz, aka the Fresh Princess of Email Marketing, was originally on Episode 70, where we talked about how you can promote your podcast through your email marketing. 

One of the things that Liz is really well known for, besides email marketing, is her $9-a-month Email Marketing Membership. So, in this episode, she's pulling back the curtain and sharing how she's grown it to over $700k in revenue. Spoiler alert: it's all thanks to emails. 

Liz shares stats on her membership growth, including the three top-performing emails she's sent over the years. She even gives us the subject lines and reads the entire emails (GIF descriptions included). She also explains why these emails worked so well and how she's repurposed them over the years.

If you struggle with writing weekly emails, I can't recommend Liz's Email Marketing Membership enough. I have been a member for a couple of years now, and I love that she provides weekly templates and ideas for newsletters. 

My favorite thing about the membership is that you get access to all of the previous templates, including email templates for things like launches, flash sales, and more. Plus, like you heard in this episode, it's only $9 a month, so you can't really beat that! You can join her membership by clicking here (also linked below).

Topics Covered:

  • The unique advantage educators have with email marketing

  • Stats on Liz's Email Marketing Membership growth

  • Her 3 most powerful emails (subject lines AND bodies)

  • Why these emails worked so well

MEET Liz:

The Fresh Princess of Email Marketing, Liz Wilcox, is an Email Strategist and Keynote Speaker showing small businesses how to build online relationships, package up their “magic,” and turn it into emails that people want to read and, most importantly, purchase from.

Connect with Liz:

favorite podcasting resources:

Connect with Sara:

Related episodes:

  • Sara Whittaker 0:00

    Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of podcasting for educators. At the time that this episode airs, I will be out on maternity leave. One of the things that I did to prepare for leave was collaborate with some of my previous guests on this podcast. So over the next few months, I will be sprinkling in some guest takeover episodes, where previous guests will be taking over my podcast for the week and sharing about a topic that we both thought you would be interested in hearing about. So these are people who have been a guest on the show before but they're coming back to talk about something different. Today marks our very first guest takeover and it's from Liz Wilcox. Liz, aka the fresh Princess of email marketing was originally on Episode 70, where we talked about how you can promote your podcast through your email marketing. So definitely check that episode out if that's something that you're curious about. Liz is an email strategist and keynote speaker showing small businesses how to build online relationships, package up their magic and turn it into emails that people want to read. And most importantly, purchase from one of the things that Liz is really well known for, besides email marketing is that she has a $9 a month membership that has been extremely successful. And so in this episode, she's actually sharing how she's grown her membership. And it's all thanks to emails. This is a really cool episode because she's pulling back the curtain on how she found success, including exact numbers. She's sharing stats on her membership growth, and she's sharing her three most powerful emails that she has sent over the years that have generated over $700,000 in revenue. She even gives us the subject lines that she uses and reads the emails to us. And then she tells us why these emails worked so well. It's gonna be a really good one. I hope you love it. Let's get started. Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whitaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager, and I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators.

    Liz Wilcox 2:28

    Hello, is this thing on? No, I'm not Sara, but this is podcasting for educators. And my name is Liz Wilcox. The last time you heard my voice was in Episode 70, where I was talking about promoting your podcast with your email list. How to stay top of mind and how to grow your email list. As a podcaster. Go check it out if you haven't yet. That's episode 70. My friend. But to recap, Liz Wilcox, well, I love email, especially for podcasters. Double, especially for TPT store owners and other educators. Why? Because I'm an educator too. I've got a background in educational leadership. And I've spent the last eight years perfecting the art of getting people to open click and buy from my emails. As educators I feel we have this unique advantage against the rest of the crowd. When it comes to making money. With email marketing, we're versatile. We know how to talk to a crowd and rally them behind the concept. And we are creative. And you know when we're just darn good at connecting, I could go on forever. But Sara asked me to come in and chat about my membership. I think it might appeal to you because it's a low cost offer with low responsibility. Meaning if you're still at your teaching job, or you're serving a lot of clients or you know you're tutoring a lot of students right now, and you don't have a ton more space, an offer like this might be for you. And the way that I market it with email. It's definitely for you. But mainly, at the time of this recording. What I want you to know is that this low cost low responsibility offer is generated. And I literally just calculated this before I hit record. It's generated $727,547 Yes, a $9 a month membership. I'm laughing because it's so wild. Even Wilder, this membership is just shy of three years old. I've got about 4200 members right now. It's a very exciting time in email marketing, membership history. That's the name of the membership. Pretty simple, right? But how did I get here? And what do these emails look like that are generating me all this cashflow, let's do something fun, shall we? Let's take a peek behind the curtain, I want to share a few stats on the membership growth, and then break down three of my most powerful emails that I've sent over the last three years. This is going to be super awesome, because I feel like you know, on social media, tick tock Instagram, even in Facebook groups, we can kind of see what the person is doing, like what the facilitator is doing. And we can see whether or not it's working, right, we can see it through likes, comments, shares, et cetera. But with email, we can't really see that and we can't really see if it's working for sure. So I know Sarah is all about making a real impact with your show, right? That's what she wants for you. But you can't make an impact. If your stomach is empty, and there's no groceries in the fridge. Okay, so let's talk about what's actually working for Liz Wilcox, an email marketing membership. Let's talk about how I'm making this money. Are you in? Let's go. First, we're going to talk about the stats, right? I just said some outrageous number over $700,000 in just shy of three years. So let's kind of give you a little timeline via stats here. This membership was launched February 16 2021, I was able to get my first 100 members in the first 30 days. Yes, I did this just with email marketing, I wasn't running ads. I didn't have affiliates, anything like that. I hit 500 In the first six months 900 In the first 10 months. And at that one year, that first birthday, I had 1000 subscribers to the membership a year after that. So at the two year birthday, my membership turns to yay, we hit 3000 members. So we tripled that number in one year. Now nearly three years in, I'd love to say we tripled that number, and we've gotten 9000. But we didn't, we're at about 4200 As we speak, but that's still incredible growth. Here's some more stats for you. I've got a monthly plan and an annual rate. The membership right now has 70% on an annual rate. Which means in the last year or so, we've had three six figure launches of the annual membership, Insanity, the coolest part for me, I get to help beginners. Again, I came from this education background, right? I believe everyone has the right to an education. And I believe email marketing is one of those skills every business owner should learn. So I love getting to help beginners, people who think email is too hard and too expensive to do. It's a later down the road project for a lot of entrepreneurs. Maybe for you, right, maybe you don't even identify as an entrepreneur yet. And you know, it was hard enough getting your podcast off the ground. But I love to stop you in your tracks and get you going with email marketing right now for just $9 a month. Yes, that means I've had $100,000 launch on a $9 product more than once. Again, this is insanity. But remember, I charge so little because I care so much. I want you to get going with email marketing, because it's changed my life. When I was in school, I don't know about you. But when I was in my Bachelor's for elementary education, they warned us and granted this was like 2010 2012 type of timeframe. But they warned us you might start at a salary of less than $30,000 a year. And even today 2024 I have a friend who's a full time teacher at a boarding school. And he only makes $27,000 a year. I know you didn't get into teaching for the money. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't use your time and talents to make some. That's where those Wilcox comes in. That's where my membership comes in. And that's where we're going to dig today into my three favorite emails that have sold the membership. So I don't want to just make money, I want you to make money. So let's get into this first email. First up is my favorite email of all time. Can I have $9 So that is the first subject line of the very first email that I sent out about my membership. It was originally sent out February 16 2021. The rest Serbians, it was sent to my entire list minus the people that were in my welcome sequence. Of course, nowadays, this email has been repurposed and is the fourth email in my welcome sequence, it gets sent to all new subscribers that aren't already members. So nowadays, some people come in as members, they don't go through my welcome sequence. So of course, I'm not going to send a sales email to people already in the membership. So it just gets sent out to those new subscribers. And this the type of email this is is it is just a straight sales email. Okay. Want me to read it to you? Awesome. So can I have $9? Here's the body. I've had an idea for a few months, and I'm finally just gonna go for it. First name. I was on a call with some friends. We'll call them the dancing bananas. Okay, yes, that's literally what we call ourselves. Anyway, we were chatting and someone mentioned they had joined a membership that was template based, meaning she paid someone every single month to get access to design templates from Canva or something. I thought, holy crap, my people need something like that. I should be the one to create it. A low cost email marketing membership, where I send out templates once a month for people. Then I proceeded to do everything but that idea. And now I'm sitting here basically daring myself to do it already. So here goes. First Name. Today is the day I launch email marketing, membership, named subject to change when I think of something better. When you join, would you def should you're going to get one email template a week, complete with video breakdown on the why and how behind it. So you can take it and make it work for your audience. Monthly what to send your list ideas. Once a month live q&a is with me to answer any and all of your email marketing questions. Oh my gosh, this is huge. Getting on a call with me is $250. Normally, whatever else I add to the membership as time goes along, I'm currently thinking quarterly guest experts, sales trainings, book club, et cetera. Oh,

    the best part, it's only $9 A month right now. I know it's worth more. And I know the marketing pros would tell me charging that low of a price is going to signal to you that it's garbage. But to hell with that. You and I both know, my stuff is not garbage. Here's why I'm going to charge nine bucks for real. I've been working really hard to grow and reach more people. So that world knows email marketing can be simple, fun and profitable. But really, I don't want you to just know it. I want to actually help people in my circle, do it. And for $9 a month, I know I can help an instinct fan in the 90s amount of people. And isn't that why I sold my RV business a year ago to do help as many people crack the code for themselves. So they could see the success I did. And actually have fun instead of wanting to die from frustration. Sure, I'll probably up the price once they start having a library of content and such. But that just means when you buy today, you lock in that $9 price. And I'll never charge you more than that. My goal is to have 100 people inside the membership in the next 30 days. When that happens, I'll be doing something really fun. Who knows. Give away some $500 email audits for free. Bribe one of my marketing friends to come in and do a special training. Send out individual love notes to my members. Who knows. You'll just have to join and find out. Anyway, hope to see you in there for just $9 a month. Let me know if you've got any questions. I'm heading to the dentist with my kid. He'll be back on later this afternoon. Liz it's just nine bucks. Wilcox. PS here's the link to join one more time. Oh, mg $9 first name. So what works about this email? Well, number one, it's different. It's got an incredibly bold subject line, right? Can I have $9? Wow, this lady like what she's asking me for money right in the subject line. It's bold. It's direct, but it's also really fun. I give a short story The dancing bananas, right? But then I cut to the chase. Hey, I want to create a low cost email marketing membership for you. Right. Another thing that works and you might have noticed I use that first name three times at the beginning, the middle and the end. It's even in that PS using the first name personal lysing your emails like that is gonna help people slow down. It's because it catches their attention. So they actually read what is above and below it, right? You as an educator know, best of all people aren't reading, they're skimming, right? That's why fluency, if you're an elementary school teacher is so hard because the kid is just trying to get to the gist of what the sentence is saying, instead of reading the individual words, right, that's what people are doing in your emails. And so using that personalization, using that first name, can be really, really impactful to the emails performance and to your conversions. I also give four reasons why they should join. And you'll note that those reasons are also the features, right? You're going to get one email template a week, complete with a video breakdown the why and how you're gonna get monthly, what to send list ideas, right? This is telling people what they're going to get, and it's going to help answer that why they should get it right. And, of course, the price tag, I'm not gonna lie, that helps. But with the emails specifically, you know, showcasing a little personality, you know, I make a joke about in sync. I even have an instinct, Jeff, that you can't see here, under that instinct joke. And I also talk about my values, why I got into this game, I wanted to help you crack the code for yourself, I don't want you to just know, email works,

    I want you to do it, I want you to see those results, right? That's very clear language that's pulling out your values to connect. Again, as educators we know sometimes the best way to connect with our students and to move them into action to motivate and inspire them to apply what they've learned is to connect with them on a personal level, to share something in common to share a value set. That's what I'm doing in this email. And that is why it works so well. Okay, moving on to email number two. And I know I just said email number one was my favorite. But this one might be my favorite. It's an email I like to call don't try to build a wall. It was originally sent November 2022. So during a Black Friday sale, and it was sent to anyone that was on a waitlist. Now it's being sent out I've sent it, let's see 123455 More times over the last year and a half. And this is a pre launch email. So in this email, I'm actually not selling directly, what I'm doing is getting people excited to purchase. Let's look at the stats. The first time I sent this out, remember November 2022, just two people on my waitlist. I sent it out to 254 people, it had an open rate of 76.4% and a click rate of 8.3%. So pretty, pretty good. Now remember, this is a pre launch email. And so the click actually didn't go over to the sales page. It just went to something else. And spoiler alert, I just wanting people to start clicking. So I gave them something to click on Other than the sales page because I wanted to get them you know, when you open Liz willcox's emails, you click on them, right especially people on a waitlist, you want people to click right because eventually you're going to open up that cart, and you're gonna want people to click. So in those waitlist emails, that's just a side note in those weight loss, waitlist emails, make sure you're getting people to click. So let's read this bad boy. You ready? Okay. I'm sure it's already started first name. But tomorrow, especially the slew of Black Friday offers really begins. I know you're on my Black Friday, waitlist and the car opens and about 12 hours. Before all that though, I have something on my mind. A lot of us marketers hired or our fancy dancy copywriters were really good at pulling out pain points and selling you the transformation. And if you're in the first one to three years of your business, it might feel really hard to decipher between Yes, this is my next right step and the fear of missing out on a good deal that could make We help you. So as I write this just minutes before heading to Alabama for the holiday, I want to remind you of my favorite quote from Will Smith. You don't try to build a wall, you just lay one brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. You do that every day. And soon enough, you'll have a wall. First name. Don't go into this Black Friday trying to build a wall. Practice your discernment. Decide for yourself what your next brick will be on the path to building a wall, aka, your business is the wall in this analogy. It could be anything, social media, a business coach, some tech thing you need, or email. If it's email, I'd be honored to help you lay the brick. Remember, My offer is simple. I have a $9 a month email newsletter template membership. Every week, I send a newsletter for you to tweak and send out to your own list. Because like well says, We can't just have an email list that makes us money. Every week, we've got to lay that brick. Every week, we've got to send that newsletter and create connections show that we're invested in our people so that they invest back into us by reading our emails, clicking our links, and purchasing our products. Email marketing membership takes the guesswork out of what bricks to lay. Basically, I make the break, you've just got to lay it. And that yearly pass to get inside the membership opens tomorrow. It's 108 bucks. But when you join, you get access to all my other products too. That way as you're laying bricks, sending newsletters, other questions come along questions like, How do I keep my list clean? And in the inbox? What all goes into a sales page? How do you pre sell product? How do I get people to reply? What's the deal with open rates nowadays? What metric should I track how often you don't have to pay me or anybody else another time to find those answers. You'll have all those breaks just waiting for you when you're ready to lay them. My hope is that by the end of our year together, you'll have a pretty sturdy wall, aka an email list that feels more like a community. One you know what to offer, and one that trusts you enough to purchase those offers. Again, if that's the next right step in your business, if that's the wall you need to build. Let's lay the bricks together. Doors open tomorrow. Yay. Liz Wilcox. PS, here's a two minute video of Will Smith telling his brick story. If you've never heard it, it's worth 120 seconds. I heard this many years ago. And I think of it every day, as I've built what you see online today. That's the email. What works about this email? Well, I think the strongest thing about this email is it gives people permission not to buy. I'm encouraging my reader to critically think about the purchase. I don't use FOMO or fear. It uses this real time situational problem, right? Marketers that you know incite fear and FOMO to, you know, make sales. It takes that real life situation problem. I relate to them in that way. Right? I say hey, I know this is a problem. I want you to avoid it. When it comes to everything but especially Liz Wilcox, I lay out the offer really simply was clear language. It's $108. It's going to help you, you know, answer these questions. Write the list of questions in the middle of the email speaking of it's used to help the reader self identify as needing or not meeting the product. Because I'm basically putting those questions out there. So if they say in their mind as they're reading, hey, I do want to know how to pre sell a product or I was just thinking the other day about open rates and whether or not I should track them. Right? It's getting people to self identify as needing or not needing the product if they if they know all the answers to those questions. They definitely don't need a purchase. Last, the email provides encouragement and reinforcement at the end of the email. I'm helping the reader to visualize both them and me working together to solve their problems. Remember, I said let's lay the bricks together. Right. That's the visualization of us working together. So we've gone through a sales email, we've dissected a pre launch email. Let's talk about a follow up sales email. This one is really fun. And it is called. Oh, yeah, I saw you click that link. Again, this one is really fun. And you send it to people who clicked a link, but didn't buy. Yes, that's important. These are warm leads, right? They they clicked over to my sales page. Of course, I want to follow up with them. Right? Never let that warmly grow cold baby. So again, this was called Oh, yeah, so you click that link, it was originally sent February 18 2021. So just a couple of days after I launched the membership. And since then, I've sent it five times randomly, I've sent it during launches of my annual offer, I've sent it out after a newsletter where I put in, you know, a link to the membership. Usually, I just use it whenever I want to have a little more fun and make a little more sales. And again, this is anyone that has clicked, but not yet purchased. And this is a follow up sales email. So the first time I sent it was, again, the February 18, just a few few days after the membership was created. It had an 84% open rate, a 40% click rate. And yes, I definitely made sales, I think of the 14 people that clicked because it was only sent to 44 people. So I should mention that, you know, this is only sent out, again, two people that already clicked on the sales page. So of course, that click rate is going to be really, really high. So of the 14 people that clicked, I believe I made 10 sales that day. So this really, really converts. You ready to read it. Okay. So again, subject line. Oh, yeah. I saw you click that link. Body is, and this is for sure. A follow up to that click. But can you blame me? I really want you in this new email marketing membership is the best thing I've created in the longest time. For the lowest price. Yes, I'm yelling about low prices, like I'm Walmart. And no, I don't give a dang who hears me. I've got 44 members inside. But it would be awesome to see you as number 45. First name. And guess what? 45 is my lucky number. Not really. But that's pretty slick, right? Let me show you what I've got in the membership. Just two days into this bad boy. Click the GIF below to watch. And then there's a GIF of me pointing at myself with a caption that says click mean. And then click here to sign up for just $9 Before I come to my senses and start charging 11 Or worse 19. I hope you get how playful I'm trying to be here. Hit me up. If you've got Q's, Ma, let's PS need to pay with Pay Pal. I've got you covered. Boo. Just click here. So what works about this email? Well, number one, it's really short. Right? Number two, it's only sent to people that are warm, right? But the content itself gives a peek behind the curtain. Clearly something I love doing, we're doing that right now. Right? You know, the video that I've made for people is a behind the scenes. Hey, here's what I've got inside. So far. That's very intriguing for people, especially if you have a new offer to say, Well, I'm not really sure, Liz. I mean, maybe I'll join later, when you've got a little something. And so I'm telling them, Hey, this is how it's built out. So far. This is the content I've created. This is what you're missing out on. Right. So that really really helps. Of course, the GIF of me pointing to myself, Oh my gosh, people will most people love GIFs. And if they don't love them, they subconsciously love them. Because it gets people to click, it catches the eye, it gets them to slow down. We already talked about the importance of getting people to slow down and actually read instead of skim and look for chunks. And so the GIF of myself saying click me. Again, it's very clear language, it stops the scroll and it gets them to click, hence that 40% click rate right. Another thing is this email is less than 100 words. It's kind of like go potty or go back to your desk type of situation, right? It really, really works. And also, of course, it's light hearted. It's not, you know, oh, you click that link, this is creepy. It's really fun. Like I mentioned, I've used this email, you know, throughout the years since then. And so each one, I make a different video, showing them behind the scenes. So let's recap. Number one, it's totally possible to create a living and even killing off a small offer that truly serves a lot of people. This is especially important for someone like me, who believes everyone has the right to an education, that might be YouTube. Number two, you've got to be willing to sell though, as you saw in these emails, it doesn't have to be super aggressive or sleazy. Be direct, be honest, and get excited. No one will ever be more excited than you about your products or your services. If you need to go back and listen to all three of these emails, remember, I'm direct, I'm honest, but I'm excited. I'm excited about the product. And I'm excited about the prospect of the product serving my student, right. Number three, as an educator, you've got a distinct advantage over anybody else to create an email list full of buyers. After all, you spend all day getting others to buy into a subject or topic or skill. And you work relentlessly until they master it. Right? Why? Because you care and you know is going to help that student write sales emails from that exact perspective. And you'll go far. Thank you so much for joining me. I've had a ton of fun sharing my favorite emails with you. I hope they spark a lot more ideas on how you can create an offer and sell it to your email list

    and podcast listeners want more email inspiration, check the show notes or go directly to Liz wilcox.com and hit the hot pink button. You can't miss it. Over there. I'm not just going to read these emails to you. I'm going to give them to you already written, you'll get an entire welcome sequence written for you three newsletter templates directly from my membership, one to show you how to get people to click another how to get people to reply, and even a third how to get people to buy directly from your newsletter. And if that's not enough, 52 subject lines for a year full of prompts. Listen, writing from scratch totally sucks. You know that. So let me do the heavy lifting for you. Ready to just join the membership where I write that newsletter for you each week. I'd love for you to check the link in the show notes. And come join hundreds of other podcasters that can email newsletter template delivered straight to their inbox every Monday, so they can connect with their subscribers, get more listeners to their show and make more money. This has been incredible just like you. I'm Liz Wilcox, and I can't wait to see what you do with email marketing. Talk soon.

    Sara Whittaker 33:16

    Thanks so much to Liz for doing this episode. Definitely check out her membership. If you struggle with writing weekly emails. I have been a member for a couple of years now. I love that she provides you with weekly templates and ideas for your newsletters. Because a lot of times we sit down at the computer and our mind is just totally blank. My favorite thing about the membership is that you get access to all of the previous templates as well. So I will kind of go in into my dashboard and I'll go back and choose one from the past that will help me spark ideas for my email that week. It also includes email templates for things like launches, flash sales, and more. Plus, like you heard in this episode, it's only $9 a month so can't really beat that. The link to join will be in the show notes and I'll see you here next week. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. To keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support and launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course the podcasting for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep school. I'll see you here next time.

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Podcasting for Educators is the podcast for TpT authors and other online educators. It's a show that will help you get your podcast in front of those who need it most - teachers, counselors, literacy specialists, SLPs, parents, and more! Each week, Sara Whittaker and her guests will share top tips and actionable strategies that you will need in order to launch, manage, and grow your podcast. You’ll learn how to leverage your show to build long-lasting relationships with your audience and promote your TpT resources, courses, and memberships, all while providing valuable and accessible content!

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