What to Do When No One Replies to Your Emails

Your email list is the lifeblood of your business. Without it? You could be in trouble. But let’s be honest… Email is a tough medium to know if people like what you’re throwing down.

You send out email after email… and what do you get?

Well, sometimes, you get nothing.

Because unlike Instagram, we don’t simply get “likes” when someone reads our content and agrees with it, learns something or feels encouraged.

Nods behind screens don’t alert the sender, ya know?

Why you should send emails anyway

Not getting a response to your emails is especially hard in a world where you’re comparing yourself to others (I know because I do it, too!). But what’s not helpful is keeping silent, holding helpful things inside and not sharing it with people who need to hear from you:

• Sending your list simple encouragements or inspiration can go a long way

• Sharing your services feels scary but it’s good practice — people need to know all of the ways they can access your genius

• Linking to blog posts might feel insignificant, but I bet your readers would argue differently (and your SEO loves you for it)

So while it may feel discouraging to send email after email and not know if it’s hitting the mark — or if people are secretly annoyed at you (don’t worry about them, they know they can unsubscribe) — I’m going to encourage you to KEEP AT IT.

You’re not hocking goods you don’t care about.

You’re not spamming people who never signed up to hear from you in the first place.

You have great things to share, remember?

If you’re still struggling to hit “send,” I’ve got two things for you:

First, I want you to have my free Content Calendar template so you can keep all of your content ideas in one place.

Next, let me give you a boost of confidence with 5 ways to send emails when you hear nothing but crickets.

5 ways you can confidently send emails even if no one replies

01 | Consistency pays

I’ve said this time and again — but it’s because this is what I was taught as a blogger and KNOW as a business owner. Being consistent with content is important:

• Even if your ideas feel new and not quite refined

• Even if you don’t have an offer to sell

• Even if you don’t have blog posts to send people to (hello, that was me my first two years of business)

“Consistently” could be every week, or it could be every two weeks. You pick.

The value of sending consistent email content is two-fold:

1. You form a habit that continually encourages you to think of what your audience needs and how you can help them.

2. Your audience hears from you, so you remain “top of mind” (or “top of inbox”). If you go off the grid for too long, they’ll forget who you are — dramatic, but I’m serious. The internet is a fast-moving place!

You worked HARD to get your email subscribers. You either grew your list organically or you paid for ads to send them to your site. If you ghost them, you’ve wasted a lot of energy, my friend.

Plus, remember: Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. (Source: Epsilon) Consistent interaction with your subscribers leads to higher sales conversions for when you DO have something to sell or offer your subscribers.

02 | Keep your emails on topic

I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating:

Share the content you promised your readers, and they won’t ever be surprised when they get an email from you.

It’s when you create and send content from every-which-way your brain felt like that day that will confuse your subscribers. We don’t want that. Confused subscribers unsubscribe.

Instead, figure out what your subscribers need most from you and stick with that.

It’s still possible to share a range of content that everyone loves. Even when you keep emails on topic, your readers won’t get bored if you’re always sharing helpful tips for wherever they’re at in their journey.

03 | Make it helpful and no one will be mad

Share what you know with your subscribers. Even if you think they might already know it, give them a reason to love you more — make it easier, make it step-by-step, make it FUN.

This could be:

• A tutorial you whipped up on Loom

• Create a roundup of favorite things to make your readers’ lives easier

• Send a video explaining a complicated concept

Here are a few examples to get you started on simple ways to optimize your email marketing.

Not everyone prefers to read, so videos are a nice thing to mix in! Plus, it shows you’re human. Speaking of which…

04 | Write like a human

You’ve been on a quest to find that “one right way” to compose an email to your subscribers.

What’s the perfect email length?

Can I include gifs in my emails?

There’s a simple answer: Just be yourself.

Your thoughts, your experiences and what you bring to the world is unique. Don’t waste your energy thinking you need to be someone you’re not.

Write the first draft of your emails like you’re writing to a friend. See how much easier that feels?

There is no mold you have to fit into to write an email, I promise.

05 | Keep your emails simple

While we all have experienced the “newsletter” with 18-bajillion links to someone’s website, that video on youtube and a donation button to their favorite charity — so help me, it’s exhausting!

You don’t have to say it ALL in one email. Keep the email topic simple. If it gets to be more convoluted, consider how you could break up the content into a few different emails or blog posts.

Leave a comment and let me know: Which of these tips gives you the encouragement to confidently email your list?