5 Reasons Why Your Craft Business Needs an Email List

If you've ever looked into starting a handmade craft business, you've probably heard this line:

"You need to start an email list!"

I used to hear this all the time.

I heard this in 2010 when I started doing craft shows and hearing crickets.

I heard this in 2015 when I was teaching up to 6 workshops a week and losing my mind.

And I'm still hearing this now, in 2021, in the middle of a pandemic, and all I can say is that I really regret not paying attention in 2010.

It's now more important than ever to start crafting a targeted fan base that knows, likes, and trusts you.

You can't expect to get ahead on social media where you're at the mercy of the Facebook/Instagram algorithm.

Even just yesterday, I posted something on my Facebook page to promote a virtual event I was hosting. 

Wanna know what percentage of people FB told me it actually showed my post to??

7%.

S-e-v-e-n.

So that means that 93% of the people that literally signed up to receive my posts and updates...were not shown my post.

To be fair, I could have increased engagement by doing certain things, but the point is that if these people have opted in to get your updates, they should just be able to see them.

And you shouldn't have to jump through hoops.

Despite all this, people still somehow expect to get ahead using these methods instead of putting their limited time and energy into building something sustainable and highly targeted like an email list. 

(You know you can start one for $0, right?)

Anyways, to further express how important this asset is to a handmade business, I wrote up a quick read on the 5 reasons why your craft business absolutely needs an email list.

1. It creates relationships & builds trust

Trust is hard to come by these days.

Posting offers and products on Facebook and Instagram can feel so spammy, especially if you’re posting it to your personal page where your friends are there.

People are flooded with offers on social media all day and night, how can you possibly expect to stand out with that constant noise?

Enter email.

Email is the best way to consistently get in front of your audience, create a personal connection, and sell your products in a non spammy way.

I bet you can look through your inbox right now and find a few emails from people and companies that are full of personality that you love getting.

You probably even know a little about their personal life, because they share small bits about themselves through their emails with you.

That my friend, is intentional.

By getting to know these people virtually through their fun and personal emails, you’re slowly growing to trust them.

Once you trust them, you’ll be much more likely to purchase from them, whether that means it’s a product, workshop, or any number of things.

And it’s all because they took the time to create that personal connection with you.

2. More people will see your content

When you post on social media, just a percentage of your followers will see your posts. Someone missing your post could mean the difference in hitting your income goal for the month or ending up in the red.

On top of that, most people check their email multiple times a day, whereas they may not check their social media accounts for days.

With email, there’s no algorithm involved.

Every email you send will be delivered, no questions asked. Your only job at that point is to make your content valuable and compelling enough that they decide to actually open it.

So, not only will more people see your content, the right people will also see your content.

Which leads nicely into my next point of why your craft business needs an email list because…

3. It’s highly targeted

Hear me out.

Would you rather try to sell your product to a group of people that were chosen at random, who may or may not have an interest in what you sell…

Or would you rather sell it to a group of people that already know who you are and what your talents are, have already shown interest in your work, and trust you?

Yeah, I think that one’s a no-brainer guys.

Building an email list for your craft business is one of the smartest moves you can make because having an audience full of people that have already shown an interest in you and your product makes them the most likely group of people to buy from you…and then buy again.

And no, not everyone on your email list will purchase from you, in fact, most of them definitely won’t. But, often the small amount of subscribers that do buy will be the ones who continue to buy and support your business.

As you grow, that number will become bigger and bigger, and as you learn to monetize your list more efficiently, your income will grow steadily as well.

4. It’s 100% yours

“Don’t build your dream home on rented land”

When I heard this saying, things immediately clicked for me. I quickly understood why you shouldn’t be building your business on a social media platform.

If Instagram suddenly decides to shut down their business accounts, or completely change the way people can find your content, you are not going to be in a good place.

You could easily lose years of work and social audience building.

Is it really worth it to risk all that time and energy into a platform that not only isn’t going show your followers all your content, but possibly hide or delete it at some point altogether?

Yikes…again, for me that’s a no-brainer.

With email, you don’t have to worry about this. Your list is all your own and you have full control of it.

And once again, you know you can start one for $0, right?

:)

5. You’ll make more money

There have been multiple studies done that compare social media marketing to email marketing, and email wins hands down every time.

You can do a quick Google search on the topic and see for yourself.

Your followers are more likely to click through your links in email as opposed to social media.

Organic reach on Facebook is about 6.51% (via Hubspot) while the average email open rate is 22.86% (via Optinmonster).

Mine is even higher.

And the most shocking number (via Campaign Monitor) is that conversion rates in email are at least 3x higher than social media.

That’s all you should really need to know, but there’s a lot more information on that if you take the time to research it.

In general, it’s easy to see why email is the obvious choice here, and why your craft business absolutely needs an email list.

It’s easy to sign up for a free account and get started today.

What are you waiting for? :)

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