Email List Hacks for Artists
I participated in a panel recently in which artists who had been represented the longest by Well+Wonder were sharing our advice and experience with the newer-to-W+W artists. We covered lots of topics, and one that I wanted to expand on here is about creating an email list. If you are an artist who wants to sell your work on your own site or anywhere else, having access to your ideal customers’ inboxes is extremely helpful! I have used Mail Chimp since I started mine, and find it very easy to use (and it has excellent help articles when something is confusing). It can also be connected to this Square Space site, so when a visitor signs up here, they are automatically added to my email list in Mail Chimp.
Ways to get people added to your list:
Have a sign up form at the bottom of your website pages, or pop-up forms as well.
Offer an incentive to sign up, such as a 10% discount in your shop or free shipping. The discount/shipping code would be included in their confirmation page or automated welcome email.
Create a freebie, store it in google drive, and link to it as the confirmation screen after they sign up on a landing page where people sign up for that specific freebie. It is important that any freebie you create is relevant to what you are selling- otherwise you are capturing emails of random people that may not be interested in purchasing your art down the road. Some examples of mine are a free guide about my oil painting materials (relevant when I sell my online course), and a free guide about framing art. Have this linked in your social media, and share about it often!
Remind social media followers (and link sign up form) that you have an email list any time you are releasing new work- they love to sign up to see a preview of new work, or especially for early access if you have the option of a password-protected shop.
Remind your followers each month as well, if you are sending a monthly newsletter.
What to email and when:
I love using Canva to plug info into a template each month, and this has helped me reliably send an newsletter on the first on the month. It’s much easier than pulling ideas out of the air! My template includes these sections: In the Studio, New This Month, Available Work, and New Blog Posts.
I also email a preview of any new collection of art the week it launches, including images and details about every piece.
Lastly, I email my subscribers once the work is live online, so links are clickable and shoppable! The easier we make it for them, the more likely they are to shop! Everyone is busy and I don’t know about you but buying fun things like art for myself would not necessarily make it onto my to-do list without a few reminders!
You can also create segments within your list of subscribers if you want to create a specific sales funnel. This is a series of automated emails that will be sent to a selected segment of subscribers - you know they are specifically interested in what you are about to release (because of the landing page/link that made them want to subscribe), and each email highlights a different aspect of your offer.