Why most of your email subscribers will never buy from you...

Improve your email marketing...

Most of your subscribers will never buy from you, and that's okay...

A cold fact of email marketing is that most people who subscribe to your email list will never buy from you - but don't take it personally, it applies to all of us.

And that's okay because, when done properly, it's still the most profitable digital marketing channel we have at our disposal, as solos.

As you grow your email list, you'll find yourself collecting different types of subscribers; let's break them down into 6 categories...

A: The Curious Ones

The Nosey Competitors

• They sign up to spy on you. They watch your strategies, funnels, offers, and emails to learn or copy.
• They have low engagement, rarely click, and might copy your language or layout.

The Passive Observers

• Just browsing. Find your content mildly interesting but aren't ready to act.
• They open emails occasionally but never reply, click, or buy.

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B: The Freebie Hunters

The Magnet Collectors

• They join only for the freebies (i.e. your lead magnets).
• They get the downloads and then unsubscribe or ghost you.
• They'll often use 'burner' email addresses.

The Deal Grabbers

• They only ever join when there’s a promo, discount, or giveaway.
• They may buy low-ticket offers but rarely become a loyal customer.

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C: The Learners

The Casual Learners

• Subscribed for education or inspiration, but aren't solving an urgent problem.
• Engages with content occasionally. May become active later.

The Hungry Students

• Genuinely values your teaching and insight.
• Opens consistently, takes notes, and asks questions. Could become a buyer with the right nudge.

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D: The Opportunity Seekers

The Referred Subscribers

• Found you via recommendations (e.g., Kit referral, shoutout, affiliate).
• They normally have low-to-no engagement.
• Need nurturing to understand your value.

The Idea Collectors

• Join to "borrow" your ideas for their own brand.
• Might be in a similar niche, looking for shortcuts.

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E: The Engaged Fans

The Active Supporters

• They enjoy your voice and content. Reply to emails, share your stuff, cheer you on.
• May not need your product now, but believe in you.

The Warm Prospects

• Genuinely wants help and is exploring options.
• Opens, clicks, replies. Just needs trust and clarity to convert.

The Ready Buyers

• Subscribed because they’re actively shopping for help.
• Ready to invest, often replies with “How can we work together?”

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F: The Ghosters

The Silent Subs

• Joined ages ago. Don't open, click, or respond.
• Could be due to overwhelm, loss of interest, or your emails landing in their spam.
• Often arrived via 'Recommendations' and just don't know you.

Two things you can do to improve your stats...

To have the most profitable email marketing system possible, you must get good at two main activities;

1. Filter out time-wasters up front (as best you can - you'll never get it 100% perfect) from the relevant categories above, and only attract your most raving and engaged subscribers.
2. Keep a pristinely clean email list, removing 'cold' subscribers from your list using automation, maximising your email deliverability rate.

Pro Tip💡 Be ruthless with, and ultra-protective of, your email list - it's the most prized asset you can have as a successful solo biz owner.

Which subscriber type are you on my list? 🤔 A Curious One A Freebie Hunter A Learner An Opportunity Seeker An Engaged Fan A Ghoster

Introducing a Kit feature...

Subscriber email indicators and what each one tells us... 🟢 🔵 🔴

Have you ever wondered what those little coloured icons mean, the ones next to each email you sent to your subscribers?

Below is an example of what you might see when visiting a subscriber's profile, little coloured icons next to the list of emails that have been sent to them;

Before I explain each indicator, I'll give you a mini-tour of a typical email's journey...

1. You compose your email using Kit and click 'Send'.
2. Kit takes your email and hands it off to an MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) for delivery.
3. The MTA is like a delivery truck - dropping your email off to the receiving server (the receiving server may decide to refuse the email).
4. The receiving accepts the email and decides on the most appropriate mailbox of the recipient to deliver it into, e.g. 'Inbox', 'Spam', 'Promotions' etc.
5. The email will remain in the mailbox either unopened or opened. Also, if it contains any links, it may be 'clicked' by the subscriber.

Okay, now that you know what happens when you hit the 'Send' button, here are the seven different indicators you'll potentially see inside Kit;

= Email sent, but not yet delivered

= Email sent and delivered to receiving email server

= Email opened by recipient (or by automated checker)

= Email link clicked by recipient (or by automated checker)

= Email bounced*

= Email clicked (by an automated email checker) before bouncing*

= Email failed after a few delivery attempts

*There are two types of email 'bounces', a 'soft' bounce and a 'hard' bounce.

A soft bounce indicates a temporary problem with the email address (e.g. mailbox full, payment card failed etc.).

A hard bounce means the email address no longer exists and cannot be delivered to.

Tech you might find helpful...

Napkin.ai - turns your text into visuals, making sharing your ideas quick and easy.

You may have noticed in some of my emails and also with my LinkedIn posts (if we're connected over there) that I use diagrams to represent ideas and thoughts.

I came across this (currently free) tool a few months ago, and I must say, it just works a treat and makes a great-looking diagram a 30-second job!

I actually used it in this email so I could show it in action - in the article above ☝️where I explain the different types of email subscribers you can expect to attract, I created a quick diagram using napkin.ai.

I simply entered the list of subscriber types, clicked the ⚡️little 'go' icon and it gave me a list of designs to choose from - I liked the one shown below;

Once created, you can then edit it using the editing tools inside the platform, changing colours, fonts, and even adding flow arrows if needed (for flow diagrams).

The platform allows you to download the creation in a number of formats, including .png, .svg, .pdf, and .ppt.

If you'd like to give it a go, click the button below and create your free account today.

Get a free account with napkin.ai

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