Are you struggling to generate enough income in your social enterprise?

Are you unsure how to build your audience, mailing list and attract more customers?

Do you want to know if it’s worth paying for an email service like Mailchimp, Convertkit or ClickFunnels, as a social entrepreneur?

I recently had a member of my community reach out to me and ask my advice on what she should do in her business to attract more customers and income, as she was at the point of giving up if she didn’t see a shift in her sales.

I know this is a common problem for many social entrepreneurs and so wanted to share what she asked me about and the advice I gave her in case it is also of use to you.

Here’s what she sent me:

“I’m at a point where I either need to make more money or will need to seek employed work in the next year which would be such a shame as I love what I do. 

So if you can help me that would be great.

My opt-in for new subscribers was previously several pages delivered in one go. I then decided to break it up into 5 emails as a mini-workshop series but this is now costing me £40 a month with mailchimp, from paying nothing, which I’m not very happy about.

I’ve noticed that the open rate for the original guide (sent in one go) was about 60%. The open rate for the new nurture sequence is about 47%. 

My mailing list is growing very very slowly (only when I do offers and people then subscribe, maybe 10 people or so at a time!). 

The reason I created a nurture sequence was for 2 reasons. I learnt about it’s importance in building a relationship with those who have signed up, so they know about who you are and what you offer. And secondly, when I read my original opt-in I found myself switching off after the first page....it felt like too much information all at once so I instinctively broke it down into smaller chunks and added CTA’s in each email plus the odd video. So the new format feels a lot better but the cost per month frustrates me. 

Your advice appreciated.”

This is what I wrote back….

Well done for creating a nurture sequence for people who join your mailing list and making it more digestible for them. This is great way to help them get to know you and your expertise better, as well as how you can help them and giving them loads of value up front.

I know it can sometimes feel like you're haemorrhaging money each month on a mailing list (Mailchimp) but you have to see it as a long term investment.

Over a year it's £480, and that's how you have to see it, it's a cost of the business to help you scale and secure more sales. Businesses require investment even in the early days and the trick as the owner is deciding which things to invest in and which things not to. 

Obviously it's key to be building your mailing list monthly so you've always got new people coming through your funnel and reading your content, watching you on Facebook, and developing their know, like and trust of you. It takes time to figure out what really works for your audience by testing and tweaking. 

47% & 60% open rates are fantastic for any industry, although I appreciate it can be discouraging to see the open rates drop.

A couple of questions for you:

- How many people have gone through your new email sequence? It's important to allow at least 100 people to go through before you compare the numbers. 

- You can A/B test subject lines of your emails, to make sure you're using subject lines that grab people's attention. You want to try to keep open rates through your sequence the same but they will always drop slightly. What are your open rates for each email in the sequence? Where do people drop off? How could you tweak the subject line? Again don't make changes until 100 people have gone through. 

Your biggest challenge sounds like getting enough people opt-ing into your mailing list and through your funnel, so you can really start testing it and seeing results (e.g. sales). Remember only about 1-2% of our audience/mailing list buy across most industries online, so it is often a numbers game and about building know, like and trust over a period of time - some people will buy instantly from the sequence but others will need to go through your sequence, implement their learning and then keep seeing you show up (in their inbox, on Facebook etc). 

So how do you start getting more people opt-ing in?

Sharing your opt-in everywhere (not just on your own FB page but in groups, where this is allowed or directly with people when you know it's going to help them). Showing up everywhere! Getting your story and message out there to people so they start to take notice and sign up for your freebie.

Here's some other ideas to getting more people to sign up to your mailing list:

• You have over 500 people who like your business page, aim to get more of these on your mailing list by scheduling a post every 3-4 weeks promoting your opt-in

• Include your opt-in link in the about section of your FB page

• Move the opt-in section on your homepage higher up the homepage, so people see it sooner (currently they have to scroll all the way to the bottom), make it more attractive by being really specific about what results / answers they get from the mini-training

• Or add a pop-up on your homepage with the opt-in option

You LOVE what you do and it would be a HUGE shame if you had to go back to other work. It's essential and possible for you to create the income you need and desire from your social enterprise. You just need to generate more leads in to your business and you're very close to achieving this. 

What results have you seen from posting more consistently on your FB page and going lives more regularly? Which posts are getting the most engagement (i.e. comments and shares)? When are you really getting under your audiences skin, connecting with them and building their trust? Build on what's already working. 

Review where your past clients / customers have come from to date:

• Why did they work with you?

• What were their pain points?

• How did they describe these?

• What did they want / desire / need? How did you get them results? Digging in to this more and sharing more about all of this, as well as your own unique story will attract your dream clients. 

Did you find this blog post useful? Leave a comment below.

You don’t have to be a client to ask me a question. I love to receive emails from social entrepreneurs struggling with their next step to growing their social enterprise.

Email me at kat@shareimpact.org to ask me your question about your social enterprise.

Or book a free 30 minute strategy call with me to get a tailored action plan for attracting more customers and income to your social enterprise.