← The Amy Porterfield Show
The Amy Porterfield Show
I Was Bored with My Own Emails… So I Did This
00:12:44
I’m Retiring My Old Podcast Newsletter – And Here’s Why.
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Amy Porterfield
Hey, there. Welcome to the Amy Porterfield Show. In tomorrow's email, I'm going to tell you a story of how I recently overheard Hobie talking to our therapist about me. And not in the most positive way. Even telling you that makes me sweat a little bit. I have to admit that I hate telling you when things aren't working out for me because I feel as though I'm supposed to be an online marketing expert, and for many of you, a mentor and a guide. And so it's just kind of embarrassing to say, like, I've been doing this for a while, it's not working anymore. I need to change it. But essentially, that's what this episode is about. And also, I don't think I'd be a good guide or a good mentor if all I ever shared with you was the good stuff, right? So today I'm sharing with you something that has not been working for me. So we need to talk about something I've been doing for a very long time and why I'm about to shut it down. So for over about 10 years, every single week, I've sent out a podcast newsletter. So that email told you what was on the podcast that week, gave you a little context, a little quick teaser and a link to click, and it worked. It did exactly what I needed it to do for years, like clockwork. If I skipped a week, which I rarely did, but let's say I had a promo going on, so I had to skip the weekly newsletter, my downloads on my podcast would dip like it was the gentle nudge that reminded my community, hey, there's a new podcast, and you're going to want to hear it. But recently, something has shifted. I've noticed that writing those emails, it started to feel like a drainage, like the spark, it just wasn't there anymore. I lost the energy and the fun of even sharing new episodes. And if I'm being really honest, and, you know, I tried to be, it actually just became a chore. And who the heck wants anything to feel like a chore? Especially something that you do over and over again. If you're not loving it, why are you doing it? Right? And I had to ask myself the same question. And so I figured, this is not working for me, and if it's not working for me, it's probably not working for you, because if I'm not excited to write it, there's no way you're excited to open it up and read it. And no surprise, the numbers agree. My open rates started to decline pretty rapidly. I think the email just became too predictable. It started to get lost in all of the other emails you were likely receiving. And you know, I'm all about the power of an email list. So declining engagement, that's not going to work for me. So this year I made a promise to myself. This would be my year of experimentation. I talked about that on my very first episode of the Amy Porterfield Show. So if you want to know more about my year of experimenting and what that looks like and why I decided that was going to happen, you can just check out episode one. But like I said, it's my year of trying new things. My year of letting you more into my world. Even though that feels very awkward to me. And I don't just want to be a teacher or be known as a course creator, but I want to be known as a real person who's building a business just like you. And that means that I've got to open up more, right? I've actually started to do that a lot on the Amy Porterfield Show. Hopefully you feel it. And I started taking you behind the scenes more, sharing more of my personal life, my wins, my setbacks, and getting real about what it actually takes to build something successful, sustainable. And now I want to do the same with my weekly newsletter. So starting tomorrow, April 29, I'm launching a brand new weekly newsletter. One that feels completely different. One that feels like it's from a friend or maybe even like a big sister who's walking the path just a few steps ahead of you. So I want to talk more so about what's in it for you. Because sure, I wasn't enjoying writing the old email, but I noticed you weren't really enjoying reading it either. So let's talk about what's in it for you, because that's what matters the most to me. So this newsletter, it's going to be fun and personal and just most of all, valuable. I'll share stories and lessons from my 16 years of building a multimillion dollar business, but I'm also going to be sharing some gems from my group chats with many of my entrepreneurial friends. We talk business in life on the daily Like, I have many group chats going on with people that are building amazing businesses online. And we talk about business in life like every single day. And some of those conversations have made me a lot of money. So I thought, well, what if I share? I'll get permission if anything's like, super sensitive. But what if I share some of the conversations I'm having in group chats with some of my really amazing entrepreneurial friends. So it's like I'm inviting you to the group chat as well. I thought that would be really cool. I'm also going to take you into my Slack chats with my team because we share articles and insights and we talk about them and we use them to grow our business. So I thought, do you want to know what I'm reading? Do you want to know what I'm watching, Like what I'm consuming to help me grow my business? I thought I would throw in a few links and share some of that when. When I think it would be really valuable for you. And I think maybe my favorite part is I'm going to share the fun stuff, like what I'm watching or what I'm obsessing about or the things I see online that just drive me nuts. Like I need a space to share some of that with you. So we're going to talk about it. We're getting into all of it. I hope you're ready for this. So it's not going to feel like a business email. It's going to feel like a letter that you actually want to open and read. And here's the wild part. This shift isn't just about feeling more connected. I know that what I'm doing actually works. How do I know that? Well, remember last week when I had Jay Schwedelson on the show and he shared that personal newsletters, ones written from a real person in a real voice, have a 48% higher average open rate than, than brand emails. And I believe this because I feel like my podcast email, it started to feel like a brand email. Sure I shared some personal stuff, but you could just tell that it didn't have a lot of heart to it anymore. And so I really do believe that personal emails is where it's at. I think they build trust, they invite people in, they're more interesting, they're more fun. And get this, the same offers placed in a personal newsletter versus a brand one, they see a 30% higher click through rate. That blew my mind. But it also made so much sense because connection is everything right now, right? So I thought I would go first. I'll share with you what's working in the newsletter, what doesn't work, and the pivots I'll likely have to make until I get my newsletter dialed in. Like what you see tomorrow because the first edition comes out tomorrow, probably in a month or two. It's going to morph a little, but. But I'll share with you why I'm changing it or what it's looking like or what people are clicking on or what people are saying about it, what they like, what they don't like. I want you to tell me what you like and don't like. So this is going to be a process, and I thought maybe you wanted to come along for the ride. So that's what I'm doing. I'm bringing the real me into your inbox every single week. Also, the old podcast email, it's not totally disappearing, so I might play around with like a reimagined version of it, like as a second email each week. Something different than what I'm doing now, of course, but I haven't figured that out yet, so when I do, I'll let you know. But for now, the main show is the new newsletter that comes out every single Tuesday. And if you're not already on the list or you're not sure if you are, just go to amyporterfield.com newsletter and you can sign up there. That way you know you won't miss the first edition that comes out tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29th. So again, amyporterfield.com forward/newsletter. Just go there really quick if you want to make sure you're on my list and I'll make sure to send it out tomorrow. I'm excited. Like, really excited. And I'm a little nervous, too, because this is new to me. I'm a little bit awkward when I share the personal stuff. I'm way better at teaching you marketing that. I am inviting you into my life not because I'm super private, but because I'm super awkward. Like, I really do think that. And so you're going to just have to get a little bit of awkwardness from me. Like, in tomorrow's email, I'm going to tell you a story of how I recently overheard Hobie talking to our therapist about me. And not in the most positive way. Even telling you that makes you sweat a little bit. Like, that's very personal. But I want to share with you a little lesson I learned from now, I was going to say eavesdropping. I wasn't eavesdropping, for the record, but I'll explain it tomorrow in the email. But anyway, I'm putting myself out there in a new, vulnerable way, like I hope to do on the Amy Porterfield podcast. But I do believe this is going to help me serve you better. And that is literally why I'm doing it. I'm not doing it just for Fun. I want to serve you better. I want to help you more. I want to help you get that business up and running and create more freedom and impact in your life. Like, I want it more than you will ever even know. I so believe in you. And I believe it's my mission to serve and help you along the way. So keep an eye out on your inbox tomorrow morning. I'd love to hear what you think. So you know, I'm just Porterfield on Instagram. Please DM me. Tell me what you like, what you don't like. If you're like, ooh, she should do this, or I wish she would do that, get it to my DMs. I will be reading all of them. Please let me know what you think. And then it's not just about me. I'm going to share with you then what you suggested, what's working, what's not. I'm going to be an open book about this whole journey of a new newsletter. Oh, and also I'll see you tomorrow on the podcast because this is a bonus episode. So tomorrow is my regular Tuesday podcast and it's with Jenna Kutcher. So remember how I said that I've got lots of great conversations in group chats? Well, you likely already know because I've mentioned this a million times. Jenna and I, we voice text every, every day, and it's always about business and about life. Sometimes we talk about our husbands, we talk about our kids, we talk about our chickens, we talk about me starting a garden. But most of all, we talk about work. And we have been seeing so many changes in the online marketing space and we want to share with you what changes we're seeing and what we're personally doing about it. Like, we have changed things in our businesses and we thought we should just share this with you so then you can share with us what you're seeing and what you're changing. So it's a really, like, behind the scenes episode, just the two of us chatting about what we're seeing. And hopefully you'll walk away feeling inspired and like, it's not all bad. Even though things are changing, that also means that they're evolving. And you get the opportunity to evolve as well. It's all in how you look at it, my friend. So anyway, that's tomorrow, but in the meantime, go to amyporterfield.com newsletter to get on my list and I just welcome you into my new newsletter. It's a new era, new stuff is happening, and I'm so very honored to go on this journey with you. All right. I'll talk to you soon. Take care.