*SALES EMAIL SUMMIT* Ann K Emery – mini workshops for mega bucks - The Email Sound Booth with Liz Wilcox

Summary5 min read

Episode Overview

Podcast: The Email Sound Booth with Liz Wilcox
Episode Title: SALES EMAIL SUMMIT Ann K Emery – mini workshops for mega bucks
Date: August 20, 2025
Host: Liz Wilcox
Guest: Ann K Emery, Data Visualization Expert and Online Course Creator

This episode features a practical and honest conversation between Liz Wilcox and Ann K Emery about creating effective sales emails for online mini-courses, specifically in a B2C context. Ann reveals her streamlined approach, impressive results, and her philosophy on balancing simple marketing tactics with personal workload and life as a parent.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ann's Sales Email Approach (01:07–04:37)

Background & Results
- Ann has over a decade of experience running her own business and selling online courses since 2018.
- She consistently makes $200,000–$250,000 in net income annually from her online courses, providing solid support for her family of seven.
Streamlined Email Process
- Released four mini-courses in summer 2025, using the same minimal-effort email series for each.
- Structure of her sales emails:
  - Starts with a personal picture and update (as taught by Liz).
  - Bullet-point list of what’s included in the course (“fact-based,” not overly focused on transformation).
  - Copied-and-pasted FAQs from the sales page.
  - Omits testimonials on new courses, as they're not yet available.
- Quote:
  
  “I am a course creator, not a marketer, so email has to be fast and easy for me.”
  — Ann K Emery ([01:33])
Follow-up Sequence
- Sends one main email to the whole subscriber list.
- Sends a second, shorter follow-up only to those who clicked the first, highlighting early bird bonuses or urgency.
- Quote:
  
  “The second email just says like, ‘Hey, this course is going to be open year round, but the early bird bonus expires tonight. So like, if you’re on the fence, go for it because it’s expiring.’”
  — Ann K Emery ([02:24])
Open Rates & Conversion
- First emails: 37%–50% open rates (higher than regular newsletters).
- Follow-up emails: 80%+ open rates; one recent email reached 87–88%.
- Sold 128 seats in six weeks for mini-courses using this approach.
- Efficiency: Email templates take 20 minutes; $150–$175 earned per hour calculated on course creation.
- Quote:
  
  “I am super glad with that. I think that’s fine. That’s about what I’d make consulting, and it’s only going to go up if or when I do real email marketing.”
  — Ann K Emery ([04:22])

2. Liz on "Real" Email Marketing & Encouragement (04:37–05:44)

Reframing “Real” Marketing
- Liz emphasizes that Ann’s approach is real marketing, highlighting Ann’s years of commitment and results.
- Encourages beginners to persist and experiment, noting Ann’s longevity in the business.
Quote:

"You do real email marketing! ... So if you’re just getting started out and like, oh my gosh, I wish I could take home $250,000. You can. You just have to keep at it and keep trying new things."
— Liz Wilcox ([04:37])

3. Mini-Course Pricing Structure (05:44–06:35)

Mini-Courses:
- Priced around $97 ($100).
- Group rates and regional discounts available (e.g., adjustment for participants in Africa).
- Intentionally short: 1–2 hours of content, vs. full courses which are $1,000 and akin to a university class with live office hours.
- All courses include lifetime access.
Quote:

“Mini courses are meant to be like short and sweet. You know, an hour or two of learning, a hundred bucks. And then the full courses are like taking an entire university course.”
— Ann K Emery ([06:15])

4. How to Join Ann’s Email List (06:49–07:20)

Ann invites listeners to subscribe to her newsletter at depictdatastudio.com, with a clear “Subscribe” button.
She reassures listeners that it’s perfectly okay to subscribe just to peek at her email style and then unsubscribe if they’re not interested in her actual data-viz courses.
Quote:

“Totally, totally fine.”
— Ann K Emery ([07:13])

5. Liz’s Advice & Takeaway for Listeners (07:20–08:50)

Liz encourages listeners—especially those in B2C—to copy Ann’s style: straightforward, personal, and designed for repeatable success, not only for “corporate” or serious topics.
Highlights a template resource ("Steal These Sales Emails Template Pack") making it easy for listeners to adapt the exact email formulas discussed.
Quote:

“It is the perfect example of how you can do it your way, do it differently.”
— Liz Wilcox ([07:38])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Ann K Emery [01:33]:
"I am a course creator, not a marketer, so email has to be fast and easy for me."
Ann K Emery [02:24]:
"The second email just says like, ‘Hey, this course is going to be open year round, but the early bird bonus expires tonight. So like, if you’re on the fence, go for it because it’s expiring.’"
Ann K Emery [04:22]:
"I am super glad with that. I think that’s fine. That’s about what I’d make consulting, and it’s only going to go up if or when I do real email marketing."
Liz Wilcox [04:37]:
"You do real email marketing! ... So if you’re just getting started out and like, oh my gosh, I wish I could take home $250,000. You can. You just have to keep at it and keep trying new things."
Ann K Emery [07:13]:
"Totally, totally fine." (On subscribing and then unsubscribing.)
Liz Wilcox [07:38]:
"It is the perfect example of how you can do it your way, do it differently."

Timestamps for Important Segments

01:07: Ann’s streamlined sales email process and personal context.
02:24: Breakdown of mini-course email sequence and follow-up strategy.
04:22: Open rates, sales numbers, and Ann’s satisfaction with results.
04:37: Liz reframes "real" email marketing and encourages new marketers.
05:44: Ann discusses course pricing tiers and accessibility.
06:49: How listeners can join Ann’s email list, guilt-free.
07:20: Liz’s B2C takeaway and template pack plug.

Final Takeaways

Simplicity Sells: Ann demonstrates that short, direct, and repeatable sales emails can outperform more elaborate strategies, especially for busy marketers and course creators.
Personalization Pays Off: Even non-transformational, “fact-based” emails can drive high engagement and sales when they share a glimpse of the creator and offer real value.
Persistence & Adaptation: Years of experience, steady experimentation, and willingness to adapt or “do it your own way” are keys to online sales longevity.
Permission to Copy: Both Ann and Liz encourage listeners to borrow these approaches and adjust as needed—there’s no single, rigid formula for email marketing success.

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Transcript8 lines

[00:01]
A
What up? Liz Wilcox here, the host of Sales Email Summit. Before we get into this interview, I just want to let you know that this summit is sponsored by list gadget. ListGadget.com is how you can turn every email into a growth machine. We've got embeddable polls, leaderboards, referral programs and more. And I know this sounds crazy, but you can do it in about 30 second startup time. Now right now we are offer getting $10 off the starter plan to make it just $9 a month. So if you're into adding email polls, reactions, subscriber leaderboards and more to your email newsletter, head on over to listgadget.com all right, let's get into this episode and you data viz genius. You let us know what is the most lucrative or most interesting sales email that you've sent out in the last 6 to 12 months.
[01:07]
B
Hi Liz and friends. I'm Ann Emery and I have sent a lot of sales emails. I started working for myself back in 2014 and then I started selling courses in 2018. So there have been lots of lucrative emails since 2018 and I usually make 200 to 250,000 net from online courses each year, which is the perfect number because that that allows me to financially support my family of seven. Okay, so for Liz's summit, I want to talk about my favorite emails from 2025, which are the fastest, easiest sales emails I've done yet. I've released four mini courses this summer and I've used the exact same emails for all four courses because I am a course creator, not a marketer, so email has to be fast and easy for me. I sent Liz a sample from P Pivot Table Bootcamp, which is one of the four courses, but they honestly all look exactly like that. I start with a picture and a couple sentences about what I'm up to because Liz taught me to do that and be more personal. And then I have a couple bullets about what they'll learn in the course. I know it should be about the benefits and the transformation, but it's just fact based. That's as good as I can do for now. And then I literally just copy and paste a few things from the sales page like some FAQs and I don't even have testimonials because these are brand new courses and there are no testimonials yet. And then I usually send a follow up email a few days later just to people who clicked on the first email. Okay, so the first email that goes out to the full list and then the second I'm only sending like one and a half emails per course, which I know is not enough, but it is the best I can do for now with my limited time as a mom of five. Okay, so the second email I just sent the people who clicked on the first one and it basically just says like, hey, this course is going to be open year round, but the early bird expires. The early bird bonus expires tonight. So like, if you're on the fence, go for it because it's expiring. So I have sent four of these emails so far and all four have had insane open rates, like 37% up to 50 something percent, which is actually higher than my regular newsletters. And then the second email is the one saying like, hey, the bonus is expiring, like now's your chance if you want in. Those open rates are literally in the 80% range. The most recent one was like 87 or 88% open rate, which doesn't happen for any other emails. It is crazy. Okay, so I have done four of these mini courses now with the exact same tiny marketing, like one email to the fullest, one email to the subset. I've sold 128 seats so far in six weeks. And I just started selling that fourth course, like literally at 3pm today. I sent the initial email, that same copy paste basic email template. It took about 20 minutes. And I sold eight of those courses so far. It's only what, like 5:45pm so far? Not bad. I'm happy with that. I do keep track of how many hours I spend making courses and the math works out to about 150, $175 per hour. And I am super glad with that. I think that's fine. That's about what I would make consulting. And it's only going to go up if or when I do real email marketing, which I will do. I get inspiration from Liz all the time. So I will do real email marketing and the number will go up.
[04:37]
A
And first of all, you do real email marketing. And y', all, I want you to remember that Ann said she's been doing this since 2014. So at this point, you know, she's been in the game. She has followed me. She's followed Tarzan K, who's another speaker in this event. I know she's followed other marketers. She, she's doing real email marketing. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna counter that anyway. But she's been, she's doing it for real because she's been doing it for a Real amount of time. So if you're just getting started out and like, oh my gosh, I wish I could take home $250,000. You can. You just have to keep at it and keep trying new things. That's one of the reasons, like, Ann was, you know, one of my number one picks. I wanted her in this event. So. And real quick question, how much are these mini courses selling for? Because I know you've done the whole gamut of pricing. So what are we selling these for this season?
[05:45]
B
So the mini courses are about a hundred bucks, $97. There are group rates. Sometimes they give discounts to if people ask like, if they're like, hey, I live in Africa, do you have adjustments for that? And then I pull up the little calculator and I give them discounts too. And then I also have like the regular courses, the full courses, which are a thousand. And those are the ones that I've had since 2018. And those go super in depth. Those take like, those are like taking a university class and they have live office hours and everything. So mini courses are meant to be like short and sweet. You know, an hour or two of learning, a hundred bucks. And then the full courses are like taking an entire university course. A thousand dollars, super in depth. And they get lifetime access to each one too, so that they can go back and replay anything that might have been confusing.
[06:35]
A
Awesome. And thank you so much for clarifying that. Now, if people want to geek out over your sales emails and your data viz. Genius, how can we join your email list?
[06:49]
B
If you want to go behind the scenes and subscribe, head over to my company website, depict data studio.com and then you're going to see the subscribe button really easily at the top. It's just bright purple subscribe. And you are welcome to subscribe and then unsubscribe. Highly doubt anybody at this summit needs courses on Excel and data and graphs and dashboards. So my feelings will not be hurt if you, you know, take a peek and then unsubscribe. Totally, totally fine.
[07:20]
A
Let's be real. You listening are probably business to consumer. And Ann is the absolute best example of B2C email marketing. I know she said, oh, I don't do real email marketing. Well, here's the thing. When it to btc, you can and should do it differently. So I really, really, really want you to steal her sales email. It is the perfect example of how you can do it your way, do it differently. And you might think, oh, she works with a lot of corporate people. You know it's going to be super stuffy email. I want to show you just how much personality and how much Ann Emery she puts into her email as well. So steal this email Inside the Steal these Sales Emails Template Pack you already know Plug and play collection of every single email from this summit rewritten into simple templates so you can customize in minutes. You don't have to guess, you don't have to decode, just copy and email, tweak it, hit send, and make sales to just like her and everyone else in this summit. It's a total steal for $35. Steal these sales Emails Template Pack Link in bio Bio Link in bio no, the link's not in the bio. The link is in the show.
[08:51]
B
Not.