How to Sell Your Music Through Email In 9 Easy Steps

1. Choose ONE Item To Sell

2. Don't Discount Your Item

When you discount something, you are actually devaluing the item in the eyes of your potential customer. 

You may think,

"Hey, if I make this thing really cheap, people will buy it!"

When in reality, people may actually think...

"This thing is really cheap, it's probably not worth buying."

So don't actually discount your item in your store. 

However, you can still run promotions, and offer a coupon code instead that they use at checkout.

This way, your customer can still see what the true value of your item is, but they're getting it at a reduced price, which makes them feel good. 

In fact, this is so effective, it's actually often abused by some less than scrupulous sales people. 

When I was in college, I got a job selling house painting services. I was taught to add a couple hundred dollars onto the actual price of the estimate, and then if the potential customer was reluctant to buy, knock the price down back to what my actual estimate was (which already had profit margin built in). 

I wasn't comfortable doing this, but you can still apply the same concept to selling your music or merch in an ethical way like I mentioned above. 

3. Write An Email Broadcast

This is because on social media, people are looking to be social. They aren't in a buying mood. 

This doesn't mean you can't promote on social media, but you better be using email first and foremost. 

When you write your sales email, pay attention to your subject line. It’s vital in determining whether or not someone will actually open your email.

So, try not to sound salesy or official. It’s better to sound personal—like a friend—with something like, “I think you’re going to love this!”

Lastly, if your email service provider has a split-testing feature, you should use it so you can see which subject line gets the highest open rate.

ConvertKit, the email service provider that I use and recommend, allows you to do this. 

You can check out ConvertKit here.

(This is an affiliate link, so if you do decide to purchase ConvertKit, I'll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.)

4. Write Your Email As If You're Talking To One Person

A huge mistake that beginners make when they're writing an email--or even a social media post--is that they address a group and not an individual. Instead of using you and your, they write "You guys," or something similar. 

Write as if you're writing to one person, and your email will sound more personal. If you've noticed, I'm doing exactly this in this post! 

I know a lot of people are going to read this article. I mean, A LOT of people. Thousands, tens of thousands, MILLIONS!!!

*Cough*

Okay, maybe not that many. But unless you have a weird child who likes to have music business blog posts read to them instead of bedtime stories...

Then you're probably reading this article on your own, and not with a group of people. The same goes for you and your emails. 

Each person who reads your emails will be reading it on their own, and not with a crowd, so talk to them like you're talking to them one-on-one. 

Again, this will come across as more personal, which helps build trust between you and your reader. 

5. Tell Them All About Your Product

Is there a special backstory to your album that you could share? People are more interested in stories, so share what you can that you think they’d be interested in.

The same goes for any merchandise item you'd like to sell. Tell a story that illustrates why should want your item.  

A story paints a picture. It's the difference between just telling someone, versus showing them. 

6. Use One Image & Link To The Exact Product Page

Again, you don’t want to send customers to the home page of your website or store where they have to find their way to your product. Use a quality image that links directly to the specific product page.

Also, the better the image, the better it sells, so do your best to create compelling images for your emails. You’d be amazed at what you can do just by using the “portrait” feature on your phone.

7. Use A Hyperlinked Button In Your Email

People love buttons! They provoke action, and that brings results.

Here’s a couple tips about using buttons in your emails. First, your goal should be to “sell the click, not the item,” and that means don’t use “Buy Now” on your button, but rather something that provokes curiosity such as, “Check Out The Design!”

The reason is that “buy now” feels like a commitment, so make it your aim to sell the click and then leave the selling to be done on the product page.

Second, use the color green for your button. A lot of people use red, but red means stop, so using green will help remove those subtle things that make people stop.

ConvertKit makes adding a button very easy.

8. Post The Same Offer, Image, & Link To Your Social Media Accounts

Do you enjoy surround sound when you watch a movie? Well, that’s what you want to create with your special promotion. The message, image, and link you use in your email should be posted on your Facebook and Instagram pages as well.

This creates a surround sound effect where the offer is seen in more places than one, and the net effect is your fan starts to see it as a major campaign that they don’t want to miss.

When someone sees your offer one time, they may think, "that sounds nice, but I don't know..."

But the more they see your offer, the better their chances of finally giving in and deciding to buy. 

9. If You're Using Instagram, Don't Feature The Long Link In The Image Description

A big mistake with promoting on Instagram is to try and put the entire URL in the image description. First, links are not active on Instagram, and second, no will try and retype it. This is a great limitation to Instagram—as opposed to Facebook—but there are ways around it.

For example, you can edit your Instagram profile and add the product page link there and then in your image description you’d write, “Link in bio” and then your Instagram handle.

You can use a tool called LinkTree add multiple links to your Instagram Bio.

Conclusion

This whole process may sound like a lot, but you can actually complete it in less than an hour. The important part is that you get started.

To make your sales emails even more effective, make sure that they aren't ALL you're sending to your email list and social media following. 

Be sure to send them plenty of other valuable content first, such behind the scenes content, or free songs. 

This triggers what's called  the "Law Of Reciprocity". You will have provided so much great free content to your fan that they will want to give back, and your promotional email is now giving them that opportunity.

Want To Explode Your Fanbase?

With the power of the internet, it's now possible to pin-point the people who are the most likely to be your die-hard fans. These are the people who have the potential to fall in love with your music, and buy everything you put out. 

These are what's known as "Superfans", and I put together a free 7 step guide for how you can attract your Superfans, and actually make a living from your music. 

You can download this free guide by clicking the button below. 

Get it now and get ready to meet your Superfans!