Why Should TPTers Email in Summer?
Emailing in summer feels as useful as teaching before Field Day. A waste of time because NO ONE is listening.
You’re writing emails. But no one is opening them. Which means you’re making no money from your emails.
So what’s the point? Should you stop emailing during the summer? Or should you bury your head in the sand and keep going until August? They’ll start reading again when they surface from their Netflix binge school starts back.
No.
The point of emailing during June isn’t what you’ve been told by expert TPTers with email lists. Emailing is so much more complex than what we think it is when we first start marketing our TPT business.
The number one reason, you think you’re emailing your list during the summer is based on bad well intentioned advice.
You Might Think You're Emailing to Make Sales
The goal of summer emails isn’t to sell your products.
Unless you have an audience outside of the US, or made up of year around teachers, your audience isn’t teaching. So buying products isn’t on their minds.
Your audience doesn’t even want to see a TPT product because it’s going to remind them of the 56 42 37 days of freedom they have left. But every email is supposed to have a call to action, right? And if they aren’t going to take action and buy, then why email?
We’ll get to that in a minute.
But there is a second reason, experienced TPTers say you should email in the summer.
It’s Also Not to Stay Top of Mind
Some TPTers will tell you to keep emailing to stay top of mind. But if you are emailing in June, and no one is reading…are you staying top of mind?
Or are you becoming ignorable?
To stay top of mind means being interesting. And opened. And read. You aren’t top of mind if your open rate plummets more than post COVID test scores.
So why should you spend hours on 8 summer emails?
Because if you aren’t, you’re missing out on one of the biggest pieces of future growth.
(And with Google’s new policies, this may be the only way to gauge your rates in the future.)
If Done Right, You’ll Make More Money Later
Summer is the time to build relationships.
Take time to care for your audience.
Build your emails around getting replies. This is when teachers have more time to write you back. So use that time to get them off Netflix responses.
But not in a “Hey! What are you doing this summer? I’m going to Yellowstone…” kinda way. Ick—That’s how Sorority Sister Suzie would do it. Your emails can be so much better than that.
Write emails that are so controversial, they email you back.
Write emails that are so inspirational, they email you back.
Write emails that are so different, They. Email. You. Back.
Don’t Bury Your Head in the Sea of Sameness that You See on TPT.
If your open rates are dropping, it’s not because “open rates drop in July.”
It’s because content needs to change to match the drastic change in teachers’ lives during summer.
They are at home with their kids and not teaching.
They are working a second job and not teaching.
They are searching for a summer with meaning and not teaching.
If you’re having trouble coming up with what to send teachers in the summer, I have a whole product line for that. You'll find something to inspire them, relax them, and help them binge the most relatable shows on Netflix.
(Hey. If that’s what they want, help them find the perfect show and call it therapy.)
