Good news, you read that email marketing is more powerful than Facebook and Twitter for getting people to buy your game and so you signed up for an email marketing service. But now you are thinking, what am I actually supposed to do with my email list?
Well luckily I am here to give the missing instruction book for email marketing. Follow just half of these steps and you will be light years ahead of most developers and be well on your way to creating an energized fan base who will download every single one of your games day 1 and leave you glowing reviews.
At the end of each step I include a super easy “Action to take" that you can do today that will show you immediately how awesome email marketing is.
Step 1: Understand what email marketing is good for and how to think about it.
Unfortunately I see many indie devs use email marketing just like another form of social media. They essentially email a longer version of what they already posted to Twitter and Facebook and usually a few days later. Social media and email marketing are very different and serve different purposes. Knowing this distinction will help you when deciding what to post where.
Social media is very good at saying “look at me! Look at me!” to people who have no idea that you exist. It is a discovery platform. Using hashtags and getting retweeted are the best ways for new people to find you. However, once they know about you, social media becomes less useful because it is really bad at getting people to actually act on what you want them to do (such as going to Steam to buy your game)
Email will never help new players discover you. It is, however, very very good at turning those mildly interested folks who found you on social media into die-hard fans who will buy every single thing you make the day it comes out. 
There are many stages someone goes through when they first hear about you. Social Media makes them aware, but mailing lists makes them true fans. Note that sad social media line puttering out after someone is aware (Face icons courtesy of the classic GamePro review scale)
The reason Email marketing is so effective is because it appears as a 1 to 1 conversation between you and each subscriber. Your email goes right to your fan’s inbox with their name in the “To” field and your name in the “From” field. Social media, on the other hand, is like using a bull horn from atop a soapbox while you yell to a largely anonymous audience. Email on the other hand is personal and is most effective when you pretend that you are writing it to a single close friend. Never write in an email that starts “Hi All” or “Hey everyone.” Instead say “Hi Mary.”
A helpful way to think of email is to pretend your list is your company’s fan club. Social media is where your fair weather fans live, but your die hards they know that, to get the real scoop, they need to belong to the email list. With that in mind, your email marketing should be where you share the more nitty-gritty details about your game, yourself, and your company. Share stuff here that you don’t tell any of the other social media platforms. People stay subscribed to your email list because they know that they get the inside information that cannot be found anywhere else. For instance, The Beatles ran a fan club where they would send out personal records with special messages to their fans. Here is one of their fan-club-exclusive Christmas Albums. Listen to how they speak personally to this group:
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Action to take:
Send an email to your list this week and write it as if you are emailing a close acquaintance. Remind them who you are and just tell them a game that influenced you to make the game you are currently working on and why you liked it. Then, ask them what game they recently played that they really liked. That’s it.
For example
“Hi, Chris here, I am making a platformer that takes place entirely on one screen. I got the idea while playing Toad’s Treasure Tracker. I loved how it was like playing a tiny self contained world where I could see everything I needed to do at one time. I want my game to also feel so self contained. Have you been playing anything recently?”
Step 2: Setup your email template
Your emails should NOT have complex formatting with a bunch of HTML, graphics, and multiple headline levels. Remember how I said this is supposed to feel like an email with a friend. How many times do you email your friends with all that crazy graphic design? I bet it is just a regular old text email.
When you send emails with complex formatting and HTML, it looks like an email you get from a huge corporation trying to sell you something. Remember, you are a small scrappy indie studio. Embrace it. Use regular text.
In Mailchimp chose the Basic 1 Column or 1 column full width template.Who has ever recieved a non-sales email with more than 1 column. BLECH! Don't use those multi-column layouts.
IMPORTANT:
Don't pick the MailChimp option called "Plain Text" because that option removes the tracking pixel that allows the MailChimp software to know whether the recipient opened the email or not. It is very important feature so make sure you don't pick the option "plain text."
Action to take:
When you are writing your email that I told you to do in Step #1, pick the “basic text” option in MailChimp. Do include a small version of your logo at the top of the email or next to your signature. That visual cue will help remind readers who you are.
Step 3: Write single-subject emails
Every email you send should have only one action that you want the reader to perform. Don’t send emails with multiple sections that each have their own links. These omnibus emails announcing a discount, telling me about a new blog post you wrote, listing new merch, and then finally telling me to join your Discord are confusing. By the end of reading it your audience will not know what to do and just close the email. If you really want your reader to do something, send an email that is about only the one action you want them to perform. For example this should be your email:
“Hi <subscribers_name>, Chris here, I just setup a Discord to discuss my game with a bunch of other players who are discussing strategies and setting up matches. You should join it. Here is a link. [Button: Join Discord]”
There is no question what you want me to do with an email like that. Yes it means more emails but they don’t take long to read, and you are much more likely to get the action you want done.
Action to take:
A week after you send your question email, send a second email that just tells them the forums you use to connect to your fans. Is it a Discord, a slack channel, a dev log on Touch Arcade? Whatever it is, send them there.
Step 4: Get people to join your list
Very very few people are just going to give you their email address for "news and updates." However, you will greatly increase signups when you hand out a small freebie as part of the ask. The giveaway item is emailed as soon as they confirm their email and is theirs to keep even if they immediately unsubscribe. This little giveaway is called a “lead magnet” and is incredibly powerful.
That little blue guy might be barely aware of your game, but he is willing to give you his email address if you give him a cool gift.
There are two places you should have a giveaway:
From your public-facing marketing material (website/social media/youtube)
From within each of the games you have released.
Outside your game
Your lead magnet has to be something digital (so they can download it) and appeal to the type of gamers who like your genre of games. It also has to be tangible and immediate. It should feel like an "impulse buy” for the person considering your list
Here are a few ideas for lead magnets. Again this depend on your type of game and what resources you have.
Your game’s original soundtrack
A PDF ebook of your game’s concept art (good if you have great artists on the team)
A short story set in the game’s universe (useful lore-heavy RPGs)
A guide with a chart of all the character’s moves (if you have a fighting or brawler game)
Level maps (if you have a metroidvania or adventure game)
A hint guide (if you have a puzzle game)
A free downloadable game that you made (can be a game jam game or one that you made a while ago that is not selling as well)
In a future blog post I will cover how to configure and advertise your lead magnet. But basically you need to use your email marketing service to auto respond and send an email after someone joins your list. That email will have a link to download your lead magnet.
From within your games
Adding an email signup to your marketing material is good but adding it to your games is even better. Few of your potential customers actually go to your website. They are more likely to find your games and download them straight from Steam/App store.
Lead magnets are also much more effective in the game because they can be used immediately. Here are some ideas in-game lead magnets. Configure it so players can ONLY get these things if they join your mailing list.
Unlockable characters
Special bonus levels
Special weapons
Developer commentary
If this is your first game and you are months away from releasing, consider taking a short break to release a free micro-game that has a signup for your list.
The developers at CROWS CROWS CROWS used this technique by releasing the total
