Clever Ways to Attract and Build Your Email Subscriber List
Email Marketing can be profitable for any business, no matter what kind of product or service you offer. It is significantly cheaper than other advertising methods and, if done right, helps build loyalty and trust with customers. As a result of having an engaged email subscriber list, you generate more sales and more profits!
The foundation for successful email marketing is a targeted, permission-based email list. Marketers call contact lists their ‘goldmine’ because it can generate much of their sales revenue. If you’ve built up a list of opt-in subscribers that are qualified and interested in what you have to offer, then you’ve completed the first step and are on your way. Now it’s time to ‘mine’ for gold!
Below you’ll find several list-building and retention ideas that will help you get the best results from all your email marketing activities:
Provide useful, relevant content
Your visitors will not give you their email addresses just because they can subscribe to your newsletter free of charge. You have to provide unique and valuable information that will be of interest or use to them. This is absolutely the most important thing to be doing.
Add a subscription form to every page on your website
Make sure it stands out so it is easy to find. If it doesn’t look cluttered, you may want to include more than one on some pages. For instance, if your opt-in form always appears in the top-left corner of your site, you may want to add one at the end of your most popular articles.
Make it easy for readers to sign up
The more information you request, the fewer people will opt-in to your email subscriber list. In most cases, a name and an email address should be more than enough. If it’s not necessary, don’t include it here. You can always survey them once they’re customers! We do recommend that you provide a link to your Privacy Policy however.
Add subscription forms to your social media
Make sure that you don’t waste this valuable source of revenue opportunities. Integrate your sign-up forms with Facebook and more! Quality email marketing software like Mailerlite, includes subscription form builders and templates for free with your account.
Publish a Privacy Policy
Let your readers know that they can be confident you will not share their information with others. The easiest way to do this is to set up a Privacy Policy web page and provide the link to it below your opt-in form.
Provide samples
Previous examples of your newsletters and emails help show quality. This lets potential subscribers review your materials before they sign up to determine if it’s something they’d be interested in.
Archive past newsletters and articles
An online library of past newsletters and articles is both appealing and useful to visitors and builds your credibility as an authority. In addition, if your articles are written with good SEO techniques in mind, they can increase traffic to your website through enhanced search engine positioning.
Give gifts subscribers can actually use
Offer an opt-in bonus for joining your email subscriber list! Write an ebook or provide a PDF business report, or even hire a programmer to create downloadable or web-based software. However don’t limit yourself to offering gifts to opt-ins.
Give them out when your readers fill out a survey, provide a testimonial, success story, or a great product idea. Let them know when they can expect the next gift offer. Everyone likes to get something for free! And if you pass out ‘goodies’ throughout the year, your subscribers will feel truly appreciated − and that’s good for business!
Ask your subscribers to pass it on
Word of mouth is a powerful viral technique that works great with email marketing. If your subscribers find your content interesting, amusing or informative, they’ll probably share it with their friends. This can be a great source of new customers, so make sure to remind them to ‘pass it on’.
Include a ‘Sign Up’ button in your newsletter
If you’re using plain text instead of HTML, be sure to provide a text link to your subscription page. You may feel that this is not required because the recipient is already on your email subscriber list, however remember that readers will forward your newsletters to others, or reprint them online. Make it easy for them to subscribe!
Create a landing page
A landing page has one goal − to acquire opt-ins and build your list. Think of it as a mini-sales letter to go along with your subscription or opt-in gift. It should feature a strong landing page headline and a couple of powerful benefits that should make subscribers salivate to sign up!
Once created, use a service such as WordTracker to find hundreds of targeted keywords, and promote your offer by running a pay-per-click advertising campaign. Now that should make a splash!
Include testimonials
This is crucial. Put one or two strong testimonials from satisfied members of your email subscriber list on your squeeze page. This can be in any format, however you may find that multimedia (audio or video) is more ‘believable’ and inspires more people to action. To further enhance believability, get permission to use actual customer names, locations and/or urls (Don’t use ‘Bob K, FL’). Add a note inviting others to participate. After all, it’s free publicity!
Blog regularly
Blogging is a great way to communicate with prospects and potential customers, and creates a nice synergy with your email marketing. Be sure to include your newsletter sign-up form on each page of your business blog.
Post on other blogs
Post thoughtful comments and information on similar blogs with a link to your squeeze or opt-in pages. Also comment on others’ blogs through trackbacks. In most cases, your comments will be posted on their blogs with a link back to your site. This is an easy way to generate new traffic and subscribers, and get your brand out there!
Your email subscriber list
Marketing to an engaged and keen email subscriber list will grow your business faster than any other marketing medium!
