Email marketing has been around for a while, but it’s not going away anytime soon. Email is the best way to directly communicate with potential customers, and create customized messages for those at different points in the sales funnel. You can turn potential customers into loyal ones, or keep your fans coming back to your site. But without an email list, a great email list won’t translate into sales. The first step to a great email marketing campaign is growing your list. Here are ten quick tips to increase your email recipients and start turning visits into dollars.
1. BE CLEAR UP FRONT
You need to clearly communicate to those signing up for you email list exactly what they will receive. Explain when you’ll send emails, what you’ll send, and how it will benefit them. If you say you’ll send monthly emails, then bombard their inbox with daily messages, you’ll likely get a lot of unsubscribes. Don’t start a relationship by annoying your email recipients, be up-front about what they’re signing up for.
2. ADD A POP-UP
A pop-up box light box asking website visitors to subscribe to your email list can be an easy way to increase conversions. This small push is a great reminder for those to continue enjoying your content. Be sure to follow step number one, and be clear in your language what the visitors are agreeing to.
3. CUSTOMIZE YOUR MESSAGE
Specify your pop-ups and Call to Actions to the page or article the visitor is viewing. Coming across as a human being, not a faceless website, will make potential customers more likely to engage. Studies show that a customized message, as opposed to a general “Sign up for our email list,” greatly increases conversions.
4. ADD MORE SIGN-UP BOXES
Even if someone wants to sign up for your email messages, if they can’t find the signup, you’re not going to grow your list. Make your email sign-up easy to find and hard to ignore! Ask and you shall receive, so prominently feature it on your site. Including at the end of blog posts, on a side bar, or even at the top of the page.
5. ENCOURAGE SHARES
Asking visitors to share the content after they’ve read it seems simple, but this reminder is all people need. Social media shares can send your message to thousands of potential customers you would not have reached on your own.
6. RUN A CONTEST
Try running a contest on your site that requires an email subscription for entry. You can even offer extra entries for sharing the contest with others. Just make sure the prize is something your customers will actually want – the more valuable the prize, the more likely they are to share it.
7. ASK AN OLD LIST TO OPT-IN
Unsubscribing old members of a list may seem counterintuitive, but it could increase your conversions. If you have an email list you feel is growing stale, ask them to opt-in to keep receiving emails. If your emails are not being opened by a large percentage of receivers, you’re wasting your time. Ensure your content is getting to the right people with this small update.
8. ADD CTAS TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Turn your social media fans into email subscribers with a few quick additions. Add a CTA to the top of your Facebook page encouraging visitors to sign up for your email list. Add a link to your email sign-up page at the end of YouTube videos as well, or tweet a landing page that requires email subscriptions. Integrate email and social media for a strong digital marketing campaign.
9. CREATE AN EMAIL COURSE
An email course allows you to stay in contact with your subscribers, without coming up with new articles every week. When visitors sign up for your email course, they clearly are interested in the type of content you offer, making them more likely to be interested in further communication.
10. OFFER GREAT CONTENT!
The best way to persuade someone to sign up for your email is to offer valuable content that your visitors need. When you have valuable information, they will grow to rely on your company to stay up to date on the industry. Create a reputation for being informative and interesting, and watch the shares and conversions grow.
