Email was invented in 1970 but it is still the most effective digital channel for generating awareness, leads and sales. According to Ipso Mori, email marketing is a very common activity among consumers in Great Britain. 79% of respondents said they’d used email in the past three months.
A key to a successful email marketing is reaching out to the right audience. With email being a resilient technology, when you start building your own email list you are building an asset that will generate ongoing revenue for your business now and in future. Email marketing conducted according to its best practices can drive a massive ROI. A study by DMA found that businesses engaged in email marketing earned on average £38 for every GBP invested.
Don’t miss out on this chance and grow your business using a power of email marketing. Build your own mailing list to maximize your results. I’m going to present you 3 very effective online methods to achieve email list strategy success.
Before you start
Before you start building your list choose a reliable email service provider. The best of them let you send emails, manage subscribers, and offer great tracking. You will also be sure that your emails will get delivered via dedicated infrastructure. Also, your reputation will be protected and you won’t end up marked as spam, which can immediately tarnish your brand.
Once you have signed up for an email service provider, the next step is to integrate email subscription forms throughout your site. Yes, your own website is the best place to start building your mailing list. So let’s take a look at methods you can implement on fly and gather a valuable online community on your list.
1.Leverage organic traffic to your website
Email can function as a kind of engine that generates messages that attract customers and keep them coming back, which is an important key to growth. Leverage traffic you’re getting and convince people to stay in touch with you by opting-in.
Design, structure and content on your website should be planned to maximise conversion to sign-up. First of all, make sure your sign up form is visible as soon as visitors come to your site – at the top of the page. And on the right side of the page.
Why are these two places best? While reading content online, we typically scan everything in an F-pattern. That is, we read from left to right all the way to the end, therefore eyes of your visitor will most likely naturally land on your sign-up.
Don’t limit yourself to just one sign-up form. Use Google Analytics and see which of your subpages generate the most traffic. They will most likely be:
- the main page
- “About us”
- popular entries on your blog
Place different versions of your forms there. You can also try implementing pop-ups and slide-ins or slide-ups. Unlike static forms, these get more user’s attention.
Take a look at the graphic presenting some top placement positions for your newsletter signup form.
2. Create email-specific landing page and run Google Ads
This tactic can be very cost-effective if you start from preparing a lead magnet which is an answer to your audience needs or problems. It also proves to be a faster way of building your email list. However this method will require more of your time and focus.
On the basis of what you know about your target group and your own USP’s, you can prepare:
- Ebooks, reports and case studies.
- Buyer’s guides, use cases, definitive guides.
- Cheat sheets, templates and checklists.
- Video tutorials / recorded webinars
It has to be a premium offer good enough to make people want to fill out a form so they can get it.
Publicise your offer in a form of a landing page and run Google Ads which will refer respondents to a web site to sign-up. People respond positively to clarity. If you address the right people at the right time, and send them to targeted page with one clear CTA, people will naturally want to follow.
Most internet users will decide whether to stay on a page or abandon it in less than 6 seconds. That is why your landing page:
- needs to load quickly
- has to be verbally and visually compelling
- must have just one goal
3. Leverage social media presence
Consider places where your customers are emotionally engaged with you and find ways to take advantage of that moment. Don’t miss out on your social media following. Encourage your followers to join your mailing list. Make it easy for them to join your newsletter by embedding your sign up form on your business facebook page.
Use Twitter Cards on Twitter. When a user clicks on your Tweet to expand it they should see your offer and call to action. Another click gives permission to sign them up and Twitter sends the contact information to you, which is then accessible in Twitter Ads.
Host contests and similar promotions to increase your email subscriber on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
