Whenever I speak about Email Marketing, I always tell my audience two facts about Email Marketing: 1) that it is the highest returning marketing strategy ever; 2) that it should be a constant goal for all retail business owners to increase their number of email subscribers.
According to a study conducted by Direct Marketing Association, Email Marketing can provide up to 4,300% Return Of Investment (ROI). It can give you better results than any social media marketing (combined) can.
However, there are many factors that may cause your email marketing to fail; for example, a decrease in subscriber count. People change companies, others use temporary emails, some lose their passwords and create a new email, or worse, they opt out from your program. When you lose these quality leads / potential customers without gaining new ones, you lose the game.
So how do we constantly grow our email marketing list? Today, we’ve come up with 9 ways that will secure consistent subscribers!
Send Engaging Content
Before you even start thinking about ways to gain new subs, make sure you try your best to not lose the ones you already have. There’s no point in having sign-up activities that may lead you to new subscribers, if you’re only going to send them junk!
So create unique and engaging content! Focus on writing content that does the THREE E’s:
- Empower
- Entertain
- Educate
Segment Your Content
This is related to the point above, but just needs a little more emphasis…
What might be appealing to one person may not be as appealing to another. This is why segmentation is very important. Group your subscribers into specific characteristics that would make content curation easier for you to do. Simple segmentation like male or female will do wonders when you send blog posts, deals, offers, among others.
Irresistible Offer
When you ask your website visitors to sign up to your email program, you must answer the question: what’s in it for me?! Give them an irresistible offer, so they will want to sign up. These offers could be in the form of an eBook, free service, link to a resource, discount, etc.
Hold A Webinar
What’s a webinar, you ask? A webinar is just like a traditional seminar but is conducted online. It’s cost-effective and gives you the opportunity to pull up as many resources as you can from the internet. There are two ways you can grow your email marketing list through a seminar:
By asking people to sign up via their email for FREE access to your webinar or by promoting your irresistible offer during the webinar.
Join & Host Online Contests
Let’s face it: Free stuff makes us all excited. Hosting contests and giveaways help make our subscribers feel special. It shows them that at the end of the day, we think about and thank them for signing up. Think about it, how often do you sign up to something for the free goodies? How does it make you feel when you get rewarded for simply entering an email?
There’s no denying the fact that hosting a contest may take up some of your time. If you want to hold a contest but simply don’t have the time, you can easily co-host with bloggers, with the requirement that the participants be pointed back to your site or landing page.
Go to Trade Shows & Host Offline Events
Don’t forget that the traditional ways still work, just not as fast. If you have a retail store and there is a trade show you can participate in, join it! Trade shows allow you meet people who are in the industry you are in, so getting their contact information shouldn’t be too hard. You can also host small get-togethers in your community. You can invite your target market, get them to try some freebies, or give them coupons for your site. Don’t forget to get their business cards too and ask permission if you can add them to your list. Seriously, local followers can be the best fans!
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is not dead! Matt Cutts said so himself in an update he did to his most controversial blog:
“It seems like most people are getting the spirit of what I was trying to say, but I’ll add a bit more context. I’m not trying to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are still many good reasons to do some guest blogging (exposure, branding, increased reach, community, etc.). Those reasons existed way before Google and they’ll continue into the future. And there are absolutely some fantastic, high-quality guest bloggers out there.”
While having a post on other sites may not directly increase your email subscribers, you can establish yourself as a leader in the field and will then attract more website visitors and followers.
Use Social Share Buttons
Social share buttons aren’t just for blogs; they’re perfect for your email too! Use a template that lets you add some social share buttons, so it’s easier for your subscribers to share your content directly from your email. The more people that read your content, the better chances you’ll have at growing your list!
Multiple Email Subscription Channels
When one of my clients started a digital transformation program with me, they only had a single email subscription channel on their blog. I then asked them to make their subscription channels visible in different areas in their website… and guess what?! Their subscribers rose to 200%!
It’s pretty simple, really! Make it easy for website visitors to find the subscription box. If you’re creating awesome content, sneak in a form near your content so they can sign up after they read your post.
So there you have it! If you’re feeling puzzled as to how you can grow your email list aside from promoting it through your social media accounts and having a sign-up form, follow these easy breezy steps and watch your list grow instantly!
Which of the following steps do you feel would help you most? What tips can you add? Share your thoughts through the comment box below!