Your email subscriber list is arguably the most important tool to building and retaining your client and customer relationships. The best part about growing your list? It can be effortless. Here are some tools you can use to get your email list to build itself.
First and most important, you need to make sure the subscribe button is displayed LOUD AND PROUD on your site. You certainly don’t want your audience to go through a scavenger hunt to opt-in, people will get bored and give up on their endeavor. Some ideal places to place the form are in the middle of popular and relevant content, at the top of a rail, or at the page’s footer. Also make sure to put it on any kind of notification like a sales confirmation or shipping notice. You may also benefit from a landing page dedicated to sign ups, which you could use for advertising campaigns. Another popular option is to add a pop-up when a user intends to close the page, hopefully piquing their interest. The popup should include some kind of incentive for agreeing to share personal information, maybe a small discount or early access to new products. However you implement a sign-up button, I’d strongly recommend placing it in your highest traffic areas at the very least.
Considering the button itself, you should always include a snippet ensuring readers that their information won’t be shared outside of the company. You’re also required to include a link to your full privacy policy, and you should make sure it’s obvious to your readers as well. This can make your readers feel more secure sharing their information if they’re confident you won’t be selling it for a quick buck. Additionally if you have different newsletters, consider segmenting them. Segmenting just means to let people opt in or out of certain subjects or days of the week. Not only does that allow you to gather more insight about your audience but you’ll also be able to narrow down the most successful days and times for active engagement on the site.
You really can’t go wrong by offering discounts. Whether it’s incentives for being a long-term subscriber, or a discount code for signing up in the first place, it’s estimated that around 60% of consumers are more likely to hit that ‘complete purchase’ button when there’s a discount added. A survey from RetailMeNot found that about 62% of customers couldn’t complete a purchase without looking for a discount. Especially with deal hunting add-ons like Honey, even a small discount can make a world of difference. At the very least, you’ll be growing a list of potential customers.
For those of you in the service industry, rather than retail, maybe plan and promote a webinar relevant to your business, or a contest/giveaway to people requesting a service in a slower part of the year. For example, a local plumber may run a promotion to win a discounted service. An OBGYN office could setup a webinar on prenatal care and what kind to expect during pregnancy. Really anything that engages your clients and entices them to tune in to what’s going on with your business.
Once you are confident in your effectiveness to build the list, it’s important to focus some energy on retaining it, and utilize it to the full capability. Having one or multiple lists can increase the effectiveness of each individual campaign you run, and really are necessary for any business trying to grow their audience.