Email marketing is still a very effective form of digital marketing. Use these tips to increase your list.
If you want evidence that email marketing is still important, consider these statistics:
Millennials, an important market segment for any business, check their email virtually anywhere and everywhere. In fact, about 70 percent of them check their email from their beds, more than half of them check it from the bathroom (ewww) and, sadly, about 25 percent check it while driving.
What’s more, Google reports that about 75 percent of Gmail’s 900 million users access their accounts on mobile devices, which means that not only is email marketing important, but mobile marketing is crucial, as well.
Given the importance of email marketing, you want to have as large an audience as possible. Here are some easy ways to grow your email subscription base:
Make the email opt-in box easy to find
Web surfers will make a relatively quick decision on whether they like your website or brand and whether they want to gather more information. Don’t make them hunt around for an email opt-in button. A well-designed website will provide several opt-in opportunities through a strategically located button or link on each page. At a minimum, put them at three locations: the top of the page, the sidebar and the bottom of the page.
Bonus tip: the opposite of this is also true. When sending out marketing email, make it easy for customers to opt out of the email, too. Sometimes, things just don’t work out. There’s no reason to make your customers hunt for an escape hatch.
Limit the information collected
Everywhere you look, people are asking for more of your personal information. We understand that that’s the nature of business these days but…doesn’t it get annoying? Besides, in an age when privacy threats are everywhere, consumers are increasingly hesitant to give up too much information. If you ask for too much information, you’ll turn prospective customers off.
All you need is their email address and perhaps their first name. With that simple bit of information, you can personalize an email subject line. If you want to ask for more information to further identify their demographics—such as age, location, or other information—make sure you indicate that it’s an option and not required.
Prove it!
A subscription list is a bit like a snowball: it gets bigger as it rolls along. If you can show a large number of subscribers and post plenty of positive testimonials, new customers will see and expect value. Most of your work will be done for you.
Give things away
Special offers are the most successful way to attract new email subscribers—and customers. Offer a discount, special service or membership to a rewards club. When in doubt, offer a gift: that will give you an opportunity to ask them for additional information (their address, perhaps) or get them to visit your shop and take a quick photo with you. That’s the kind of content you can repurpose and use to further build up your audience.
Those are some of our ideas. Do you have any others? Let us know in the comments!