By Ryan Englin, CEO of Inspire Business Concepts
www.inspirebusinessconcepts.com
3 Ways to Build Your Email Marketing List
While the average person receives over 150 emails per day, email marketing is still a very effective way to market your business. In fact, the return on investment for email marketing is one of the highest out there – some studies say up to 4,300%!
For email marketing to work, you need to build a list of high-quality, highly engaged customers or prospects and doing this right is time-consuming.
Although it may be tempting to add every email you’ve ever received to your list, if someone is not likely to remember you then it’s best to skip them and add the customer who will. The quality of the list is arguably more important than the size of the list.
Here are three ways to get started in building a high-quality list.
1. Ask
You’ll probably feel uncomfortable doing this, but most people are willing to give their email address if they believe you will deliver them value.
Add the asking process to your customer touch points – at the time of sale, when you’re providing service, or as a personal follow-up.
Train your employees (and yourself) to start asking for email addresses.
2. Offer Value
If you want someone to provide their email address, give them something they will value.
This could be a promotional coupon, a free item, or even valuable content that is only available when you sign up.
Just make sure whatever you offer you follow through. Oh and don’t make subscribers have to do something else to receive your offer. If they do, it’s not an offer. We recently saw an offer from a car dealership giving a $25 Amazon gift card if you signed up on their website. However, once we received the email, it was only AFTER we test drove a vehicle.
3. Start A Newsletter
Promote your newsletter on your website and through social media. Make sure the content is valuable and is something your customers will want to share with their friends and family.
If you already produce valuable content for your website, repurpose it and include excerpts in your newsletter.
Or deliver content they can only get from the newsletter and let them know about it before they sign up. It could be special offers, coupons, event notifications, or useful DIY tips.
Building a high-quality list takes time, but with a little bit of effort, you’ll have another path to bringing in customers to your business.
