“If you build it they will come…”
It would be difficult to argue against the importance of staying in touch with your customers. However, traditional materials like physical mail can cost a fortune, and cold-calling can take an eternity or even miss prospects entirely. Email, on the other hand, is the most cost effective, time efficient way to communicate with your audience – and that includes creating an email list.
Being the savvy marketer you are, you already know this, so you take the time to build out an email campaign. The branding looks impeccable. The copy speaks to your target audience and your subject line makes it nearly impossible to ignore. You pat yourself on the back and are just getting ready to hit send when you realize -whomp, whomp- you have no one to send it to.
It’s obvious that growing your email list is important, but how do you do it? With most email users skeptical about signing up for yet another newsletter, email marketers already face an uphill battle.
Below, we have listed several ways to not only begin building an email list, but ensure it continues to grow long after you hit send.
Sign Up Form Visibility – Exposure, exposure, exposure. The more places you are able to advertise your newsletter, the more likely people will be to sign up. Facebook pages, websites and even physical sign-up forms are all ways you can and should ask prospects for their email address.
- When a new prospect has subscribed – welcome them and let them know what they can expect.
- If someone hasn’t opened the past 3 emails – send them a coupon code.
- When a loyal customer chooses to read everything you send out – show your appreciation by sending them a thank you note.
Create relevant and engaging content – A subscriber opened your email! Congratulations, the hard part is over. Now that they’ve done exactly what you wanted, thank them with content they’ll enjoy and can relate to. Assure them that they’ll want to keep opening your emails.
Pro tip: Start segmenting sooner than later. Trying to backtrack and add attributes to pre-existing subscribers can be difficult.
Joint Promotions – Reach out to companies that share similar values and work together to create a campaign to grow your email lists. Hold a giveaway in which the only requirement for eligibility is to sign up for both companies’ newsletters. In doing so, you are doubling your reach and potentially your list.
Need help growing your own list? Flying Cork can help! Reach out to our email specialists today to see how you can use email to get your messages heard.
