Email subscribers are marketing gold, but just like potential love interests, getting those email subscribers is not always easy. Here’s our tips.
If marketing was dating, a customer signing up to receive email newsletters would be the equivalent of the person you hit it off with at a party giving you their digits.
Going home with a phone number means anything is possible. You can phone the next day (or second next day; you don’t want to look needy), maybe ask them out on a date. Then that might lead to another date, and then another, and then, who knows, this could be the start of a long and special relationship.
Similarly, email subscribers signing up to receive email newsletters from you opens up a whole new world of marketing possibilities.
It means you can contact them directly, tell them what your business is, why it is different to your competitors, and convince them that they should choose you to assist them with what they need.
Email subscribers are marketing gold, but just like potential love interests, getting those email subscribers is not always easy.
Here’s the moves you need to pull to grow your email subscriber list.
1. Offer free content
People love free stuff, particularly if it helps them with their life.
Creating a free tool, such as a budget spreadsheet, a workbook, or e-book acts as an incentive to sign up to your email newsletter.
Requiring an email to use or receive this free tool appears to the customer as a zero-cost, easy transaction to acquire something that will be of actual value to them.
Ongoing free content, such as access to financial advice, recipes, charts and information, is perceived by customers as a real bargain. It also raises their perception of your business as generous and genuinely interested in improving their lives.
2. Build trust with opt-ins
It seems kind of counter-intuitive to highlight to email subscribers that they can opt out of your email newsletter easily and at any time, but doing so isn’t actually much of a risk.
According to email company Campaign Monitor, the average unsubscribe rate is only about 0.1 per cent. Yet, the benefits of promoting the ability to unsubscribe are plentiful.
It builds trust with your audience, and it means that your list is comprised of customers who actually want to hear from you and are interested in consuming your product or services.
3. Offer an immediate incentive
It’s the most powerful way to grow your email list: offer a discount or incentive to subscribe.
In fact, it’s estimated that about 60 per cent of email subscribers opt-in to receive an immediate discount or promotion.
An added bonus is that the conversion rate of immediate discounts is high – people get the discount and then use it.
You could offer 10 per cent off the first purchase after they subscribe, for example, or offer access to exclusive sales and promotions on an ongoing basis.
4. Collaborate
According to US marketing guru Neil Patel, 57 per cent of brands use partnerships with other organisations to grow their businesses.
Why is this tactic so successful?
Partnering with other brands exposes you to a whole new audience – and the best way to develop these new leads is to get them to subscribe, so you can contact them directly.
5. Run a competition
People love winning stuff, and the best competitions are the ones that are free to participate in – and research tells us that leads generated from competitions have a conversion rate of almost four per cent higher than other forms of lead generation.
As a prize, you might offer a free consultation, products or services.
Prizes don’t have to be particularly high value for people to enter their email details to participate.
Want more insights? Speak to the marketing experts
Marketing is something that requires deep evidence-based knowledge of what works and what doesn’t, and experience in executing the most successful campaigns.
That’s why, if you’re ready to grow your business by increasing leads and your customer base, it’s a good idea to call in the marketing experts.
Assemblo is a full-service marketing agency based in Melbourne who are renowned for developing and implementing marketing strategies that result in tangible bottom line results.
To find out how we can help your business, give us a call on (03) 9079 2555 or send us a note via the contact form below.