Obtaining newsletter sign-ups is important for any successful online business. Your subscribers are your ‘soft leads’ which can then be coaxed through your sales funnel, with the ultimate goal of converting as many subscribers as possible into sales. Consistent, high-quality marketing e-mails will build trust in your brand, which is essential for increasing your customer base and revenue. These e-mails cannot only be used to obtain new customers but repeat orders from existing customers.
Not only do you raise the likelihood of sales through e-mail marketing, but you can also increase repeat traffic to your blog. You can also drive more traffic to your social media channels, increasing your followers. There’s a reason why [ Reported by CMI survey ]
77% of business-to-consumer companies use e-mail marketing.
Having a strong list of subscribers also adds value to your business. Data is an asset that is more valuable now than ever. This means if you ever decide to sell your business at any point, your e-mail list will be considered, possibly result in a high offer. As marketers often say, ‘the money’s in the list’.
Your website and offers need to be high quality to attract subscribers. Your design should look professional. Your content must be unique and well-written. No marketing strategy will work effectively without these basic principles already in place.
E-mail marketing is considered one of the most effective digital marketing strategies as it is one of the most likely to convert into sales.
91% of e-mail users check their inbox every day.
Source
E-mail marketing should be an integral part of your overall marketing strategy. Mailing lists have many benefits when compared to other marketing avenues, such as social media. For starters, you own your data, not the social media platform. Newsletters can be easily automated, saving you time. The e-mails you send can be personalized for specific groups or users. These will also produce reports, so you can measure the success of your various campaigns over time.
Studies have shown that e-mail marketing produces the highest return upon investment.
7% of online sales are thought to derive from an e-mail marketing campaign.
E-mail marketing is a relatively low-cost strategy when compared to other marketing methods such as advertising. There are many free of charge platforms to help you get started. Some of the best options include Mailchimp, Hubspot and Sendinblue.
Most of these platforms offer premium packages with extra features. These can be explored once you have grown your list to your initial target. These platforms are ideal for those without technical knowledge or expertise. They allow you to build well-designed, professional-looking campaigns, without having to learn HTML.
How many subscribers you ultimately achieve will depend on your niche, competition, the quality of your content and your traffic sources. What matters most is not the number of subscribers, but how engaged they are, and ultimately how likely they are to convert into paying customers.
Research shows that 60% of individuals join an e-mail sign up list to receive discounts and sales.
These subscribers are already highly interested in your website and product, and therefore are much easier to convert to customers.
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Offering an Incentive For Increasing Email List Size.
Spam e-mails are a common pest these days. There are more companies than ever competing for our data. Studies show the
Average sign-up rate per visitor is 1.95%.
Users have become warier about handing over their personal details in recent years. Therefore, you will need to offer value and an incentive in order to obtain this information. Make the benefits of signing up for your newsletter clear. Let them know exactly what content they will receive in return for their sign up.
Some ideas for incentives you could offer include:
1. Run a giveaway or contest.
For example: ‘Sign Up To Our Newsletter To Win A Year’s Free Subscription To Our Website’. Running a giveaway is a low cost and effective strategy for growing your e-mail list. Subscribers are going to be interested in your product, and any future offers you may send out. Contests provide an incentive for immediate action. Users don’t want to miss out on the chance to get something for free. Use a random online generator to select your winner. Once selected, share on your social channels. This will increase your exposure and trust in your brand.
2. Create a ‘lead magnet’.
For example ‘Get Your Free E-Book Today When You Sign Up To Our Newsletter’. This is a free gift that will be given to visitors in exchange for their sign up. Popular lead magnets include a PDF or e-book which contains information your visitors perceive as highly valuable. These could include lists, videos, how-to guides, reports, or short books. Check our CRM Buyer guide for example.
3. Product discounts.
For example: ‘Sign Up To Our Newsletter Today & Get 10% Off’. Create a bespoke voucher code for a percentage off your product and e-mail it to whoever signs up for your newsletter. This will make it really easy to measure the success of your offer. This is also a great way to increase revenue and get repeat customers. The product discount strategy also has the added bonus that these are users who are already highly interested in purchasing from you. This strategy usually performs best in terms of sale conversions.
4. Try content locking.
For example: ‘Sign Up To Our Newsletter Today To Read The Rest Of This Article’. Content locking is a blogging strategy that involves just giving a preview of a topic, rather than the full article. Users have to subscribe to your newsletter to ‘unlock’ the rest of the content. This strategy only works if you have truly valuable content that is long, unique, and detailed. Shortchanging visitors could quickly lead to them hitting the unsubscribe button!
5 Put a monetary value on your incentive.
For example: Get our Free Course: Valued at $100’. Everyone loves to think they are getting a good deal, and giving away something of a high perceived value will quickly help you build trust with your potential customers.
6. Make it as easy as possible to sign up.
The fewer clicks needed to subscribe, the better. Many companies have success by just asking for an e-mail address rather than their telephone number, address etc.
Having fewer fields on your sign-up form can increase subscriptions by up to 11%.
You may wish to ask for their first name. Statistics show that individuals are more likely to open an e-mail that is addressed to them by name.
E-mails addressed to a first name are 26% more likely to be opened than an unaddressed message.
Your sign up form should be dominant and feature on every single page of your website.
7. Use social media.
Invite followers to subscribe to your newsletter via Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram. If they are already following you on social media, chances are they are already interested in your brand or product. This should increase your chances of converting them from follower to subscriber.
8. Create a pop-up
Did you know 70% of users that leave your website will never return?
Create a pop-up that requests an e-mail address before they leave. Exit-intent pop-ups can increase your e-mail sign-up list by 2-4%.
Make sure your pop-up works well for mobile users too or you will be missing out on a huge proportion of your traffic. Any pop-ups should be easy to close. Annoyed visitors don’t convert!
9. Add a sign-up button to your Facebook business page.
Facebook has a function so you can display a subscribe button right under your Facebook cover image. This is a quick and easy way to get the most out of your Facebook audience.
10. Add a sign-up link to your e-mail signature
If you are responding to inquiries via e-mail, chances are they are already a potential customer. Maximize this opportunity by having a link to sign up to your newsletter in your e-mail signature. Include social media channels too, as social proof will lead to more conversions.
11. Show social proof
Once you have built up your e-mail address, display how many opt-ins you have. For example, ‘become subscriber 10,401 now’. This demonstrates authority and makes users feel safe handing over their information to you.
12 Create legal pages
These are not only a necessity for legal purposes, but make your website look more legit. The detail in your privacy page how exactly your company handles data and how it will be used. This will reassure users that their information is in good hands.
13. Make your newsletter shareable-
Include an option that makes it easy to share or forward your newsletter. Word of mouth is invaluable for gathering leads. Recommendations like this are the ultimate in social proof.
Final Thought
Once you have a decent list of subscribers, you need to take steps to maximize the opportunity. Set your e-mail marketing up so it automatically generates a ‘welcome’ e-mail upon sign-up. This will supply them with the promised incentive, thank them for trusting you with their information and provide the first opportunity to begin building your relationship with a potential client.
Your e-mail address should be easy to unsubscribe from. This may seem counter-productive, but it is important to follow marketing guidelines and for your businesses reputation. Having an unsubscribe option keeps your data ‘clean’. There’s no point in constantly e-mailing a user who is no longer interested, it simply wastes both your time.
Monitor any reports your e-mail marketing list produces. This will tell you just how well your campaigns are performing, and which content/styles work well. Act accordingly, and adjust your newsletter to suit. This will produce the most successful results for your e-mail marketing strategy.
Chief Saasologist
Myself Snehil Prakash aka Chief Saasologist of Howtobuysaas. I am a saas marketer, who loves studying evolving software that is bringing change to the world. Share the same with people via howtobuysaas platform.
