The biggest challenge for email marketers is to build a cost-effective list.
At least thirty per cent of the email addresses change on most lists. Therefore, marketers have to go for a more aggressive approach to expand the list and get more significant investment returns.
Permission is undoubtedly not an optional thing. Taking permission is the primary key to maintaining an almost constant email list, along with other steps. If permission is not accepted, it means direct landing up as a spam complaint or even breaking the U.S Law for spamming.
The signup form should be featured on every web page. No opportunity should be missed for turning the visitor into a subscriber.
Subscription value can be enhanced by adding sample emails, a screenshot of an email, testimonials and a good copy on the signup and registration page.
Incentives increase the conversion rates to a great extent. To attract more subscribers, incentives can be offered upon signing up. The incentives can be as small as white papers and as big as special discounts.
Today everything is becoming search engine optimized. Therefore it is the need of the hour to optimize the website for the website to land in the first hundred search results. The current and archived web pages and newsletters must be optimized to increase the website’s traffic rate and subscription rate.
Search services such as Google AdWords can be made use of, including subscription links on the landing page and promoting the website. Opt-in checkboxes must be added to the demo requests, registration forms and white papers. This increases the conversion rates by at least fifty per cent.
A very simple method to increase new subscriptions is including the ‘Send-to-a-friend‘ option. If the current subscribers find an email interesting, there are greater chances that the email is liked by their friends too. And if they want the emails, there is an even greater chance that they will subscribe to receive future emails.
Email subscription can also be encouraged by print ads, catalogues, direct mails, radio and television.
Employees can be directed to include the ‘Subscribe to the company’s newsletter’ link in their signature lines.
In appropriate situations, the sales employees and customer support can ask customers whether they would like to receive promotional emails.
Signup forms can be distributed at seminars and public speaking engagements, and newsletters can be given at such locations. Permission can include opt-in forms in trade show lead generation forms so that booth visitors can subscribe.
If the postal information of the customers is in the database, postcards can be sent to them, which ask them to subscribe to newsletters. Signups can be promoted in transactional and confirmation emails. It is optional to include an opt-in link on receipts, product registration cards, invoices and warranty.
The company’s email and newsletters can be promoted in other company’s publications. Sites and industry directories can also be used for promotion.
Product shipping boxes are the next important place to include the opt-in form. Many catalogers and retailers even have promotional offers from non-competing companies.
Newsletters that have topical articles can be used for the press release, along with information such as how to subscribe and content being offered. This option is helpful to smaller companies.
