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How to start and grow your email list?
You’ve probably already heard people singing the praises of email marketing and also probably thought; email? Isn’t that completely out of date? Well let me tell you, my friend, that you are missing out on one of the most useful and trendy tools of the moment!
Amazing mailing apps that offer awesome newsletter templates to easily design, incredible returns of investment, saving time and money… those are only some of the benefits email marketing and its new tools have for you.
However, any tool can become useless if we don’t use it properly. Once people have started to understand the great potential email marketing has, they have started to rush and buy huge contact lists so they can send them their newsletter campaigns. This may seem a good idea; the more the people, the more successful will my mailing campaign be. Wrong!
What is an email list?
Let’s start from the beginning: what is an email list? It is exactly what you’re thinking: a list of contacts, with names and emails addresses. Of course, without an email list it would be impossible to success with our email newsletter campaign: who would we send it to?
Why should I grow it and not buy it?
Here comes the dilemma; we can invest some money on buying an email list and quickly having it ready to send our newsletter or we can slowly create one of our own. Many companies choose the first option: it’s quick and easy. However, I’m going to give you some reasons to choose option two and (hopefully) convince you that it’s the most appropriate one!
Let’s say that you have an online clothing store, and that your main target are women between 15 and 30 years old. How could you benefit from a list of “people from Atlanta between 30 and 40 years old who have children”? There you go; it’s nearly impossible to buy your perfect list. It’s just not on sale! Focus on your target and forget the motto “the more, the better”.
Following that same argument, what will a 40 year old dad do when he receives your super girly campaign about your back to school discounts on tops and skirts? Let me answer that question for you: he will be annoyed. It has no sense that he receives this! His daughter might be your target, but instead of trying to get her email, you bought his.
Moreover, this is not how newsletter works; the difference between a newsletter and spam is that people who receive newsletter have actually agreed to do so. They have given a company a permission to send them information and promotions, that is, they have voluntarily subscribed.
When you buy a contact list, people there will have probably agreed to receive some other company’s newsletter, and now they are also receiving yours, which most likely will have nothing to do with the first one. As they didn’t give you a permission to send it to them and you are, therefore, annoying them, you will be considered spam.
Your newsletter will have no value if subscribers consider it spam, they won’t open it and will for sure unsubscribe when they have the chance, and your reputation will definitely be harmed. What’s the point in buying or renting an email list if your beloved newsletter will not be appreciated? None! Always have this in mind: quality is better than quantity.
How to actually start it and grow it, then?
You have a physical or online store where you sell products or services to your clients, right? Well the best way to turn them into subscribers is by asking them! This may sound stupid, but by having a subscribe button in your website where they can enter their email and join your newsletter, you can start your email list.
In order to grow it, you have to offer people something in exchange; coupon codes and special promotions are a great idea for people to join your newsletter: “10% off your first purchase if you join our club now! Enter here your email!”. “Invite a friend and you both get buy one get one free!”. That’s not bad, isn’t it? You probably just gained two subscribers!
Offline events are also a great idea; invite people to an event and request their email so you can send them the invitation, or maybe more info about the event. Let them bring a friend with them, and you will probably have them subscribed too so he can come; people love events! In the party itself, having a giveaway is another fantastic idea: you need people’s’ emails so they can enter the giveaway.
In addition, offering quality content is the best advice we can give you: people are most likely to subscribe to your newsletter if it includes tips and tricks, useful information about your products or services, a link to your well written blog…little by little, more and more people will enjoy your email marketing campaigns!
Once you have it… welcome to the email marketing world!
Once you have it… never stop growing it! As we just said, more and more people will happily receive your email newsletter and will probably turn from subscribers into clients! This is one of the advantages email marketing has: great conversion rates.
You must really invest in a good email marketing software once you have your own email list. Mailing apps are able to organize and manage your database, to personalize all of your emails, to show you statistics and data about your subscribers’ behavior so you can improve your strategy… and they offer the best thing you could think of: email newsletter templates, so you can design your perfect newsletter without knowing anything about design!
A nice email newsletter template is key to keep your subscribers interested. It should be related to your business, be attractive and organized and show your style: it’s a way of showing your corporate image.
You can also engage them by surprising them! Some mailing apps have hundreds of email newsletter templates, which include some seasonal ones. This way, you can wish them Happy Halloween, Merry Christmas and many more in a fun and original way. Maybe offer them a seasonal promotion… now you have them in your pocket!
Now put it to the test!
We get it, it sounds like a long journey, but we promise it’s worth it. Email marketing campaigns offer a unique way of fostering your subscribers’ loyalty towards your business and has proved to be very efficient.
Give mailing apps a try, because they will definitely make your life easier, and start creating fantastic email marketing campaigns that will, for sure, increase your sales and improve your relationship with your clients!