To get the email results that’ll put a smile on your boss’s face, we need to start with your email list.
Before you roll out your new email marketing campaign, you’ll need to build a list of recipients to get those messages to first or grow the existing list you currently have. When you create an audience by building an email list, you’ll have the opportunity to nurture and develop them in a way that keeps highly engaged and interested in what you have to say. After all, by signing up for your emails, these readers (and potential customers) have already expressed that they want and need your help. This makes selling what you’re offering a lot easier later down the line. But as you may have figured out, it’s pretty hard to capture email addresses from total strangers. Getting readers to sign up for your email list takes trust-building and effort – and there are no shortcuts along the way. There are so many different list-building strategies that it may be hard for someone just getting started to find the one that works best for their brand.
Tip #1: Create a free opt-in offer
One of the best ways to capture email addresses organically is to give away something valuable for free. This freebie could be any form of content that shows off your brand’s expertise, such as an eBook or email series packed with helpful lessons, or a consultation or demo of your product or service. You’ll want to offer a more top-of-the-funnel piece of content, like an eBook or email series, to people who need a little more nurturing before they’re ready to make a purchasing decision. For folks who have clearly expressed interest in your product or service, you can offer something more bottom-of-the-funnel, like consultations or demos. What you create and send up to you, but the underlying strategy is the same: Deliver something useful to your audience, and they’ll happily trade you their email address in return.
Tip #2: Make subscribing to your email list easy
Many brands tuck their newsletter sign-up boxes way down at the bottom of their homepage. There’s a good chance this prompt will go unnoticed by many would-be-interested visitors. But if your main goal is growing your email list, then you need to prioritize placing multiple opportunities for people to give you their email address throughout the page.