Making use of the best list building strategies is perhaps one of the smartest things a business owner can do. Through the list, the owner can market directly to customers who have already indicated that they are interested in the product or service. Best of all, this marketing method is extremely affordable compared to more traditional methods of advertisement.
Manage the List with a Quality Company
Business owners should seek out a professional company to manage the actual list. The owner can upload his own content and send out broadcasts on his own, but hiring a company means that the owner won't have to deal with the hassle of directly managing customer opt-ins and opt-outs. Additionally, these companies will compile data showing which methods work best and may even send out some easy email list building tips for the business owner to improve on his email marketing strategy.
Make It Easy to Sign Up
Customers should be able to easily sign up to receive emails from the business. Many businesses offer a sign up link right on the website. When doing this, opt for something highly visible, such as a sign-up link at the top of the page or slightly toward the right. Some websites have a pop-up advertisement encouraging readers to sign up, and others show a sign-up link at the end of an article.
The website isn't the only place one could collect the email addresses of customers, though. If a business advertises locally by attending community events, for example, she could ask people at the event to add their email address to a paper sign-up sheet. It's also smart to ask for the customer's email address during the check-out process, including a note asking them if they'd like to hear about future promotions.
Offer a Reason to Sign Up
Most customers are familiar with email marketing techniques, and many try to avoid extra "junk mail" from signing up for company email lists. When customers are wary of signing up for a business' list, one of the best list building strategies is to offer them something just for signing up. The free offer will depend on the type of business, but examples are a report containing information helpful to the customer, or a buy-one-get-one-free offer.
It's also smart to make it well-known that there are special offers and discounts that are only available to those who sign up and read the emails from the company. This technique will work especially well with restaurants or entertainment venues.
Encourage People to Share
When happy customers share a company's emails with their friends and family, it offers social proof that the company is good. Each email sent should include a "share" button at the end, so that a reader can easily enter in the email address of a friend who might be interested. That friend might be impressed enough to sign up on her own.
Writing blog posts that can go viral also encourages customers to share. To do this, focus on providing quality content that people will enjoy reading. If a company doesn't already get a lot of website traffic, it's smart to write a quality piece of content and submit it as a guest post on a popular blog in the industry. That way, the company gets to take advantage of the readership from the popular blog, and those readers might in turn sign up for the email list.
These easy email list building tips will help any business owner get started building a list, but it's important to remember that list-building is an ongoing project. Track the results of each email sent and each method of gaining new email addresses to see which ones work best and make changes based on those results.
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