Submitted by: Asha Prakash
So you are thinking, ruminating, wondering, thinking really hard some more on whether you should build or invest in an email list to go with your business website. Well, heres the answer for you: Yes!!!
Heres why:
A good email list forms the foundation of a successful business campaign for your business
The email list mostly consists of subscribers who are interested in your website happenings
Now that you have decided to go get that email list done, you can choose to either:
Hire someone to build an email list for you o
Develop an email list by banking on your website viewership and visitors.
Subscription is one of the foolproof ways to develop a mailing list if you choose to adopt the DIY approach and build your own email list. This is pretty straightforward and easy, as far as methods go, and you have the advantage of developing of people who are interested in what you have to say.
However, if you choose to be dormant and just have a Subscribe to our newsletter link included at the bottom of the page, it is not going to help. The list below takes you through different tried and tested strategies that will help you build that invincible mailing list.
Bring out those pop ups:
Come on, dont be shy, get those popup windows to work for you. Yes, they might be annoying; yes, they can look intrusive; but they are one of the most effective ways to get the website visitors to subscribe to your website newsletter. Better still, track your page views to identify the pages that garner the maximum viewership and set up pop ups that are specific to the topics covered in that specific web page. It might sound like a lot of work but readers tend to respond better if they get the feeling that you are serious about what you do and want to genuinely help them.
A little nudge goes a long way:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20mW-lcgDRM[/youtube]
A lot of times, your readers interest wanes from the time taken to sign up for the newsletter to actually clicking that Subscribe link that lands in their inbox. Set up a reminder that will tell them about the email that they got to look out for and click on to ensure that their subscription is confirmed. You need to keep their attention focused on completing the steps involved in completing the subscription. You can choose to visually walk them through the confirmation process using screenshots and sending reminders to ensure that they complete subscription. However, remember that time is ticking and you need to get that subscription link clicked before the clock strikes twelve, or in this case, within twenty four hours window.
Connect with your users:
Think back to some of the memorable offline real world interactions that youve had with people normally. Familiarity would be a common thread that would have tied together all your interactions with these people who were previously strangers to you. If you want to bring in more subscribers into your mailing list, milk the basic human need to form a connection. Use the subscription pop up boxes as your elevator pitch to tell the viewers why they must absolutely sign up for your newsletter and be BFFs forever. Or how much theyre missing out because they are not signing up. Or how sad you are that they are not signing up. You get the drift of things here, dont you?
Use the Ignoramus trump card:
So, your readers dont want to be BFFs? Thats alright, because we have the Ignoramus card to play. No one wants to miss out on something that might benefit them or better still, might be the best deal of the decade. No one likes to feel that they missed on a great offer. If the subscription link gives them the feeling that not subscribing is going to be a bad move, it will act as a natural motivator to clink on that subscription link. Depending on subject at hand, zero in on a tag line that will act as the key motivator and there you have it, your motivator that will help win over more subscribers.
Why should I subscribe?:
Any viewer, in order to convert to a subscriber, should realize that this subscription is going to bring them benefit of some sort. Throw in a free eBook, tutorial or tips and best practices information along with the subscription link so that your website visitors feel that they are getting more out of the subscription than you are.
Use your social media channels to gain more subscribers:
It wouldnt be in your best interest to depend upon only your website to build a strong mailing list. Use your Facebook, twitter and Instagram accounts to bring in viewers to your website who can then be converted to subscribers. This would be a fairly simple and straightforward option to adopt because your followers on the social media channels are already interested in what you have to say and offer.
Give your readers the feeling that subscribing is their choice:
Surveys indicate that participants responses turn out to be increasingly positive when they are given the choice and are allowed to make a decision all by themselves. Of course, you need to decide on what the alternate option would be and whether it is an option at all. You need to create the illusion of a choice where subscribing to the newsletter ends up being the better one at any given point. The option given can be silly or guilt inducing or impossible but place it there to lighten the conversation and get the subscription done.
Gather your people:
Bringing together people working within the same industry through guest posts, tags and hashtags help bring in more viewers to your website. When industry experts recommend your website, it automatically builds your brand value and authenticity. Your credibility and reliability builds when it is backed by favorable recommendations from market experts within your industry. This in turn also helps to increase the number of subscribers who register for the newsletters.
Include Subscription link in pages with maximum traffic:
As a website owner, you will have access to identify the pages that bring in maximum traffic to your website. You can milk this information to build your subscribers mailing list by embedding the Subscription link within these pages. Additionally, adding a Subscription option within your About page is also a good way to bring in subscribers. About Us almost always is the one page that helps create familiarity and connection between you and your viewers/readers. Use that warm fuzzy feeling connection brings and set up your Subscribe Now option right where it counts.
Use social influencing to encourage:
Researchers have commented that social influencing helps to encourage people to follow the crowd, in a sense. You can use social influencing in the form of other subscribers opinions or recommendations to encourage your website visitors to subscribe to your newsletters. User testimonials is yet another social influencing technique that can be used to encourage your website viewers to subscribe to your mailing list.
Use surveys, statistics and percentages to your advantage:
People the information shared as part of surveys and statistics 90.99% of the time. Jokes apart, statistics and surveys can be used to support why your visitors should subscribe to your mailing list. However, do remember that you should have substantial number of unique visitors and a good conversion rate in order to use this as a strategy. If your website is still building up its visitors numbers, a better idea would be to stick with social influencing and user testimonials.
Use your Comments box wisely:
You need to understand that not all those who visit your website are going to drop in a comment or share their views with you. However, if you have readers/visitors who are willing to share their opinions, that is an indicator that they are invested in the topic at hand and is interested in what you have to say. A wise move would be to use this to your leverage and include a Subscription link in your Comments box as well as in your Reply template. This way, you are approaching people who are interested and inclined to be long term visitors to your websites and converting their interest into subscription.
Bring in some graphics:
It is important that you retain the attention of your website visitors until they reach end of the page and click on that Subscription link. It is not as easy as it sounds because internet, lets face it, has shortened our attention span considerably. So, how do we get around this? By bring in some movement, in the form of graphics, thats going to set you Subscription pop up window and button apart. Sometimes, all it takes is a little animation, gif or a change in the color pattern applied through the website to bring your viewers attention to the Subscribe button and get that link clicked
Keep it light:
Dont make your Subscription link look like theyre signing their soul off to you, or something along those lines. Keep the tag lines and wordings simple, light and playful so that your visitors dont end up feeling like they are making a decision of gravitas when they are subscribing to your newsletter. You can also use a straightforward Call to Action catchphrase rather than passive Subscribe Now in order to create a sense of urgency and action and get those subscriptions in.
Make those polls work:
If you have a survey or poll included on your website and use it only to get your visitors opinions, think again. Survey and poll pop ups can also be used to gain subscribers with a little tweaking. You can include the Subscription link within your poll to ensure that they get to leave a positive review and subscribe to your future newsletters at the same time. If thats not killing two birds with one stone, I dont know what is.
Use teasers like a boss:
You have seen what teasers can do when it comes to building anticipation and interest towards a certain topic. You can use the same method to get your website visitors to come back for more. Bring in that stopwatch, hour glass and ticking clock and shout out about the groundbreaking topic youre going to post next. The building anticipation will keep your visitors interest high and help get them subscribe to your newsletter just so that they have the front row seats when it happens.
Research about your competitors methods:
It might sound a little sneaky but all you are doing here is weighing the different options that your competitor websites are adopting to bring in the traffic. There are various online tools that will help you find out about your competitors conversion methods and the success these methods provide. These tools will help you level the playing field and help you identify what might work for you and what might not.
Use the double step method:
How many times does someone who has already completed one or two steps in a multiple step action and then dropped off? Not many?; thats what I thought. The double step method ensures that your visitors invest their time and attention towards subscription. Nine out of ten times, a visitor who has clicked the link to download that E-book or PDF document is going to follow through and complete the subscription process.
These are a few strategies that have been successfully tried throughout the years to gain maximum subscribers and create that mailing list. However, this is not a conclusive list and only acts as a pointer in that direction. You would be the best person who would be able to judge the kind of traffic that your website gets. You can use this information to come up with new and versatile strategies that will help increase the traffic and subscription to your websites in the long run.
About the Author: 6 years of Experience in Email marketing, helping and finding new ways to generate high ROI on email campaigns, looking for more information, advice on email marketing is free but not the opt-in email data 🙂 for more information you can visit
emailonbusiness.com
Source:
isnare.com
Permanent Link:
isnare.com/?aid=1968374&ca=Marketing}
