Getting in front of your customers, both potential and actual, can be a struggle. đ If youâve ever poured time and resources into crafting a social media strategy and had almost nothing to show for it, youâre not alone. Despite all the options for businesses on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, the algorithm isnât always kind.
But thereâs good news: you have at your disposal a marketing tool that has a much better chance of success and you have control over it, unlike the algorithms controlled by the fickle social media gods. Let’s talk about why your email list should be the backbone of your marketing outreach.
Why building your email lists matters
If you arenât currently sending out a newsletter (or you are but havenât done much with it), you might think that your email list doesnât really matter. But the truth is, itâs one of the few avenues by which you can communicate with folks who might want to buy from you without having to trust some external system to be on your side.
Ownership and control
You own your email list, which makes it an invaluable resource for finding new customers and advertising to folks who have bought from you before. Social media followers might feel like a similar resource, but you donât own your follower list. In fact, if a social media platform decides to shut down your account, you may have no way to ever recover that list. â Thatâs a lot of information and work lost forever.
The unfortunate truth is that social media platforms donât have to explain when they decide to shut down an account, and they donât always give users ways to appeal or dispute the decision. Weâve seen a lot of folks lose large followings for no apparent reason, and theyâre left trying to rebuild from the ground up.
Thereâs also visibility: you can do a lot of research to figure out the best time to post on social media for your intended audience, and many platforms allow you to pay for ads that will be served to folks who fit your ideal clientele. However, thereâs no guarantee that the people most likely to buy will see your post. The algorithm may not choose to show it to them, or they might just not use the platform that day or scroll far enough to see it. Itâs a game of chance. đ˛
With email marketing, you know that your email will get to their inbox (unless it gets caught in a spam filter, but thatâs another topic altogether). Now, thereâs the possibility that your recipients will delete it without opening itâor, if theyâre like Valerian copywriter Amy, they might have nearly 2,000 unread emails in their personal inbox đłâbut the delivery has a much higher likelihood than social media posts.
Customer engagement đ¤
Frequent communication and points of contact with your audience are good for business. People tend to forget when they havenât interacted for a while, so staying in front of your ideal audience is an important part of staying at the front of their mind when they need something from you.
If youâre wondering what you would even email your list about, consider: new products, educational materials like tutorials or how-to articles, future plans and goals, sharing stories to make people feel connected, sale announcements, or a list of recent blogs. All these items might not be interesting to every customer, but even if someone skims your email, theyâre more likely to engage than if they hadnât gotten an email from you at all.
Customization
Email lists are typically stored in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, and these platforms allow you to sort and organize your list in ways that a social media followers list cannot. You can analyze behaviors like open and click-through rates or perform A/B testing to perfect your approach.
This kind of organization isnât just useful in analyzing customer behavior, they also allow you to send more targeted communications to segments of your list. This might look like sending out a discount offer to people who havenât purchased from you yet or sending an email letting folks who have purchased a certain product know that youâve made improvements.
Tailoring your email communications to customer habits and demographics can mean better conversion rates. đ
Lead nurturing đą
Your website is doing its best to get people to buy your services or productsâor at least it should be!âbut not everyone will be willing or able to purchase right away: they might lack the funds or they may simply need to collect more information before they make a purchase. However, letting them leave your website without prompting them to make some kind of connection may mean that they never make it back to you.
While youâd ideally like people who visit your site to purchase from you, that doesnât mean itâs the only thing you can ask of them. If folks arenât ready to make a purchase for whatever reason, asking for their email address and a couple of personal details can make a huge difference and open a pathway for you to move them closer to conversion into a paying customer.
When comparing giving an email address to making a purchase, a lot of people will be willing to take this smaller step in hopes that they will still get something of worth from you. You can make it worth your while by creating campaigns that nurture them as customers.
How to get people to sign up đ¤Š
Although it can sometimes be as easy as just asking, itâs a good idea to also make signing up for your email list attractive. Absolutely have that sign-up form in your footer or somewhere on your site, but consider adding some secondary CTAs with a bit more oomph behind them!
Incentivize the in-group
If you can make your email list feel like an exclusive club, youâre on your way to success! đ People get a lot of emails in their inbox every day, and everyone has a different threshold for what makes signing up for a new list worthwhile.
One way to make your list worth it to folks who might have a higher threshold is to use email signups to unlock desired resources like PDFs, product trials, blog content, discount codes, or early access. Think about what you offer (or could offer) to folks for a low cost and then consider replacing that cost with joining your email list. If you have some well-thought-out pathways and email campaigns, it will be well worth the exchange!
Make sure these offers are present throughout your site and other marketing materials. Donât come up with a really great lead generation strategy and then hide it in one single place on your site. đ Remind people of what youâre offering and give them a lot of opportunities to get it.
Prove your worth âď¸
Some people may hesitate to sign up for your email list if they think you canât deliver high-quality content. This is one of the reasons why we think good, strategic blogs are a must for businesses. Your longer-form content will prove that you can supply great insights and make your newsletter or mailing list more attractive.
Donât get greedy
Thereâs a temptation to ask for too much information in an email sign-up. Sure, ideally youâd love to know their name, location, age, interests, how they found you, what products or services theyâre interested in, etc. But each question you ask adds a barrier that people have to overcome. If you ask one too many things, your form is going to be abandoned and youâll get nothing.
We recommend you ask for an email address (something theyâll be expecting to give you since theyâre signing up to receive emails) and their first name. (To stay on the right side of ever-changing legal requirements, youâll probably also want to have them check a box for agreement to your privacy policy.) This probably doesnât feel like much, but youâre just trying to get your foot in the door, not learn everything about them.
To optimize, make sure that your form is easy to use and works correctly. Keep the form brief, and avoid trying to upsell with intro text or an over-the-top thank you message. If you decide to have them confirm their sign-up by clicking a link in an initial email, make the text of that email incredibly brief and to-the-point. In all, if theyâve decided to give you their email address, make it as frictionless as possible. đ
The work begins once you have their name and email: you can create drip campaigns and special offers to draw them closer or incentivize sharing more information. Donât try to make that initial sign-up form do more than itâs meant to.Â
Was it worth it?
There are three things that really matter in making people glad they joined your email list: quality, timeliness, and personalization.
You may feel tempted to not really give any quality content away for free, but itâs actually a great business move to offer some of your best stuff for free. ⨠If you offer lackluster content in exchange for personal information like name and email address, people will probably feel like your interest in them only reaches their wallet. On the other hand, if you give them something that is actually useful or educational, theyâre more likely to feel positively about you and return when they need something else.
If you promised some kind of reward for signing up, make sure that comes in a timely (if not immediate) manner. You donât want people to come away with a bad taste in their mouth, feeling like you tricked them into signing up and then they had to wait around for the thing they wanted. â˛ď¸ This is a place where automations become really important for your business. Donât make it something that you have to deliver personally; instead, set up automations that will send the email, download, or scheduling link right away so that you can take full advantage of the momentum youâve built.
Finally, use that second bit of information you gathered! Open the email with a greeting addressed to them personally, or include their name in the subject line of the email. Itâs not likely that anyone will believe that you really sat and personally wrote to them and only them, but a little touch of personalization still goes a long way in catching their attention and making them feel like you care.
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Your email list is easy to overlook or underestimate, but itâs a crucial component of some of the most impactful marketing you can do as a business. If you havenât been building a listâor you have one and havenât been making much use of itâwe can help! Whether it’s website integrations, CRM setup, or even the content itself, weâve got you covered.
Schedule a consultation if you want to start making that email list work for you!