Are you a blogger or a business owner who doesn’t get the purpose of an email list? Well, here is a challenge, give it a try and, if you don’t see an increase in traffic to your website or increase in revenue after some months, then, you can jump ship.
To coax you, here is a brief introduction:
An email list is a list of names and email addresses of individuals or companies (existing and prospective customers) who permit you to send them email updates and promotions from your business. They fill a form, and you feed their email addresses in your company’s Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) software. This list is possibly your biggest money maker!
With a blog or website, an email marketing service, and a high converting opt-in form you can build your email list.
The reasons for building the email list include:
1. It’s your list
The problem with your blog’s biggest fans, Instagram and Twitter followers and your Facebook page followers is that, you do not own them. They may not even be human. If you wake up and social media platforms aren’t working, that will spell doom for your business.
You can also think about it this way, for social media, you have to cross your fingers for someone to buy your products magically. However, with an email list, you have fans hungry for new content and new products.
An email list is, therefore, more dependable and realistic.
2. Clients will remember you
Let this sink in –clients/ prospective clients look for you. Before filing in the subscriptions form, a prospective client goes through your content, and they sign up only when convinced they need your products. That is hard to beat. Some of these clients will see your content up to seven times before signing up.
So, instead of waiting for these clients to visit your site every time, make it easier for them by collecting their email addresses. With the created list, you get to share new content and product information even before the information exists. The clients will have no room of forgetting you.
3. You’ll know what your clients need
An email list is interactive. You can get the individuals on your email list for their thoughts. The only thing they have to do is hit the ‘Reply’ button on the email. This doesn’t work well for social media. The good thing with emails is that everyone with an active email account checks their email. Most people hate seeing unread messages and people check their emails several times daily.
4. An important element of the sales funnel
On top of the sales funnel (the inverted pyramid in marketing, the one your online marketing consultant mentioned) you have potential customers. These guys know about your products through your blog posts, social media platforms or YouTube videos.
At the bottom of the funnel, you have a paying customer. In between prospective and a paying customer, you have your email list. Studies show that email lists receive up to 10X higher conversions than campaigns on social media.
5. Higher sales
With high conversion rates, you have high sales and even higher returns on investments. The Direct Marketing Association estimates that email lists are responsible for an average of 4300 percent ROI.
6. Direct contact with your email community
With an email list, you can create real relationships with your audience. This builds trust and customer loyalty.
This is because it is hard to find people interested in your products offline. Once you have an idea, you can spruce it up into a blog to help promote and sell your products to someone who will read the email.
A list gets your prospective customers to trust you too. Weekly emails are the best in building trust.
7. Tracking performance
The number of your online subscribers will give you a clear idea as to whether your business is working or not. Make sure you check the number of your subscribers monthly to know what is working.
Then, leverage the list to promote your events and content.
Don’t you think you need to build an email list now?
