The success of an email marketing campaign hinges on having an email list that has a potential to grow and expand. This can not only give much needed impetus to your whole campaign but also expand the reach of your message communicated through the email.
No matter how much advanced tools are used for email marketing, if you don’t have a list of people that can engage with your content, then the whole exercise is futile. After selecting the tool that crafts personalized emails, automated messages, A/B testing and creation of dynamic content, all you need to do is work on building the email list of recipients.
Importance of an Email List
The question that arises here is why we need an email list in the first place. Remember that there are more email users in the world as compared to those that have social media accounts. Number of users with email accounts is more than 4 billion as compared to Facebook (more than 1.35 Billion) and Twitter (around 270 Million users). This shows that the reach of email is quite vast as compared to social media accounts. Email listing building actually means collecting email addresses from people who visit a website or regularly use it. A comprehensive list of subscribers’ email addresses also improves the business communication and opens up more avenues for the enterprise.
The targeting of the audience becomes easier and the email list can also result in better customer retention as well as conversions. Knowing that you have a broad email list, the prospective customers can be transformed into regular ones by creating a personalized feel.
Creation of Email List
You can use email marketing tools to build the email list. One important example is the PluginOps Optin Builder which is specifically designed for generating leads. To gather the email of subscribers, you can do the following things:
- Collection of emails during a checkout (In case of E-commerce)
- Adding Email sign-up forms on your website
- Using social media and encouraging people to sign-up (For example, using a Sign-up CTA)
Tips for Growing the Email List
- Using Embedded Signup Forms On The Website:
Website creators often make the mistake of ignoring the signup forms and paying more focus on using other stylish icons. Although these buttons and icons add value to your website, the email list generated with the help of signup forms can also have a significant impact.
The attention span of an online user is quite low these days. According to a study, 55% of visitors spend only 15 seconds or less on a certain website. It means that there is a dire need to highlight the salient features of a website and present them in such a way that they appear more eye-catching.
Signup forms need to be prominent and should be placed in such a way that they instantly catch the attention of website visitors. The opt-in forms should be made prominent exactly like the website theme and its content so that people engage more and readily share their details.
Another right strategy of increasing the email list is by using the signup form on multiple locations on the site. These forms can be placed on the sidebar, at the bottom as well as in the pop-up notification. This gives more room to the audience as they can fill the website form anywhere they want.
If you’re using a tool such as PluginOps Optin Builder, then you can set a time and schedule based on certain triggers. This will ensure that the users don’t get confused and see all the signup forms at once.
- Utilizing The Pop-Ups:
The use of signup forms in a popup notification is a popular choice because they result in a 3.9% conversion rate. The popup instantly appears on the visitor’s screen as a notification with a concise message and a call to action button.
However, search engine Google has laid out certain guidelines and instructions on the usage of pop-ups so that they don’t spoil the user experience. For example, don’t show a popup which covers the main content of the page straight away when the user visits the webpage from search.
The application of pop-ups should be based on analytics and data. By understanding the average time a user spends on data with the help of Google Analytics, these pop-ups can be deployed.
Different types of pop-ups can be used to garner the customer’s attention and collect their email addresses. These are:
- Welcome Pop-ups
- Exit Intent Pop-ups
- Promotional Pop-ups
Welcome Pop-ups
These pop-ups are used to greet the visitors when they visit the website. Usually, a strong message is displayed along with a strong CTA to captivate the user’s attention. You can offer value to the user such as discount, incentive or conveying a brand’s unique selling point.
Exit Intent Pop-ups
These pop-ups function on the basis of user exit intent and can determine the moment when the user is about to leave the website. At that instant, they appear on the screen. On an estimate, 4-7 % of the website visitors agree to share their email through the exit intent pop-up.
Promotional Pop-ups
These signup forms appear alongside any promotional message telling the visitor about discounts, vouchers on any other incentive. These pop-ups can appear anytime across the whole customer journey and persuade them to share the email address in return for benefits.
- Creating An Enticing Email Marketing Copy:
An important aspect that can contribute significantly in the lead generation is writing a tempting email marketing copy. The recipients tend to open an email only if it’s of some value. For that purpose, you can write to the point and crispy Subject line. This will influence the thought process of the receiver and provoke them to share the email address. Don’t forget to add a Signup CTA in the email marketing copy because it can bring in more conversions.
- Using Engaging Short Videos:
Modern day marketers realize that using a video is a more potent strategy as compared to mere text. That’s why more than 80% of the businesses are using video as a medium of communication.
People not only watch videos but also share them if they find it more engaging. Give the users an opportunity to access short videos and visual guides about a product upon subscribing. Try to send personalized emails and even embed the videos in the email. Keep track of the video clicks with the help of Analytics and assess the user behavior.
You can also place video on your website and after its completion, redirect the visitors to a signup form.
- Lead Generation Landing Page:
You can make dedicated landing pages that include a signup form where the user has to input details to access the content. These landing pages offer all the particular information to the users about the offer that they have received via email or seen on social media.
In these landing pages, you can also place a kind of a lock and make it mandatory for the user to enter an email address before viewing the desired content. Driving traffic to this landing page is extremely important. Therefore, you can tell viewers about this landing page whenever they visit the homepage as well as through the email.
- Right Social Media Strategy:
Approximately, 11.4% of the traffic coming to a landing page comes from social media. It’s a key component of luring the attention of visitors and urging them to fill the signup form. You can execute social media marketing strategy through your company’s Facebook and Instagram handles.
Write a tempting post description, add an attractive image and use a Signup CTA button. Upon clicking it, the users will be redirected to the dedicated landing page where they can view the content after entering the email address. Heavy chunks of traffic coming from social media can significantly boost the leads.
- Make Use Of The Social Proof
People purchase items based on recommendations of their peers and colleagues. Display of social proof on the website gives the users a sense of confidence that they are not wasting the money.
Placement of social proof specifically in the form of numbers and facts has a psychological impact on the mentality of website visitors. Digital marketers use the social proof as an evidence to assuage the worries of the visitors and bring more conversions.
There are multiple ways of displaying the social proof such as showing the:
- Ratings
- Number of subscribers
- Reviews of the Clients
- Testimonials
For adding the social proof on the website, you can use a handy tool such as TrustPulse . It can easily work with other platforms such as WordPress, Shopify and WooCommerce. It gives you the opportunity to display the social proof to the right people at the right time.
- Use of Gamification:
Interactive games have a tendency to boost the user engagement on a website. By attaching a signup form with even a simple game like Spin the Wheel, you can see a boost in the website traffic and increased conversions. Besides this, you can collect email addresses of the visitors through simple fun games such as quizzes, tests and even the card games.
After winning the games, users can claim their prizes such as discounts and vouchers only by entering their email addresses.
- Giving Content Upgrades:
Enterprises can give their audience a chance to access the gated content in return for entering their email addresses. Content upgrade is also known as a lead magnet and it means accessing the content that is locked.
The businesses involved in E-commerce or SaaS can offer their audience informative videos, catalogues and product guides upon giving their email address. This is an effective lead generation strategy that can ultimately pay dividends for the company.
10) Creating a Targeted Email List:
For increasing the number of subscribers in the list, it’s important to know them and gather data about them such as their age, gender, location and interests.
Doing this will make it easier for you to segment the audience and send only relevant messages to each group. All of your subscribers won’t receive the same message at once. Rather, this personalized feel will help you gain their confidence and increase the email list.
Conclusion
Your email list should reflect what product, software or service you are offering. These are all useful tips and can be applied to give a direct benefit to your email marketing campaign as well as resulting in increased conversions.
