Are you running a business, but your customers are not fond of signing up for your newsletter or even creating accounts? It’s hard to communicate with customers that leave no information for you to get in touch with them. And as you surely already know, communication with clients is the essence of a well-functioning business. So forget for a moment about hyped social media and creating content for the masses – let’s go back to good, old e-mails.
What should you do to make visitors to your website more likely to subscribe to your newsletter, create an account, or leave their contact details?
Focus on list building. You probably already have an e-mail list, but you need to expand it and encourage more people to sign up. It’s easier said than done, but it’s a crucial step for success. No worries though, we’ve prepared some guidelines that will help you build a professional e-mail list and encourage new customers to sign up. And we will advise about how to use EarlyParrot for this purpose.
But let start from the very basics – why is list building worth the effort?
Why should you focus on e-mail list building?
Having a solid e-mail list allows you to expand your brand and stay in touch with your customers. E-mail is a preferred communication channel for 73% of Millennials, which shows that e-mails still have what it takes despite the rise in popularity of social media. So why not use them to your advantage?
Additionally, list building allows you to reach a broad audience. You can acquire customers from the farthest corners of the World and thus expand your brand awareness. Moreover, it gives you a general view of the buyer, bringing you closer to the possibility of personalising the offer and communication towards them. List building also makes it easier to divide your audience into smaller segments.
It goes without saying that e-mails are a longer form of communication, and you can simply include everything you need there. The number of permitted characters are not as limited as in the case of social media platforms or even SMS marketing. You can describe everything in detail and add graphical materials, photos, GIFs, or even short videos to your messages.
A big plus about e-mail marketing is that it can be personalised, whereas it’s hard to directly address each follower on social media. In fact it’s almost impossible. E-mails are a completely different story though, as you can personalise not only for the recipient but also the sender. Yes, it’s nice when you say hello directly using the person’s name, but it’s even better when the sender field also says something more than just company X. It’s a good idea to use names, for example Anne from company X. This makes your communication more human. Keep in mind that bulk e-mails are quite simply not the best solution if you want to bond with your customers. Moreover, personalised emails have a higher open rate (18.8%) than bulk ones (13.1%) – almost a 6% increase.
The more personalisation, the more friendly and open the relationship will be. Remember that a signature at the end of each e-mail should also include a person’s name in order to complete the mission successfully.
Great news – you can set all of this up with EarlyParrot!
How to make the most of e-mail list building?
The creation of an email list can take many forms depending on the target and industry, though it will be effective regardless of these. Below you will find some examples that might inspire you. Create, test them, and then evaluate the results.
Synergy effect: list building plus referral marketing
Are you up for referral marketing? Hopefully the answer is “yes”, because It could bring a great synergy effect together with e-mail marketing. If you’re an EarlyParrot member, the effects will be even better. So how can this referral marketing platform help with increasing your brand awareness and gaining new subscribers?
Let’s start from the very beginning, i.e. the registration process. When a new customer signs up, they will receive an invitation e-mail about joining your referral program. This is the best moment to invite them, since a customer will be most convinced about your brand just after signing up and may be curious for more.
There is also a kind of saving when a new customer registers thanks to a referral link or coupon code, as the cost of new client acquisition in this way is almost imperceptibly low.
You’re probably wondering how creating e-mails looks in EarlyParrot then. Well, it is effortless – you can simply choose which types of e-mails you want to send to your subscribers and which you don’t.
You will draft each of these e-mails yourself – both the topic and the content are up to you. An important tip here is to remember who exactly the recipient is, because the language and the way you address your audience is very important. The content of an e-mail addressed to teenagers should differ from one that will be sent to business people, for example. The subject must be catchy, as the number of e-mails sent per day is huge and so yours must be unique and stand out if the recipient is to open it.
Ask for feedback via surveys
Surveys are a great way to get feedback and encourage your existing customers to become more involved. It’s important to listen to your audience, as doing so will allow you to improve the quality of the content you provide them.
Suppose a customer hasn’t set up an account but has signed up for your newsletter and made a purchase on your website. By sending this client a feedback survey, you can find out why they chose not to set up an account and decided to only subscribe to the newsletter. Thus, you will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of your communication, which can be a game changer for e-mail design and list building. Who better to advise you than the recipients?
Remember that with EarlyParrot, you can modify your campaigns at any time, so if your referral communication is not the best then ask your audience for their opinions and make adjustments accordingly.
Let them sign up
The option to sign up must be clearly visible on your website. A user will not search long and hard for a place to sign up – it has to be obvious. Integrating the ability to sign up from your landing page is a key aspect of the success of your list building, so just a friendly reminder that this takes a matter of minutes with EarlyParrot. Think about where you place the Sign Up button. The option to subscribe to your newsletter should also be visible, but not too intrusive. You can choose different layouts for your subscription form.
One of the most popular types of subscription form is a pop-up that appears when a user first enters your website. But it’s easy to overdo it – pop-ups on each subpage would be too intrusive and the visitor may simply leave as a result. It can be just annoying to have to click close on each subpage.
You can create fixed or floating forms too, which won’t be as annoying for visitors. A fixed one is placed in a specific part of the website and stays there until the client views it or pulls it back. When it comes to floating forms, they may be placed in each part of your site and won’t disappear until the visitor takes action.
Segmentation is important
When you have been runing a business for a long time, you can often forget about the basics. And segmentation is one such fundamental aspect. The division of your target group into smaller segments is important not only in terms of positioning your offer, but also from a marketing perspective.
Communication should be tailored to the recipient. We have already mentioned the differences between creating content for teenagers and businessmen, and the same rules apply here – when you divide your clients into smaller groups, varied communication with them may be necessary. If your offer undergoes a repositioning over time, your channels may also need to change accordingly.
Therefore, regardless of what you create right now – an e-mail copy or a pop-up newsletter, say – remember who your recipients are and how to speak to them.
Social proof as a decision factor
Social proof has its power, and if you run a referral campaign then you should definitely be aware of it. Nothing convinces customers to make a purchase more than hearing a positive review from another user, especially if they are a friend or family member. Sharing social proof is a good way to gain trust and thus encourage potential clients to leave their e-mail addresses.
How to present social proof? You can share positive feedback on social media and encourage customers to make their referrals right there. The more people who see them, the better. EarlyParrot allows you to design your own share widget on which you can compose the message that will appear together with a shared referral link as a post on, e.g., Facebook.
It would also be helpful to include a testimonial area on your website. If you are running an online store, customers’ opinions should be placed visibly near the relevant product descriptions. Don’t be afraid of customer feedback. Even if there are negative comments they may be constructive, while positive ones still greatly impact upon a hesitant customer’s final purchasing decision.
Surprise them with a lead magnet
First things first – what are lead magnets? They are additional free materials to encourage users to leave their contact details. What could these materials be? They could be e-books or webinar invitations, for example. If you arrange lead magnet action in return for registering for your newsletter, the details about this must be clearly formulated and highlighted in the communication. After all, it’s supposed to be an incentive for encouraging people to sign up.
A lead magnet is also a good way to get rewarded for joining or inviting someone else to a referral marketing program. Remember that regardless of what purpose you use a lead magnet for, you should emphasise it in your communication.
Thanks to easy integration with the most popular e-mail marketing providers, EarlyParrot will make this task much easier for you.
Start to build your e-mail list right now
Building an e-mail list is a task that stretches over a period of time. It’s impossible to set a deadline for it because it should be continuous work that relies on new ideas to encourage more customers to become your subscribers.
The right level of communication, frequency, personalisation, and the style in which you establish relationships with your customers has a significant impact on whether or not they will, firstly, read all of your e-mails, and secondly, ultimately use your services.