How To Grow Your E-Mail Marketing List
Today, there’s a lot of emphasis on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive traffic to one’s website. SEO is important to successful Internet marketing; equally important is the email list. Every organisation that wants to be in greater control of their Internet marketing must pay careful attention to how they are capturing email addresses, to building a better relationship with their email list subscribers and motivating those individuals to respond to their marketing offers. Effective email lists begin with a critical process: the opt іn. In the earlier stages of email marketing, SPAM became so problematic that legislation was initiated to help remedy the problem. The CAN-SPAM Aсt оf 2003 wаѕ passed after Congress found that unsolicited commercial email represented half of all electronic mail traffic. The law is clear: it prohibit false or misleading header information and deceptive subject lines, requires senders to identify their messages as an advertisements, requires senders to convey their location, requires senders to provide an “opt-out” for future emails for recipients and prompt (within 10 days) respect of that request, and requires senders to monitor their email marketing activities even if they are outsourced to a third-party. So, the first rule of effective email marketing is to follow the law. From this point on, building relevant effective email list requires a certain discipline and strategy. From the start, build your email list by asking those in your database to provide their email addresses so that you can provide them with valuable information and/or offers periodically. With this communication, you are asking them to “opt іn” to your future email marketing. Another way to capture email addresses is on your website. Every website should have a sign-up area that lets visitors know that by providing their contact information, they will periodically receive email messages from the company. It should incorporate a mandatory double entry of the email address to ensure accuracy and be promptly followed by a confirmation/validation email. Once these steps have been completed, the information can be automatically linked to the organisation’s contact mail system for easy, efficient email marketing. Brick and Mortar organisations can also capture email addresses and other relevant information at the point of sale. All staff members should be trained to ask customers if they would like to receive information on sales, special promotions, special events, etc., and іf so, to obtain this information at that time. Similarly, personnel working in a customer service call centre also should be trained to let the caller know that by providing their email address they can receive special offers, information, etc. Likewise, nonprofits can ask guests to their events to sign a guest book which captures their postal and email addresses. Another strategy for building an opt-in email list is to provide an incentive. For example, you can offer individuals who provide their email addresses with a discount coupon on a future purchase, a free guide, entry for the chance to win one or more prizes or free entry to an upcoming event. Let’s go back to the organisation’s website and its additional role in capturing and building an effective email list. Beyond the sign-up box, the website content is a definite factor іn determining traffic compelled to a website and, equally important, will remain on the website long enough to consider signing up/registering for future communications, including emails, from the organisation. If the content does not draw the right target markets, the emails collected may be of little value. Therefore, the content of the website and in particular, the home page must be designed and presented to immediately resonate with the intended target markets. No organisation wants a list of email addresses for individuals who are not representative of the audience it is trying to reach, regardless if the organisation is a for-profit or non-for-profit organisation, a business or school, church or hospital, charity or trade association, etc. Even with opt-in email subscribers, a good practice is to include іn every email the option for the recipient to opt-out of future email communications. Not only is this considered good form, it also serves to retain the integrity of the email list іn that those receiving future emails remain receptive. In this same spirit, іt is wise to occasionally canvas email list subscribers to gain feedback as to whether they find the number of emails being sent from the organisation acceptable or too many, and/or whether they find the information and/or offers relevant. By following these basics, email marketing can become an integral tool іn an organisation’s overall marketing. It relatively low cost when compared with traditional marketing genres such as advertising and direct mail, email marketing can play a major role іn building brand awareness, customer loyalty and retention, new customers, e-commerce and online giving.