Developing a good email list isn’t easy. To grow your following from zero and build up a list of engaged recipients takes time. However, it’s certainly not impossible to achieve for any business, it just requires a tried-and-tested strategy. So, where do you begin and how can you make sure that you’re doing it right?
Here are Smart Messenger top five tips to getting more sign-ups to your email list.
1. Create consumable content
Make sure that every piece of content you write is valuable and relevant to your audience. People who sign up to your list should know what to expect from you, agree that it’s interesting and useful for them and be willing to engage with it.
If you haven’t established the point of your email list and signed people up on that premise, it’ll be more difficult to build it. Every bit of content you share – whether it’s on social media or hosted on your website – should include an invitation to sign up to your email list.
If you are unsure what sort of content to write, take a look at our blog post: What content should I create for my email marketing campaigns?
2. Position sign-up forms carefully
Avoid the temptation to use spammy pop-up forms on your website, instead, think carefully about positioning your sign-up form. Consider you’re a sign up form in your website header or footer, and add one at the end of every blog post.
3. Keep it simple
Don’t ask for too much information in your sign-up form, stick to getting an email address and, if you really need it, a name. In doing so, you are protecting yourself from having to process lots of data and risk falling foul of GDPR rules. Also, if people only have to part with an email address and their name, they’re more likely to do so. Make it simple, make it easy, watch it work.
4. Be strategic
Don’t rely on a sign-up form on your website, use different techniques to encourage people to add themselves to your list. Host a webinar or such like, where people will sign up for the event and the list at the same time. Take physical sign up forms to events and networking. Make it easy for people to share your emails with their contacts and have a link to your sign-up form on all your social media platforms too.
5. Get a good reputation!
Your sender reputation determines whether your recipients’ email service provider allows your message to reach their inbox. If you have a history of unsubscribes, high bounce rates and numerous spam complaints, they’ll send you to junk. Make sure that your list is populated by people who want to be on it and are genuinely interested in your content. If your sender reputation is impeccable, your chances of success increase.
If you’d like more hints and tips about email marketing and our other services, please sign up to the Smart Messenger email list.
If you are ready to begin email marketing and are looking for the right platform to get started, please contact our Smart Messenger team.
Smart Messenger is a UK Email Marketing system, that is fully supported and costs less than you may think.