Tips For Growing Your Email List And What To Do From There
No matter what type of business owner you are, there is one thing that you can always benefit from. And that’s an email list! Growing an email list for your business may seem outdated. It may even seem odd since emails are mainly how you communicate with co-workers. However, the world is email marketing is a highly effective and proven tool for entrepreneurs looking to grow or scale their business. According to this article by Hubspot, more than half of small business owners use email marketing because of its effectiveness. Starting and growing your email list is a must for your business because it’s a platform that you truly own and can connect more with. Social media posts may or may not appear in your audience’s feed. However, an email will always shoot to an inbox. Let’s dive into some simple ways to get started growing your list.
Why is an email list important?
As a side hustler or full-time business owner, your email list is incredibly important. This is because your email list is an asset within your business that you truly own, unlike social media. If social media blew up tomorrow, would your business be okay? How would you communicate with your audience or buyers? This is one of the reasons why growing an email list is a must.
Something else to consider is how you’re communicating with your audience. Again, social media is wonderful. We all love posting highlights and curating a feed that mirrors our brand. However, since we did not build the app, we truly have no control over who sees what and if our posts land in front of our audience. This means if we are only using social media to promote our business and communicate our offers, then we are accepting that not everyone will see our efforts.
An email list however is a platform where we can truly control our messaging and delivery. Even though technology is never 100% perfect, your communication actually has a much higher percentage of being seen inside someone’s inbox rather than on their social media. And if you’re communicating past just wanting to share highlight reels, aka promoting your business, then inbox communications are the way to go! And you don’t need to manually collect hundreds of email addresses and spend hours emailing. Automate the entire process with a professional email service provider like Flodesk. Flodesk makes growing an email list and managing it as simple as it gets. From stunning email templates to immersive forms, Flodesk makes it easy for beginners and experts alike to build their email lists, engage their audiences, and convert subscribers into customers—all without a website.
Creating the perfect opt-in
To begin growing an email list and thus, growing your business, think about how you can create the perfect opt-in. Creating an opt-in for your audience is a wonderful way to both serve potential clients and get them on your email list in one swoop. When you create a free offer or an opt-in that piques their interest, they will then exchange their name and email address for that free offer. You can also create these forms and deliver your free opt-in all through Flodesk as well!
When creating a free offer for your audience, think about what their pain points are. What do they struggle with? Do they need help with anything specific? What would they find truly valuable? Your opt-in should of course also be related to the services or products that you offer. You want it to be sort of a taste of what your business provides when someone chooses to invest. For example, if you’re a fashion blogger and you offer services such as online courses to help create capsoule wardobes, consider a free offer such as a guide that explains the main types of pieces every capsoule wardrobe needs. Your audience will give their email address for that free guide which teases out a bit of what the next, and paid-for, step is for them to take with you business.
Where to place your opt-in
Securing an email service platform and creating a valuable, free offer are great steps towards growing an email list. However, after you have a few free opt-ins, now it’s time to place them in the right locations. Think of where your traffic is coming from for your business and where they may go. This will shine some light on highly concentrated areas that can be perfect for an opt-in form.
WHERE TO PACE YOUR OPT-INS:
- homepage of your website
- sidebar of your blog posts
- pop-ups on certain pages of your website
- the link in your Instagram bio
- On your Facebook page or group
- Inside your blog posts
- In your Pinterest bio
There are three main ways to place an opt-in or free offer on these platforms. You can create a pop-up, an inline form, and/or a landing page. Another thing to consider is placing the right opt-in in the right location. For example, if someone is visiting your website and reading a blog post on capsule wardrobes, the free offer on that page should be relatable.
Utilizing your email list
After you begin growing an email list, it’s time to start utilizing it! First, remember your email list of the platform in which you truly own. This means the people who sign up for your list truly sign up for you. Therefore be sure to appreciate them in return and serve them to the best of your ability, like through free offers and valuable emails.
Long are the days where emails are only for forwarding funny internet stories. I mean they are great for that as well but for your business, emails can serve such a bigger purpose. You should consider your email list as people who are ready to learn and be inspired by you. Therefore you should make a point to email your list on a regular basis with informational and value-added content. Keep in mind that it should also be related to your niche and business, aka the reason they opt-ed into your email list, to begin with!
WAYS TO SERVE YOUR EMAIL LIST:
- weekly inspirational emails
- share things you’ve recently learned
- share more free offers and guides
- send a weekly round-up of your content that you know will serve them best
- exclusively share promos, sales, discounts, upcoming launch info and more
- exclusively launch to your list first
Aside from serving your list, you can also use your list to help your business grow. Poll your email list anytime you get ready to make a decision within your business. You have an audience waiting for you, so ask them their thoughts and opinions. Use your list to exclusively share news about your business and use their feedback as a way to sculpt and scale your business to the next level. Oftentimes we think we know what our audience wants but until we truly hear from them, it’s just a guessing game. Eliminate the guess and allow your email list to guide your business moves and pivots.
WAYS TO USE YOUR LIST:
- poll your list for feedback on upcoming changes
- include your list on any business decisions
- ask your list for testimonials for your website
- ask your list what type of products they want
- use your list for A/B testing on products, services and free offers
Monetizing your email list
When growing an email list to serve your business, consider how you can also monetize your email list. Yup, you can monetize your email list directly. According to Constant Contact, the ROI of every $1 spent on getting someone onto your email list has a $36 return. That means if you spend $100 on getting folks onto your email list, email marketing has proven ROI performance for you to have the chance of earning $3600 from your inbox.
So how do you monetize your email list? Wonderful question! You can monetize your email list by promoting products that you love and trust and promoting your own products or services. Your email list is a specific group of people who are truly interested in you and your business. So they are likely to follow your leads when you guide them to offers with service in mind. Keyword: with service in mind. You should never treat your email list like a cash cow, only sending offer after offer. Instead, you want to truly share amazing solutions for your audience that they can truly benefit from. And you want to do this at the right time. If you find yourself sending your email list a new Amazon product every day, you may be coming off too pushy and salesy.
Your email list should also be monetized through your own business growth and launches. When you create a new product or a new service, generate a launch plan that gets your email list excited and ready to take action. This may look like an email sequence built out over time, leaking out both helpful resources and highlighting pain points of why they need your upcoming service. An email sequence like this should always lead up to your launch and can be built out using your email service provider like Flodesk.
WAYS TO MONETIZE YOUR LIST:
- an email sequence that leads to your next product/service launch
- sending your email list a valuable blog posts containing affiliate links
- giving your email list exclusive discounts to your offers
- providing valuable information and product recommendations through affiliate links
How to begin building your email list
Growing an email list is an amazing move for any business. It allows you to connect with an audience that you know is truly interested in your business. Plus it’s a free, if not a very affordable method, of promoting your business. Email marketing is highly effective for entrepreneurs and creative business owners. So because of this, more entrepreneurs are relying on the efforts of email marketing rather than social media alone.
To begin growing an email list of your own, there are a few places to start. First, consider what free offers you can provide to your audience in exchange for them signing up for your email list. After you have a few offers thought out, make a plan for how you can communicate those offers. Consider an email service provider to help get you started. Explore Flodesk for your business and if it’s right for you, click here to save 50% on your first year’s subscription! Lastly, create a plan for you will first grow and serve your email list. Monetizing your email list will come but it should not be the first priority.
For business owners, your email list is often a group of supporting and loving fans. So have fun creating a place for them and serving them along the way! Let growing an email list be your next big move for your business!
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