Many have Mixed Feelings About Email Marketing, Yet it’s Still One of the Most Effective Tools for Small Business.

*Make your email subscribers feel special.*

While there are many marketing tools out there for small businesses, email marketing time and again is the clear ROI leader when it comes to time and money spent.

It’s estimated that for every $1 spent on email marketing, companies on average earn $36 in return. Retail, ecommerce, & consumer goods see $45 for every $1 spent on email.

The are many reasons for this, but it mainly boils down to the fact that most people rely on email as their main communication tool over texting and DMs. It’s been suggested that 92% of adults in the United States use email on a regular basis, as opposed to about 68% who use at least one form of social media daily. It’s estimated that there will be 4.5 billion email users by 2025.

While social media platforms update their algorithms, gain or lose popularity, and change ownership, your email list belongs to you.

And while it’s well established that email is super effective, growing that list can be daunting.

Here are some time proven methods for building up your bank of customer emails to consider:

1. Plan to be patient and keep at it. Remember that progress with an email campaign takes time.

Many marketers want to instantly add 1000’s of recipients to their list (usually ahead of a holiday season) which can be daunting. Plan to grow your list over time. For example if you want to promote a series of products and special pricing for Christmas, start building your list now.

2. Carefully craft your pop-up forms.

Most standard pop-up email opt-in forms have become so obnoxious that they lose their effectiveness. Imagine browsing a line of T-Shirts you’re interested in or reading a compelling article, only to be rudely interrupted just when you’re getting interested. Many people have come to dismiss these intrusions without even reading them.

Timed forms (aka “surprise pop-ups”) are far more effective and less annoying than the blocking form that tends to greet many potential customers on most sites. Time your form so that it’s not intrusive by setting it to appear “on scroll” or after a few seconds. Many forms also have the option to appear when a customer is navigating away.

Surprise pop-ups have an average conversion rate of about 8% as compared to the instant pop-up that’s successful only about 2% of the time.

3. Add a subscription form in your footer or newsbar.

Making sure that shoppers don’t have to go on a search for your signup form is always good practice. Add a form in your footer or on the newsfeed bar at the top of the page (or both) gives every page of your site a subtle but compelling opportunity for readers/shoppers to subscribe.

4. Offer a financial incentive.

Discounts are generally expected from most shoppers when they offer up their precious email address to retailers. Common practice is 15% and can include free shipping. While you may encounter those that unsubscribe, for the most part your list will steadily grow. Discounts covert shoppers about 10% of the time.

5. Offer exclusive products, early shopping, and special gifts to subscribers.

One devise that many retailers employ are early shopping days. This allows your email customers to peruse and pick from your newest designs before the general public. You can create a special shopping area that requires a password that only your email subscribers have access to.

6. Create lead magnets and downloadable gifts.

Lead magnets are those handy e-book pdf’s that you can download that offer advise, recipes, how-to’s and more. While this strategy is most usually employed by service and information brands, beauty and lifestyle brands can also put it to good use.

Beauty brands can consider putting together a skincare ingredient guide – this can include beneficial ingredients as well as those to watch out for.

Accessory and decor brands can create a beautiful style or color guide for their audience.

Lead magnets convert about 25% of the time.

7. Host a giveaway.

Offer a gift card, gift basket, or gift set. This is a fun strategy that you can promote across social media that has been shown to work about 30% of the time.

Disclaimer - This will get you email addresses in droves, but they may not all be people who are actually going to come back and shop with you. There are loads of folks who enter giveaways as a side hustle and sell their winnings on ebay.

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