Nurturing Your List

 

Email works, and it works well.

Email is one of the most powerful marketing channels, and it’s getting better all the time.

It's the most effective channel because it gets results—and that means it can deliver ROI (return on investment). It’s also the most personal and targeted way to reach your audience, so you know what they want, when they want it and where they live. Email allows you to measure how well your campaigns are performing, making sure that every dollar spent is working hard for you in return. Finally: email offers unmatched scalability as an outreach tool—you can easily manage large volumes of contacts without breaking a sweat!

Don't force people to join your email list.

There is a fine line between wanting people to sign up for your email list and FORCING them to do it. If you make them feel like their data is being collected and sold or that they are being spammed, they will leave your website immediately. You want people to trust you enough so that they’ll share their email address with YOU instead of someone else; otherwise, you won’t get any information from them in the first place.

• Don’t force people to join your email list (or at least don't make it obvious). Make it easy for visitors who want more information about what you have to offer by allowing them to sign up easily on their own terms – using a button or link that says something like “Sign Up for Our Newsletter” or “Get Updates On Our Latest Deals."
• Tell people that signing up doesn't mean they'll be spammed. If there's anything worse than getting an unwanted message in one's inbox, it's getting ten unwanted messages! Make sure that when someone signs up for your newsletter, he knows exactly what kind of content will arrive in his inbox each week—and how often he'll receive it!

Make it easy for people to join your email list.

Make sure your call to action is easy to find. If you’re asking people to join your email list, make sure that they know exactly how they can do so.

Help them out by using a clear, simple, and direct signup form. By making it easy for people to join, you’ll encourage more people to sign up and stay connected with you. This can be as simple as including an email address field in your newsletter subscription box or having a link that simply says “Subscribe here” at the bottom of every blog post.

Segment your list to ensure you are sending highly contextual content.

Email segmentation is a good way to create a more personalized experience for your email subscribers by sending them marketing messages that are relevant to their interests, demographics, and purchase history. It's also an effective way of achieving higher open rates and click-throughs.

Segmentation can be achieved through any number of methods, but one of the most common ways is by using data collected from past purchases. If you know that customers purchased a specific product in the past, then it may be worth segmenting your list into two groups: those who bought the product and those who did not buy it yet. You could then send out two different emails containing content related only to those products: one encouraging customer who have already purchased this item to review or share their experience with friends (and maybe even try another one!), while another one promotes sales on other products similar but unrelated items like why they might need this item in their home etc...

Personalize emails through automation rules.

Automation rules allow you to send emails based on specific actions by your subscribers. For example, you can create an automation rule that sends a welcome email to new subscribers who have opted into your list and set their subscription preferences. You can also create an automation rule that sends a thank you message to existing subscribers when they refer someone else to purchase from your store. This way, if someone buys something from your store after being referred by one of the people on their list, then all those people receive a thank-you message in their inboxes!

Automation rules are great for personalizing emails and increasing engagement with subscribers (the more engaged they are with what you're sending them, the more likely it is they'll buy something)!

Craft subject lines that stand out in a crowded inbox and make people want to open your emails.

You want to use a subject line that stands out in a crowded inbox, but it can be hard to know what works. We've found that the best way to stand out is by crafting subject lines that are personal, relevant and clear. Personalized message:

Personalized messages are more likely to be opened than non-personalized ones according to an eye tracking study conducted by MailChimp (which we've used for this article). Use your subscriber's name if possible—but don't go overboard! Only include their first name or last name (or both), not initials or nicknames. If you don't know their name, try "Dear [subscriber type]," like "Dear fellow writer" or "Dear reader."

Relevant content:

When people see something interesting, they're going to want more information about it—make sure you include that in your title, so they know exactly what they'll get when they click on the link! For example, instead of calling an email "Introducing our new podcast," call it something like "Listen now:

 The latest episode of our podcast!" Clear action:

Make sure there's no ambiguity in the title of your email and make sure it calls out clear actions people can take after reading (and opening!) the message. This will help ensure that those who open actually read through until the end since there will be no guessing involved about what comes next--just follow along!

Write engaging emails with content that will help you build a relationship with readers.

To build a relationship with your subscribers, you need to give them content that helps them and is relevant to their interests.

Here are some things you should keep in mind:

• Make sure the content is relevant to your audience. If you're writing an email about how to use social media for business, then don't send something about how to train your dog. The same thing goes for all types of content—don't send something out of left field!
• Make sure the content is interesting and engaging. This goes without saying, but if people aren’t reading what you write, they won't come back again after receiving their first email from you or join your list in the first place!
• Make sure the content is well-written (and proofread). There's nothing worse than getting an email full of typos! And even though we all make mistakes now and then (like I did just then), it's important that we do what we can as marketers when sending out emails so as not ruin someone else's experience with our brand name :)

Double check everything before you send an email out (especially links, subject lines and grammar).

When you're sending out emails to your list, you want to make sure everything is perfect. The last thing you want is for someone to get an email from you that has a broken link in it, or a subject line that's unclear. When people see things like this, they'll be much less likely to open future emails from you or even unsubscribe if they're not getting what they need from your content.

So before sending out any email campaigns and newsletters, check each and every link (both internal and external) as well as all the formatting (headers, lists, etc.). If something looks odd or off at all—fix it! This will save time in the long run because no one wants to spend hours trying figure out why their newsletter isn't displaying properly on their mobile device after reading through loads of articles about how important it is for businesses to adapt today's technology trends…

Email is the most effective marketing channel out there, but only when done in a way that nurtures existing relationships while building new ones.

Email is the most effective marketing channel out there, but only when done in a way that nurtures existing relationships while building new ones.

Email is a great way to nurture existing relationships because it's personal—it’s sent directly to someone and can be read at their leisure, which makes it feel like an intimate conversation between friends.

It’s also a great way to build trust and loyalty by showing customers that you care about them as individuals or members of your community (and not just as "leads").

By making yourself available via email, you'll show customers that you're willing to go above and beyond for them—and what better way than by being accessible?

 

Grab your free copy of my ebook on Nurturing Your List and Building Relationships