Your newsletter is a powerful tool that you can utilize to market your products and services, advertise new changes, and remind your customers to buy through incentives and offers, but in order to do anything useful with it, you need subscribers. Unfortunately for many of us, getting subscribers isn’t as easy as putting up an email form. If you build it, they will not come. Instead, you have to take the long way around to market, offer, and sell your newsletter as much as you would any other facet of your business.Opt-In Forms
The first rule of getting email subscribers is that you have to make it easy to sign up. Put your opt-in forms near the top on the sidebar of your website, and make sure you have a page for signing up as well. No one wants to opt-into something if they don’t know what it is about, or if they can’t find the sign up button. Second, you have to make it as easy as possible to sign up. Most people want to put in their email address and be done with it, so make sure your sign up process is as simple as possible. In fact, some studies show that potential subscribers can give up if they have to fill in more than one page of information. You can ask for more information in a confirmation email if you like, but make sure it’s optional.
Your opt-in form is essentially the most important part of gaining an email list because it is your pitch to the reader. While you can utilize a second page about your newsletter, most will make the decision on the one or two sentence description right around your opt in form. If you can’t make it interesting then consider hiring someone that can.
Remember to Use Social
If you have a strong social platform then you should definitely utilize it to gain more email subscribers. While fans and followers can be valuable, none have the same potential as the subscriber, mainly because they are more likely to see each post. Remember to disclose exactly what your fans will be getting by subscribing in order to ensure that they are interested and relevant. If someone signs up only to get deals and discounts, they won’t be very happy if you start promoting new products as well.
Offer Incentives to Subscribers
One option that is almost always a sure seller is to offer subscriber only incentives with your newsletter. Many shops and businesses offer a 10% of $5 rebate to initial subscribers, and many more choose to offer subscriber only sales and deals. Signup incentives, such as a free e-book or consultation are also popular, although less likely to keep your subscribers sticking around after they get the incentive.
Offer Value
If you do nothing else, make sure that you offer your readers something of value in each post. While this might not sound important for ‘gaining subscribers’ it is very important for keeping them. Consider hiring a professional company like SocketLabs.com to offer valuable and professional content and ensure that your hard earned subscribers don’t leave after the first email they receive.
Keep Your Newsletter Interesting
The more interesting your newsletter is, the more it stands out from the crowd, and the more you are likely to gain subscribers. Interesting content leads to shares, referrals, and retained readers, so it benefits you in more ways than you might think. After all you never know when a tip, a fact, or a joke takes your email from ‘a good read’ to ‘worth sending to friends’.
Invite Readers to Share
Did you know that you can increase shares by putting a forward this email button at the bottom of your post? If your newsletter is full of helpful and relevant content or sales and deals, then many people will want to share with their friends and family. Your job is to make it easy for them so that they remember they want to.
While it may be tempting to go online and purchase an email list, these ‘subscribers’ are neither interested nor welcoming of your newsletter, and it’s against the law. If you want your newsletter to be read, then you have to earn your subscribers one at a time. While it sounds more difficult, it’s worth the effort because you will make sales and gain traffic from an interested readership. Building a list of subscribers can take time, but all of these tips can help you get the email list you deserve as quickly as possible.
About the Author
George Torres has been professionally marketing for the last few years. Email promotion is his passion and it’s what he does best.