Building an email list is the most important stuff that any online business has to get in order. However, doing that is easier said than done when you have very few visitors to your site.
In fact, it is this dearth of visitors that prevents you from using strategies that large scale sites often use to get more people to subscribe to their list.
Considering email marketing to be so important, especially for startups and small businesses, you need to work like crazy, so as to get a decent list up and running.
In fact, you need to go above and beyond.
In this article, you will get to know just that. The following strategies will show you how you can convert the small count of your visitors into loyal subscribers.
#1. No “Subscribe to our Newsletter” – Type Forms.
I am sure you will find several large sites employ this tactic to convert visitors to subscribers. However, this is a dead-end for small websites that have very little branding and visitors. Most visitors who visit your site have never before visited your site.
Plus, your website has no credibility for them to sign up.
Basically, the only purpose that these types of forms serve is that they clutter your website, and resulting in the UX being less appealing.
Further, these offers are renowned for their low convertibility rates, even for large, well-known websites. These days, nobody likes giving out their personal information just like that.
Therefore, you need to offer something to your visitors in order for them to subscribe to your newsletter, which brings us to the next point.
#2. Your Offer needs to be Tailor-Made.
Basically when a person signs up to your email list, one expects some sort of value from doing so.
So, what’s wrong with a freebie?
Well, nothing particular, but a freebie is just so done and dusted that it doesn’t hold the value it once held.
Plus, your audience who you plan on converting needs to have a pain-point that you intend to solve by sending them the freebie.
So, if a person is reading an article on “How to Run a Marathon”, it wouldn’t be wise to offer a freebie on “Cooking a calorie-free cake”, even though your website might be on health and nutrition.
Therefore, the best way to make your offer more effective, is by making it more tailor-made and what’s better than by offering a companion guide to what the person’s just reading.
For example, a person reading a guide on running a marathon, would definitely be interested in a comprehensive guide on “Exercises to prepare for a marathon” and “Supplements to take for a marathon” etc.
I would advise you use some visuals along with the offer as they are more eye-catching. Also treat the offer section as a part of a landing page if you want a higher conversion rate. Companion guides are proven to be much more effective than general freebies and that’s pretty much the most fundamental way, Brian Dean of Backlinko grew his email list.
However, be sure to inform your visitors that if they wish to receive the freebie, they will be subscribed to your website. That way, you will be GDPR compliant, which matters if your business has any presence or dealings in the European Union. If your online marketing campaign is completely automated, then, you need to give it a lot of importance in order to avoid legal issues.
Not making your website GDPR compliant can invite legal sanctions on you, which can harm your online startup in a big way.
#3. Be sure to pair a well-crafted value proposition with a sought after lead magnet.
But, place that lead magnet behind a landing page opt-in.
Bryn Bonino of Back Story First feels that you should follow up an opt-in with a welcome email sequence and a nurture email sequence. The most common types of lead magnets are downloadable PDFs and they deliver the best ROI when they are closely tied to what the business is selling.
The welcome email message should be a 5-7 part cadence introducing the subscriber to the brand.
Then the nurture sequence should answer common questions that the subscriber has along the course of the customer journey.
In the beginning stage of the customer journey, the customer asks why and what questions.
In the intermediate stage, they ask how questions.
In the advanced stage, the customer asks questions about their specific desires and whether one should make a decision.
There can be different lead magnets for different products that the business sells. When each of these filters to the content that you send over to the customer, speaks to the customer at their various stages of the purchasing journey, then the website is likely to get more visits and engagement.
The landing pages should be linked on the website in the top banner, the side banner, the footer, and as a pop-up on the site.
They should also be shared in the bios of social media platforms and linked to any guest blogging the clients does. But, make sure to make the landing pages tailor made, depending upon the place where you are linking to them from.
That said, the lead magnet needs to be made as enticing as possible.
Shakun Bansal, Head of Marketing at Mettl feels that you need to offer a sneak-peek into your offering via the lead magnet.
It must be a foot in the door to your idea or concept that you are trying to pitch in and not the entire offering.
For example, if there’s a book that your company is launching or an in-depth report, don’t give out the complete report at one go but try to create an interest about it as to how that report is exclusive to your visitors who subscribe to the call-to-action.
You can go about- An Exclusive Campus Hiring Stats and the Report. If they click at the call-to-action button, they are certainly sure to be interested in your pitch.
Make sure to A/B test your enticements, as explained in this email marketing guide.
#4. Offer Offline Things that Can’t be Scaled
This is something that large sites don’t do, or better yet – can’t do.
In other words, if you have a business with an offline presence, offer free samples or offer a service for free.
For example, if you run a car accessory workshop, offer free decals or offer free photoshop examples of how your car wraps would look on potential customers’ cars. Obviously, to do the latter, you need to talk to the clients or even take pictures of their cars.
However, this enables you to get a personal connection with your potential customer, convert them and even to potentially make them a sale, then and there.
Large sites can’t do this because they have tons of visitors so use it as a strategic advantage on your part.
Kevin Geary, who is the Chief Operating Officer of Hamon Creative had a client who had just started a golf blog. On his advice, his client started offering free golf swing consultations for his website visitors. And, without a doubt, his subscriber count ballooned through the roof.
