The Silent Avatar Speaks

If there is one thing that has been rammed home to me since I became involved in Internet Marketing is this catch cry "The money is in the list!" What list? Your email list. For anyone starting out in business this should become a personal mantra. As you go about your daily business keep your mantra uppermost in your mind and work towards building your list. Your email list is your opportunity to communicate with your potential prospects and your customers and build your business. So just how do you build a list? Email addresses change at a rate of around 30 percent or more on most lists, and this means marketers (anyone in an online business) must adopt an aggressive approach to expand their list and yield a significant return on investment. Email is a personal medium , just like the telephone, and like the telephone (where we have been bombarded with tele-marketers), unsolicted email (spam) has become the scourge of our inbox. The Australian Spam Act 2003 and the Spam (Consequential Amendments) Act 2003 became operative on 11 April 2004. (click here for more info) What constitutes spam. CAUBE-AU (the Coalition Against Unsolicited Bulk Email, Australia) defines spam very broadly as any electronic mail message that is:

1. transmitted to a large number of recipients; and
2. not explicitly and knowingly requested by some or all of those recipients.

Other common definitions of spam also require that the messages be commercial in nature. To ensure you are not spamming, you need to work with permission based emails. By marketing to people who have told you expressly that they want to hear from you, expect to see these results:

1. Better response rates
2. Increased trust and brand affinity
3. Better deliverability

It's going to take time and money to build a permission-based house list and create targeted, relevant offers and messages, however your list will be a smaller but more responsive list than if it was an unsolicited email list. But email marketing isn’t about how big your list is or sending your list email after email. It's all about getting results and building relationships with your list. Put simply, getting permission gets better results and is the only way to build email relationships with customers and subscribers. Consider these helpful tips to build your list:

• Consider All Touch Points: Use every point of contact with customers and prospects.
• Obtain Permission: Always obtain permission with the confirmed (double) opt-in method for online contacts. For offline contacts, update your database with when, where and how the contact was initiated. Confirm their permission in the first email.
• Required Information: Obtain email address, name, format preference and logical interests/preferences.
• Focus Equal Attention on Existing Lists: Implement strategies and incentives to transform inactive subscribers into active ones.
• Provide Valuable Benefits: Convince potential subscribers of the valuable benefits they’ll receive.
• Convey Trust: Clearly state your privacy/email policies.

Best practices for building your opt-in list.  1. Feature a Sign-Up Form on Each Page of Your Site – It should be obvious. All sites need to include a sign up form. Sign-up opportunities should be throughout your site. 2. Promote Benefits on the Sign-Up Page – Enhance subscription value with sample emails, testimonials and strong call to action copy. 3. Offer An Incentive to Opt-In – Incentives like reports, discounts and e-books significantly increase your sign up rate. 4. Optimize Your Site for Search Engine Placement – Optimize current and archived newsletters for search engines to increase traffic and subscriptions. 5. Pay for Search Engine Services and Promote Your Email on the Landing Page – If you pay for search services like Google AdWords be sure to include email subscription information on the landing page. 6. Add Opt-in Check Boxes on Demo Requests, Reports and Registration Forms – Well-executed forms and pages may improve conversion rates by 50 percent or more. 7. Include “Send to a Friend” Options – Generate new subscribers with minimal effort if bundled with promotional campaigns. 8. Use Direct Mail and Catalogs – Encourage email subscriptions on all print ads. 9. Direct Employees to Include Messages and Links in Email Signature Lines – Add “Subscribe to the Company X Email Newsletter” to employee email signatures. 10. Direct Call Center and Sales Employees to Obtain Permission and Capture Email Addresses Over the Phone – Instruct call center and sales staff to ask customers and prospects if they’d like to receive newsletters or promotional email. 11. Send Post Cards to Customers Encouraging Them to Subscribe to Email – If you have postal contact information for customers but not email addresses, send a post card with opt-in sign-up offer and URL. 12. Hand Out Sign-Up Forms at Public Speaking Engagements and Seminars – Promote your newsletter in presentations and handouts. 13. Implement Rented List Campaigns and Subscriptions – Promote your company in email campaigns and landing pages when you rent email lists. 14. Promote Sign-Ups in Confirmation/Transaction Emails – Add messages and links to opt-in pages of all confirmation and transaction emails. 15. Include An Opt-in Line on Credit Card Receipts – Not an obvious method, but may be quite effective. 16. Add Opt-in Message to Warranty and Product Registration Cards. 17. Add Sign-Up Message to Invoices. 18. Display Opt-in Forms at the Cash Register – An approach used by restaurants and retailers to advertise weekday discounts, catering services etc. 19. Promote Your Email/Newsletter in Articles and Article Attribution – Include a reference and link to your newsletter after the byline on articles in trade and consumer publications. 20. Include Opt-in Message and Check Boxes on Shopping Cart Pages – Remember to ask for email format and product/information preferences. 21. Promote Your Email/Newsletter in Other Company Publications – Promote online newsletters in print newsletters, magazines and brochures. Add “Sign up for our monthly newsletter at www.your website.com/subscribe.html” after “Visit www.your website.com for more information.” 22. Include Newsletter Subscriptions in Trade Show Lead Generation Forms – Obtain permission to send your monthly newsletter to booth visitors. 23. Promote Your Newsletter/Promotional Emails in Industry Directories and Sites. 24. Distribute Press Releases Based on Newsletter Articles – Newsletters with topical articles may warrant a press release. Make sure the press release includes links and information on how to subscribe. 25. Include Information and a Link to Your Newsletter in Press Releases – A good option for smaller companies. Include your company newsletter and other resources in press release copy. 26. Include Opt-in Information on Customer Satisfaction Surveys – Ask permission to communicate valuable information via email newsletters and promotions. 27. Include Opt-in Forms in Product Shipping Boxes – Advertise email promotions on packing slips and direct mail cards with links to your site. Many retailers and catalogers also include promotional offers from non-competing companies. 28. Employ a Reputable Email List Service – List services obtain email addresses and  Be sure you obtain permission before – or as part of – the first email you send. 29. Ensure you use a reputable autoreponder like AWeber Autoresponder to manage your email list. So there you have it, a multitude of ways to build your list and keep your business growing! Sign up to now to my newsletter and I'll get more tips, tricks and information for growing your online business. Click here

Tags: Advertising, Newsletters, Tools For Your Business, Traffic Generation //