how to grow your email list

Email list-building is everything to your online business. Or, it should be. In fact, if you’re interested in conversions and business growth in general, the number one thing you should be wondering about right now is how to grow your email list. Why? Email is almost universally used. It’s more popular than social media for communication, and it gets far more conversions than any other platform. It’s a direct line to your audience that works. If these assertions surprise you, consider these stats: According to AdWeek, Twitter click-through rates (CTR) get drastically worse the more followers you have. As an example, they shared that Mashable, a big name company with millions of followers, gets a CTR of just 0.11% on its tweets. The CTR for Facebook ads isn’t much better, unless a figure like 0.07% looks promising to you. Email, on the other hand, is an ace in the deck. Comparatively, it wipes the floor with social media when it comes down to CTR, conversions, social reach, and ROI. How Email Pwns Social Media for Reach and Conversions Here’s how the floor-wiping shakes out (or, if you’re into internet slang, here’s how email pwns social media): 2.6 billion people worldwide use email, while only 1.7 billion use Facebook, the largest social network. Now, remember Facebook’s ad click-through rates (0.07%). Hold that tiny number in your mind, and get a load of this: Marketing email campaigns have a CTR of 3.3% and an open rate of about 20%. (Open rate = the likelihood the person will open the email in their personal inbox and peruse its contents.) That’s nearly 50x higher than Facebook’s average. And, of course, another biggie is that email is number one for conversions – it drives them more than any other social channel. Look at the difference in this table from an ExactTarget survey: It’s not rocket science. For reach and conversions, email > social media. Email marketing leads to a bigger, opted-in, targeted audience, which leads to more reach, which leads to more conversions. Or, to keep going with our math references, email list-building = more subscribers = a bigger targeted audience = even more reach = even more conversions. Smart Insights sums it up this way: The numbers speak for themselves. Email has power. To drive home the point, OptinMonster gives you a zoomed-out picture of how email stacks up against Facebook and Twitter for general use. These numbers are based on an analysis of comprehensive stats from 2016: Needless to say, you definitely should want a bigger list of email subscribers. So, how do you leverage your content marketing to gain more subscribers and increase your content’s ROI? Let’s explore how to grow your email list by tying in some content marketing tactics. That way, you can enjoy the potential email offers and make your content more valuable. How to Grow Your Email List: 9 Tactics to Try in Your Content Marketing Want to grow your email list? Of course you do. Draw on your content marketing to reel them in and build trust. Then, hit the ground running with some of these tactics. 1. Use Lead Magnets to Draw in Subscribers Digital Marketer defines a lead magnet as “an irresistible bribe offering a specific chunk of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information.” That pretty much sums it up. A lead magnet is essentially a piece of content that you offer for free. The catch is the prospect has to give you their email address in order to get it/download it/access it/etc. That content piece could be anything. It might be a guide, an eBook, an email course, or a white paper. The point is, you’re offering value in exchange for value. Here are some top tips for making sure you’re offering lead magnets that people will want to hand over their details for. Tips for Creating Good Lead Magnets Be specific. Your lead magnet content needs to address a specific problem that a specific segment of your audience may have. Provide a solution. Your lead magnet needs to give a valuable solution to the problem. Forget length. Your lead magnet doesn’t have to be lengthy to be useful. In fact, Digital Marketer says longer-form content is often least likely to convert. Your eBook, for example, doesn’t have to be a novel – it can be 20 pages or less! The same goes for any other form of content. Think shorter. Provide quick benefits. Within minutes of opening up your lead magnet and digesting the content, your prospect should immediately benefit. This can mean increased knowledge or insights, or some other gain. It shouldn’t take months, or even weeks. At the very most, it should take days. Here’s a good lead magnet example (about lead magnets!) from OptinMonster. They chose to offer a cheat sheet: When you download it, you get a printable PDF checklist divided into categories: Insider “secrets” do really well, especially if you’re sharing them with an audience that is warm and with people that know, like, and trust you. This is a great example of providing “quick benefits.” What Types of Lead Magnets Should You Use? There is no single perfect lead magnet. The right type of content “bonus” you offer your readers depends on their preferences, your business, and other factors. That said, here are some solid ideas for starters. Cheat sheets – A cheat sheet gives your audience a list of steps to check off for a certain task. Whatever it is, they won’t have to remember the right steps in the right order. They can just look at your cheat sheet! Checklists – A checklist is similar to a cheat sheet, but it’s a simpler one that’s generally shorter. Instead of steps, you might list the tools or resources needed for a task. Comprehensive resource lists – Where do you get all the good stuff that helps you in your business on a daily basis? Think apps, websites, downloads, or lists where … Read more