Have you ever signed up for an email newsletter only to find the sign-up process puts you off before you ever receive it? The sign-up process itself is a great opportunity to make the right impression. Just a few little tweaks can make a massive difference. And, we all know that first impressions really count. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Reward subscribers with something useful and relevant
One of the simplest ways to increase subscriber numbers and get them engaged with what you do is to provide a relevant piece of content that’s exclusively available only to email subscribers. How-to guides are particularly powerful. Rather than it being a sales pitch, a guide should be something that gently demonstrates your credentials, but is helpful in and of itself. Ours is the ‘A to Z Guide of Content Marketing Ideas'. If you’re giving away a PDF download, make it seem more tangible by showing an image of the front cover, as this almost always increases clicks.
Tailor the content in the double opt-in emails
It is considered best practice in email marketing to secure a double opt-in, which involves a subscriber receiving a confirmation email in which they click to verify that they do indeed want to receive your emails. When confirmed, they will usually receive a welcome email or be directed to a thank you landing page. The journey is often about 7 steps in all: Want valuable content > Complete sign-up form > Get delivered to a thank you page > Receive opt-in email > Click through to a confirmation page > Receive a welcome email > Click to get PDF.
With so many emails going back and forth, it is important that you make them count. Taking the time to make sure that each of these touches is friendly is important to establishing a good relationship from the outset. After all, this may be their first real engagement with you and your business. So it really matters. This tip also applies to unsubscribe emails too, as you want to leave them with a good impression that might encourage them to return, or engage with you on other platforms.
Inject some personality
People like to buy from real people, that’s why showing a bit of personality is important to making a real connection. With email marketing, it’s best for emails to come from an actual, and identifiable, person. Maybe you could take a moment in your welcome email to introduce the people who write your newsletter. Be sure to use a decent (and recent) photo, include a short biography, links to some of the best content from that person, and any relevant social media links. Being consistent also builds familiarity, so consider using the same photograph on your newsletter biography as you social media profiles.
Make the most of your best material
When people sign-up to your newsletter, it shows they’re interested in your content. But, as a new subscriber they may not have seen some of the great pieces in your back catalogue. Pull out a few of the most popular, or most useful, material from your blog, SlideShare, YouTube, etc. to add to the welcome email they receive. If you aren’t sure which pieces to highlight here, I recommend reviewing your web metrics to see which posts led to the best sales conversion (or other site goals).
Create an appropriate triggered email
If someone has taken the trouble to sign up to your email newsletter, then they clearly have a level of interest in your business. It is important therefore, to have an effective product ladder in place, such as some sort of introductory offer or tool that subscribers may find useful.
Something like a calculator or audit. I wouldn’t put this in your initial welcome. But, a triggered follow-up is almost always appropriate. Within the first two weeks of subscribing, it could be appropriate to direct people to this. If your offer is well structured, this shouldn’t feel like a hard-sell.
Triggered emails can also be used to create powerful subscriber or customer content, like a Getting Started Guide. It’s pretty straightforward these days to set-up a specific sequence of emails goes out from their sign-up date. This can be used to create a sign-up reward in itself, something like 30 Day Tips, where they get a tip each day for a month.
Don’t leave them waiting for their newsletter
If they signed up for a newsletter, make sure they get one pretty quickly. If you send a monthly email newsletter, for example, you should always set-up that month’s newsletter up as a triggered email that goes to any new subscribers in that month. This is usually what they signed up for in the first place, so don’t leave them hanging. If you usually send it at the end of the month, and they subscribe in the first week of the month – it could be a whole three weeks before they get something from you. In which time, they may have forgotten why they were interested in the first place. Catch them while you’re in their minds. Don’t leave them waiting for their newsletter.
I would recommend setting this to go to them a day or two after they sign-up, with a little introductory text that thanks them for recently subscribing and tells them that this is the current newsletter, with a heads-up as to when they can usually expect to hear from you.
There is no doubt that the world of email newsletters and communications is a crowded one, so when you can’t out-spend your competition, why not just out-think them instead?
Remember, every interaction with anyone in your market, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, should be a positive one. When it comes to the email sign-up process, you have up to seven touches where you can make an impression. What could you do to make it the right one?
By Bryony Thomas, Marketing consultant, author and founder of Watertight Marketing.
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