by
Steven Taylor

7 Email Marketing Strategies to Build Your Subscriber List

Email newsletters are one of the cheapest and easiest ways to stay in contact with your readers and customers, but like any other marketing technique, they must be used in the right way to grow. Here seven ways to grow your subscriber list.
1. Offer something for free – It’s an amazing phenomenon – consumers generally will subscribe to anything for a “free” gift. Write an ebook about you industry and offer it to your new subscribers for free. Promote your ebook on your blog or website sidebar, encouraging your new and old readers to sign up for exclusive access. You’ll be able to capture email addresses to build your subscriber list while positioning yourself as an expert in your niche or industry. If your ebook is valuable enough to subscribers, they will be more likely to come back to your blog.
2. Offer exclusive content – This one is a great way to encourage return readers of an already active blog or business website community. If your readers love what you write, offer additional “bonus” content on a regular basis through your email subscriber list. Another idea is to offer quarterly bonus tips or tutorials for users who sign up for your subscriber list.

3. Offer a discount – In the same way customers will sign up for anything to get something free, they will sign up for an e-newsletter for a discount. Promote an offer – a small discount or free product at signup – and watch your subscriber list grow.
4. Make it easy – Subscribers don’t want to jump through hoops to get your content. The more difficult it is to subscribe, the less likely people are to sign up. Luckily, there are some free email newsletter services that make it simple. Mail Chimp offers an e-newsletter service that lets you add an easy-to-use form that you can place on your sidebar. Place this close to the top of your page so it’s one of the first things your visitors see when they stop by your blog. To make it even more clear, create a big, bold image that says “subscribe” that leads to the form.

5. Ask for referrals – Sometimes the best way to get something is to ask! Your subscribers might not think about forwarding your newsletter to their friends and colleagues unless you mention it. As an aside in your content (for instance, in the sidebar with a cool, eye-catching graphic) write “If you loved it, share it!” or something similar that asks for a referral in a casual way. Also, make sure you have share buttons visible for email, Twitter and Facebook. Create an HTML version with a subscription box visible so your newsletter content can be spread more easily through social media.

6. Offer point-of-sale opt-in – If you own a small business or an online business, offering point-of-sale opt-in is a simple and very effective way to build your subscriber list. This doesn’t have to be advanced – if you have a brick-and-mortar store, ask for a name and email if your customer is interested. If you have an online store, ask if your buyer would like to subscribe as they are checking out. Bloggers can even join in with the point-of-sale technique: at the end of a blog post, ask your readers if they’d like to join your list.

7. Don’t abuse your list – Your customers are giving you their personal information in exchange for your content, so make sure you don’t take advantage of it! Keep your enewsletters to a reasonable amount, and send our your newsletters in regular intervals and at a predictable time. Readers are generally overwhelmed with email, so your content has to be short, valuable and infrequent. Write short, catchy subjects so your readers know exactly what they will be getting, and never use “bait and switch” measures to get them to open. Offer what you say you’ll be offering.

Which of these 7 Email marketing strategies would work best for your business?

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