No matter how you spin it, email is still king. Your most effective digital marketing channel is also the channel that has been around the longest. Email is personal, direct, and heavily transactional. When you look at these three factors alone, It’s no surprise why it works so well.
However, to have effective email marketing campaigns, you need a list of leads to market to. Here’s where email list building comes into play. You must be building your email list at all times. It’s simple, the more email leads you have, the more sales opportunities you provide for your business. Here are 5 reasons why email capture is critical to the success of your online business.
1. Generating email leads means more sales opportunities!
One of the most difficult aspects of digital marketing that businesses face is converting traffic into leads or sales. On average, 98% of new traffic leaves your site without converting into a lead. Even if visitors are interested in what you’re selling, they may end up forgetting about your website. Consumers are easily distracted and it’s possible that they may never return to your website. That is, unless you do something about it.
By simply engaging visitors and asking them to subscribe to your mailing list, you can drastically boost email capture. Once you get that email, you can market to these people and drive them back to your site resulting in more sales opportunities! This also opens the door for driving sales from shoppers who need to be marketed to over a period of time.
2. Email is your Highest Converting Sales Channel
Email is the highest converting sales channel. Email converts 4X higher than social and over 1.5X higher than search! But before you can realize these kind of returns from email marketing, you need people to market to. The best place to start is by increasing email list growth.
Yes, email is the most traditional form of digital marketing. While many create the argument for social marketing channels, there really isn’t anything to dispute. Just look at the numbers. For every $1 spent on email marketing, there’s a $38 dollar return! It’s clear where you need to be investing your resources. Build your list and then build it some more! Marketing to a bigger list of email leads will maximize ROI from email campaigns.
3. Email is a direct channel
With email, you are directly reaching individuals with your marketing message and no other digital marketing channel can boast that. Social media allows you to indirectly market to people but the visibility of your message is unpredictable and significantly less effective. Email is a true 1:1 communication.
Also consider the competition in a social channel feed. With both Facebook and Twitter, you have to compete with news, click bait articles, personal posts, other brands, and the list goes on. Your marketing message is 5X more likely to be seen through an email than a Facebook post. Use social posts to generate brand awareness and as a secondary source of traffic. Leave it to email to drive actual revenue. Email inboxes are far less competitive and you have more control over how your message is displayed.
Investing time and effort in building your email list will allow you to market to interested leads in a more direct and effective manner.
4. Targeted and Personalized Messages Perform Better
Today, you can create detailed segments of subscribers based on past behavior to deliver a personalized message that is more likely to drive a purchase. In e-commerce, segmentation by gender, repeat vs first time buyer, previously viewed or purchased products, geo-location, and much more has drastically helped marketers drive sales directly from email.
5. It’s Easy to Start Building your List
It’s so simple to start building your email list! There are two factors that go into driving new email signups.
First, make your signup form visible and accessible. The most effective signup forms are email pop ups, signup bars, and exit offers. These types of forms are engaging and highly effective at grabbing a visitors attention. They also work incredibly well – like increase in daily email sign ups by 758% well!
Second, make your offer to join the mailing list attractive. This can be done with catchy headlines, crafty copy, and most importantly, value. Add value through providing promo codes, free content, entry into a contest, or even info on what makes your newsletter so great! Signup forms that offer unique value, even in the slightest form will see better email capture results.
Don’t use a generic email signup form. Have something that is unique to your brand and something that is actually going to work!
List building is a consistent effort. Consumers unsubscribe and emails go dormant so you should continue to build your email list. There are always more opportunities out there. Email will be your most reliable and effective channel for driving both traffic and sales. Want to take the next step? Here are 5 tools to help you build your email list!
Written by Grant Thomas
Grant Thomas is a Marketing Manager and Lead Blogger at Justuno. His work on conversion rate optimization, email capture, and ecommerce marketing can be found on the Justuno blog. Follow him on Twitter for daily tips and updates! – @GSThomas22
