MustangList.com Blog

Collect email addresses at every possible touch point

Don’t forget the many touch points within your organization where it is possible to collect an email address. Most of the time an email address can be collected for your email list without significantly interrupting workflow or other processes. At other times, the email address is already collected, and needs only to be efficiently added to Mustang List.

The most efficient way of collecting email addresses is to build processes so that collecting the addresses is automatic. Most of the time this means collecting the email address online or through software at the POS. It saves time and the information obtained is more accurate.

For example, the opt-in and all relevant information (name, email address, zip, etc.) from a shopping cart page can be automatically sent to the Mustang List system. This can be done in addition to, and without interrupting, your normal processes for the shopping cart transactions. Of course we are available to help integrate your software systems into Mustang List or your own programmers can do it themselves using our APIs.

Another example would be how the new patient forms in a doctor’s office could ask for an email address as part of the initial data collected for all patients. Adding that email address to Mustang List should be part of the checklist of things to do/data to enter for setting up new patients.

At what points of contact within your organization can you collect email addresses?

1. Provide an email opt-in box on web registration and/or shopping cart pages (use the Mustang List APIs to automate the transfer of information from web pages to Mustang List)
2. Provide an email opt-in box on product registration cards or web pages
3. Provide an email opt-in box on contest entry forms (both printed forms and online forms)
4. Capture emails at the POS (again use APIs to automate the transfer of information to Mustang List)
5. Offer email sign-up cards at the POS if collecting email addresses directly isn’t possible
6. Request emails through call center customer service and online (chat) representatives
7. For every white paper or demo, etc. that your customers can request from you, provide an email opt-in box on the request page
8. Run occasional web surveys and include an opt-in box at the end of the survey or the opt-in url on the “thank you” page displayed upon completion of the survey

Remember that you need to clearly ask permission to add the email address to the email list. You don’t want to create a negative brand impression by emailing someone who didn’t think they’d given you their email address for your email list. You also should have a short but sweet message about the value your email list offers to accompany all these opt-in boxes, etc. Your customers need to see that your list is something they don’t want to miss out on, rather than just another email “list” trying to get more subscribers.

Where you can’t collect emails for your list, you need to drive traffic to your email sign-up page by promoting the email itself (or its content) and the sign-up url at all points of contact within your organization.

Next blog: Tip #4 - Promote the email list everywhere on your site and beyond

Offer compelling content

When you have an email with compelling, useful content, it gives you “bragging rights” on your opt-in page and makes it easier to promote the list. Consider creating an email “publication” wherein you offer content that is high in value to your customer and is less overtly commercial in nature. It’s easier to solicit sign-ups to an email list when you’ve added value: your customers are not just subscribing to an email list; they are asking to receive content from you as well as special offers.

Here are some ideas for promoting an email list with content that is interesting to your target market:

• Archive your newsletters so you can link to them online when and where you want.

• Optimize these pages/content for Search. This is a great way to beef up the content on your site, get more traffic from Search, and promote the email list. Don’t forget to put a link to the email sign-up page on each of these pages. And vice versa.

• Link to the archives from the email sign-up page: this will show your customers the quality information you’re offering them and will increase their trust in your offer, helping to increase the conversions on your sign up page.

• Consider taking out a small ad promoting your email list or newsletter as a standalone product. It could be more targeted and more cost effective per email opted-in than renting a list

• Sometimes the promotion or topic of your newsletter is appropriate for a press release. Include the url of your sign-up page on the press release.

You might choose to rethink the emails you currently send, or create a new value-added email to complement your regular commercial emails. If you normally send emails informing customers about products and sales, this new email might be in the form of a monthly or quarterly newsletter or ezine with tips, advertorials, reviews of new products, blog entries from your site, etc., depending on your industry. Whatever you choose to do, this value-added email would have a much more subtle call to action, if any at all.

By offering content of interest and value to your customers and by focusing on strengthening your relationship with your customers, you will build your list, as well as enjoy higher open rates and fewer unsubscribes.

Next blog: Tip #3 - Collect email addresses at every possible touch point

Your house email list is one of your most valuable online assets. There are few better ways to target your marketing message than to a group of like-minded subscribers who are interested in your message or product.

Building a profitable permission-based email list should be a central component of your online marketing plan. Simply put, if you don’t build, the list shrinks. You need to constantly pursue new subscribers in order to offset unsubscribes as well as members who remain on the list but become inactive.

Everyone knows that growing a large, permission-based email list takes time, but where do you start? Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take immediately to begin to grow your list with quality subscribers and to get more value out of your existing subscribers. After employing the basics, there are some “next steps” you can incorporate into your business plan to take your list-building efforts to the next level.

In the next few blogs, we’ll discuss some things you can do immediately to build your email list:

• Offer plenty of opportunities to sign up for your email list on your website
• Create compelling content and promote the content
• Collect email addresses at every possible touch point
• Promote the email list everywhere on your site and beyond
• After maximizing the resources within your company to grow your list, seek opportunities with partners
• Don’t ignore your existing list

Tip # 1: Make sure your customers can sign up for your email list on your website.

The important thing here is that the opportunities to sign-up for your list be pervasive throughout your site. One subscribe box or one link on the home page to your sign up page is not enough to really drive email list sign-ups. Using some combination of the following approaches will ensure that you are offering a method of email sign-up that will appeal to your different customers and the frame of mind they might be in when they land on your site.

• Create an email opt-in page. Use this dedicated page for promoting the value of your email list to potential subscribers.
• Provide a “quick and easy” subscribe box on your homepage. This does two things: First, it clearly promotes the fact that you have an email list on what is the first point of contact for many site visitors. Secondly, it provides instant gratification for the customer who might be interested in signing up for your email list but doesn’t feel like linking deeper into the site.
• Consider incorporating a subscribe box into the design of your site so it appears on every page or at least your top ten or twenty most visited pages.
• If you require visitors to register to use your site, include an email opt-in on the registration page.

Next blog: Tip #2 - Offer compelling content

There are many different techniques you can employ to convert a site visitor to a subscriber.

1. Add a subscribe box on home page above the fold in the upper right or left corner.

2. Add a subscribe box on every relevant page of your site for visitors who enter your site on a page other than your home page.

3. Tell your visitors why they should subscribe to your email newsletter. Tell them the benefits of receiving it.

4. Test a price point value. example: Join this free email newsletter today, a $97 value yours at no cost or obligation.

5. Be sure you have a privacy policy listed below your SUBSCRIBE button to assure potential new subscribers that you won’t spam them.

6. Add a sales letter page where you sell potential subscribers on why they should join your email list, including testimonials from current subscribers.

7. Test a squeeze page concept where the only action they can take to get the promised benefit is to join your list.

8. Use exit pop ups to tell potential subscribers of a benefit if they join your list. Many people object to pop ups but test results almost always show that it’s a very effective strategy for boosting subscription rates.

9. Track & measure your results. You know how many new subscriptions you get per day from your website, right? You know how many unique visitors you get per day, right? Divide your new daily subscriptions by your daily visitors to come up with your conversion rate. This is now your baseline performance level that you compare to future conversion rates.