How to get email subscribers

If you are running a business with an online presence, it is likely you have built up a list of subscribers who you target via email marketing. The subscribers on your email list are the lifeblood of your business. You must keep adding new members every day if not every hour because some will unsubscribe to your emails and newsletter. The quality of those subscribers is vital. You want subscribers who will actually buy your products or services regularly and refer other clients to your business. You may have a large list and make low profits if you cannot convert most, if not all, subscribers into repeat clients. So how do you grow your list of subscribers and ensure they are the right kind of subscriber? Nina Mosely gives some advice to help you add new email subscribers.

1. Make it easy to subscribe

If you have many visitors to your site but few email subscribers, chances are that the opt-in form is complicated. Review the form and make changes where necessary. One of the features that put off many users is multiple questions before submitting their subscription. A simple form with the names and email address is all you need for your website. You can capture additional details of your subscribers after adding them to your list. If you are getting poor results with your current form, you could use OptinMonster’s high-converting email capture forms on your website. The forms are beautifully designed to simplify the subscription process and improve your conversion rate.

2. Offer exclusive deals and content

Any promise of a gift or exclusive deal will get your users’ attention. Give special gifts to new subscribers that other visitors cannot access. For instance, you can offer a free trial version of your product for a month to new email subscribers only. Alternatively, you can offer a free ebook or video tutorial. The secret here is to offer something valuable to your potential clients. Otherwise, the deal will not attract new subscribers. Do not try to sell any product to the subscribers at this point. Give a valuable gift, however small, as a way of thanking the subscribers and welcoming them to your business.

3. Encourage subscribers to share your newsletter

Your current subscribers can help you add new members to your email list. Encourage them to forward each newsletter before signing off. Remember that a forwarded email may not have all the attachments and images. Hence, the new recipients will not get the true picture of your business. Create a link where subscribers can compose a new email online with the newsletter. The advantage of adding such a link is that you can track the number of subscribers that share your newsletter every month.

4. Add the opt-in form to the sidebar

The most common approach is to include the opt-in form on the homepage of a website. This strategy works because most visitors to your website are likely to land on the homepage. However, you may lose them if they move to other pages for more information. Your goal should be to keep your visitors on your website for as long as possible. Place the opt-in form on the sidebar of your website. If you are using WordPress hosting, it is easy to add a widget that enables you to drag and drop the opt-in form on the sidebar.

5. Give subscribers control over the newsletters

Most businesses give their subscribers an option of unsubscribing to their newsletter with just one click. Your business probably falls into this category of companies that simply ask the subscribers their reason for opting out. The subscriber is likely to click on any reason of your list to complete the process. The best approach is to give your subscribers control over the communication they receive. In most cases, subscribers leave when they receive too many emails from the same company. Give them an option of regulating the frequency of the newsletters or emails. For instance, they can receive one newsletter every month.

6. Utilise social platforms

Your business website is the best place to search for subscribers, but is not the only effective channel. If you interact with your existing and potential clients on social media, you have multiple opportunities to grow your list of subscribers.

After sharing useful content and engaging in lively discussions, ask your audience to subscribe to your newsletter directly. Many of your social media followers may never visit your website but would be willing to read your newsletters. Do not shy away from asking for subscription with the fear that you will lose your followers. The social interactions are excellent opportunities to share information about your business including newsletters.

7. Add the opt-in form to your emails

How many official emails do you send in a day? You probably lose count by midday. All those emails are opportunities to ask for new subscriptions. Add the same opt-in form on your website to your email signature. Ensure that the recipients can easily opt-in directly from the email. The signature and form should be visible to the email recipient. As indicated earlier, simplify the process of subscribing to one or two fields. Your recipients may have multiple emails to read and reply and hence the need for a simple form.

8. Make the submit button interact

Sometimes your visitors are unsure about submitting their subscriptions. One way to entice your visitors to subscribe is to add a submit button that responds to the user’s action. For instance, the button can change from one colour to another as the user place the cursor on it. Red and green colours have proved effective on many websites. Have a red call-to-action button that turns green when a user places a cursor on it. You simply move the users from stop to go subconsciously, which leads to more clicks of the button.

9. Create a viral report

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and one of the most efficient as well. You could create a free short report related to your particular field and allow the readers to redistribute any way they want to close friends, family, etc. This way, your report will start spreading virally to potential clients.

Ideally your report should not be over 15 pages and should cover a subject most of your clients are concerned about. For instance, if you’re selling storm shutters, you could simply release a report on how to protect your home from natural disasters. You could then include links to your website, specific products, and of course, to your newsletter.

You could give the report as a bonus to people who subscribe to your list and let your readers do the rest. This is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to spread the word about your list. If you don’t feel comfortable about your writing skills, don’t worry, there are tons of freelancers out there that would be more than happy to write it for you.

A quality list of email subscribers is important for the success of your business. You have several options for growing this list as outlined above. The strategies are easy to implement on your website or blog. Utilise all platforms including social media, your business website and emails to request your users to subscribe to your newsletter. Getting the users to give their personal details is just the first step. Ensure that your emails and newsletter have valuable content to the readers and not just promotional messages to retain your email subscribers.

*Nina Mosley is a freelance journalist.