That’s how successful email marketing works. Regardless of the effort you put into your emails, if you don’t get them in front of a broader audience, they won’t bring the desired results.

So, the first thing to do is grow your email list.

But think of quality over quantity. Buying email lists is never a good choice. You don’t want a lead forced to join your list, just like you wouldn’t bring a random passerby into your theater. So, it’s not just about acquiring subscribers; you want them to be genuinely interested in your brand, too.

They’re the ones who will convert into loyal customers. How will get those wannabe customers to join your list? The following tips will help you populate your list with qualified contacts who stick around all the way to the final applause.

1.    Use a Reliable Email Marketing Solution

It’s a no-brainer that you need an email marketing solution to grow your email list. Such a tool includes features like list segmentation and email personalization, which are valuable assets for effective contact management. But is that all you should look for in email marketing software?

Definitely not. Your tool of choice should also come with:

• Options to build, customize, and test signup forms, and access templates to save time when designing your forms.
• An intuitive landing page builder to create effective landing pages and optimize them to get the most out of list building.
• Robust analytics to track key metrics that show the effectiveness of your forms and landing pages (e.g., signup and list growth rates).
• Excellent deliverability rates so your emails land in subscriber inboxes instead of the spam folder.
• Integration with other popular tools to ensure seamless and quick list building across multiple channels.

There are several user-friendly solutions that include these capabilities. Tools like Mailchimp facilitate list growth through an extended list of integrations. You can also group contacts based on their signup source, which helps you keep them organized.

But Mailchimp charges users for inactive recipients or even for non-subscribed contacts. So, if someone purchases from your online store but doesn’t opt in to your list, they still count towards your plan limit. This could turn your list growth into a counterproductive and expensive process.

And while Mailchimp has a good deliverability reputation, many users report that their emails end up in spam. That’s why some of them turn to reliable alternatives to Mailchimp that come at a fraction of the cost while offering the necessary features—great deliverability included.

2.    Leverage Well-Timed Popups on your Site

Your website is often the first point of contact between consumers and your brand. So, it’s the ideal space for catching their attention and encouraging email signups, usually through a popup form. By their nature, popups are a dynamic method to engage users. When used with the user experience in mind, that is.

Let’s take standard popups as an example. They appear on a website after a set amount of time, fading over the main content. However, if your timing or messaging is wrong, they can be intrusive and lead to high bounce rates.

Popups can be triggered by a range of user actions, the most common being after users spend time on a page or immediately upon landing. Like on the home page of Britchida.

To target already engaged users, you can set them to appear after visitors click on a link or scroll down a page. One of the most popular options is to add exit-intent popups to turn visitors who’re about to leave your site into email subscribers.

Whatever you choose, make sure your popup adds value to the user experience. Here’s how:

• Employ simple and concise copy to communicate your message.
• Use compelling images or bold colors to grab attention.
• Add straightforward and powerful CTAs to prompt action.
• Clearly state the benefits of subscribing.
• Include relevant incentives to encourage signups.

3.    Add a Compelling Incentive

Don’t you just love free stuff? So do your visitors. This makes incentives a powerful tool to grow your email list. It’s a fair deal where you offer users something free of charge and they give you their email address.

But any incentive won’t do the trick. It should be something relevant both to their needs and your value proposition. Let’s say a luxury accessory brand offers a discount on a fast-food menu. Something wrong with the targeting here, right?

Ensuring your incentive matches the needs of your customers is key. This will help you not only increase the size of your list, but also bring the right people in. There’s no reason to limit yourself to one incentive type, though. Consider mixing up different incentives based on your specific marketing objectives and audience groups.

Here are some ways to kindle their interest:

• A discount on one of your products or services
• A free shipping offer for eCommerce businesses
• An eBook or other type of downloadable material
• A free product sample or a free trial period for your service
• Access to premium content like industry-related blog posts or videos
• A webinar registration or a free course

Blog Tyrant uses a discount and a clever CTA to generate subscribers. Extra points for adding a countdown timer to create urgency and centering the copy around the benefits of signing up:

4.    Let Social Media Give You a Boost

We live in the era of social media. Most consumers are there, which makes these channels a bulletproof way to reach a broader audience. Encouraging your social media followers to subscribe to your newsletter is relatively easy and simple, especially if you’re already using social media marketing as a business tool.

First, use the lead generation options of your email marketing platform to create a dedicated signup landing page. Once you have it up and running, all you need to do is use the link on your social media accounts to invite users to join your list. You have a number of options, such as:

• Placing the link on your Facebook page.
• Including it on your Instagram and LinkedIn profile.
• Adding the link in your Twitter or TikTok bio.
• Including the signup link in the descriptions of your YouTube videos.
• Taking it one step further by highlighting exclusive newsletter content on Instagram Stories or sharing posts about the benefits of joining your list on LinkedIn.

Here’s an example of Moosend’s Facebook page where visitors can click on an email signup CTA to subscribe to the company’s newsletter:

If you don’t have budget restraints, consider using paid ads that incentivize email signups through exclusive discount promo codes. For instance, Facebook Lean Ads allow users to fill in the opt-in form without leaving the platform, minimizing friction points and increasing the chances for more signups. There’s even the option of collaborating with an influencer in your industry, leveraging their audience to grow your email list.

One of the most effective practices, though, is to run a social media contest or giveaway. Through this process, you can ask for users’ email addresses in exchange for entries to win the prizes. Another option is to promote your giveaway through your emails and encourage your existing subscribers to share the news with their social media connections to increase visibility.

5.    Rely on Existing Subscribers

Your loyal customers can prove to be an excellent source of new leads. They already know your business and have probably experienced the benefits of using your products or services. So, they’re more likely to encourage other consumers to put their trust in your brand and offerings. Also, their personal connections will trust a direct recommendation from someone they know more than your brand messages.

Ask your current contact database for testimonials and reviews where they share their experiences with your brand. It’s even better if they come in the form of videos as video content is more captivating and digestible. You can also leverage detailed case studies to show how your products or services improved your audience’s lives. A great idea is to invest in user-generated content. Encourage existing subscribers to create content, such as videos or images, where they use your products or services.

Once you collect the appropriate material, make sure to highlight it in your emails, landing pages, and social media to bring more people in.

Another way to go is to incentivize existing subscribers to refer your business to their friends and acquaintances. Or you could urge them to share your email content with their contacts. To achieve your objective, consider giving your readers something in return.

If you have a points system, let them know how many points they’ll gain for sharing your email or asking a friend to join your list. Different incentives include coupons or discounts, freebies, or free shipping. And you can throw in an incentive for your new contacts to motivate them to subscribe. For instance, you could promise them access to exclusive offers, free webinar registrations, or downloadable material.

6.    Connect with People Offline

Growing your email list offline sounds counterintuitive. But why not benefit from the direct nature of in-person interactions? Offline methods work equally well to expand your reach to new audiences. Let’s see how:

• Print business cards and give them out to people you meet in person, either at events and conferences or your physical stores.
• Ask event participants if they would like to receive email marketing messages from you, notifying them of future events and other business updates.
• Participate in events where you’ll have a registration form for visitors to fill in their email addresses.
• Let your close contacts (friends, family, and acquaintances) know you want to grow your email list, so they spread the world and perhaps share your email content with others.

As with online list building, ensure you stay legally compliant when reaching out to people in-person. Make sure your registration forms include all the proper legal statements and never email people who haven’t explicitly given their consent to receive emails from your brand.

Focus your Efforts on List Growth

Growing your email list doesn’t have to take time and effort or even extra resources. By implementing the tactics shared in this article, you can grow a list of engaged recipients who will be interested in your business news.

While you invest in list growth, remember to use all your resources like your social media and strengthen the bond with existing customers. Every interaction could hold new opportunities to grow your customer base, so try to establish meaningful in-person connections, too.

What matters the most is to make the most of your email marketing strategy, building long-lasting relationships that will also help you further expand your reach to new audiences.

The post How to Grow Your Email List in 6 Simple Ways appeared first on SiteProNews.

What Is Email Click-through Rate?

Email click-through rate refers to the number of subscribers that click on at least one of the links or CTAs in your email campaigns. Why do email marketers do everything within their power to improve it? Because a high CTR indicates that recipients find your email material interesting enough to click on your CTAs and learn more about your business updates, promotions, industry tips, etc. But how will you know if you have a good email click-through rate? Well, it depends on factors like your industry averages or your marketing budget.

To calculate your email CTR, all you have to do is divide the number of subscribers who clicked on a link in your email by the number of emails delivered. Then, multiply the result by 100 to show a percentage. However, keep in mind that the formula may differ slightly depending on your email marketing service. Some ESPs monitor unique clicks to measure email click-through rates, while others check every click, so a recipient clicking twice will count as two clicks.

Why Should You Increase Your Email CTR?

Email click-through rate is the cornerstone of email marketing metrics since it shows your recipients’ level of engagement with your emails. Even if your marketing team members are experts in how to create a landing page or a blog post that drives conversions, it’s no use if your subscribers don’t click on the link that will direct them there. Improving your email CTR leads to increased traffic to your website and landing pages, which, in its turn, drives leads and sales.

Your email click-through rate tells you whether or not your email campaigns meet your subscribers’ expectations. That means you are able to figure out what works and where there’s room for improvement. It could even offer you valuable insight if the audience targeted with your emails is the right audience. What you have to do is constantly track and measure your email campaign performance and then apply the lessons learned in future emails. 

6 Simple Steps to Improve Your Email Click-through Rate in 2023

Now that we have established what the email click-through rate is all about, it’s time to analyze the most effective yet simple steps to improve your email CTR and drive the customer engagement that your emails deserve.

1. Create and Dispatch Relevant Email Content

Once a recipient opens your email, you would be surprised to know how little time you have to catch their attention. Your subscribers are busy people who are bombarded with hundreds of emails daily. So, you have to showcase that your content is relevant to their interests and provides them with solutions to their challenges. It’s a no-brainer that when your email content aligns with their needs, your email campaigns will receive more clicks. 

Sending relevant content to your contacts is key to improving your CTR. If you combine such content with a good offer that addresses their pain points, you maximize the chances of them clicking on your email links. Compelling incentives give readers all the right reasons to spend more time scrolling through your content and follow your email call to action. But to offer them the incentive they need, you first need to get to know them. And list segmentation is the vehicle for understanding them. 

2. Leverage Segmentation and Personalization

As a marketer or business owner, you are aware of most benefits coming with email list segmentation. But did you know that segmenting your target audience also helps you boost your click-through rate? List segmentation gives you the opportunity to create and send relevant email offers to each and every prospect. And the more targeted the offer, the more the likelihood of your readers clicking on them. 

Not every email will interest every member of your email list. So, neglecting to segment your contact database costs you more time and money than you think since you may put your focus on uninterested recipients. Not only will they be unwilling to convert, but they probably won’t bother reading your email content or clicking your links. To succeed in email marketing, you need to send targeted emails to the recipients most likely to respond well to them.

How can you achieve that? All you need to do is segment your email list based on the data you have for your subscribers, from demographics to browsing and purchasing habits. Try to collect as much data as possible in order to build a rapport with them and let them understand you’ve done your homework. Then, manage said data to personalize your email campaigns and make them feel special with tailored messages. 

Personalization nowadays goes beyond using their name in your subject lines, so consider adding more than one personalization element to showcase you know what they need – and that your links are the doorway to getting it. However, ensure you have done the appropriate research to use the right thing and avoid scaring them off through the use of too much or too sensitive information.

3. Include Social Media Sharing Options

Surprisingly, most marketers don’t know that adding at least one social media sharing option to their emails can improve their click-through rates. If this option is more than one, the percentage of recipients clicking on your links could skyrocket. Apart from that, social sharing options increase your email content’s visibility, helping you reach prospects that aren’t your subscribers – yet. Think of it this way: even if a subscriber isn’t interested in a specific promotion or educational content, they might know someone who is. 

So, having social media sharing options in your emails makes it easier for them to spread the word to their social networks. These shares are valuable opportunities for new leads to hear about your unique value proposition without you moving a finger. Just make sure you add the social sharing buttons or links most relevant to your marketing objectives. For instance, if you want to grow your Instagram following, it would be better to make the corresponding sharing option prominent.  

4. Optimize for Mobile Devices

With millions of recipients accessing their inboxes through mobile devices, not optimizing your emails for mobile is just leaving money on the table. Mobile readers are a huge percentage of your target audience, regardless of other demographic or behavioral characteristics. The device people use to view your emails is a critical factor in how they interact with them. 

Trust us when we say that when you give mobile device users a hard time reading and scrolling through your email, they won’t waste another second on it. The last thing you want is for them to have a bad user experience and think of your company as a bad sender.  This will not only result in them ignoring your CTAs, but they will probably move your email to the trash folder, too. Therefore, if you want your email CTA clickability to go up, you need to ensure that your emails render perfectly, no matter the device your readers use to display your messages.

5. Build Trust

Speaking of bad senders, let us reassure you that your sender reputation directly affects both your open and click-through rates. And it makes perfect sense seeing that clicking on malicious or misleading links is probably the most terrifying experience an online user might have. The more users and email clients respect you as a sender, the more your emails get delivered. And the more your sender reputation improves, the better your email performance in terms of opens and clicks. 

It should go without saying, but staying away from bad or suspicious links that direct visitors to shady web pages is an email marketing strategy you should stop now. However, there are other essential elements that also help you improve your sender reputation. Some of them include:

• Always have an unsubscribe option in your emails, and make sure it’s clear and visible so that readers don’t have a hard time finding it
• Make sure your email marketing efforts stay compliant with anti-spam regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act or the GDPR
• Avoid practices like spam-triggering words, excessive use of exclamation marks and punctuation points, or too many emojis, both in your subject line and your email body
• Clearly state who you are by displaying accurate sender information and including your company’s physical address within the email copy

6. Get Your CTAs Right

Creating great email content, compelling offers, and eye-catching subject lines is key to getting readers to click on your call to action. But your CTA itself deserves your utmost attention, or all your efforts could go down the drain. It’s what tells your recipients what you expect from them, so you have to make their next action as clear as possible.

First things first, opt for actionable and straightforward language in your CTA copy for recipients to easily understand what will happen upon clicking on it. You should also place it strategically so they can detect it immediately, and make it bold to stand out. And keep in mind that your email copy should be centered around the action you want readers to take, therefore serving your CTA. 

When it comes to the number of CTAs contained in your emails, there is no magic formula; you simply have to test what works and what doesn’t and find the right balance. We know it might be tempting to add multiple CTAs, thinking that your audience will click on at least one of them. However, it’s common for recipients to feel overwhelmed and frustrated by multiple call-to-actions and stray away from such emails. So, consider using a single CTA that focuses on the action that best serves your marketing goal.

Final Words

Increased click-through rates show that more prospects are willing to take action with your email content, which in its turn, is the definition of a successful email campaign. If you are facing the common problem of low CTR, the tips detailed in this article will pave the way for witnessing an increase in this crucial email marketing metric. 
No email campaign is the same as another, though, and neither is your email marketing objective. That’s why you must always perform A/B testing to figure out which tactics have a measurable impact on your email campaign performance. The ones that help you improve your click-through rate and drive audience engagement are the ones worth investing in and continue employing in future emails.

The post Improve Your Email Click-through Rate (CTR) in 6 Simple Steps in 2023 appeared first on SiteProNews.