Email used to be the primary, inexpensive promotional method in digital marketing. Companies and many courses touted how “the money is in the list” to sell their courses. And then, a few years later, other marketing options came to the fore and email fell out of favour. Business owners should ask themselves whether the time has come to give email promotion another look. So, let’s do just that.
Does the List Still Have Power?
Actually, we’d say surprisingly that it does. The reality is that everyone’s inboxes aren’t overly full of unwanted emails now. Due to marketers looking at other choices – even direct mail once again — there’s a bit of a resurgence in the value of email beyond transactional ones from companies that have just sold something. So, don’t lose faith with email, because there are renewed opportunities with one of the oldest forms of marketing online.
Does Promoting an Email Newsletter Make Sense?
What’s needed is tying together topics of current interest to visitors to the site. This will be a good match for those people who subscribed using an opt-in form on the home page or deeper into the site. There should be a balance found between outright promotion to drum up sales and providing useful content without trying to sell anything. Subscribers quickly tire of endless promotions, so newsletters need to find a balance of value versus marketing to avoid too many unsubscribing.
Should You Purchase an Email List?
To get value from it, it needs to be one that has been vetted with the emails verified. People change their email address surprisingly often, so lists can go stale. A poor deliverability rating won’t be a good thing. Choosing a vetted list of likely customers in your country is valuable. If you restrict sales to your domestic country only and not further afield, the list should reflect that. For instance, Lead Lists offer email lists for the Australian market, so companies in this country will find potential customers far more interested in receiving email.
The lists are usually vetted, which will help with deliverability. Also, they can be tailored to better match the demographic you’re after. Again, this increases their value because emails need to catch the receiver’s interest to be helpful.
Should Lists Be Merged or Kept Separate?
We’d suggest keeping any purchased email lists separate from one another, as well as from email subscribers opting in through the website. By doing so, it’s possible to review the email open rate and sales effectiveness of different lists. Both purchased lists and people freely subscribing can be reviewed to determine their relative ROIs for the cost of acquiring new customers.
How Often Should People Be Contacted?
Contacting subscribers regularly is useful to stay in touch. Otherwise, they may unsubscribe if they believe it to be a random email. On the other hand, avoid overdoing it. Most people are pretty busy and won’t be receptive to overly frequent email delivery. Find the right balance based on subscribers’ feedback.
Email lists are more valuable than ever. While social media gets plenty of attention, no one has abandoned their inbox. It’s still a reliable, cheap way to keep in touch with people while using long-form communication.
