Keeping Email List Members Interested
Once you have a mailing list up and running, and start
to experience success, your job isn't done. Having a mailing
list to advertise gives you some great advantages, but you
have to keep your subscribers interested in your content,
otherwise you won't be able to capitalize on your success.
This issue can often be discouraging, but you don't have
to worry, there are plenty of things you can do to keep
your list reading. The key is to offer your list an incentive,
something they can earn by staying active, but something
which doesn't offset the financial benefit of running your
list.
One of the most common and reliable methods for developing
your list is to offer competitions that are exclusive to
your email list. Include the words special or exclusive
offer in your email title to catch the recipient's attention,
this will also improve your open rate. Your contest should
involve clicking on a link and entering some information,
or could involve some sort of game. Using games for advertising
has been used online by such diverse groups as the software
bundle MacHeist, the band Nine Inch Nails, and the ad companies
hired to promote The Dark Knight. By laying out a fun puzzle
you can generate further advertising benefits by getting
your recipients to forward the email, also known as viral
advertising. The prize for these contests should be something
small that does not lead to a decrease in revenue, such
as leaked pictures of a new product, a demo, a nominal discount
that doesn't greatly affect your profit margin, or even
access to a free application. Whatever the prize, people
will go out of their way for free content or a discount,
especially if you hype it properly. Make the crux of your
email the reward, and if you want to have more information
go out, send a secondary mailing, its likely going to be
more successful when sent out second.
Another great method is to include a weekly or monthly
special discount code in the email. You can also include
event reminders for both online and offline activities.
Both of these options seek to draw the users attention to
the specific email, not getting the user to visit your site
the way contests do. This means if you are offering a discount
or the ability to visit a special event, you should include
it in a promotional email that advertises specific content
or products to your customers. By combining advertising
copy and gimmicks to give your customers a prize for reading
your ads you greatly increase the effectiveness of your
advertising.
Another great way to get subscribers reading is to ask
them exactly what they want out of your emails. This method
can sometimes result in a large number of responses, so
it may not be practical to use all of this information.
Still, if you send out an email asking customers for some
topics they are interested in, or other products they wish
you to review, or even things they want you to fix about
your website or emails, you seem like you are interested
in their needs, which increases the relationship between
you and your customers. Create a form on your site that
you link to and you will be gathering useful information
from your customers. If you get too many responses to read
through, select a few examples, find some tips you like,
and actually implement them. Then include information about
the tips you did implement and who told you about them in
your next email. This method makes it seem like you not
only want to meet your customers needs, but you also want
them to know you care enough to implement their ideas. Send
out one of these emails once a month or every couple months.
Your emails will improve because you will be better able
to target them at your customers, and your customers will
know you care about their opinions.
In the end, gimmicks will only get you so far, but they
will greatly help retain an audience of active readers.
Once you have tried these methods, you will notice which
works best with your particular list. Don't forget your
fundamentals either, focus on providing a clean, attractive
design for your emails, keep your content professional sounding
and well written, and don't overuse your list, this annoys
recipients. If you follow these tips, you can keep your
list working for you long into the future.
