A critical component to successful inbound lead generation is building your email list so you can convert your qualified leads into buyers and continue sending them relevant and useful content through the delight stage of the buyer’s journey. According to a census performed by Circle Research, 42-percent of businesses claim email to be one of their most effective strategies for lead generation, so it’s important that you get it right when you build your email list. Here are five rookie mistakes that are killing your email list-building success:
1. Not getting consent before sending email.
This is a huge no-no in the world of email marketing. Sending commercial email without prior consent can land your business in legal trouble and halt your list-building before you even really get started. To be safe, give your potential customers an opt-in selection on your calls-to-action or within your web content so they have to perform an action to get on your email list.
2. Making your subscription offer a treasure hunt.
People want things to be easy when they visit your site. If you only put one small opportunity for people to subscribe and bury it on your sidebar, you will miss out on a large percentage of potential subscribers. Provide subscription opportunities in places that are easy for your clients to see and do it often. There is a balance of course; don’t overdo it.
3. Not sorting your list according to relevance.
This is critical if you wish to achieve maximum return for your email marketing efforts. Take the time to segment your email list according to criteria that relate to your buyer personas and your product offerings. For example, if you are a dentist and your monthly special is teeth whitening, people who wear dentures will not be interested. Ensuring your content is relevant to your audience not only increases your potential for sales, it makes your subscribers feel that your business cares about who they are and they will engage more.
4. Failing to engage with your subscribers.
In order to maintain a relationship with your subscribers that will lead to sales, you need to engage with them on a continual basis without overwhelming them or adding to the noise of email spam. Don’t send daily emails, consider a bi-weekly or monthly blast with an incentive or offer that has real value. The key is to keep your business on their mind in a positive way and offer information that addresses their specific concerns and pain points.
5. Ignoring the numbers.
You’re doing the work to build your email list, don’t forget to review your results to see what’s working and what isn’t. Take a look at your conversion rates of visitors to your site becoming subscribers and make changes if they are low. Analyze the open rate on your emails to see what frequency, what subject lines and what style of content gets more of your content read. Rinse and repeat!
