Here's the scenario. You've been utilizing email as a channel to market and promote your small business for the last 6 months. Your results for the first quarter have been tremendous. Customers are redeeming exclusive coupon offers because they receive AND read your email on a frequent basis. You couldn't be happier, and then suddenly you realize that you're seeing the same faces all the time. Then the question hits you; "How can I grow my email marketing list?"
Congratulations, you're just like every other business that uses the email channel for marketing. You have a desire for new prospective customers. The challenge is how do you find them without spending a boat load of cash, right? Email marketing. End of story.
Give a Little to Get a Lot
Six months ago, one of our best clients, a community banking institution in Western Indiana, approached us and wanted to grow their email database. Our idea was simple, easy, and has proven to be extremely effective. Think about it. Banks deal with people's money, which in turn endears these people to the bank. Our client has a very loyal customer base, as do many community banks.
The idea was simple, with a slight twist. Give current email subscribers an opportunity to enter for a chance to win FREE CASH just for forwarding the bank's email to their friends. Seems simple enough, right? Email marketing software has the capability to track which subscribers forward email to their friends, as well as how many times subscribers forwarded the email. But, hold the phone. Here comes the twist. In order to be eligible to win the prize, the subscriber's friends have to sign up to make both parties (the subscriber and their friends) eligible to win the contest. So, in order to be eligible for a chance to win the contest, the subscriber has to forward the email to their friends, AND the subscriber's friends have to sign up to receive email from the bank.
The campaign we developed centered on the biggest holiday of the year: Christmas. The incentive was a chance to win $100 a week over a 4 week period just for forwarding a weekly email to friends. The catch was that the subscriber's friends had to read the email, click on the "Sign Up" link in the email, and then signup for email from the bank. The success was awesome, to say the least. Over the course of 4 weeks, the bank's email database increased 20% for nothing more than a middle of the road laptop computer.
The Beat Goes On
Because of the success the bank experienced with this campaign, they've decided to continue using this list building technique FOREVER. They recently sent a marketing insert inside their customers' statements encouraging current customers to sign up for the bank's email marketing campaigns. The carrot: Don't miss an opportunity for a chance to win FREE CASH just for being a member of our email marketing program. Check out a larger version of the insert the bank sent.
The lesson to learn is simple. Don't be afraid to give something away to grow your small business email marketing database. You never know when that next email address might be a potential customer who can significantly increase your business' bottom line!