Email List Building Strategies: Start Collecting Email Addresses NOW!
One of the most common things we hear from many small businesses, especially those in small towns & rural areas, is that they're hesitant to start using email to communicate and market because they don't have email addresses. That's a pretty strong reason to not pull the trigger and start using email marketing for a small business. Don't let that stop you.
One of our earliest clients, a small Amish furniture retailer in North Central Ohio, was in that exact boat. We first talked to the owner about the immense benefits of email marketing. Targeted, direct, trackable. You know the benefits. But, one of the biggest challenges for this business was that they hadn't been collecting customer email addresses since they opened the doors. Did that stop them from starting 2 years ago? Nope. The owner, and his staff, followed 3 simple steps that we gave them and started collecting email addresses in droves! The 3 steps were:
- Setup a collection box with signup sheets NEXT to the register - one part of our email marketing services that are very valuable, especially for a small business that doesn't have a website (what are you waiting for???), is that we provide a hard plastic drop box and 1,000 signup sheets for in store promotion. You don't even need a fancy drop box. Go to the pet store and buy a fish bowl. Make a sign to put on the front of it to tell people why a fish bowl is sitting in your store. While you're making the sign, make a signup sheet that people can fill out with their first name, last name and email address. That's all the information you need to start using email marketing for your small business.
- Get the ENTIRE staff on board - this is probably the most critical element for success in email marketing, especially for a small business. Every member of your staff needs to understand that it is THEIR responsibility to help the business grow its email marketing database. Here's an idea on us. Make a contest out of getting people signed up to receive emails. Give your staff a chance to compete for something everyone wants. An extra day off, the newest tech gadget, free cash. It doesn't matter, just let your staff's interest dictate what the prize will be.
- ASK EVERY person that walks through the door to signup - every single person that walks through your front door is either a current customer or a prospective customer, and every single one of them should sign up to receive emails from your business. Every staff member, including you as the owner, should be asking almost every person that walks in to sign up for your email campaigns. Here's another piece of free advice. Develop a promotion that gives people something free just for signing up for emails from you. However, make sure it's something from your business. Give away a $50 gift certificate. Hesitant to give away free stuff, here's a pretty compelling statistic. According to Stan Rapp, founder of Rapp Collins, the value of a SINGLE opt-in email address is estimated at $118. Enough said.
So, how is our Amish furniture client faring today? In the 2 years we've been working with them, they've grown their database to 399 subscribers. From ZERO when we started. Now, take the 399 subscribers and multiply that by $118. The estimated value of this client's email list is almost $41,000. Not too shabby!
They're open rates are very strong (nearly 30% for every campaign). Oh, and by the way, they haven't even started venturing into the social media world yet. Imagine what they could do with Twitter, Facebook, a website and a blog!