10 Easy Ways to Increase Your Email Newsletter Signups
Whether you are new or old to email marketing, growing your newsletter list is a common challenge. ChooseWhat.com has put together 10 sure-fire ways you can increase your readership and improve your email marketing efforts.
#1: Make Your Subscription Form Easy to Find
Put your newsletter sign-up on every page of your website. Consider modifying the design so that the sign-up form is repeated in the header, footer or main navigation. The trick is to provide consistency for your users so that when they decide to commit, they know exactly where to find the form.Tip: Many email marketing services make creating a sign-up form easy by providing pre-generated code that you can simply copy and paste to your website. Compare email marketing services, here.
#2: Use a Simple Form
Ask for the bare minimum of information you need to personalize your newsletters. This is usually just a name and email address. If you need other information to further customize your campaign, make it optional.Tip: Many email marketing services provide a sign-up form with various options for you, and you are able to customize which information you want to collect.
#3: Publish Your Archive
Create a page on your website that links to past newsletter issues. This allows readers to get a sneak peak of what kind of emails they will be receiving, so they know what they are signing up for. Be sure to include a description about your newsletter, as well as a sign-up form.Tip: Many email marketing services provide links to your past newsletters that you can use on your website to create an archive.
#4: Be Clear About Your Intentions
Include a link to your privacy statement in your newsletter signup form. This helps alleviate users' fears about what you are going to do with their personal information.Tip: Link your privacy statement to your "About" page, so readers can also learn more about your company and be sure they trust you before they sign up.
#5: Utilize Social Media
Twitter and Facebook are great tools to share your newsletter campaigns. Use hashtags (#) on Twitter so your newsletters are indexed for key terms. You can even embed a sign-up form in your Facebook profile. You will be surprised at how many new subscribers you will gain.Tip: Many email marketing services have social network integration. When you send your newsletter, it automatically posts to all of your social networks.
#6: Follow Best Practices
Do not spam your readers. Make sure you obtain their email addresses legally and with their permission. Such unlawful tactics affect the overall perception of your business.Tip: Many email marketing services offer double opt-in confirmations, so that you can be sure that your list is full of readers who have manually opted in for your content.
#7: Reward Your eNewsletter Subscribers
Your newsletter subscribers are some of your most loyal readers, so give them a reason to sign-up and stay. Give a coupon for signing up, or have ongoing, exclusive offers for your newsletter readers. You can even offer rewards for referral sign-ups.Tip: Many email newsletter services have templates specifically designed for promotions, such as coupon giveaways. Compare email marketing services.
#8: Blog Frequently
Blogs build a community of readers, which is a great network to solicit newsletter sign-ups. Make sure to include a newsletter sign-up in your blog signature, so that readers have the opportunity to get similar articles delivered to their inbox.Tip: If you allow comments on your blog, add a checkbox to your comment form that allows users to seamlessly opt-in for your newsletter when they post a comment.
#9: Include "Share" Buttons on Your Emails
Word of mouth advertising is one of the most effective forms of advertising. Make sure to include "Share" and "Forward to Friend" buttons in your newsletter design. This allows readers to share your newsletter on social media networks or send it directly to a colleague's email address.Tip: Most email marketing services include "Share" and "Forward to Friend" buttons as a standard on their email templates. Compare email marketing services.
#10: Publish Useful Content
The number 1 way to get more newsletter subscribers is to publish useful, relevant content. Solicit feedback from your readers and give them a chance to tell you what they are interested in reading about.Tip: Many email marketing services have a "survey" feature that allow you to poll your customers.If you have any other tips or want to share how these tips have helped you grow your newsletter list, please leave a comment below.