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When building a mailing list for your online business, do you go for quantity or quality? For many, it would seem like quantity is the way to go. You’d want to have a huge list as fast as possible. That’s what some of them say.
I, on the other hand, prefer to build myself a quality list, instead. Every beginner just starting on list building should know that it is not QUANTITY, but quality that is important. What good is your huge list if majority of them are not actively responding to your emails?
Have a look see at the following video if you want to start building a quality mailing list.
Now, here are a few more tips to maintain a quality mailing list.
Give your list subscribers the content they want.
Some of your contents may only be suitable for specific groups or segments of your list. If this is so, you should ask your subscribers to check a box to join a particular group on your signup form.
Instead of using groups, autoresponders like GetResponse allows you to segment your lists. Segmentation allows you to target certain subscribers on your list easily.
If you are about to have a sale at your store, you could send a broadcast only to people staying in your zip code area. Subscribers who live in other parts of the world don’t need to receive the broadcast email.
Sending relevant content will keep your readers engaged. These are the readers who will be looking forward to receive your future emails. If they like it so much, they would probably even share it with friends.
Are you sending spam?
A lot of people send spam. Mainly because they didn’t know any better. Every list builder should read up on the CAN-SPAM act to avoid any trouble.
You can only send bulk email to people who specifically asked to be on your mailing list. If the email is collected for a lunch giveaway or an event invitation, then you don’t have permission to send marketing emails. Whenever you collect emails with the intention of distributing marketing emails, you must inform your subscribers up front during signup.
Do not forget to include an obvious unsubscribe link in every email you send to your mailing list. You should also have a line or two that reminds your subscribers how they got on your list in the first place.
Is your email messages ready for mobile?
Everyone uses a smartphone today. Well, probably almost everyone. So, if your email campaign is not mobile friendly, it’s not going to perform very well.
Everything you send should be mobile-friendly. According to a study, 63 percent of Americans and 41 percent of Europeans would either close or delete an email that’s not optimized for mobile. Time to look for some responsive email templates already.
Commit to a consistent email schedule.
Maintaining a quality mailing list requires commitment. Your subscribers are probably subscribed to a dozen other mailing lists. So,if you don’t connect with them regularly, they will forget about you.
Worst still, they mark your mail as spam the next time they see it.
Make time to plan, write, design, and communicate with your subscribers regularly.
Make subscribing painless.
Make sure that your readers don’t have to go through hoops and bounds to subscribe to your list. Make your email capture form highly visible on your homepage, blog, Facebook page, and wherever else your customers and fans are already active.
Collect as little info as possible to get them into your list. An email and a name at the most. You can collect other data (if required) once they are already in your list. Perhaps when they buy something from you later on.
You need an Editor.
One thing to remember. Once you send an email broadcast out to your list, it goes straight into their inbox. You can’t recall and update a sent email.
Make sure you allocate plenty of time for the editing and revision process. Sloppy emails reflect poorly on you and your business. Grammar and style are not just important for your website and blog content. They are important for emails too.
Send your list an email only when you have something good to share.
This may seem obvious. However, I see many newbies start an email list with no plan and nothing good to share. Many do not realize that email is simply a way to publish content.
As such, the content itself has to come first. Do you have good contents to share with your mailing list?
Ok. You should now have all the knowledge required to build and maintain a quality mailing list for your small business. Time for you to take action and start building your list. A number of tools to help you out – WPOptins, RapidMailer and Internet Marketing Autoresponder Series.