Constant Contact – One BIG Secret to Building Your Email List
By: Constant Contact
It’s the best kept secret of building your email list.
Something so simple that it’s often overlooked.
And how couldn’t you overlook it? When most people are brainstorming ways that they can add new email addresses to their contact lists, it’s not long before the technology gets involved: the apps and the plug-ins, the tabs and, of course, the Facebook.
Jason Alvey, founder of The Four Firkins, a Minneapolis specialty beer store, says that a full one-third of the store’s list (8,400 emails) don’t come from any of these cutting-edge techniques.
Instead, they come from this highly advanced method of email collection:
The Sign-Up Sheet
“Just having a sign-up sheet on the counter has been a really important way for us to build our list,” Jason explains. Each week, The Four Firkins fills about two of these sheets.
Jason recommends five strategies that will help encourage people to sign up.
1. Provide an incentive
The sign-up sheet for The Four Firkins is a printer-sized sheet with the heading, “Would you like to receive emails every week about new, hard to find beer and free beer tasting events?”
This simple question offers readers a glimpse into what they can expect from an email and provides an encouraging incentive.
2. Encourage sign-ups while customers are in the store
“People are excited about your product when they’re in the store,” Jason says, “not when they’re on the website.”
It can be a lot easier to obtain email addresses when customers are in your great store and buying your great product. Don’t let that enthusiasm go to waste.
Want to check out the who’s who and what’s what of email marketing?
Read The Buzz.
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The Fear of NO
Anyone who has ever tried asking someone they do not know for their email address will tell you it usually goes something like this;
Q-Hey, you want to join our email list?
A- Nope
Q- Uh, ok. Thanks anyway.
Ouch! Rejected again.
No wonder it’s so hard to develop a good email list
Human nature says we never get accustomed to hearing “no” from our fellow man. In fact, we’d rather not even ask than risk the possible rejection.
On top of that, there’s a decent chance the person asking has some head trash of his or her own.
Maybe hates giving an email out to businesses and in turn, afraid to ask others for theirs.
The questions might as well be, “You don’t want to give me your email address, do you?”
In most cases they do want to give you their email address. They’re already in your establishment so obviously they like what you have to offer. Indeed, there are all kinds of tips on how best to encourage folks to say YES and part with their precious email; explain clearly what they will receive, add an incentive to sign up like a coupon, keep the signup list close to the cash register, etc. All of these will help lower the cases of “NO”. But what about that one total game changer? Something that would automate this normally tedious process. It’s here and in fact, you may already own one.
An iPad.
The iPad is quickly changing the way businesses collect emails from customers and prospects.
You see, there’s something about an interactive touchscreen. It appeals to some innate tactile desire that make humans want to touch stuff. An iPad positioned in the right spot with some basic software can change the entire dynamic of email collection for certain businesses. It basically turns email collection into something more like videogame.
Instead of adding a name and email with a pencil to a piece of paper, the customer is asked on screen for his or her preferences, or how they heard about your business, or if they want to receive text or email offers. In fact, some will play along just to see what’s on the next screen. True interaction for the customer; detailed information for the business owner.
Despite that, some customers will still refuse to part with their info. And that’s okay. You’ll never get them all. But in these techno-trendy times, most people would prefer interacting with an iPad than with a human asking a bunch of questions. That is, If you can get them to look up from their smartphones long enough.