Whether you’re a brand new online business or a brick-and-mortar business looking to bring your store online, building an email list is one of the first essential steps you should take.
Why? An email list is a list of people who offer their email address in exchange for receiving information from your business. That means that interested contacts are willingly giving you a spot in their inbox to get information, customer service, promotions, sales, and deals.
If you’re not capturing email addresses from the get-go, you’re missing out on a ton of opportunities! Here are some big ways your business will benefit from building an email list.
1. Take advantage of the most cost-effective way to bring in sales
Email marketing is not only the most effective way to promote your business, but it’s also the most cost-effective. In fact, email marketing has a $44 return on investment for every $1 spent.
After a closer look at the data, there’s no surprise there. Email is the preferred promotion channel for 60% of consumers, and 60% of consumers have made a purchase after receiving a marketing message by email.
Not only do customers welcome and expect this communication, but email also inspires them to take action. For instance, welcome emails can contain coupon codes to motivate a first time purchase. Abandoned cart emails can bring distracted customers back to their online shopping excursion and seal the deal. Win-back emails can incentivize customers to come back and shop with you after they’ve taken a long hiatus from shopping with you. The list goes on.
Email gives retailers a simple way to recover missed opportunities and inspire repeat purchases with very little effort or cost, especially if you use email marketing automation to deliver them on your behalf.
2. Build the foundation of your customer relationships
Just because someone follows your business on social media or clicks around your website does not mean they’re ready to spend their hard-earned dollars with you.
They may not be “all in” with your brand because they don’t yet know what you have to offer them or if you’ll provide the kind of service that lives up to their expectations. You need to build a relationship with them first. That’s where email comes in.
Emails are not just transactional. Emails can offer customers your appreciation, personalized service, offers, discounts, and rewards. Your customers will be thankful when you send them relevant content that they can truly appreciate. Nurturing your customers this way leads to improved customer experiences, positive brand recall, and repeat purchases.
3. Transform your social following into loyal customers
Today, many retailers focus on building their social media following because it’s one of the easiest ways to capture interest and get people to check out their website. However, social networks can be a busy place where your attempts can get lost in the noise of competing posts.
One thing’s for sure though– People don’t always see your Instagram Story or Facebook posts, yet they still make time to check their inbox. The lifespan of a social media post is significantly shorter than a message in your customers’ inbox.
Social media can play an essential part of the customer journey. Still, every retailer should make getting more email subscriptions their ultimate goal, as it’s the most effective and straightforward way to engage them.
4. Beat the algorithm and take ownership of your audience
If you truly want long-term success, you must own your audience. What do we mean by that? Well, you can build your online audience through Facebook and Instagram, but you do not own that contact list. They do!
While social networking tools help reach new people, they lean towards a pay to play structure. They can decide to decrease your reach to encourage you to pay for ads. You can get around the algorithm by capturing email addresses so you can continue reaching them no matter what.
An email list is an asset that you, alone, own, and it only gets more valuable over time. Should the algorithm throw off your reach, you can continue business as usual by sending email invites to your private sales channels, such as your website, or better, your interactive mobile app.
The Takeaway
All too often, email lists are either underutilized or an untapped source of revenue and relationship building. Building an email list should be the first priority in creating sustained revenue, loyalty, and lasting customer relationships.
So, what comes after that initial first step? Put your list to work with automated campaigns! Read on to discover the 5 Ways to Win Customers with Automated Emails.
