Most businesses wouldn’t believe us if we were to tell them that it isn’t necessary for them to spam or deceive people in order to acquire their email addresses. The reason why online marketing has earned a shady reputation is that businesses have already walked down that road.
In the physical world, people are not much bothered by uninvited mail as they can get rid of it easily by tossing it into the bin. Unwanted email messages, however, are looked at as an inconvenience and considered to be an intrusion of privacy. As a result, people tend to be quite protective of their email addresses.
In the absence of spamming as a strategy, businesses may be confused as to how they can obtain email addresses of their potential customers. Following are some tips that they can consider:
Email sign-up box on home page
It is better to be honest than be sneaky about what you want. Why not let your visitor know that you need their contact information? All you need to do to make the visitor give it up willingly is to give them something that is of value to them.This can include free advice and tips, newsletters, news alerts and/or new product information. Giving people the option to discontinue their subscription to such material is important too.
By being a bit creative in your customer interaction it is possible for you to build a lasting relationship with them.
This strategy is sure to work for most online businesses which are providing a product or service that adds value to the lives of people.
Therefore, putting up a sign-up box on their homepage should be the first step that online businesses should take if they aspire to lay on their hands on precious email ids of potential customers.
Special Offers and Promotions
A relatively easy bait to get more sign-ups is to organise contests for free trips or cash prizes. The offer should be lucrative enough to make customers want to sign up for them and the best way would be to advertise them through newsletter ads or banners.It is still debatable whether this strategy actually works or not because such signups are often for selfish gains. Once the offer is no longer valid those who have signed up may consider unsubscribing from your services. But it is still the quickest way to build a customer database.
Being honest about renting customer lists
Buying lists of customers from another organisation puts your company at risk of being flagged as spam. As we mentioned earlier, people tend to be protective about their digital identity and they may instantly recognise you as one of the many companies which obtain the contact information of customers by unfair means.However, if you have no option but to pursue such a practice then you should clearly specify in your emails that you have acquired their contact information from a particular organisation. It is possible that customers may appreciate your honesty and be more willing to invest in the relationship.
Distribute your newsletter
If you have valuable content to provide to your customers then rolling out regular email newsletters can be an excellent strategy to make people stay in touch with you. Besides blowing your own trumpet (which is necessary too) you can give away resources, tips and other information in your newsletter to keep them interested.Think geographically
Even though having an online presence helps businesses reach a wider audience, what most of them fail to acknowledge is that the majority of their customers will always comprise of those who are located nearby. It is good to have aspirations of reaching out to the entire globe with your product but first, you must think locally.You should be aware of the publications that are distributed in your locality and where most of your neighbourhood can be found online. You can strategically place advertisements in these publications, connect with local editors and write articles with your website URL and business name in them.
Besides the strategies are given above businesses can also consider collaborating with other businesses belonging to the same niche. For example, if a person has enquired about how to write a Will they may be interested in knowing more about legacy probate services.
