An email newsletter can benefit any business online. Of course, it takes time to learn the basics and to create successful campaigns. But, when you do, the benefits will be immediately clear. Below are seven benefits that you might encounter with your next email campaigns.

1.  A Captive Audience Will Listen

Nobody likes it when an old friend or distant relative appears from nowhere, only to ask you for a favor – I doubt this is something you appreciate, either. The same can be said in business and with running websites.

All too often you will see small businesses make social media pitches after doing nothing for weeks on end. They mindlessly decide that it’s time to explain why Facebook users should consider, for example, their tax advisory services.

The point of that extreme example above is that email newsletters will enable you to maintain regular contact with the people who are most interested in your brand. Provide them with regular content of value and then you can gradually integrate email newsletters that are for your benefit.

2.  Know Your Success Rate

Nowadays, email marketing programs can do so much for you. Not only are they capable of automating much of the process, but also they can be used for gathering data on the people from your email list.

You will get to see who is opening your email newsletter, and then who is advancing to your website. Having such data readily available will let you see your effectiveness in the cold light of the day. There is no sense in speculating aimlessly about your success rate when you can know exactly.

3.  Stretch Your Marketing Budget

Google AdWords can drain a marketing budget quicker than you can whistle. The complex nature of this advertising tool means that amateurs should stay away. Only seasoned users of AdWords can achieve the lowest keyword prices and yield the best results. Email marketing is much cheaper by comparison.

As long as you have taken the time to build an email list, you will be able to achieve effective results through your email campaign. You won’t have to invest hundreds or even thousands of dollars – just a couple of hours of your time. However, don’t expect a sudden rush of sales if you are only sending to 20 people.

4.  Communicate Effectively

Provided you take the time to learn about the various principles associated with developing an email list, this approach can work for you. Email marketing software is something you can actually use without encountering major difficulties. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for mastering Photoshop.

Email marketing software typically comes with clear instructions. In under a couple of hours, you could have a new campaign ready to rock. This will give you the power to respond rapidly to new opportunities and changes in the market.

While competitors will be waiting days for banner ads to be created for expensive Google AdWords campaigns, you can already be generating sales having created a new email marketing campaign.

5.  Develop Customer Relationships with Personal Touches

Another benefit of email marketing software is that you can add personal touches. The simplest of these is to address the recipient by name at the start of the email. To be a little more creative, you might also be able to integrate their name in other portions. A little extra time will be required, but feeling like the email was personally addressed to them will be appreciated.

6.  Improved Results with Targeted Messages

Building on the personalization concept, it is possible to segment your audience and send emails to those who will be most interested. Look back at sales data to see what your customers paid for. You can then notify specific customers with fresh news that relates to their purchase.

This makes it possible to exclude users who might not be interested, helping to foster a positive relationship with them. No one likes to received marketing emails that they have no interest in. With advanced segmentation, you can ensure your emails reach only the most interested recipients.

7.  Emails Are a Useful Testing Ground

You can add new visuals and marketing messages to newsletters to try new ideas. A highly positive response from customers will let you know that you’re doing something right. This will also help you to save valuable funds when new campaigns don’t work. For instance, a new logo can be held back from your website if customers don’t like it. Testing new ideas with email marketing is much safer than steaming straight into them. Email marketing is alive and well.

You by now already know that email marketing is a very powerful tool that can help you gain clients and increase sales. If you know that, you will also know that not everybody opens your emails, in fact the average open-rate for the advertisements is 18.89%.

That’s less than 1 in 5 subscribers.

Email marketing is a numbers game, the more numbers (or rather emails) you have the better. This article will give you 6 simple yet highly effective ways you can increase your email list without putting in too much effort.

1. Have a highly visual opt-in form

Too many businesses focus heavily on social media buttons making their opt-in form hard to see or less than enticing to signup.

While Facebook and Twitter have their uses, they will never been as valuable as your list. Facebook picks and chooses who see your updates, while tweets can easily be overlooked in the labyrinth of the Twitterverse.  However, you’re in complete control of your email list, you decide when emails are sent and who sees what.

Place your opt-in form somewhere that can be clearly seen by everyone, be that at the end of a great blog post or in the header of every page.

Another option it to have a timed pop-up that loads after a visitor has been on your site for a specific amount of time. If you go with this method, head over to Google Analytics to find the average amount of time a visitor spends on your site. Then set your pop-up to load  10 seconds before they leave.

Don’t have the popup load instantly as this can put people off your website before they even read your content.

2. Give something away

This seems to be a common theme across all industries but that’s just further proof that it works. Businesses generally tend to give away an information product such as an eBook in exchange for a lead’s email address.

Consider writing a white paper or a case study on the benefits medical marijuana has on a certain age group or for people, who suffer from arthritis, back problems, PTSD or whatever problem your audience faces.

The key to giving something away is that it gives them value. Aim to solve a need or problem your typical reader has.

3. Only ask for their name and email address

Let’s face it; the Internet has made us all lazy. We don’t need to leave our computer to order our food, or shop, or even pay the bills. Asking a reader to hand over their first full name, mailing address, email address and telephone number never got anyone a high opt-in response.

Keep it simple and just ask for their first name and email address, or just their email address as that is really all you need. Oh and drop the CAPTCHA form.

4. Tell your readers the benefits of signing up

Medical marijuana is a new and exciting industry, something most Americans know very little about. State to readers that if they signup they will receive the latest industry news, blog articles and medical tips straight to their inbox.

Here’s a signup form from JonLoomer.com, it clearly states what the reader will get if they signup.

5. Use a Twitter Lead Generation Card

I know I slightly bashed Twitter earlier but it’s still a very useful resource, especially their Lead Generation card. Twitter users can opt-in to your newsletter with a single click using the Lead Generation card.

It has advanced targeting features that allow you to target a specific audience and can generate hundreds and even thousands of targeted opt-ins. These emails can be exported from Twitter and imported to your current mailing list.

This method isn’t free but if you do it right it will certainly be worth the investment.

6. Have more than one opt-in form

There is no online rule that states you can only have one opt-in form on your website. Place them in as many spots as possible without making them look pushy or intrusive. The key to achieving this is to have different opt-in forms.

Check out how QuickSpourt on a single blog post have three different opt-informs. One offers a free course, another a free report and one traditional opt-in form. If you’re really looking to take your list building to the next level, use CrazyEgg to see where readers are placing their mouse cursor and place opt-ins forms there to drive signups.

Summary

Email marketing is the one oldest forms of online marketing to date, while other fads have come and gone, email marketing is still alive and kicking because it works. The problem we face today is that people are receiving more emails than ever before and some just don’t have the time to read them all.
Which brings us back to our main point: email marketing is a numbers game and you always need to be adding to your list. People will always be unsubscribing and you will need to replace them constantly to grow your list and gain business.

Start implementing our 6 tips today and watch your email list grow and your business boom.