Tips to Increase Your Email Newsletter Subscribers

How to get more subscribers, not annoy potential subscribers, and get the most of your email marketing campaigns.

Communicate the Value of the List

Is nobody subscribing to your email newsletter list? Or are the subscription numbers less than you’d like? Perhaps guests to your website aren’t seeing a need to subscribe. If guests don’t know why they should subscribe, in most cases they probably won’t. Now more than ever, users get so much spam that they are wary about who they give their email address to. Nobody wants to get spam, and nobody wants to sign-up to get more email unless they know they are going to read it or derive some value from it.

I like to inform guests of three critical things that make them feel “safe” and inspired enough to subscribe:

• Estimate the frequency that you generally send your emails (whether that be monthly or weekly, bi-weekly, etc.) and provide that number to guests. If they know they are only getting one email a month, or one every couple of weeks, a user might be more inclined to sign-up.
• Remind them they can unsubscribe at any time. It’s just like providing a free trial for your product. Guests will like that they aren’t making an irreversible decision and can unsubscribe at any time if they wish to do so.
• Tell them what kind of content to expect in the emails. For example, “Subscribe to our newsletter for our latest products, promotions, and company news.” There may be the occasional email that derives from that, but generally stick with the same type of email or separate users into different lists so that users can subscribe to only the kind of news they want.

Don’t spam

Limit the frequency of your emails to not send out too many. Constant emails will annoy people who will then unsubscribe from your list. Worse, they might tell their friends about how annoying your emails are which will deter them from subscribing. Once a week is plenty, and even that may turn some people off if the news is irrelevant to them. If you have a lot going on to write about (that’s great!), consider sectioning off your subscribers into lists and directing certain emails only to those subscribers who you think would find them interesting. Or better yet, start blogging!

Offer exclusive promotions

A great way to get subscribers is to offer exclusive sales or promotional codes in the email newsletter. This encourages guests to become subscribers who are likely to share their savings and great deals with their friends. Make sure the deals are enticing and play up the fact that they are “exclusive” to newsletter subscribers to reap the most benefits. Remember to keep them valuable. Don’t offer a coupon in every newsletter or they will become worthless and will lose their value of being exclusive. Offering a promotion around holidays and perhaps another slow time of the year for you should be enough.

Don’t berate users

Never harass users to subscribe to your newsletter. It’s become a trend to have flashy pop-ups that jump into the screen, obscure content, or even limit access to content until a user subscribes. This is horrible for the user-experience. Not only does it confuse and interrupt a users’ proper browsing of your site, but it annoys and leaves a negative impression in their mind.

In Conclusion

The best conversion rates come from delayed popups (give people a chance to read before they decide if they want to read more!), non-modal (meaning they don’t pop right up in the middle of the screen), and are unobtrusive (flashing, scrolling text? no), and communicate the value of your email, and quantify the frequency and type of content.

Need help with a mailing campaign? Buffalo Wired can help you select a platform and get you started with setting up a newsletter marketing list and campagin! Contact us today!