Email marketing was one of the first really effective online marketing methods, as back in the day when very few companies did it and yet millions of people were finding out just how good the online world was, emails were always read as they were so rare and for many, many businesses at the forefront of the WWW era, it proved to be massively successful.
But, like anything, once everyone jumps on the bandwagon and the system starts to receive overload and abuse, this form of marketing really did take a downturn, with spam filters and general scepticism about the emails people receive causing users to delete rather than open. But for those of you that think email marketing is dead and done, think again. Email marketing is now seeing a resurgence in popularity, but of course, only if it is done correctly.

If you currently have a mailing list but are struggling to grow it, or have never really tried to grow it into something that can seriously offer some decent ROI, then we offer five simple and effective ways to boost your mailing list:

Downloadable Guides

Guides are so valuable and really do encourage people that want them to part with their email address; if they want to know something, then the price of an email really is nothing. No matter what industry or area you operate in, you can find a reason to write a guide, and nowadays most people head online when they want to learn or know how to do something, so this really can be a great way to boost your mailing list.

Video Tutorials

More and more people now head online and especially over to YouTube to learn how to do something. Anything from changing a car headlight through to renovating their bathroom. Videos are not as easy to produce as guides and blogs, but if you get it right and you make a series of videos that offer real value and learning to your customers, then you are creating content that not only do they want, but will also make you the authority in your industry and can actually end up leading to increased return custom and sales.

Gifts And Discounts

From a voucher code offering free delivery on their next order through to the chance of winning a free gift, your visitors will only be too happy to leave their email if they think there might be something for them in return. These gifts and discounts do not have to cost the earth either as if the discount or gift is of real value to your customers, they are likely to be more receiving to signing up to your newsletter.

Paywall Content

If you are lucky enough to have a lot of content of value, whether that’s blogs, articles, how-tos, guides or images, then you can hide some of this behind a paywall that needs visitors to sign up and then sign in to access it, therefore getting another user on your mailing list. As long as you have enough visible and public information to make the user want to sign up to get more, this really can work, as for the price of an email then your content really is worth subscribing for.

Make It Easy / Don’t Over Complicate

Complicated sign up forms, hidden away newsletter boxes, over complicated opt-in processes and so many other things can just turn people off, and this could be a massive barrier to growing your list. Internet users, especially those using mobile devices, want things to be simple, easy and effective, so when it comes to getting people to sign up for your mailing list, make it simple, make it quick and make it so that it requires no thought.

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