As entrepreneurs, building your email list is one of the most important sales and marketing strategies to focus on for increased revenue.
In The Friday Society Membership this month our focus was exactly that. How to build an email list and turn viewers into subscribers. This training happened at the most serendipitous time. As I was getting ready to host the webinar Instagram decided to shut down! This is one of the main reasons why you should build an email list because we are essentially renting space on social platforms and they are outside of our control.
Turn Viewers Into Subscribers
Sideline viewers are those who I define as people who may follow you on social media but have not opted-in to work with you yet. This is the target audience we are wanting to sign up for our newsletter and taking the next step to know us better.
Let’s break down a few principles about how to build your email list and turn followers into subscribers.
Why having an email list matters in the first place
Below is a picture of a marketing funnel I use within The Friday Society Membership all of the time. At the top of the funnel is brand awareness which is where people find your website or social profile. The next step is brand interest where you have captured their attention and they decide to start following you and engaging in your content.
Moving viewers from brand interest to consideration/trial is a crucial step towards earning their business. Here is where your email list becomes so important!
Email Lists and Brand Growth
The reason why it’s so important is because your email list is YOURS. There is no algorithm or shadow-banning your email from getting to your subscribers. We know that roughly only 10% of our social followers see our stories or posts. Therefore 90% of our social audience does not see our content.
With an email list 100% of your subscribers are receiving your email. While they can choose to open it on their own time, at least you know they are receiving the communication. Your email list is one of the most controllable acquisition channels we have with our clients.
Higher Purchase Rates
Typically (not always the case) there is a higher rate of purchase from email vs social media. I’ve heard a statistic that there is 140% higher purchase rate through an email list than social, however, that number has probably evolved since then. Keep in mind though there is still high correlation between an email list and sales.
While this is typical, only you know if this is true for your business. Personally, I generate a lot of sales to my monthly marketing membership from social media. However, this may not be true for you so keep an eye out on what converts better.
Email Content vs Social Media Content
I’ve found through my own use of social media that often times I open the apps (especially TikTok) to decompress. It’s a time between busy client meetings to set aside a few minutes to scroll for passive entertainment. I don’t necessarily always want to be learning when opening social media.
Through email is where the interaction with your client has a different feel. When subscribers open your email they are more in the mindset of growth, planning, and getting things done. There is more control over how someone is approaching your content when it comes to email lists.
How to Get People to Sign Up for Your Email List
Personally, I strive for 60% of my Instagram followers to subscribe to my email list. As a marketing consultant, I work with a lot of businesses that have hundreds of thousands of followers but only have 600 email subscribers. This is actually quite common.
What this ratio is saying is that you are doing an amazing job on social media but there is a gap in your marketing strategy to turning followers into email subscribers. Followers do not equate to dollars.
40% or 50% are also good percentages but I’d incentivize you to strive for 60%. Take a moment to calculate your ratio!
Make it Easy for Followers to Sign Up For Your Email List
A simple hack to getting followers to subscribe to your email list is to add your email signup on your social link-in-bio. I personally use FloDesk as my email platform but this will also work with MailChimp, Showit, or Squarespace.
Also, put the email sign-up link as one of the top options if you have multiple link choices. This has been so successful for me and I noticed a big jump in sign-up’s since doing this.
In TFSM, we talk about SEO a ton and a simple hack towards building your SEO is to use your link-in-bio as your own domain. If you are using a service such a LinkTree then essentially they are getting all of your SEO clicks instead of your own website.
Landing pages or pop-up’s are also great short term solutions for people quickly getting information about an offering you have.
Text Automations
Recently, link stickers have been leading to less visibility so a way to get around this is by text automation services such as ManyChat. This is one that I personally enjoy.
Software such as ManyChat makes it easy for scrollers to quickly find out more information about your newsletter or an event you have. For example, when I post about TFSM, at the end of my post I will write “reply TFSM to learn more.” From there ManyChat takes over with an automation to send them back a landing page with more information. How convenient is that?
These are just a few examples of why and how to build your email list and make it simple!
In TFSM email training, we dive into how to make building an email list easy for you as a business owner such as setting up automations, segments, tracking, and revamping your nurture sequences.
The Friday Sociery Membership is a monthly, no-commitment, marketing membership for small business owners who want to take their marketing to the next level. For just $58 a month, we have one training call and two working office hours. With over 100 entrepreneurs from around the globe you will be embedded into a close knit group with access to each over to ask questions and feedback. Find out more about this year’s topics and additional perks here!
I hope you enjoy and shoot me a message if you have any questions!
Also check out this previous Ask Me Anything blog and podcast covering all things email marketing made easy!
Be the first to comment