Getting ahead of the competition in e-commerce requires being seen and selected by visitors as a trusted business. One of the better ways to be seen by the right people – those interested in the offered product or service – is through direct email communication. A large mailing list of subscribers and prospective customers is important for any internet company and is a preferred method of reputation marketing. So the question becomes how to initially create a mailing list.
Mailing lists are invaluable to online businesses, providing an entire audience of readers who have opted in to receive emails and newsletters, presumably because of an interest in a company’s products, services, or message. Even when interested, it is hard to get online viewers to sign up for email notification for a fear of getting junk mail or their email address being given or sold to other companies. The challenge of reputation marketing is to come up with different and creative ways to convince website visitors to sign up in order to build a valuable email list, a few of which are listed below.
- Subscription Form – The basic way to get opt in email sign-ups is to include a quick subscription form or box where all that is required is an email address. It should be visible on the Home Page or placed at the end of articles and elsewhere in website content where readers naturally go when following the path of pages through the website. Subscription form sign-ups are the traditional method and usually gain the best results; however, for those who need a bit more persuasion, there are a few other methods.
- Squeeze Page – Squeeze pages have become very popular and do have a reasonably good sign-up rate. The basic idea behind this method is to have viewers be directed to an initial or ‘squeeze’ page to read or view product or service information; in order to continue any further, it is necessary to input an email address. The bad part is that some will reach those pages and just completely click off.
- Pop-Up – Another frequently used method to get e-letter sign-ups is the pop-up insert, although most viewers dislike pop-ups a great deal. Smaller boxes that appear only once and never again while on the website are perhaps a little more tolerated; however, better results are found by using it with the subscription form.
- User-Activated Pop-Up – Not as disruptive as the automatic pop-up, this type is activated when a viewer clicks a link on a website or video to open. With this version, the viewer is controlling whether or not any additional information on the topic being viewed is wanted.
- Free Gift – Many websites offer some kind of free gift if viewers sign up to a mailing list. Popular freebies include MP3’s, e-books, web games, or something else related to the business. Many of these type offer entry into a contest or prize drawing; however, these tend to be negatively viewed because so many exist online and rarely materialize into a prize for anyone.
The main purpose when using an attention-getting method to attract mailing list sign-ups is to make it worthwhile for visitors to sign up without being annoying. There are many ways that reputation marketing helps increase newsletter sign-ups as well; as companies start to build an email list, the combination of reputation and direct contact will increase the chances of gaining new customers, so do consider opt-ins to help build an online brand!
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