There are many different ways to attract the right type of email subscribers, but it starts with your list. The best way to start is by getting people on your list that want what you have to offer. This means establishing a clear call-to-action and making sure that there are no false promises.
It also means sending out offers that will get them interested in signing up for your email list. You can use offers like freebies or discounts, but then balance this with an offer of something more substantial after they sign up so they don’t feel tricked into joining just for one thing!
What Are Your Primary Traffic Sources?
When you know where your traffic comes from, it can make a world of difference. People who use cheap traffic sources will never produce any buyers, and the same goes for anything that requires them to subscribe before they get access! Don’t let yourself be fooled by these services which rely solely on subscriber numbers instead of actual engagement with emails or content – no one actually reads those things anyway.
Also… Never, ever, buy mailing lists. This will get your email campaign shut down, and in some cases I have seen marketers have their autoresponder accounts suspended.
Make sure your traffic is targeted well. If for example, your niche is in “home improvement”, then the traffic that originates from websites (or other types of sites) about “auto repair’, are not likely to produce good subscribers for your niche! Don’t go to general forums, websites, etc. to get your traffic because that can result in “useless” traffic hitting your website (and I’m talking from hard earned experience).
Understandably, lots of people are interested in “home improvement”, but traffic from unrelated sources more commonly include freebie seekers and tire kickers. They just want to look around and consume free stuff. But people who are engaged, regularly visiting “home improvement” websites, and forums, etc. are genuinely more interested in things that improve homes, so they are likely to be more responsive to offerings catering to this niche.
Quick tip: Using Facebook or Pinterest ads are a good idea as you can really be specific about the demographics.
Should You Use Double Opt-In for Email Subscribers?
Yes, yes you should. Always!
With a single opt-in, many email marketers are making a mistake, by sending visitors to their download page without first verifying the email address (the verification, where the subscriber confirms the subscription is the “double” part of the opt-in process). They have no idea whether it’s an actual person or just some spammer (or automated bot) providing that email address! In plain language…Why give away your lead magnet for free? – Let the consumer confirm their opt-in.
In many places this is a legal requirement. For example:
“…In Canada, Australia and the European Union, for example, email marketers must collect permission from the owner of an email address before sending any communication. In Australia and Germany, double opt-in is required…”
https://thelawtog.com/email-opt-laws-canada-eu-australia/
While the USA does not require permission (opt-in) for email (it does for SMS), it’s something marketers should always do anyway! Why? How often have you received email that you consider spam (you don’t even know the sender)? What do you do with that email? – Most of us mark it as spam or delete it.
With many email solutions, when enough people report a senders’ email as spam, the senders reputation drops and networks will refuse delivery. Additionally your autoresponder service can temporarily suspend your account, which means you won’t be able to reach out to your subscribers.
While you might miss a few potential subscribers when using double opt in, you’ll end up with a better quality list, with potentially better engaged subscribers. If they’re prepared to complete the small step of clicking or tapping a link, confirming their interest, then they are more likely to read your email messages. If they can’t confirm their subscription (or are using automated bots that can’t) then you don’t want those email addresses on your list.
Let you subscribers know that you may send emails containing offers. When you do this it increases your trust worthiness (because of better transparency), and will help deter some tire kickers. Always measure your email campaign open and click rates, as this will help you understand what works, and what does not. Your autoresponder service will provide this information – Aweber is a good example (as are others), as they provide these statistics on each campaign you send.
Weed Out and Prune Your List!
Take a close look at the activity of your list subscribers. If you have several never opened any of your email, or have not opened any in a long time then i’s best to remove them from your list – remember, your list is a growing asset of engaged, active subscribers. A list with low engagement is not much of an asset at all!
And this makes sense to do as you’ll remove the following road-blocks for email list engagement:
- Freebie & tire kickers
- Subscribers that don’t enjoy the email messages you’ve been sending
- Those who have otherwise lost interest and forgotten about you
- Email addresses that are no longer actively used or monitored
One method I often employ is to send messages, asking subscribers who have had no activity in the last 3 months, if they are still interested in remaining on the list, removing them if there’s no response.
Another method is simply to remove those list subscriber email addresses that have shown no activity over the prior 3 months, and sending them a final email message that they’ve been unsubscribes (but are free to re-subscribe if they wish).