These tips aren’t just about getting a vast amount of new subscribers, they’re designed for you to get a healthy list of active and interested subscribers.

1. Don’t make joining the mailing list mandatory when purchasing something from you.

   We all want to make our mailing lists increase, that’s a given, but there’s no need to increase it for the sake of numbers.  This will undoubtedly lead to an increase in recipients but it’s guaranteed that quite a few will be switched off from your messages.  Leave the “join our mailing list” check box unticked and try and entice them in with what you promise your content will have. 

2. Deliver what you Promised

   If you’ve promised that you’ll send them the most up to date information on new stock and sales, make sure that’s what you actually send them.  There’s a certain level a trust placed on you when a subscriber joins your mailing list and to break that by sending content that you didn’t promise will ultimately result in subscribers losing interest and not opening your communications in the long run.  For an example of how you should and shouldn’t carry this out, see my previous post on this subject.

3. Positioning of Subscribe Button

   Something as small as this can make all the difference.  Many articles I’ve read in the past have shown up to a 400% increase in subscribers joining their mailing list solely on the prominence of the subscribe button on their site.

4. Go beyond expectations

   Something I outlined in my previous post, is going above and beyond what you outlined your subscribers would receive from you.  Giving them a voucher or discount off of future purchases from you can really impress your subscribers, especially when they weren’t expecting it.  Word spreads when something like that occurs and can result in mailing lists expanding quickly.

5. Be consistent

   Try and send regular mail-outs to your subscribers.  The worst thing you can do is leave it for several months and then start sending out again, expecting your subscribers to still be interested in what you have to say.  Regular, relevant campaigns are the essential ingredient to growing and maintaining your subscribers.

I signed up for two clothing companies email campaigns not too long ago, and I have to say that it has been a mixed bag of emotions since.

The first company I signed up to was H&M. They promised they’d let me know when new stock, new offers and special deals were on (I’m a sucker for bargains). I thought that sounded like something I’d be up for knowing about, so entered my address in.

I instantly received a notification email from them and opened it up to find that they had given me a £10 voucher in the welcome email. I printed off the voucher and went down to H&M and spent it. I also told some of my mates about this cracking offer, who also signed up and spent their £10 vouchers.

Since then I have received another three emails from them, two of which had vouchers for me to print out, and the other gave me news of some special range of clothes coming in from some designer.

So not only did they manage to keep to their word but they also impressed me so much that I went and told my mates about it. They went above and beyond my expectations from an email marketing campaign. This is particularly impressive as they don’t actually have an online shop which means they had to drive us to get up and go to their shop.

Now the not so good.

Another company who don’t have an online shop but who I also enjoy shopping at is TK Maxx (did I mention I like bargains?). They promised to let me know when new labels and new stock was coming into the stores. As you really can find some treats now and then in TK Maxx I was quite excited about this idea and signed up.

The first signs that they hadn’t really thought this through properly was in the sign up process. As some of you may know, the clothing in TK Maxx is not the same from store to store, yet they didn’t ask for my postcode or at least general area.

TK Maxx also houses a wide range of clothing and items, spanning the different tastes of the UK population. Yet when I signed up they didn’t ask what areas I was interested in. I could see this going a bit sour.

Like H&M I received an instant notification email from them. I opened it, hoping for some kind of repeat performance of free stuff. What I got was a plain text email telling me that I had officially signed up and then reiterated what I should expect from them.

Since then what have I received? Nothing.

From what seemed like a great idea has just turned into something really quite disappointing, especially seeing the potential I saw in the TK Maxx campaign.

In contrast H&M have really worked wonders with theirs. The emails themselves are nothing spectacular or groundbreaking. But they don’t need to be as they have put the right amount of effort into their campaign planning before hand that they can just send out their campaign to a fully responsive audience.

As more and more companies turn to email marketing, it’s probably best to return back to the main factors in email marketing that need to be considered for a successful campaign.

So many companies come into email marketing hoping for a quick fix that will boost their sales and then very quickly stop the email campaign as they put no real thought into their emails. 

Whats the Objective of Your Campaign?

Probably the best thing to start off with is assessing what your overall plan is with this campaign.  Are you looking to increase sales? Build your brand up? Keep users in touch with latest happenings?

Once decided, you will be able to make better decisions for your campaign.  For instance, if your main goal is to increase sales, probably best to keep the latest developments in your company to a minimum and focus on the main goal.

Design and Layout

This can make the difference from someone opening your campaign, to clicking through to your website and making a purchase.  The first thing a recipient will see is the design of the email as they open it and as we all know, we make quick judgements.  If you send a poorly designed email that looks quite amateurish, then your recipients will see this as that. 

Remember that it is quite likely that these recipients get quite a few promotional emails, some from well-respected companies with good quality emails and yours must be comparable to them for your campaign to work.

The layout of your campaign can also determine how successful your campaign is.  You must make sure that if there is something you particularly want them to click on, that it is clear and obvious for them to click on.  This is otherwise known as the call to action.

Call to Action

Making your call to action prominent in the email is something that shouldn’t be an afterthought in your designing process.  This small part of the design process is also a major factor in your conversion rate, so put a lot of thought into how you want it to look and be placed.  You can try different methods, wording, graphics to get the most out of it.

Subject Line

Obviously this design thought will all be pointless if no-one is opening the email in the first place.  The subject line should be encouraging opens whilst at the same time summarising what is in the email itself.  Try and remember not to make it too long as you want your message to get across to your recipients without it truncating.  Try experimenting with your subject lines to see what factors change open rates.

Experimenting

There really is no definitive formula to making your campaign a success as every industry and recipient is different.  Though you can get the best practices in place, this may not necessarily mean you get instantly high responses.  The best thing to do is experiment with all aspects of your campaign and see which works best.  One of the most common methods is A/B split testing.  This way you can view for yourself which factors are working and which aren’t.  By experimenting for yourself, you’ll be guaranteed a happy and prosperous future in email marketing.