On one hand you may think that offering an incentive makes it worthwhile for your visitors to be on your list. That’s true to an extent. While that may get them as far as providing you with an email address, I’m afraid it doesn’t end there.
Sure, you may have offered a discount or a freebie to get the subscriber on your list – but what you do afterwards is even more important.
Things to Remember About Your Subscribers
1. The subscriber has the right to unsubscribe at any given time – so if your emails fail to provide any meaningful communication, or are perceived as annoying or intrusive, people will simply start leaving your mailing list. Yikes.
2. You will be sending emails in order to get people to take action – whether it is making a purchase, or making contact for more information. As such, a certain amount of trust is required – which you will have to earn. The only way to earn it is by providing useful information as that will prove good intent on your part. It doesn’t mean that your emails need to be long – all you have to do is offer one bit of useful information in any given email.
The easiest way to do so is to offer one genuine reason as to why the person would need a solution like yours in the first place, or what the possible effects of a bad choice (or no choice) would be.
Think of it this way… If a client walked into your business, and asked for advice before making a choice, what would you say? Honest, sensible advice will get people to trust you – which translates into sales.
If you fail to offer anything of any value in (at least some) of your emails, and just keep sending sales pitch after sales pitch, your subscribers (the ones that don’t unsubscribe) will eventually start ignoring your messages. Once you have reached that point, all the effort that went into building the list will have been laid to waste.
So – make it worthwhile for your subscribers to stay on your list. Every prospect that unsubscribes represents a client that walks out the door, with no intention of ever coming back. If you know the estimated lifetime value of each client, you will know exactly what you stand to lose every time someone leaves your mailing list.
Now tell me… can you really afford that?