Newsletter owners already know how to get people to provide their own email address and full names, and it’s actually the easy part. What’s difficult is getting people to provide more in-depth information, like birthdays, ZIP code, preferences, etc – because people are naturally paranoid over giving out their personal info over the net.
This is a shame, because it’s those same personal data that can be used by newsletter owners in order to provide better service and content that is relevant to their interests. If you’re one of these newsletter owners who are struggling to get people to fill out their profiles on a regular basis, you need to learn how to motivate subscribers to give more information about themselves, here are a few things you can try:
Optimize Your Signup Form
Of course, if you want people to do something, the first thing you have to do on your end is make it easier for them to accomplish. When it comes to signup forms, make sure that they’re not a chore to fill out even if it has fields for all the extra info you want.
You might want to put yourself in the position of the user this time: when filling out forms, what are the ones that you’d wish were easier to accomplish, ones that made you abandon the form entirely, or ones that made you just pick the first one just to get things over with?
For instance, instead of having the user scroll through a lengthy list of months, years, and dates just to provide his birth date, you can simply give him 3 blank text boxes where he can provide his birthday in the 00-00-0000 format. Or instead of a blank text field for gender, just give him a drop down or tick box for all four choices. The point is, make sure your signup form doesn’t take up too much time or effort to fill out.
Create a Promo That Incentivizes Keeping Info Up to Date
It’s common knowledge in the industry that the best way to make people do something is by providing incentives, and promo campaigns are the most popular means of doing so. It’s actually very easy, you can send any offer – whether it’s free coupons, a free software, an exclusive ebook, or discount codes – as reward for keeping their info up to date.
Just send them a newsletter with an enticing copy (and probably a graphic here and there) telling them what’s in store if they keep their information up to date, and then give them the link to the update profile page, which in turn provides the link to the reward upon completion.
Lastly, Explain the Benefits of Providing Extra Information
As mentioned above, users are generally paranoid about giving out personal information. They are afraid that once their personal info goes online, it will open the floodgates on spam and identity theft. So your job as a newsletter owner is to allay their fears and explain the reason for asking extra information – that it’s actually meant to make their experience better and will in fact prevent spam, because the newsletter that they will receive from you will be relevant to their interests and not random sales pitches. Lastly, don’t forget to provide a disclaimer that you’re not going to use their info for anything else or give it away to third parties.
Out of all the technologies that have helped the marketing industry, none have done so much more than email, which provided a platform that is fast, inexpensive, and has data gathering tools already included in the equation. E-mail provides several ways to gather precious client data, the most powerful of which are email marketing surveys and polling.
Surveys and polling are by no means new – even before the Internet existed, marketers were already using snail mail and the telephone to conduct polls and surveys. What email did is provide a means to bypass both snail mail and telephone, thereby removing two methods that many customers deem intrusive and annoying, while at the same time increasing the speed and efficiency of the data gathering activity.
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There are times when doubling your conversion rates isn’t achieved through increasing the number of newsletter subscribers, but rather convincing more of your existing subscribers to buy. What most marketers don’t know is that it’s a lot simpler than they think. There’s no need to manipulate, coerce,312-76 or even hypnotize readers into doing things that they don’t want to do – all you need is a little understanding of psychology and how to flick mental “switches” that will help convince people to buy. These psychological triggers have been there all along, and knowing what they are will allow you to double your sales. These include:
The Fear of Pain and The Desire for Pleasure
These are actually two items, but they are grouped together because they are basically the two most powerful driving forces in all human behavior. Every time someone does something, it is done in order to avoid pain or to gain pleasure. These two psychological triggers are so powerful that one can cancel the other in some situations, such as when a person does backbreaking, torturous work (did not avoid pain) because he wants to enjoy the pay he’ll get for the work (wants to gain pleasure) or when a person avoids delicious food (did not seek pleasure) because it’s bad for his health (wants to avoid pain.)
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350-080 relevant to your subscribers, or (2) get access to tools and features that will help you create better newsletter that could convert more leads to customers. (more…)
There are a lot of potential sales that go to waste during a normal transaction, particularly for most stores that rely on volume. For example, out of 100 people who visit an online store by chance (usually through random search engine strings or through random banner ads,) there is a big chance that only 10 people will actually buy. The remaining 90 will not only go away, there’s a big chance that they won’t bookmark the site and will not return even when they are in the mood for buying. Without retargeting, those 90 people and the potential sales they could bring are wasted.
What is Retargetting?
Retargetting, as the name implies, is basically a way to get those non-converting customers to come back when they’re ready to buy, or at least to remind them that your services and products are available when they are ready to buy. There are a number of ways to retarget lost customers but one of the most effective ones is a newsletter.
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If you want to be successful in email marketing, it’s not enough to simply know who your customers are. It is important that you also know how they behave. You can already get a lot of information from the information they provided during opt-in as well as through their demographic, but all they do is tell you what they “might” be interested in. Their behavior, on the other hand, will tell you what they are “exactly” interested in.
The reason behavioral data can be used to predict future decision-making patterns and road to purchase activity of users is the fact that his or her activity online is directly related to his intent, and his social sharing activity has the ability to indicate future purchase possibilities along with the opening of emails, clicking of links and consumption of online content – all of which directly correlate to interest. (more…)
We live in an age where data has turned into a raw material for production, with advances in data mining, tracking, and analytics, coupled with technological advancements in the field of computing power and data storage capacity resulted in a significant increase in the scope of information available to businesses, government, and even individuals.
Additionally, the rising population and the accessibility of internet-ready devices and gadgets further boosted the importance and availability of big data. This gave marketers, and list owners massive control over information. However, using these data is another matter entirely, because there’s a certain overlap between the gathering of data and respecting your subscribers’ privacy.
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Big Concerns About Big Data
The main issue about gathering of data, particularly in large volumes, is that they clearly implicate privacy concerns. It doesn’t help that many businesses aren’t transparent when they collect data, using misleading tactics or simply collating data without any permission. Consumers can’t be faulted for not trusting the act of data gathering, as the fact that it is usually hidden or done without their knowledge gives one reason to suspect that something is going on. (more…)
It’s common knowledge among online marketers that content marketing is one of the most powerful strategies that were made possible by the Internet, but what a lot of marketers (particularly novice ones) forget is that there are certain rules to content marketing – you can’t just pump out tons of random content and expect results. One of the first rules that must be followed is that you should only provide content that is both unique and valuable. To be more specific: content that attracts, convinces, and converts prospects.
If you want to produce unique and valuable content, you need to keep the following things in mind:
Produce Content That People Want, Not Content That Companies Think They Need
This is one of the most important things to consider with regard to content marketing, but is also one of the more commonly neglected pieces of advise. Sometimes companies get so enmeshed in their own presentations and internal data that they tend to forget that the content should be geared towards the customers. This frequently results in content that is too corporate or too irrelevant to the interests of people.
Show Your Business At Work
This technique is rarely used by many businesses because they’re too paranoid over revealing their secrets, but the truth is that you can show your business at work without going in depth into the nitty gritty and trade secrets that are part of your operations. For instance, a burger joint can show footages of their staff and crew serving the customers and cooking their food, there are no trade secrets that will be revealed unless they outline the ingredients and specific preparation of their food, which nobody really cares about. You can apply the same level of functional yet risk-free transparency for any business.
Give Credit Where It Is Due, Even If It’s a Competitor
This is particularly powerful if you’re just starting out, but also works if you’re already established. The only reason why it’s not being used more commonly is that businesses are once again paranoid, afraid that they might give business to their competitors. The truth is that you don’t really need to brown-nose the competitors. Be truthful and respectful when covering them and stay out of the picture. However, you should add links and subtle CTAs that can drive attention towards your business. What happens is twofold – first, the customers will be more likely to trust you after showing that you’re willing to show your competitors in a positive light if they deserve it, and second, your competitors might actually promote the content you’ve produced as it paints them in a good picture, all the while driving some of their traffic towards your business.
Publish Real Life case Studies
Sales pitches are starting to lose their charm with customers. People have become skeptical and information is a few mouseclicks away. What they are interested in is stories of how your product or service has helped actual customers – people like them – in the past.
Most of the tips that were outlined above are fairly uncommon or not being practiced simply because they run counter to what conventional marketing has taught people, but the thing is the Internet changed a lot of things and introduced new strategies that defy old knowledge. If you want content that attracts, convinces, and converts prospects, you need to be ready to adopt new counter-intuitive ideas.
Last January 2012, the European Commisioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights, and Citicenzip, Viviane Reding, proposed a new privacy right called the “The Right to Be Forgotten,” which has now been made into law as part of a broad new proposed data protection regulation. The Right to Be Forgotten has been explained as a mere expansion of existing data privacy rights, but many have considered it as a big threat to free speech on the Internet in the coming years. Email List owners, in particular, are included in the groups that will be heavily hit by the right.
What is The Right to Be Forgotten?
The Right to Be Forgotten is aid to be inspired by French law, which recognizes the “right of oblivion,” which basically allows a convicted criminal who has already served his time and proven to be rehabilitated to object to the publication of details regarding his conviction and incarceration. This right clashes with American law, which allows and protects the publication of someone’s criminal history via the First Amendment.
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Online shopping is essentially what keeps affiliate marketing and list managers alive. List manager earn from their list when subscribers buy something that gives list managers commission.
When it comes to any endeavor, it always helps to play to your strengths and advantages. In the case of newsletters, it’s the fact that more and more people these days prefer to shop online than spend a huge chunk of their time braving the crowds at a nearby mall. However, before you can enjoy the benefits of this advantage, you first need to understand the specific reasons why people shop online and how you can leverage it for your newsletter’s benefit. These reasons include:
Searching for What They Want is Easy
This is easily one of the biggest draws of online shopping. Customers no longer need to drive or commute, not to mention walk the entirety of a mall just to find what they want. Everything can be found with a few mouseclicks. You have to take advantage of this for your newsletter. Use the data you have about your subscribers to give them the things that they might be looking for. The keywords that have brought them to your opt in page and their past clicks will be invaluable in telling you what kind of products you need to present to your customers.
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They Don’t Have to Deal with Crowds or Queues
When shopping online, customers don’t have to deal with the hassle of squeezing into crowds and getting elbowed for their trouble. They don’t even have to wait in queues just to get to the products they want, regardless of how many customers there are on an online store. What this means for your newsletter is that people are much more receptive, as their patients are not being tested when trying to purchase a product. You need to take advantage of this by further making it easier for your customers – minimize cruft in your order forms, offer a wealth of delivery options, and present all information in an organized and easy to access way. Don’t waste your users’ time with options and info hidden away in various pages.
Shopping Online is Convenient
As mentioned above, one of the biggest draws of online shopping is that it’s convenient. Customers can shop any time they want and from wherever they want. What this means for your newsletter is that it becomes possible to target customers during the times when they’re most likely to buy – from paydays, to lunchtimes, after work, and even during weekends. As long as you pay attention to the insights provided by your list and the habits of your customers, it will be easy to sell to people during the times that they want to be sold to.
Last But Not The Least, It’s Easy to Compare Prices
In brick and mortar stores, the only way customers can find the best prices is if they do the necessary amount of legwork and visit various shops while taking note of various prices. Not only is it very tiring, it’s also very time consuming to the point where the savings from getting the best price is no longer worth the hassle and lost time. When it comes to online shopping, though, comparison of prices is easy as a few mouseclicks and won’t take more than a few minutes of a person’s time.
What this means for your newsletter is that you’ll have much better control over the customers as long as you do your part – don’t let them go off on their own comparing prices. It’s not a huge task but if you save them a little bit of time, it will go a long way. Remember that many online shoppers want everything handed to them. Provide price comparisons on your own and outline benefits. As long as you’re being honest with the comparisons, you will reap the benefits of making your customer’s life easier.
Marketers know that many people dislike personalized ads on the Internet, as there are countless studies and researches that have pointed to the fact. Others know this because they themselves like to browse online, and get the same feeling of having their privacy violated when they encounter say, an ad about a weight loss pill after reading a couple of articles about obesity.
The thing is, people don’t necessarily dislike the idea of a personalized ad. Far from it. In fact, personalized ads are actually designed for their benefit – to ensure that they will only get advertisements related to things or products that they are interested in. What people dislike about personalized ads is the feeling that in order to get that level of personalization, the marketers or advertisers have violated their privacy by tracking their behavior online without their permission.
The concern is legitimate, though. Advertisers and marketers DO track and collect people’s information and behavior online, a lot of times without any transparency. Many of these entities do so simply because many people don’t voice their outrage nor opt out of the tracking, which is another reason why people dislike tracking and the ads that result from them: there’s no transparency and there’s no way to opt out. (more…)
If you want to make a profit online by selling stuff, there’s no other venue more powerful and more cost-efficient than a newsletter. However, it’s not as straightforward as connect-the-dots – there are a number of things that you need to establish first just to get your readers in a buying mood. If you fail to establish these elements in your newsletter, you’re not likely to see any sales- at least, not enough to make the whole endeavor worthwhile.
1. Establish Rapport – you need to establish rapport first, which essentially means that you have to give the reader the feeling that you’re coming from the same side as them. There are myriads of ways you can do this, from adjusting the tone of your writing to creating content that they can relate with on a personal level. (more…)
