If not, then you should read on.
Email marketing is a great way to reach your customers in a place where most people visit every day- their inbox.
But many business owners and bloggers overlook the potential rewards that having an email list will provide.
Why?
Because it takes time to grow a list organically. And it isn’t going to happen overnight.
So instead of building a list, many people focus on social media to get instant worldwide exposure. And hopefully, driving traffic to the site and getting more page views…
Truth be told, no matter what industry are you in, to achieve long-term success in your business online, you need to start focusing on building your list from Day1.
Still not sure whether you should start investing in email marketing?
Here are some of the most compelling reasons I think why you should start building an email list.
Related Reading: Email Marketing Guide: How To Get Started With ConvertKit
Why You should start Building an Email List
1. It’s all about control
As a blogger or business owner, you’ll need to deal with lots of uncertainty. But what you could do is to minimize the risk by having as much control as you can.
It’s also one of the main reasons why you’ll want to self-host your blog/website instead of using free blogging platforms. So aside from your website, you want to own your email list too. They are your business’s valuable assets.
“The more control you have over your business, the lesser risk you’re going to have.”
Well, I have to admit that social media plays an important role in growing a profitable business online. You can connect with your targeted audience, establish your brand, build an engaged relationship, and drive traffic to your website or blog.
But it has ONE big flaw: You have zero control.
So what does it mean? How does it affect you?
It means you’re not Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey. You don’t own Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or any social media platforms that you’ve spent so much time growing.
They could make changes on their term of service and policy anytime. They could terminate your account if they think you’ve violated their guidelines. All the countless hours and hard work spent on building your social media profile will be gone. It’s the worst nightmare could happen for every blogger.
“An email list is critical because you can’t build your content on rented land.”~ Joe Pulizzi, Founder of Content Marketing Institute
For example, Facebook has changed their algorithm for Facebook page and news feed. You can no longer rely on Facebook to reach your potential customers organically. Now you have to pay to advertise your posts so that your updates or posts will be visible and reachable to the right audience.
According to Social@Ogilvy research, you can reach only 2%-4% of your Facebook audience for free by posting to your Facebook page.
The bottom line is you don’t own Facebook. What you can do is to play by their rules if you want to leverage the power of social media.
And fortunately, you have total control on your email list. You don’t have to worry that a third-party will change the rules on you. Even if Google changes its algorithm and penalizes your website, you can promote your blog to your list of engaged followers who are ready to read your latest updates.
2. Email Subscribers tend to buy your products
Growing your email list is the best way to build a deeper relationship with your potential customers in a creative and personalized way. Unlike blog posts, pins or tweets, you’re getting into someone’s inbox. Which means you’re in their house!
If someone decided to give you their email address, they’re giving you permission to contact them directly. They want to hear more from you. They’re ready to engage with your content. They might want to buy whatever products or services you’re going to sell.
People hate spammers. So they are more selective when it comes to email subscription. They can follow a lot of profiles on Instagram, Twitter or other social media networks. But they’ll only manually opt-in to something that they truly interested in, something that appeals to them.
In fact, email is the most effective communication strategy between your brand and your audience.
Statistics showed email marketing delivers the highest ROI of 4400%. For every $1 spent, it regenerates $44 in return.
- Email 20.2% open rate
- Facebook 2-4% organic reach
- Twitter only 8-10% of your followers see your tweet.
- For every 5,000 emails, 1,000 opened and 300-400 clicks to your blog or website
If you want to grow your business, get more new customers, launch a product, sell your own products or services, it’s worth investing in growing an active list of dedicated followers. Because email performs better than any other marketing channel. Your email list is the lifeblood of your online business. Take care of your email list; they are your loyal customers.
3. Email is the best way to build a better and engaged relationship
What’s one of the first things that you’ll do after you wake up in the morning?
For me, it’s checking my email.
Unlike other media, people consume email in a different way. Often, people won’t check your Instagram, Facebook page or blog post every single day. But they’ll check their email every day, and maybe a lot more than once a day! Plus, email will stay in your subscribers’ inbox until they open it.
Based on the survey conducted by Fluentco.com, about 89% of Americans check their email at least once a day. 27.6% check their email 1-5 times a day and 20.9% check their email more than 5 times a day.
Additionally, a social post has a much shorter lifespan. Here is the average time of how long does a post will last on different social platforms:
- Twitter: 18 minutes
- Facebook: 5 hours
- Instagram: 21 hours
- LinkedIn: 24 hours
Email is the best and easiest way to connect, to share your latest updates and to build a deeper relationship with your audience. You have the opportunity to craft a personalized message and talk directly to your potential customers.
You can even resend the same email to those subscribers that don’t open your email after a certain period of time. You’ll improve your communication, learn what works and build a better relationship in an intimate way with your followers.
In short, if you have a product or service to sell, you’ll need to start building your email list. Not only does email converts to sales better than other channels, you can build a brand loyalty too. The more subscribers you have on your email list, the more potential customers will able to see your marketing, promotion and newsletter messages.
So wait no more and start building your list.
How can you get started with building an email list?
It has never been easier and more affordable to start your own email list.
You’ll need a reliable email service provider to capture leads and send email to people.
Using Gmail, Outlook or any other free personal email service is strongly discouraged for sending bulk emails.
If you’re a new blogger or a small business, we recommend Convertkit.
Here are a few reasons why:
- Easy to Use and Beginner Friendly
Convertkit makes email marketing simple for everyone.
With the beautiful customizable templates, drag-and-drop editor and user-friendly interface, you can easily create and design your emails with Convertkit right away.
- Mobile Friendly
Because all emails sent with Convertkit are responsive, they’ll look and work great no matter what device your visitors use.
- Advanced Automation and Powerful Features
Even though Convertkit is ideal for new bloggers, it goes far beyond simply writing and sending out emails.
Not only you can capture new subscribers, but you can also organize and segment your subscribers based on their interests (which is very powerful when it comes to selling or promoting something to your list).
What’s particularly great about Convertkit is its advanced tracking features.
You can track, measure and analyze your email campaigns with real-time statistics, such as subscribes, unsubscribes and click-through rates (you can better understand your audience and know which emails they like the most or don’t like at all)
You can even automatically resending an email to non-openers and do A/B test to see which email version get more clicks and opens.
As you can see, Convertkit gives you all the tools you need to implement a powerful email marketing strategy, all-in-one place.
- It’s 100% Free
The best part?
Now you can enjoy all the features for absolutely free.
No credit card is required to get started. Simply enter your email ID to create a free account.
To start growing your email list, use a free Convertkit account to create unlimited landing pages or attractive opt-in forms. Choose from 30 different templates, add your content, personalize the design, and hit Save!
When you’re ready to send emails to your subscribers, you can either upgrade to a paid account for $29/month or invite a friend to unlock advanced features and the ability to send broadcast emails up to 100 users.
You’ll get 100 extra subscribers for free for each accepted invite.
The more people you invite to Convertkit, the more emails you can send! It’s really that simple.
Start growing your email list, testing out all the features to see how you can get more followers, automate your email campaigns, create attractive opt-in page, find the best time to send email and more.
Once your new site and audience has traction, you can commit to their paid plan which is extremely affordable and easy to use compared to other popular email service providers in the market.
To get maximum Convertkit, you just need to pay for the entire year upfront. It’s advisable to do so, since most likely you’ll stick with it for years.
Plus, you won’t forget to renew your plan, ensuring that you’ll have an uninterrupted, engaging relationship with your existing subscribers and potential customers.
Click here to get started with Convertkit!
Pro Tips: Build your email list the right way
With Convertkit, you can do a lot of things with your followers. But you want to provide value to them first, build trust and credibility, ultimately you can promote and sell your products to your loyal subscribers. You can start with the following steps:
- Send them a welcome message
- Send them your subscriber-only and exclusive content- free printable files, ebooks, how-to guide, videos, invitations
- Answer frequently asked questions
- Ask for feedback
- Let them know about your new blog post
- Send them pre-launch information
- Give them special discount codes or coupons
- Let them know about your new products or services
- Share sneak peeks and some behind-the-scenes content
Check out the Free Plan for yourself here!
Do you have your own email list?
Do you have any problem or question about building your email list? Feel free to comment below
Also, check out this 61 actionable list building strategies that actually work.
I live and breathe making an income online.
I’ll be sharing more ideas and guides soon. Stay tuned.
If you haven’t already, sign up here to receive my emails.
Read Next: