Ask Emma is an email Q&A series in which we take a frequently asked question from the Emma community (Q) and do our best to supply a semi-intelligent answer (A).
Ask Emma your question now.
Join the Ask Emma mailing list and receive our near-weekly series in your inbox.
Ask Emma your question now.
Join the Ask Emma mailing list and receive our near-weekly series in your inbox.
Emma answers your questions about email marketing and life
in general.
Recent Q&A
in general.
Recent Q&A
Dear Emma,
I've made a new year's resolution to really get serious about building my email audience in '05. Do you have any tips to get a gal started on the right foot in the new year?
Sincerely,
Listless in Washington
I've made a new year's resolution to really get serious about building my email audience in '05. Do you have any tips to get a gal started on the right foot in the new year?
Sincerely,
Listless in Washington
Dear Scheduler,
As with most resolutions, start simple and set some realistic goals for yourself. Begin by making sure the list you're trying to grow has plenty of front doors - on your website, in your emails and anywhere else you interact with your customers or members. And then remember that the people in the best position to help you grow your audience are the people already on it, so give them a reason to spread the word (and the signup link) for you.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Start by making sure your Emma signup screen is fully set up.
This is the front door to your lists, and you can now create multiple signup screens and customize all of it - the signup screen itself, the thank-you note, and the welcome email that gets sent each time someone new joins your list.
Link to it every chance you get.
Once you've got the signup screen looking and working just like you want it to, make sure you link to it from your website and any other logical place. And remember that in addition to having the sign-up link at the bottom of your email campaigns, sometimes it's not a bad idea to feature it near the top, too. (You can link to your signup just like you would any Web page or URL - to find that URL just click the big signup icon in Audience.)
Add your signup link to your day-to-day email signature.
Another place you might consider adding a newsletter link is in your day-to-day email signature. Remember that your personal, daily emails are a great front door to the html-email campaigns and newsletters you send. Consider the following example, in which you are Johnny Robot and your smoked grouper is renowned the world over. Your salmon isn't half bad, either.
Johnny Robot
Johnny Robot's Fish Emporium
Visit us online: www.robotscanfish.com
Call us: 800.XXX.XXXX
Sign up for our weekly robot fish specials!
Run email promotions that require someone to bring three friends.
Imagine a shop sending out coupons that offer a best-pals discount good only if you bring your best pal. Or a restaurant offering half priced entrees if you bring a party of four. Or a club offering you half-price admission if you bring eight people to the show. Offers like this really take advantage of email's pass-along-itude* and can be a great way to get your current subscribers to recruit their friends and colleagues to join your list.
Practice saying, "Would you like to join our email list?"
The easiest way to get people to join your list is to ask. Use every conversation with customers and prospective customers as an opportunity to invite them to join your list - on phone calls, at events, and in emails (more on that below). Put a notepad by the register, in the waiting room, or at the event registration table.
This is really just a little creative grist for the mill. No doubt you'll come up with your own brilliant ideas - ideas that will make our ideas seem less like actual ideas and more like small pebbles or grits. (Have you already tried an idea that worked really well? We'd love to hear about it.)
Cheers,
Emma
-------------------------------------------------
*Pass-along-itude: a term that refers to the ease with which emails are passed from one person to another, and which the Emma staff would have you believe is a real word. It is not, and frankly they should be ashamed of themselves for thinking you're so naïve. I mean, come on - 'pass-along-itude'? They could have at least made it sound more believable, like 'forwardity' or 'viraliciousness.' Someone should write a letter to an editor about this.
As with most resolutions, start simple and set some realistic goals for yourself. Begin by making sure the list you're trying to grow has plenty of front doors - on your website, in your emails and anywhere else you interact with your customers or members. And then remember that the people in the best position to help you grow your audience are the people already on it, so give them a reason to spread the word (and the signup link) for you.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Start by making sure your Emma signup screen is fully set up.
This is the front door to your lists, and you can now create multiple signup screens and customize all of it - the signup screen itself, the thank-you note, and the welcome email that gets sent each time someone new joins your list.
Link to it every chance you get.
Once you've got the signup screen looking and working just like you want it to, make sure you link to it from your website and any other logical place. And remember that in addition to having the sign-up link at the bottom of your email campaigns, sometimes it's not a bad idea to feature it near the top, too. (You can link to your signup just like you would any Web page or URL - to find that URL just click the big signup icon in Audience.)
Add your signup link to your day-to-day email signature.
Another place you might consider adding a newsletter link is in your day-to-day email signature. Remember that your personal, daily emails are a great front door to the html-email campaigns and newsletters you send. Consider the following example, in which you are Johnny Robot and your smoked grouper is renowned the world over. Your salmon isn't half bad, either.
Johnny Robot
Johnny Robot's Fish Emporium
Visit us online: www.robotscanfish.com
Call us: 800.XXX.XXXX
Sign up for our weekly robot fish specials!
Run email promotions that require someone to bring three friends.
Imagine a shop sending out coupons that offer a best-pals discount good only if you bring your best pal. Or a restaurant offering half priced entrees if you bring a party of four. Or a club offering you half-price admission if you bring eight people to the show. Offers like this really take advantage of email's pass-along-itude* and can be a great way to get your current subscribers to recruit their friends and colleagues to join your list.
Practice saying, "Would you like to join our email list?"
The easiest way to get people to join your list is to ask. Use every conversation with customers and prospective customers as an opportunity to invite them to join your list - on phone calls, at events, and in emails (more on that below). Put a notepad by the register, in the waiting room, or at the event registration table.
This is really just a little creative grist for the mill. No doubt you'll come up with your own brilliant ideas - ideas that will make our ideas seem less like actual ideas and more like small pebbles or grits. (Have you already tried an idea that worked really well? We'd love to hear about it.)
Cheers,
Emma
-------------------------------------------------
*Pass-along-itude: a term that refers to the ease with which emails are passed from one person to another, and which the Emma staff would have you believe is a real word. It is not, and frankly they should be ashamed of themselves for thinking you're so naïve. I mean, come on - 'pass-along-itude'? They could have at least made it sound more believable, like 'forwardity' or 'viraliciousness.' Someone should write a letter to an editor about this.