July 2018 - Ron Kness Writing

Eight Email Conversion Tips or How to Sell More Stuff

We’re now to the point in our discussions where we’re ready to talk about improving your conversion rate; that is, how to get as many of your prospects to become paying customers.

Here are eight tips for keeping your conversion rate high.

1. Maintain Multiple Lists

Depending on what mailing list or autoresponder service you use, you may be able to maintain multiple mailing lists. Having different lists allows you to send only those e-mails that are likely to be of greatest interest to each individual on a list. You can build these different lists either by asking individuals to sign up for multiple lists directly, or by segmenting your existing list depending on what each individual has done on your website in the past.

2. Keep Your Emails Brief

The solicitation emails you send to your list should be no longer than absolutely necessary. If your solicitation requires more background or explanation, then provide a summary of the key details in the email and provide a link back to your website with the complete story. Alternatively, you may consider breaking up the solicitation into a series of shorter emails.

3. Be Creative

Use the marketing principles that you know will be effective, but don’t be afraid to try new things. If you simply recycle the same old e-mail texts, and the same formatting or “look and feel,” then your prospects might conclude you’re not really offering anything new. Be creative and try new approaches.

4. Find the Best Time to Send

Some studies have shown that it’s best to send out your e-mails on Tuesdays and Thursdays, right around midday. Of course, there is a risk that if every other marketer sends their emails at that same time of day, your email may get overlooked. Plus, your mailing list isn’t the same as everyone else’s, so you won’t know until you test out the best time.

Start with those Tuesday and Thursday sending times, but try other times as well. Test the effectiveness of the different times, and study your conversion statistics.

5. Use Analytics

Speaking of statistics, you need to have the data before you can analyze them. Make sure you’re using some type of analytics software or service so that you can monitor every aspect of your e-mail marketing campaigns, and use that information to make your future campaigns even more successful.

We mentioned Google Analytics earlier and it’s one of the best things you can use…plus, it’s free.

6. Focus on Quality

Many marketers have found that they’ll achieve a greater total number of conversions if they send out fewer offers or solicitations, but work to make sure those solicitations are of the highest possible quality. But you’ll never know what works best until you test it out, so above all, focus on delivering the best content and offers to your list.

7. Be Mistake-Free

With respect to quality, it’s absolutely essential that you double and triple check that there are no spelling or grammatical errors in your e-mail solicitations. Even among readers who claim not to care much about such things, you’re hurting your hard-earned status as an expert in your niche.

8. Be Yourself

Finally, as you consider the tips on this list, make sure that your personality (or your business’s image) comes through. Marketers are successful by creating a strong identity for themselves, and using that to build long-term relationships with their prospects and customers. Let your personality come through in all of your marketing activities.

Over time, you’ll come to discover what works best for your mailing list and learn how to use it to both help your subscribers and grow your business. We’re nearing the end of the email marketing series, but I have just a few more parting thoughts and encouragement for you. I’ll be back soon with that.

Engaging Your Readers and Delivering Exactly What They Want

Now that you’ve built up your mailing list, you’ve got to deliver on the promises you made to the individuals who signed up. These promises consist of both the promises you explicitly made (“sign up and I’ll email you a free report”), as well as the implicit promise you made to provide them with information they’ll find useful and valuable.

Here’s how to engage with your readers and give them exactly the content they’re looking for, and which they will hopefully come to rely upon you to give them in the future.

Use Analytics

One effective way to give your readers what they want is by paying close attention to what they’re currently spending their time reading on your website. The best method for doing this is by installing analytics software on your website.

Analytics software will help you learn how people found your site, what pages they visit, and how long they spend on each page before they leave your site. If you use a service such as the free Analytics code offered by Google, you’ll also learn more about where your visitors live, and other demographic information. Over time, this information can be a great help in deciding what your readers are most interested in, and therefore what type of content you should be creating for them in the future.

Read Comments and Message Boards

If you allow comments to your blog posts, or provide message boards for your website visitors to discuss various topics, then it’s important to read those comments and message boards to see what they’re talking about. Sometimes people will discuss with other users the features they think a product is lacking, or what information they wish they had, but they won’t necessarily take the time to tell you directly.

Look at Your Competitors’ Websites

Chances are you’re not the only business that’s operating in a particular niche..and if you are the only person offering a particular product or service, it probably won’t be long before competitors appear on the scene.

Make use of the fact that there are others operating in your niche by checking out what those other businesses are offering. Are there any product or service needs that you’ve overlooked, or not previously considered? You can also stay on top of what potential customers are likely to be interested in by subscribing to your competitors’ newsletters, Twitter feeds and other accounts and paying attention to what’s happening on them.

Ask Them

Finally, don’t neglect the most direct approach – ask your visitors what they’re interested in reading about. You’ll get the most direct answers, and the act of asking them will strengthen your relationship – it lets them know that you value their input, and that their wants and needs are important to you. You can accomplish this by making periodic requests for input as part of your normal article or blog post publication schedule, and perhaps even including a free product or service giveaway to provide additional incentive for your readers to participate.

So now you know how to give your readers what they want, but what about your business? Certainly, there has to be a win-win for both publisher and subscriber. In the next post, let’s talk about how to make sure your emails get the results and conversions that you’re looking for.

Eight Surefire Ways to Grow Your Mailing List

It’s safe to say that the bigger your mailing list is, the better. Having a robust list gives you more opportunities to sell and to build your reputation. Here are 8 sure-fire tips for growing your list:

1. Prioritize Building Your Mailing List

Make sure you’re putting at least as much effort into building your mailing list as you are to your social media efforts…hopefully more. Getting “Likes” on Facebook is one way of gauging your popularity, but you can’t control how your message is spread to your Facebook connections, and it can be difficult to effectively communicate with them directly.

2. Make it Easy for New Subscribers to Sign Up

Make the links to your signup page prominent on all the pages of your website. You can do this by placing a full-width banner at the top of your site, as well as within your margin or sidebar area. You might even want to use a pop-up or light box window as part of a particular landing page (provided that it only shows up once per user visit).

3. Be Up Front With Your Value Proposition

Two things should be immediately apparent from your opt-in page: (1) what a person will receive if they sign up for your mailing list, and (2) why that thing would be valuable or useful to them.

Don’t assume that a potential sign-up will be able to understand exactly why something has value just from a brief description. Explain exactly what’s in it for them, and don’t leave your value proposition to chance.

4. Offer Something of Value

It’s important to make sure that when you claim to offer something of value and substance in exchange for an email sign-up, you follow through. You don’t want to give away too much (in terms of volume or content), but you need to make sure that a new subscriber doesn’t feel as if they were tricked into giving you their email address. Over time you’ll gain experience in what’s appropriate.

5. Leverage the Trust You’ve Built Up

Your mailing list sign-ups are going to come from two sources – people who have never been to your website before, and those who have.

With respect to the second group, you can improve the sign-up rates on your squeeze pages by leveraging the trust you’ve already built up with them. If they’ve been to your site many times before, then they know from your prior posts and other downloads what you have to offer.

Reference these things as part of your sign-up pitch to help convince your current readers that your newest offer is right for them.

6. Run a Contest

Putting on a contest or product giveaway can be a great way to drive new traffic to your site and grow your mailing list. One of the most effective approaches is to make the item you’re giving away related to your niche.

7. Review Your Past Experiences

Go back and look at what’s worked for you in the past. If you’re using Google Analytics or some other analytics service, carefully go through the numbers in order to identify the techniques that you know work well. As the say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

8. Don’t Forget About the Offline World

Do you attend business networking events? Do you ever get new readers or subscribers by mentioning your business and website to people you meet? Have a set of business cards with a direct link to your splash page printed on them, and be ready to give them out when the time seems right.

Now that you know how to grow your list, it’s important that you communicate with them effectively and that’s the subject of the next post. We’ll talk about engaging your readers and subscribers, and giving them exactly what they want so they become loyal subscribers.

The Importance of the Opt In or Squeeze Page and What It Should Include

If you’re new to email marketing then you’ll probably need to learn some new terms and concepts. One important concept is that of the “squeeze page,” also known as an “opt-in page”.

Squeeze Page

A squeeze page is a page on your website that exists for the specific purpose of getting a reader to give you their email address so that you can send certain information or information products to them. This opt-in process can be for a new subscription to something that you offer on your site, for the purpose of receiving a particular item from you (such as an ebook), or to join your mailing list to receive future offers, or some combination of these.

Why do Squeeze Pages Matter?

Why Squeeze Pages are Important Squeeze pages are important because building your mailing list is an essential part of doing business online. In fact, building your list of email contacts could be the single most important element of your online marketing success. And one of the best methods for getting new prospects to give you their email addresses is through the use of well-designed and well-implemented squeeze pages.

What Should Your Squeeze Pages Include?

Email spam continues to be a significant problem, so be clear on what you’re offering, and what you’re going to do with the prospect’s email address once they give it to you. You don’t need to include your entire privacy policy, but you should at least include a summary of the most important points. How are you going to use their email address? Do you plan to send special offers or anything else beyond what they’re specifically signing up to receive?

Also be clear on what the next step is. Are you going to send them a confirmation email that they need to open and click on before they’re subscribed? If you’re going to send them an ebook, or start an autoresponder series, when can they expect to hear from you – right away or within a couple days? Setting your prospect’s expectations is key to your success.

What Should Your Squeeze Pages Not Include?

Each squeeze page has one and only one purpose – to get someone to agree to give you their email address. This means that the page shouldn’t contain anything that doesn’t further that goal, or require the reader to click to another page to learn more. Your squeeze page therefore shouldn’t have any links to other pages of your site – just a “Submit” or “Sign Up” button if they decide to accept your offer, and a “Close Window” or “X” button if they decide not to. These should be the only methods of navigating away from the Squeeze Page.

Furthermore, you should only request the minimum of information – chances are this is just going to be the prospect’s email address. and first name. If you don’t need to know their last name, how they found your site, or any other extra information, then don’t ask for it on your squeeze page. The more information someone has to provide, the more likely it is that they’ll click away without giving you anything at all.

online marketing success — Click the Image to See the Squeeze Page.

Click on the image to the left to see a working example of one of my Squeeze Pages. Enter your first name and a good email address to see how a squeeze page works.

In the next post we’ll discuss some sure-fire ways for you to build up that mailing list, but all of that is much easier once you’ve set up your squeeze or opt-in page.