You’ve taken the plunge and created a website for your business.
Maybe you’re even getting some good traffic each time you release a new blog article or website page.
Now here’s the tough question…
How many of these website visits are translating into real business?
The reality is, most people won’t be ready to buy from your business after just one or two visits. Your website visitors need time to get to know your business, products, and services — to decide if they’d like to spend money with you.
That’s where email marketing comes in. Email marketing allows you to stay in touch with your website visitors on a regular basis and nurture your leads toward the sale.
Let’s look at how you can add email marketing to your website strategy to drive sales:
1. Choose a reliable email marketing service.
Rather than using a personal email account — like Gmail, Outlook, AOL, or Yahoo — to communicate with a group of email contacts, look into using a professional email marketing service. An email marketing service ensures your message gets delivered, looks great on any screen size, and is trackable, so you can see who is most engaged with you. Want to give email marketing a try? Sign up for a free 60 day trial of Constant Contact here.2. Add a sign-up form to your website.
Once you’ve signed up for an email marketing service, it’s time to start growing your list. Your website is one of the best channels to entice new subscribers to opt in to your list. You just need to entice them with a visible, convenient, and compelling sign-up experience. Here are some tips to keep in mind:- Visible: Feature your sign-up form on every page of your website. That way, if someone is entering your website through social media or search, and isn’t going directly to your homepage, they’ll still know the opportunity to sign up exists.
- Convenient: Keep your sign up experience as simple as possible. If possible, use an embeddable sign-up form, so visitors don’t have to navigate to a separate page to enter their contact form. You should also keep your form short and only ask for the information you need here — usually first name and email address are enough.
- Compelling: “Join our email list” usually won’t be enough to catch a visitor’s attention and inspire them to sign up. Instead, clearly show your visitors what’s in it for them. Highlight the benefits of your list and don’t be afraid to bait people with an incentive.
Their sign-up form pops up a few seconds after visitors are on their site. Visitors can easily sign up with just an email address. Best of all, their form highlights the benefits of being a subscriber — including exclusive sales, recipes, and events.
3. Deliver a fantastic first impression.
Has this ever happened to you? You sign up for an email list, and then…nothing. By the time you get a first email from the business, you’ve practically forgotten about them. Don’t let your business fall into this trap! Follow up with a winning Welcome Email that delivers on your promise and reaches your new subscribers when they are highly engaged with you. According to a recent Epsilon study, Welcome Emails receive the highest open rates (60 percent to 70 percent) compared to every other type of marketing email. Set up a Welcome Email to automatically go out on your behalf and start your new relationship on the right foot. Door County Coffee & Tea Co. sends a friendly Welcome Email that includes a recipe made with their whole bean coffee.
Not only do they make a positive impression on new subscribers, they’re also driving repeat website visits, and sharing an effective way to use their product.
