Why Every Website Should Collect Email Addresses

Email Campaigns & Newsletters are one of the most powerful tools underutilized by small businesses.

Here are just 5 of the many reasons I encourage collection of email addresses from visitors to your website and active clients:

1. It’s extremely cost effective marketing

Many Email Marketing Systems offer free plans that mean you can implement a professional-looking newsletter without any adjustment to your marketing budget.

I am using (and often set up for my clients) MailChimp – which is totally free for up to 2,000 contacts and 10,000 emails a month. The contacts generated from your website go directly into a management system and so there is absolutely no work to record and manage your list.

2. It builds your brand & encourages loyalty

Email Marketing is not for the ‘hard-sell’ – it’s for promoting a special event, sharing knowledge, providing value, and gently reminding folks of who you are, what you do, and why you are the name to know.

Loyalty to a business or brand is harder than ever to foster in an age where a single Google search can showcase every competitor you have and what they offer. Being present in your audience’s inbox can help make the difference.

3. Email is more personal than social media

Email Marketing allows you to be more specific and personal with your messaging.

You can address people by their names dynamically, which is proven to dramatically increase real engagement with your message and negate the “skim” factor that social media encourages.

4. Email improves your repeat business pipeline

While a little more advanced than producing a newsletter, many email systems are capable of contacting customers who you may not have heard from in a while.

Setting up a “funnel campaign” to these folks and offering a special promotion to encourage contact can be an extremely cost effective way of keeping your existing client base healthy and strong.

5. It’s Data-Driven Marketing

Something I love to talk about is Data Analytics – and email marketing is no different!

Unlike traditional marketing (that is often far more expensive and ineffective), we can track the open rates and effectiveness of your message. With each successful campaign, we can get smarter and more effective in spreading your message and reaching your goals.

I hope this inspires you to think about how to put email to use to grow your business in 2020!

At the very least, I recommend that all website owners invite visitors to leave their email address – even if you don’t quite know what to do with it yet! In Canada, we have the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation which is extremely important to be compliant with even at the opt-in stage of an email list.

If you would like more information on how to get started with Email Marketing, I would love to hear from you! If you are already marketing with email, I’d love to hear about how it is going for you too!

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Project in mind?

If you have a project or website in mind or would like to learn more, I would love to hear from you.