A while back, I noticed that my business seemed flat. It was generating enough money to pay the bills and provide a decent living — but no growth. It was like being on a treadmill.
So I looked at my email analytics for clues. My newsletter gets good opens and click-through. I also get good engagement with my readers. And my offers convert to sales at a healthy rate.
But a closer look revealed that I was losing subscribers. I usually don’t stress over unsubscribes. A reader’s interests can change, and they move on. Unsubscribes are part of the business.
What worried me was that I wasn’t replacing them with fresh subscribers. I knew that if the trend continued, my business could wither like a spring flower.
That was around the time GetResponse introduced new sign-up form types with better behavior for attracting potential subscribers. So I decided to experiment.
I was hesitant to try pop-ups; (some people say they are annoying.) But I found that GetResponse offers lots of ways to control how they appear.
Guess what else I discovered. They work! It turns out that readers need a gentle nudge to take action. And people may say they don’t like pop-up forms, but they do use them.
Further investigation proved that I also wasn’t taking full advantage of social media for finding new subscribers. So I made sure every newsletter included social sharing buttons, so subscribers could help spread my message. And I spent some time on GetResponse integrations for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn — they’ve got some pretty cool ways to interact on social media.
Immediately, my subscriber list began to grow. And as new subscribers engaged, they became customers.
This growth inspired me to try another list-growth technique — webinars. I’ve always thought of webinars as a tool for closing sales. And it is! But webinars also have list-growth potential.
The technique? Prepare an introductory webinar on a juicy topic that will interest those in your target markets. Schedule it a few weeks in the future. Then start promoting it — that ‘s where the list-building potential comes in.
Encourage friends and followers to sign up for the webinar. But be transparent. Let them know that when they enter their email address, they agree to receive your updates. Reassure them that you’ll never abuse the privilege.
Sounds complex, right? Well it is, but the right software can help. I use GetResponse. It’s affordable for any business and includes all the list-building tools you’ll ever need.
Click this link to try GetResponse free for 30 days.
And let me know what you think.