For most of you, it would be: check your emails.
Was I spot on?
That’s the case with me, as well. I hide under my blanket to keep myself warm while going through emails that have been piling up overnight. I respond to all the urgent emails and spend the extra few minutes going through some newsletters and promos.
Despite being in an exciting social media era, no business should ignore its email lists. Not ONE.
Even Gary Vaynerchuk still sends emails to his list. He’s still asking people to subscribe too.
What’s an email list you ask?
It’s simply a list of names and email addresses. The people on the list have given you permission to send updates, newsletters, promotions, etc.
If you’ve not started building an email list for your business, please do so after reading this blog post.
It’s that important, and failure to build a healthy email list right from the very beginning is a regret for many businesses. I have regrets as well. I’ve missed many leads and sales because I didn’t start on my list from the start.
Here’s why building an email list is a MUST for your business.
- You own the list
An email list is part of owned media. It means YOU own it. Not someone else.
You may think you own your Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram account, but you don’t. Those platforms own them. Those social media sites can decide that you’re breaking the hidden terms of service (TOS) at any day and remove you from that platform.
I know. My Twitter account was suspended for violating the TOS—terms I never knew existed. In just a single day, my online presence on Twitter disappeared. Poof! Thank God I got it back.
With an email list, you own it. YOU. It’s YOURS to keep. No one can take that away from your business.
- You control everything
Here’s the great news. You own the master key to your email list.
There are no algorithms from Facebook or Instagram to keep you away from your contacts. Did you know that Instagram recently made a change to their algorithm and now most marketers are getting lower impressions? We had the same experience with Facebook.
You also don’t need to worry about Google changing their algorithm, losing your number one spot on Google search result, and traffic disappearing in a day.
In those type of situations, your email list is the only real protection you have from being cut off from your prospects.
You’ll always have their email, and you’ll be able to continue to email them with newsletter updates and promotions—until they decide to unsubscribe, of course.
With your email list, you don’t have to worry about being pushed out by new updates that you couldn’t prepare for.
- Emails convert better
Social media is a great platform to generate brand awareness and to spread the word, but it isn’t the best when it comes to selling.
Out of all the platforms I’ve tested, emails continuously outperform most of them. When people subscribe to your newsletter, they are already interested in purchasing. I’m not saying one is better than the other; they must go hand in hand. Social media is a great lead generator and email lists are a great way to close the deal.
That is the reason why emails continue to outperform social media. Just by doing a simple Google search, you can see there are statistics and posts that support my statement. The numbers may vary, but the results are the same.
A few weeks ago, I emailed my email list the Grammarly Review blog post that I did. That one simple email converted better than the multiple tweets that I sent out. People in my list know that I only recommend the best tools, while the people on Twitter are just getting to know me, and my tweet was one of many in their feed.
- Targeted interest
Let’s talk about people’s interest a little more. Another reason why emails outperform other platforms is because they are targeted.
NOBODY will give you their email if they aren’t interested in what you offer. It means they want something from your business—it could be access to a coupon code or to find some information from your business.
Either way, they gave you their email because they are interested in something from your business. All you have to do is to continue to add value and convince them to buy from you.
- Email is One-on-One
People read emails in private, just like I did under my blanket.
What I mean is emails are not public. They can ask you questions, or even directly email you in private. Doing this allows you to build trust and connect.
Don’t believe me? Here’s an email I received from someone who subscribed to my newsletter on AskAaronLee. After responding, this is what she said.
This is precisely why every smart business owner and marketer has an email list.
- Your business can continue to pitch them
As you build your email list, you can monetize it by pitching multiple products, or by promoting a great product you’ve used that you want your email list to know about. The latter has the potential for collaborations with other businesses.
Amazon is the best example; they’ve gather data about your purchasing habits and now they can offer you a personalized item for purchase.
Amazon knows what you like and they know what you are likely to buy—maybe more than you do. Just recently, they recommend Tim Ferris’s new book to me since I had already purchased one of his books. I didn’t even know Ferris had a new book, so my interest was piqued.
- You reach different people
One thing you need to realize about building an email list is you can pull from a wider range of people.
Earlier I mentioned social media. It’s an excellent way to generate leads and to build an email list.
However, SEO traffic is another method of generating leads. Most only focus on getting people from social media to subscribe to them. They forgot about people who found them via search engines.
My number one traffic source comes from Google. People find relevant articles from my blog using Google. If they want more help or information, they can subscribe to my email.
Summing up:
People consume email differently than they do other media. You can use that to your advantage because emails still convert to sales better than other mediums.
I hope I’ve convinced you to start building an email list today.
What are you waiting for?
Photo Credit: GigForU_Microjob Flickr via Compfight cc