6 Places to Promote Your Email List
Building your email is is something that is extremely valuable to your organization. This gives you an opportunity to connect with people, share your impact and increase your donations. The critical thing is to keep growing your list. While there are several strategies for growing your list, don’t forget about the little things you can do easily to make sure people know that it exists, and what they will learn and gain by subscribing.
Here are 6 different places you can let people know you have an email newsletter they want to get!
Before you get started
Building your list isn’t as simple as putting a quick form together to get their email addresses. People don’t want to get spammed and they don’t want to only get emails that are asking for donations. To get people to sign up you need to give them something of value. A lead magnet is the most common thing but not your only option. If you’re just getting started, think about what value you are providing in your emails. If you’re a pet adoption organization, it could be weekly discounts from your partner companies so they can save money on their pets. If you’re an enviromental organization it could be weekly tips on reducing your environmental impact. If you’re an after school program, it could be weekly resources to support your kiddos at home.
Think about what it is you do and how you can support your community. Putting these elements in your email newsletter sign up is going to make it more likely that your audience will want to sign up to receive it. “Sign up for our newsletter” will not see as many results!
Website footer
Put your email optin right above your footer. Users often scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find quick links and easy access to information. This is a great place to gain their attention and encourage people to sign up.
Create a graphic to catch people’s attention and use a quick and easy form that includes first name and email address. In many website builders you can create this as a footer so it will automatically be added to every page you create. That saves you time and ensures that you’ll have an opportunity for people to sign up no matter what page you’re on.
Blog posts
If you’re creating blog posts then put your opt in in the middle of those posts. This is incredibly helpful especially if you have a lead magnet that relates to that content.
For example, let’s say you are a museum and you’re writing a blog post about the achievements of Leonardo DaVinci to help promote an upcoming exhibit. Maybe in the middle of the post you have an opportunity for people to download a guide they can use to plan their trip to the museum and give them more information on what they’ll learn while they’re there. Then, because you have your opt in in the footer they’ll have another opportunity to join your email list after they have completed reading the post and made it to the bottom of the page.
If you don’t have a unique lead magnet you can send for that blog post, that’s ok. Create an option for people to sign up with language about your newsletter that is more related to the topic of your post. In the example above it could say something like, Subscribe to our email list for more information on upcoming exhibits before they launch on our website!
Contact page
If people are interested in connecting with you the contact page is typically where they go first for all the information. Having multiple ways they can do that is critial because people like to communicate in different ways. They might want to talk to a person for a quick question. It my be a general inquiry with no urgency. Or it could be they want more information and email is a great way for that. Make sure there is an option there for them to get on your email list so they know they can get regular content from you and get to know you over time.
Not everyone is ready to take action right away – they need to be nurtured and find trust in your organization. Giving them the option to build that trust through your email newsletter is a great way to do that.
Pop up
Yes, these have a love hate relationship! But they work! Testing how you serve them up is critical. Then, as long as what they’re getting is valuable for them you won’t make them mad.
If you don’t like popups you could also look at slide ins that come in on the corner of your page.
Email signature
Think about all the emails you send each day. You probably have your social media channels in your email signture but have you thought about putting a link to your email newsletter there as well? Mimic some of the text you have used in other places. This. isan easy way to get things in front of people you’re already connecting with.
Social media bio
If people are enjoying your content on social they’ll probably want a way to connect with you further. Your email list is perfect for this! Make sure its easy for them to find the link and take action.
Conclusion
People may not sign up for your list the first time they see your email sign up. Or they might not be ready to dive in but soon they will be. Make it easy and clearly show the value so its a no brainer for people.