Why Aren't You Building Your List?

In digital marketing terms, launching your web presence is a process not an event. Those who fund the creation of web pages and then sit back waiting for traffic and sales have only set up a digital shop window. The reality is that most visitors (around 98%) will stop once and then disappear for ever, so building viable traffic and converting potential customers using this method alone will take a lifetime. The solution is to start marketing to those visitors who do take an interest, because this population will be the easiest to convert into active customers. To do this effectively you’ll need to build a mailing list. How will this help? See below…

More leads: more marketing options

Lead conversion may be tricky but it starts by encouraging online visitors to sign up to your mailing list. You’ll need to give visitors an incentive to do this, and eye-catching content plus added value is usually the answer. Value which will appeal to your visitors is often created via discount vouchers, free offers, competitions and really informative newsletters. In addition, you must also make the sign-up process really easy and clear. This means really good visual signposting and a well-designed custom form.

Direct marketing opportunities

Once visitors opt to join your mailing list you then have a captive audience you can reach with your sales messages. These individuals are more receptive to your marketing material because you have already secured their initial interest. So now your sales pitch can be efficiently targeted in areas where it will be most cost-effective – and also most likely to lead to conversions.

Custom marketing campaigns

As you assemble your list and start to acquire conversions, so you accumulate an increasing volume of valuable information. Your archived data will thus allow you to customise your direct marketing messages in a variety of ways. For instance, you should be able to identify and target groups by age, gender and location, as well as segregating new and returning customers, and tracking their purchase and viewing histories. This detailed personal and behavioural information about your subscribers and customers can be used to drive new, ultra-focused email campaigns, which by their very nature should yield even better returns.

Marketing automation

The constant process of building up and marketing to your mailing list is time-consuming, and can become more complex over time. Automated software applications can now be deployed to help build and maintain marketing relationships with your potential leads and existing customer base. State of the art features allow custom-marketing and relationship-building on a grand scale: using reviews and recommendations to prompt a purchase, offering extra discounts and incentives when a buyer bales out of the purchase procedure, encouraging repeat purchases and/or suggesting matched products, and much more.

With automated marketing in particular, the skill lies in judging what automated technology does best and deriving full benefit from the features which fit your business focus and marketing style. However, automated tools should never be used in ways which de-personalise the experience for your customer, who should always feel he is dealing with a brand which is ultra-responsive to his needs.