E-mail marketing is still one of the most effective forms of selling, but not the only one. Well thought through use of valuable list of contacts is also a great way to maintain relationships with potential and former clients. Probably you wondered many times how to effectively obtain their e-mail addresses? In the following article you will find 5 effective ways of build a mailing list.
1. Archived students are still out there
The first and easiest way to obtain readers of your newsletter is the smart use of the archived database. Everyone likes to feel important, former students also need some attention. Why not contact them to improve their overall experience or to offer preferential treatment? To do this, import the database of archival students and send a message with a useful ebook, list of pages with interesting facts about languages etc.
At the end be sure to ask whether they want to receive from you the materials. The answer may be a click on the „I agree” or an empty return message. Do not forget about the possibility to unsubscribe from such mailings. „If you do not want to receive messages, click unsubscribe.” This way, you gain only those subscribers who really want them to be.
2. Keep in touch
Content marketing is a great way to get subscriptions to the newsletter. Success lies not in the fact that you do not advertise your language services directly but you offer them something more. More does not mean continuous promotions and discounts on the next course, but providing them with valuable advice and education.
How about creating a short guide about the grammatical structures (every week a different tense, examples of use)? You can divide it into chapters and send them every once in a while. Another idea for the educational content is to prepare the ranking of online dictionaries or useful websites for learning foreign languages.
If you have a blog, the matter is simple because you can periodically send mailings about the new articles. The main principle is that everything you write about should be useful for the receivers. This could be an advice, a video, some articles, interviews, news, events, in short words – everything that creates interest.
3. Something in return
An effective way to get contacts is to offer something in exchange for your e-mail. A great opportunity, a complementary content marketing strategy, is to organize webinars. „To register for training, please leave your e-mail” or „fill the form” – mandatory and voluntary. Free webinars check out, when a customer gets valuable training at no charge, so he is more encouraged to come again and learn more about your company so it’s more likely that he will become your customer. What is important, he should not regret leaving his e-mail, because after the webinar he should just feel satisfied and happy that he was not charged for gaining the knowledge.
Another method is to offer a free e-book with an interesting content, even the „100 ways to diversify language lessons” for teachers, or „Tenses without pain- a guide to grammatical structures” for the students. It sounds interesting, and in addition allows you to build a larger mailing list. Of course, you first need to put some effort in creating it – but it is worth it, isn’t it?
4. Let them subscribe
Remember to put a visible form on the website or a blog that will encourage visitors to subscribe. A common practice is to differentiate subscriptions form from other information, or to create a separate tab, which the users have to hit. This example unfortunately does not stand out or graphics, or inform the customer that will receive in exchange for your e-mail. The undoubted incentive for the potential client will be a special discount for signing up or a priority in receiving information about special deals.
Make sure that the form is accented with a color, that there is a well visible button or photo. Example below.
5. Deep link on the landing page
Landing page is a different expression for a destination page, which you reach when you click on a link or an advertisement. This page differs from the usual websites, they provide only one piece of information, for example, offer a new language course, a discount coupon or the ability to download an e-book for free.
The most important thing is that your goal is to convince a user to take specific action (the purchase of the course, download of a book, registration for a training). Remember, a landing page should be done the way it will attract the viewers attention and convince them that they made a right decision.
How do you acquire new contacts? Every landing page should contain a form through which you can gather any information. Do not ask, about the size of shoe when you sell language courses – consider what data is essential. The shorter form is, the better. If you have a small database of emails, it is a good idea is to combine mailings with landing pages. The customer gets redirected to the website by clicking a „call to action” button or link and leaves there additional data. You can create a landing page to get feedback / opinions about your school, creating a form with appropriate questions.
There is no single effective recipe for building a list of valuable contacts. But one thing is certain – you should try, test, and combine different methods.
Rome was not built in one day, so do not be discouraged if your mailings are opened by a small group. With each e-mail contact, you increase the chance to increase number of your clients and convert more opportunities.
If you have questions or want to tell us how you build your lists, write us a comment!