[ad_1]
Takeaways
- Your email list should be one of the most valuable assets in your coaching business.
- Quizzes are a great way for coaches to grow an email list. Fast.
- Consistently sharing valuable content and resources is one of the easiest ways to promote and grow your email list.
Are you a new coach without an email list?
Too many new coaches focus on the wrong tasks when starting their businesses.
They’re building a website, spending hours on social media or taking a course.
They don’t realize that growing an email list is more important.
Just ask world-renowned business coach, motivational speaker and New York Times bestselling author Chalene Johnson.
“Your email list is like everything. E-VER-E-THING. Everything. I don’t think you should try to build your social media or anything else. Or write a book. Or record a podcast. Or sell a product. Or blah blah blah. Or blah blah blah. Or blah blah blah. Until you build your list.”
Chalene Johnson, business coach
But too many new coaches underestimate the power of an email list.
Why should you grow your email list?
An email list is critical to growing a successful coaching business that will still be around five years from now.
Unlike social media — where the rules of engagement constantly change with algorithm updates — your email list is something you control.
And since you own your email list, you can communicate with your subscribers whenever you want, without paying for advertising or going through a 3rd party.
Important notes about email list building
Before diving into the seven fool-proof methods I promised to grow your email list, here are a few key points to bear in mind.
The best time to start and grow your email list is now
If you’re new to email list building, don’t feel intimidated. Every single marketer or brand starts with a list of 0 and grows from there.
No matter where you are in your coaching business, there’s never a wrong time to start growing that email list.
But start now.
You’ll be well on your way to a growing list of subscribers using the seven methods in this post.
List building takes time
Buying an email list is never a good idea.
The companies that sell lists can never guarantee those contacts’ validity, regardless of what they tell you in their marketing copy.
The best way to build your email list is gradual, over time.
When it comes to email marketing, slow and steady definitely wins the race.
Consistency is key
Like many things in life, growing an email list requires consistency.
It’s never one and done.
For best results, it’s important to take an “always be promoting” attitude.
You should always be promoting your offer (quiz, checklist, free video training) to get subscribers onto your list.
Email lists decline over time
Over time, the quality of your email list will decline.
People change their email addresses, change jobs, get locked out of accounts, or — stop opening their emails.
This is why it’s so important to always be growing your email list.
That way, you’re consistently adding new subscribers to replace the ones you lose.
Include a welcome sequence
Can you imagine a stranger walking up to you to promote themselves or an offer without introducing themselves? Crazy right?
When you start emailing your subscribers without any introduction, you engage in that same absurd behavior.
Before you start promoting or selling anything, introduce yourself and your brand to your email list with a welcome email sequence.
Add value before asking for something in return.
7 ways to grow your email list
1. Create an irresistible offer
Having an irresistible offer is one of the easiest and surest ways to grow your email list with minimal effort.
Creating something people want and giving it away for free in exchange for an email address is a foolproof approach that works.
Your irresistible offer will depend on your audience, so do your research.
A few ideas that work well are resources (video, pdf, template, infographic, checklist) that teach subscribers how to do something.
Copyhackers has a free introductory course on Conversion Copywriting.
All that’s required for enrollment is a name and an email address.
Subscribers can also sign up with Google or a social account like Facebook or LinkedIn.
Whatever you decide, remember you need to ask for a valid email address in exchange for the resource.
2. Use a quiz
For most humans, our favorite topic is ourselves.
We love learning more about ourselves, and quizzes are a great way to indulge that need while growing your email list.
Which makes quizzes one of the best ways for new coaches to build their email list fast.
Using a tool like Typeform or Interact, you can create your quiz and collect email addresses.
The most effective way to use a quiz to generate leads is to gate the quiz results.
That means requiring an email address for respondents to see their quiz results.
In this Tutorial Tuesdays video, Chanti Zak teaches how to grow your list with quizzes.
3. Popups
If you do already have a website, consider adding a popup.
I know. I know.
I hate popups as much as the next gal. But despite what you or I may think, popups actually work.
Popups capture your website visitor’s attention and get them to take action quickly.
“The top performing popups average a 9.28% conversion rate.”
Sumo – Pop-up Statistics: Findings From Analyzing 2 Billion Pop-up Examples
Drink brand Olipop uses a colorful popup to invite website visitors to sign up for their newsletter and 10% off their first order.
4. Implement a referral program
Referral programs can be an effective tool for growing your email list.
With a tool like ReferralKit, you can automate the process and incentivize your subscribers who share your newsletter with their audience.
For best results with referral programs, it’s important to explain the incentive clearly and make it something attainable.
In the example below from Brennan Dunn of Create & Sell, Dunn gives subscribers multiple options with clear terms.
It takes three referrals to unlock Behind-The-Scenes Access, and he explains what’s included in that access.
5. Add an opt-in at the end of blog content
Already have a blog?
Adding an opt-in at the end (or even in the middle) of your blog content is another great way to grow your email list.
It encourages readers to sign up for email updates if they enjoy the content.
Of course, this works best when you’re providing amaaaazing value.
Since readers come from all across the internet from various sources, it’s good to have a form that encourages them to get on your list if they like what they read.
ActiveCampaign has a standard basic opt-in form at the end of each blog post.
The form only requires an email address, making opting in easy.
6. Use social sharing buttons
Adding social sharing buttons to your content is another great way to grow your email list.
It allows you to tap into your reader’s audience and get new readers (and hopefully subscribers) from those shares.
Copyblogger uses social sharing buttons at the beginning and end of their blog posts.
The buttons are colored to stand out against the minimalist black and white website color scheme.
7. Add links to your social bios
Your social media bio is valuable real estate.
Whether you’re on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or another platform, adding a link to your bio is crucial.
For better conversion results, it’s essential to link to a landing page with no menu and a single call to action button that promotes your email list.
Marketer Katelyn Bourgoin uses her one Twitter link to share multiple links, one of which is a link to her newsletter.
Mindset coach Ari Hale uses her Instagram bio link to promote her email list.
Bonus tip: Send emails consistently and make them valuable
There’s no point in building an email list if you’re not going to share content consistently.
In addition to sending emails regularly, you must also make them worthwhile.
People are busy, and their attention spans are low.
So if you don’t provide value, your subscribers will lose interest and opt out of your emails.
To lower the number of people unsubscribing from your list (because you will always have unsubscribes), focus on sharing information your email readers care about.
Email content they’ll look forward to reading.
Don’t forget to welcome your new subscribers
I’ll say it again…
Welcome emails are a must.
Welcome emails let new subscribers know what to expect from you and how often.
Subscribers can learn a little about you. And you could learn a bit about them.
Including a welcome email or a welcome sequence could mean the difference between turning a subscriber into a future client…
Or not.
But many email newbies forget to send a welcome email.
Don’t make that mistake.
[ad_2]
Source link
