When you are focused on building relationships rather than just selling, you may find that your subscribers and subsequent customers not only buy from you but they come back for more! They are loyal because it is natural if you have really impressed and helped them. This is the beginning of building a business that provides excellent service and keeps people satisfied.

Creating this dynamic not only has obvious benefits in keeping your customers satisfied and loyal, but it also goes a long way in motivating them to recommend your service or products to other people. This is the ‘wheel’ that keeps going around. With e-mail marketing you can remind them and reinforce with them the fact that they would be wise to consider your business both in their own operations as well as to be confident in recommending you.

Although your emails may seem like the ‘first impression’, you don’t get the opportunity unless you are first driving traffic to the site where they can opt-in to receive the emails. So first you need to get traffic and then to have a welcoming website that is easy to navigate so that they will ‘stick’. They will read what information is available there and they will add their name and email address to opt-in so they can learn more!

The type of traffic you are generating is important. Just random traffic has a very low conversion rate either for subscribers or direct sales. However, if you can get ‘targeted’ traffic by using relevant keywords in your content, you are more likely to get a response. You should employ different strategies to get traffic, and it is a good idea to have a ‘splash’ page that not only invites them to opt-in to your newsletter (be on your list), but then the best strategy with that process is to have the form redirect them to your site after they sign up.

So with this you have a ‘one-two’ punch. You capture the lead for your list and they become prospects, or warm leads, AND you have an opportunity to show them a little more about what your business is about. Even though you hear ‘the money is in the list’ over and over and it is very true, the list has to actually buy something for there to be money involved. That is the object – making a sale. It can be a direct sale or one that comes from building trust over time with your email marketing and promotions.

For example if a website visitor want to download a free e-book, report or video then all they need to do is provide their email address. They get something they want and you get their email address added to your list for future reference!

Besides the regular day-to-day messages you might send to your list, it is very effective to also include periodic ‘broadcasts’ to announce ‘specials’ — for example something that has a time-limit where the cost is less or they get more for the regular cost. Giving something away is also very effective.