Everyone knows that building a database of engaged email subscribers is crucial to almost any business these days, regardless of whether it’s a product or a service.
But once you’ve established a system of building your list that works for your business, what do you do with it?
You know you need to stay relevant and interesting in order to keep your audience engaged but simply sending information to a list of contacts who have varying degrees of interest in your products or services, you need to look at email marketing as a form of relationship management. Your goal here is to develop and ‘nurture’ relationships with the subscribers in your database and, over time, connect with them enough to create return customers.
Think about your subscribers as potential customers and then put a dollar value on each of them. For instance, a sale of $100 to each person in your 1000-strong list would make you $100,000. That’s nothing to sneeze at, right? So it’s time to start looking after your list.
Here are three reasons why you should build these relationships and nurture your email database in the least sales-y way possible:
- To build your business’s reputation by using the consistent contact to get your audience to like, know and trust you
- Establish yourself as an authority by creating valuable content for your subscribers (AKA potential customers)
- Be top of mind when your subscribers are asked for referrals by family, friends or colleagues
Have you checked in with your email subscribers recently?