Contact management

1. Collecting contacts

One of the most important reasons to use email marketing for your business is the trust you build with your audience. Unlike any other channel, you address each contact directly and personally through email.

It is also important that you fill your lists with relevant contacts who are enthusiastic about your content so that they want to share their details with you. Understandably, they are far more likely to do that when your content is relevant to them. These 4 steps will get you there.

Generate traffic to your website

Before visitors subscribe on your website, they have to actually get there. So your first step is to optimise your website in such a way that your relevant audience will arrive there automatically.

Promote your website on different channels and make it as findable as possible in search engines. When potential visitors often see you on their social media or when they are Googling for solutions, then chances are they will perceive you as relevant more quickly.

Subscription form and opt-in

Once your visitors are on the website, it is important that you make their subscription as easy as possible. After all, you want them to be able to get back to work quickly instead of having to fill in an endless form.

With answers to the following questions, you can create the perfect subscription form for your business.

✓ What information should we ask for?

Initially, of course, you need their email address. But what other information do you ask for during the first subscription?

That is not an easy question to answer. A lot of information is important for segmentation, but ask for too much data and you run the risk of visitors not completing their subscription. Therefore, it is best to consider carefully which information is absolutely necessary for you to make contact with your visitor.

Do you want more and sometimes sensitive information for further contact? Then you can ask for it once you have established a relationship with your contact.

Our tip: only ask for information that you intend to use in the coming year. Not only can the rest wait, according to the GDPR you also need a good reason to ask for specific information. It's best to wait until you actually need the data you're asking for.

✓ Where do we place our form on the website?

As with the rest of your marketing, the answer here is: test, test, test. Integrate your form in different places on your website and see where most visitors sign up.

For example, are you giving away a valuable ebook to anyone who subscribes to your newsletter? Then it's best to wait for the right moment with your pop-up. Visitors want to explore your website, services, products and company values before they give away their data. Do you show the pop-up immediately? Then there is a good chance that they will simply close it and then have to look for a form themselves. So time your form well to increase the chance of subscriptions.

Moreover, the place where visitors subscribe is also valuable for segmentation. Visitors who sign up on the homepage will have different needs than those who sign up on a product or landing page.

Our tip: don't just provide forms for your mailing list on your website, but also in your emails and possible physical contact points.

✓ How do I make the form attractive?

Your form is now clearly visible and accessible. It is therefore important to make it attractive as well. Your form may be easy to find and fill in, attractive forms yield more subscriptions.

Go through this checklist for an attractive form to convince as many visitors as possible:

• Choose an attractive design that suits your brand
• Grab attention with a convincing title
• Write copy that gets your visitors to take action
• Make your copy relevant and clearly describe what they get out of a subscription (newsletter, download)
• Reward sign-ups with a smooth follow-up flow, like a clear second opt-in and a warm welcome email

✓ How do I legally optimise my opt-in form?

In the past, you could fool visitors in all sorts of ways to get their data. While that was never a recommended technique, it has also become illegal since the introduction of the GDPR.

Double opt-in for GDPR

For your opt-in, GDPR means that you are required to send that second opt-in you previously read about to subscribers. It's not enough that they provide their email address the first time, they also have to confirm a second time that they want to receive your emails. Only then can you follow up with valuable content and interaction.

Double opt-in for your subscribers

Did you know that not only the law but also recipients prefer a double opt-in? They would prefer receiving a second opt-in 2.7x rather than a welcome email. An important factor to get right.

Remember to keep that second confirmation email as clear and simple as possible. A single call-to-action and clean, simple copy will convey your message clearly and help focus your contact. Then start with more extensive content.

Offer visitors something

Once visitors come to your website, you still have to convince them of the added value of subscribing to your emails. Therefore, it is not only best to make your subscription as clear and easy as possible, you should also provide your visitor with an incentive to subscribe.

This way, they are immediately rewarded for their subscription and you show them what kind of quality content they can expect from your mailings.

Some examples of these lead magnets:

Even if you don't have this content yet, you can still tempt visitors with a nice offer. You can easily make a good offer by curating existing content into something new. For example, you can slightly rewrite several blogs around a certain theme and pour them into an ebook or make a research more accessible by shaping it into a simple infographic.

The possibilities are endless.

A few tips for effective lead magnets:

1. Make your offer relevant to each stage of the customer journey, the path your customers take in their search for your product or service. That way, you give every potential visitor a reason to leave their details and get that valuable piece of content.
2. Remember to see your offering in the larger context of your business and marketing. Make sure it can be followed up with other relevant information, that you show a clear link to your paid solutions and that your subscriber clearly sees the bigger picture behind their gift.
3. Video content, infographics, clearly structured ebooks: whatever you choose, make your gift easy to consume. That way, subscribers are more likely to use it right away and to get to know the quality of your content.
4. Finally, for the same reason, it is also important that you offer a solution-oriented and applicable offer. The greater the chance that your subscriber will engage with it, the faster they will discover your value.

Follow up

You have read before about the importance of following up on your first emails. It is crucial that you show your contacts that they made the right choice by giving you their email address. You want them to get to know you, trust you and open your emails.

The value of your contact list is only as great as the trust they have in you. The better the connection with your subscribers, the more they appreciate your quality content and the faster they convert.

Some rules for follow-up emails:

• Give contacts valuable content from the first follow-up
• Engage your contacts as a network and ask them to share their experience or even your content
• Ask for a direct answer from your contacts every now and then to show that their opinion is important
• Make membership of your list a pleasant experience, make contacts look forward to each mail
• Be grateful for each subscription and show it with a personal touch and a warm welcome
• Use the same voice that spoke to your contact on the website and through social media