What are opt-in email lists?
As the name suggests, opt-in email lists are email lists that consist of recipients that explicitly gave a brand or marketer permission to communicate with and market to them via email.
If you want a more in-depth understanding of this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: How do I get people to join?
The most common way to get people to join your opt-in email lists is to use lead magnets.
If you are not familiar with the lead magnets, they are just no-brainer offers that you know your target customers (or audience) would find valuable and can avail of for free in exchange for their contact information.
The goal is to create a lead magnet (or set of lead magnets) that are in line with what you are selling so you can attract leads that are actually interested in your products, services, and/or content.
Keep in mind that when it comes to growing an opt-in email list, it is more important to focus on quality over quantity. Having 10,000 recipients who are actually interested in what you have to say or offer is significantly better than having 100,000 recipients who are not. This is because it is so much easier to convert people who are already interested in your products, services, and/or content.
Question #2: How do I get people to stay on my lists?
To get people to stay in your opt-in email lists, you need to:
- Always provide relevant, high-quality content and offers. If you do not give your audience a clear and compelling reason to stay, they most likely will not do so. Always remember that they do not owe you anything. You are the one who needs something from them.
- Do not send too many emails. Ask your recipients how often they want to hear from you then make the necessary adjustments. Or, better yet, give them the power to change these settings whenever they want.
- Do not pull a bait-and-switch. Make sure you deliver on what you promised when you asked them to opt in. If you got them to sign up by promising weekly healthy recipes, for example, send them weekly healthy recipes.
If you want to send them other types of content, make sure they are still related to your original content. Also, it is always a good idea to ask for your email list’s permission first then add the recipients who say yes to a different list.
- Don’t always try to sell. People don’t like being sold to. Earn their favour by providing actual valuable content too.
Question #3: Should I try to keep people who are no longer interested in my opt-in email lists?
No, you should not try to keep people who are no longer interested in your opt-in email lists. The best you can do is provide them with alternatives such as:
- Taking a break instead of permanently opting out
- Changing the types of emails they receive from you
- Changing the frequency with which they receive emails from you
But if they still decide to leave, it is better to just let them do so. Forcing people to stay in your opt-in email lists is bad because it leaves you with unengaged recipients who might end up flagging you for spam, blocking you or both.
This, in turn, can cause email servers and internet service providers to tag you as a spammer, which, in turn, could make it so much more difficult (or totally impossible) for you to get your emails successfully delivered to your recipients’ inbox.
Question #4: Can I have more than one opt-in email list at one time?
Absolutely! In fact, even if you only had one, you should still consider further breaking it down into smaller subsets if it would allow you to easily send more relevant content and offers to your recipients.
For example, if you produce and send out content about fitness to your email list, you can subdivide your recipients by goal (e.g., fat loss, muscle gain, and sports performance). Doing so makes it so much easier for you to craft targeted content that your recipients are more likely to consume than if you just send out generic fitness content to everyone on your list.
Don’t worry. Even if you had to run multiple opt-in email lists with several subsets each, it would not be that much more challenging than just running one because you can automate most of it.
Check this helpful article to help you know more about the opt-in email list.