Email marketing is one of the most important and effective forms of marketing to ever be invented. The conversion rate for appropriate email approaches four to seven percent over time. That’s because a new client needs to see a brand seven to eight times before they trust it enough to buy something. Email is the perfect way to do that.

1. Use the Right Software – There are many different types of email marketing software available but you need to read the fine print to be sure that you can do what you want to do with it. It’s safer to use a cloud-based service than one you use that is self-hosted, although those exist too. Both provide code for your subscription form.

2. Autoresponder Series – No matter what else you do when it comes to online marketing, when someone gets on your list be sure to send them something no less often than weekly. Less than that and they’re going to forget about you, and they might even think you’re spamming them because they forgot. Set up triggered emails in the service to go out on a regular basis.

3. ECourses – A great way to fill up your email marketing autoresponder is with an eCourse that delivers daily or weekly with information and assignments for your audience. This is not only a good way to teach them something but also a good way to suggest other products.

4. Easy Recurring Content – Autoresponders offer the ability to set up easy recurring content that goes out on a triggered basis, either by actually setting a date or by setting an interval.

5. ENewsletter – Some marketers use newsletters to send information to their audience. Newsletters are often larger and also available on the site in HTML so a subscriber can view them via email or on the site. A newsletter can go out monthly or more often. Be sure to tell your audience how often they’ll get the newsletter so they know what to expect.

6. Craft Effective Headlines – It’s very important that headlines and subject lines be specific, keyword rich, and something the audience will want to open and see. Don’t be tricky or too cheeky as people don’t click through unless they know what’s inside.

7. Personalize Email – Autoresponder technology allows you to personalize an email based on the information you’ve gathered from your audience. You can collect first name and email, and then you can send your email to, “Dear Sally,” instead of no one.

8. Use Double Opt-In – It’s really important to use a double opt-in procedure. This means that the person subscribes at your website, then they agree that they subscribed via their email. Using this method offers proof if it ever comes up that you are not sending SPAM.

9. Don’t Forget the CTA – When you send emails to anyone for any reason, you should include a call to action. It might be to share the newsletter with others, to like you on social media, to try out software you recommend or something else entirely.

You simply cannot have a good online marketing plan if you don’t involve yourself with email marketing. In fact, everything else you do marketing wise should all lead back to building your email list. A targeted email list will enable you to give yourself a raise whenever you want one.

The freebie is a popular way to entice a new subscriber to offer up their information so that you can put them on your email list. It’s still a great way to get someone to sign up. The important thing about a freebie is that it should be useful, valuable and of the same quality as the things you sell to your audience.

If it’s a lesser value, they may not realize it and they will think this is an example of the type of work that you do and not buy your products or services. If you are serious about getting more clients, your freebie needs to be the example of what your audience expects. However, never make your free gift something that you have to produce separately for each person; that would be too difficult and take too long. You want it to ideally only cost you something to produce one time.

EBooks – This is a great gift to give away, especially if you use one you normally sell so that it has a perceived value to the visitor. If it’s something you normally sell on your website or elsewhere, then the visitor feels a lot of incentive to get the free item.

Software – If you create any type of downloadable tools, software, plugins, or apps or have permission through private label rights to use them as freebie giveaways and it’s something very useful for your audience, this is another really great free gift to give your subscribers. This works best if the freebie is something your audience can use in conjunction with your products or services.

Reports – A report is just a short eBook that is more focused on solving one problem, instead of an overall “how to” like a book would be. If you had a website about vegetarianism, you could for instance offer a free pantry check sheet, conversion or substitution chart for your readers to use.

Coupons – People do like getting discount coupons, so if you can offer your visitors a coupon code for signing up for your email list that is a great freebie to offer. Don’t discount your work too much, though, because that devalues what you do.

Videos – Offering a video lesson or videos of a live event as a freebie is a great way to repurpose videos that you’ve made. Just load them up to deliver to the people who sign up for your list.

Checklists – An awesome freebie to give your audience are checklists to use that you’ve tried and put together especially for them.

Charts – There are all sorts of charts you can provide your audience depending on your niche.

Bundles – You can put together a compilation of all of the above if you want to offer a really outstanding freebie to your list subscribers. This is a great way to give them an overall sampling of what you do well.

Getting people to opt in and subscribe to your list is an important part of making your online business or the online marketing of your offline business successful. The money is still in the email list, no matter what other channels exist for marketing your business. Get your audience on your list and you can give yourself a raise whenever you want to.

Consumers today are smart. They do their research before doing anything else. They know who your competition is, and they’re all too ready to jump ship and move to them if they have to. Any slight can seem like a big deal and the ease with which they can change course is increasing each day due to the global economy we live in. You have to compete in some way, and it cannot always be on price. If you compete on value instead, you can end up the top choice of your market every time.

* Helps Your Messages Become More Targeted – When you know that your list has already taken some action such as downloaded your lead magnet, or purchased a specific item, then you can focus on sending very specific emails to them that not only discuss the purchase they made, but also discuss the next steps they can take.

* You’ll Increase Sales – By sending more relevant messages, you’ll ensure that your list members feel special. This will then help develop that “know, like, trust” connection that is so important. Thus, you’ll increase sales.

* You’ll Increase Conversions – It doesn’t matter whether you are trying to make a sale, or get people to join a contest, or join you on social media. A more targeted list will mean more conversions all the way around.

* You’ll Avoid Marketing to Unresponsive People – Sometimes people initially join a list just to get a free thing you’re giving away. They have no intentions of acting further. So, if you move those who do act into another list, you can then market more aggressively to the unresponsive ones or even remove them from the list.

* Your Emails Will Be More Personalized – When you have a specific segmented list, whether it’s due to behavior or demographics, the messages can be much more specific. You can discuss the things they have done, or name something personal about the group they’re part of (women, men, moms, dads, etc…) and that makes them feel important and included.

* Subscribers Are Less Likely to Leave – People think they’re on the wrong list if they see marketing messages or educational messages about a product or solution they’ve already purchased. That makes them leave the list. In reality, you want them to leave, but to a new list that’s more appropriate.

* You’ll Improve Response Rate – When an email is more targeted due to segmentation, you’ll see a huge improvement in response rate for things you ask them to do, such as fill out a survey. The reason is that they feel as if the information is more directed to them and not just generic for everyone.

* Different Forms of Marketing Work for Different People – Another reason that segmentation works so well is that each type of person responds to different forms of marketing. You can determine this by their behavior. If you segment based on behavior, you’ll notice an enormous increase in ROI moving forward.

When you segment your list, you can send more personalized and relevant messages to the list members. This will cut down on unsubscribes, and you’ll see an increase in return on investment. Your autoresponder software has features that will help you segment lists for best results. As always, follow the laws regarding spam in your country.