Email marketing is one of the best ways market your business and promote your products and services. However, starting your email list is just the beginning. Being able to manage your email list effectively is a big part of profitable email marketing. This includes the ability to professionally manage your list subscribers as well as the email distribution process.

If managed effectively,  your email list can be very profitable for your business. It can maximise business exposure and outreach, and help generate income. On the other hand, if you are unable to manage it correctly, it can hinder the growth of your list and limit the potential of email marketing for your business.

Here are six steps for managing your email list effectively. These steps will help you to develop and manage a quality email list that you can profit from.

1. Use A Well Designed Landing Page

A dedicated landing page, also knows as a squeeze page, can be very effective for improving your email subscription or sign-up rate. Although a simple sign-up on the side-bar or footer of your website can work well, creating a dedicated lading page and driving traffic to your landing page can offer several benefits.

It gives you the opportunity to describe your campaign in detail and advertise its benefits for subscribers. A well designed squeeze page with well planned content will encourage users to sign up and improve conversions.

Furthermore, your landing page is often the first introduction about your email list and can help generate interest in your service. A good squeeze page should compel users to subscribe to your list. Use good call to action and a well designed opt-in form on this page.

2. Offer an Incentive to Join

Offering something in return to users for subscribing to your email list is one of the most effective and widely used techniques to grow your list. The opportunities are endless. You can offer a free eBook, tutorial or even a template or an app in return for joining your list. This technique is used successfully by many websites and blogs. You will be surprised with the results.

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 3. Use Good Auto-Responder

The ability to manage you subscribers effectively and provide timely delivery is an is an essential principle of email marketing. Timely and consistent delivery is essential if you want to retain subscribers and grow your list. Managing the distribution process manually is not feasible in most cases. This is where a professional auto-responder service will prove useful.

A good auto-responder tool will allow you to manage your email delivery professionally and consistently. You can plan the content of your emails in advance, set intervals for delivery, set-up welcome emails automatically, and more. Professional auto-responders also let you monitor campaign statistics and allow customers to opt-in or op-out automatically.

Aweber and Get Response some of the popular online auto-responder services you can use.

4. Deliver Quality & Relevant Content

Good quality content is probably the most important factor for the success of your email marketing. Prepare quality content for your mailings that is useful for your targeted audience. Without this, you will not get the desired number of subscribers and you will find it difficult to retain those who sign up.

The main focus should be on generic information that offers value for users. A 1 to 10 ratio for promotional content is usually recommended i.e. only 10% or less of your content should be used for directly selling or promoting products.

Even when promoting products, it can be more effective if you focus on highlighting the benefits and use examples rather than typical sales language.

It is equally important to promote relevant products. E.g. if you list is related to web design, try not to promote health care or fashion products.

5. Take Advantage of Split Testing

Split testing can go a long way in improving you conversion rates. Split test involves testing alternatives with real customers to see what achieves the best results. A simple split test using the free Google Website Optimizer tool can prove very effective.

You can use split test various aspects of your email marketing process including  your squeeze page, form or button design, calls to action, or any other aspect of your subscription process until you find a way that delivers results. For example, simple things like tweaking your headline or design of your sign-up form can improve conversion rates manifold.

6. Monetize Your List

Making money from email marketing is one the ultimate objectives for most businesses. You will have to put in effort to create a high value list and build up a large subscriber base before you can start to generate significant revenue from your email list.

There are several monetizing methods you can use to make money from your email marketing such as promoting affiliate products, selling advertising space, or sell your own products.

Conclusion:

Email marketing can be one of the most profitable assets for a business. However first you will need to focus on building trust and relationship with your customers by offering quality valuable information. If done correctly, it can prove to be steady source of income and growth for your business. There are many who have done this successfully.

How do you manage your email list? We would like to hear from you. Please share your response by leaving a comment below. All genuine responses will be published with this article.