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Winning Prospects for Your Email List

John Osgood

June 26, 2009

These days whenever a prospect searches the web, they either end up on a capture page or are greeted with a pop up window asking for their contact information.

While others may not mind this, especially when they are really interested, to some, this is just plain annoying and they would dismiss this “in your face” approach to getting their valuable contact information. You as a marketer or business owner should understand that nowadays, people get burned out on being “bribed” with some offer to get their contact information. Your purpose of course, is to create your customer email list, but prospects know that their contact information will be used for one purpose only: sales offers.

Now it isn’t such a bad thing, in fact, it is even a great Internet marketing idea to reach customers through email, but hammering prospects with sales offers isn’t.

If you’re a small business owner, for example, it’s great to have plenty of names on your small business mailing list, but how many have really bought anything from you? You may not know it, but some of these prospects may have even given you a fake email address. What good does it do for you to have a large list of names and e- mail addresses of prospective customers if they don't read your material or immediately delete it because it has no value to them?

Unless your e-mail list campaign has something genuinely valuable for your new prospects, developing customer loyalty should be one of your top objectives. To achieve this goal, make sure you create a sense of relevance and value to your customers through your emails.

Practically every e-mail list campaign should be created to meet this goal. Focus on your quality of service, the sense of value you create and the benefits you provide your customers. E-mail is a great way of reinforcing these values. Notices that are timely, special offers to your online customers, quick handling of e-mail requests and responses, and conveniently delivered information are just some of the ways to build your brand through e-mail.

It is also worthy to note that every e-mail you send does not always have to have a commercial objective. In fact, if you simply provide useful information, you will most likely improve customer loyalty and build your emailing list. Remember, your prospects are more likely to stay tuned to your email messages if they're not always promotional and if you’re not always pushing them to buy something from you. Give them relevant, valuable information, as well as free gifts bonus points or special offers that target their specific interests and not just in-your-face pop-ups asking for their contact information.

Always remember that a brand is much more than the look or feel of what you send, even though e-mail enables you to reinforce this with great content and graphics. To truly win your prospects and to build a targeted email list, focus on your quality of service, the sense of value you create and the benefits you provide your customers.

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