Email marketing is a powerful tool for brands to connect with their audience, it also serves as a great tool for community building and helps you accomplish some serious financial gains. According to a report by ConstantContact, brands make $36 for every dollar they spend on email marketing. But, in order to ensure success your email marketing effort hinges on a crucial factor: a robust, engaged, and ever-growing email list.
In today’s blog, we will explore the relationship between email marketing and landing pages. Keep reading to uncover the strategies and tactics that can supercharge your email list-building efforts.
How email marketing and landing pages work together
Before diving into effective tactics, it’s important to understand why landing pages are so pivotal to a robust email list. Think about it like this: landing pages serve as the gateway to your email list.
The pages are strategically designed with a single purpose: to capture valuable information from your visitors, most notably their email addresses. These pages are typically linked to a specific campaign, promotion, or offer, and they play a pivotal role in channeling your audience toward the goal of becoming subscribers.
A focused email landing page can set the scene, introduce your brand and your offer, and build up to the climactic moment when the visitor becomes a subscriber. Without a dedicated landing page, campaigns to drive subscribers may fall flat—and don’t even get us started on a list-building strategy that only focuses on including sign-up opportunities in your website’s footer.
What makes landing pages so effective at building your email list?
As we mentioned above, landing pages possess a unique set of qualities that make them the perfect catalysts for email list growth. We’ll break down these characteristics, focusing on how they can capture the attention of your audience, increase brand exposure, and entice potential subscribers with special offers.
- Focused attention: Unlike sending someone to your homepage, the path to subscribe is clear and you can clearly outline the benefits of subscribing to your newsletter content. It’s important to keep the visitor’s attention on a single, compelling call-to-action (CTA).This focused approach significantly increases the chances of converting a casual website visitor into a committed email subscriber.
- Brand exposure: Landing pages also provide an opportunity to create a consistent and immersive brand experience. They align seamlessly with your email campaign’s messaging and design, reinforcing brand recognition and trust. You can highlight social proof, and your brand pillars, and even share exclusive content that a visitor could only receive by subscribing.
- Special offers: Finally you can leverage tailored offers and incentives, such as exclusive discounts, downloadable resources, or early access to content. These incentives serve as the currency for gaining entry into your email list. You can also create landing pages to reach specific audience segments. For example, if your ad campaign is targeting marketing executives you may share a discount for a popular industry event to sign up. Alternatively, if you’re targeting someone newer in their career your offer may be a beginner’s guide to creating a marketing campaign.
3 steps to building your email lists with landing pages
Now that we’ve explored the connection between building your email list and landing pages, let’s dive into three actionable steps that will propel your email list growth.
Building an effective landing page strategy begins with these three critical steps, each designed to create a seamless path for visitors to become loyal subscribers.
Step #1 Define your goal and audience:
Before you start designing your landing page, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your objectives and who you’re targeting.
- The goal: What specific action do you want visitors to take on this landing page? In this case, it’s signing up for your email list, but perhaps it’s more specific as well such as a specific conversion rate or subscriber goal. Be specific about your goal, as it will guide the entire design and content creation process.
- The audience: Who is your target audience for this landing page? What are their demographics, interests, and pain points? Understanding your audience allows you to tailor your message and offer to resonate with them.
Once you answer these questions, you can begin crafting the design and copy on your page, which will directly speak to your audience and allow you to achieve your goal.
Bonus Tip: Don’t forget, that you can create multiple landing pages with multiple offers that can entice multiple sections of your audience.
Step #2 Establish your offer
The first step in building your landing page is to define and craft your offer. This offer is the catalyst that will entice visitors to take the leap and join your email list. Here are a few compelling offer strategies:
- Free Tool or Resource: Knowledge is power, and providing your audience with valuable tools or resources can be an excellent way to gain their trust and commitment. Whether it’s an e-book, a template, a checklist, or access to premium content, these offerings establish you as an authority in your niche.
- Early Access to Content: Whether it’s granting subscribers a sneak peek of your upcoming article, video, or product launch, landing pages act as the platform for this exclusive invitation. The allure of being among the first to experience something new can be a powerful motivator to opt in.
- Coupon or Discount Code: Special promotions that make subscribing a no-brainer for price-conscious consumers. Your landing page becomes the gateway to exclusive savings, and in return, you gain a valuable email address for your list.
Step #3 Design and optimize your landing page
A well-thought-out design and layout can make the difference between a high-converting landing page and one that fails to engage your audience. Here are some design and optimization tips to ensure your landing page shines and helps you reach your campaign goals:
- Form optimization: If your email sign-up involves a form, make it user-friendly by asking for only essential information. A shorter form often leads to higher conversion rates. Try just collecting their email address!
- Loading speed: Ensure your landing page loads quickly. Slow loading times can lead to high bounce rates.
- Mobile responsiveness: Ensure that your landing page is mobile-responsive, as many visitors may access it from smartphones and tablets.
- A/B testing: Continuously optimize your landing page by conducting A/B tests. Experiment with different headlines, CTA button colors, form fields, and layouts to determine what resonates best with your audience.
- Thank-you page: After visitors sign up, redirect them to a thank-you page where you can provide additional information or guide them to take another action, such as following your social media accounts.
By following these three essential steps—defining your goal and audience, crafting a compelling offer, and designing and optimizing your landing page—you’ll be well on your way to creating a successful landing page that effectively drives email sign-ups and helps you grow your subscriber list.
Promote your landing page
But, it isn’t enough to have the perfect landing page. You need to ensure you have effective promotion tactics, both organic and paid, that push your campaign to as many potential subscribers as possible! Here are some tactics to get your promotion plan off the ground:
Organic
Promote on social media: Leverage the power of your social platforms to share your campaign landing page. Craft engaging posts that highlight the benefits of subscribing to your newsletter and include a link to the landing page.
Promote on your website: Ensure that an option to subscribe is prominently featured on your website. Consider placing a call-to-action (CTA) or a banner on your homepage or relevant pages that direct visitors to the landing page. Make it easily accessible in your website’s navigation menu or in the footer.
Share in groups: Identify online communities, forums, or social media groups related to your niche or industry. Participate actively in these communities and, when appropriate, share your landing page link in a helpful and non-spammy manner. Ensure that your offer aligns with the group’s interests.
Paid
Retargeting: Implement retargeting campaigns to re-engage visitors who have previously interacted with the landing page but didn’t convert into subscribers. Display ads to these individuals across various online platforms, reminding them of the value of your newsletter and encouraging them to sign up.
Email signature: Don’t forget to include a link to your subscription landing page in your email signature. Every email you send becomes an opportunity to promote your newsletter and encourage sign-ups, especially when communicating with potential subscribers.
Cross-promotion: Explore partnerships with complementary brands or newsletters to cross-promote each other’s landing pages or newsletters. This mutually beneficial strategy can help both parties grow their email lists.
As you venture forth into the realm of email list growth, armed with insights, tactics, and the passion to connect, remember that each email address you acquire represents a potential advocate, a loyal customer, and a vital piece of your brand’s success puzzle.
If you’re ready to create optimized landing pages that will build, nurture, and grow your email list, sign up for an Instapage 14-day free trial.