September 11, 2008, 11:25 PM — In ResearchCorp's September '08 'Marketing Automation Survey - Q3 '08' (available on ITWorld), two top challenges that marketing managers reported were 'getting enough leads' and 'growing their email lists'. Here are some key strategies for extending B2B email prospect lists:
Growing Your Prospect List - Use All "Touch Points"
First on the checklist is to consider all touch points with your prospects. At each touch point, you should be asking prospects to join your subscription list, subscribe to your service and/or register for a useful resource, like a whitepaper or webinar. Here is a checklist of places where you should be asking contacts to subscribe:
- Email Signatures. Create an email signature such as - "3 Reasons to Subscribe to our Marketing Tips Newsletter", with a link to the subscription landing page. Ask all employees to include it in their corporate signature.
- All transactional emails. If you're confirming an order, paper download or anything else, always ask people to join your subscription list or register.
- Product warranty / registration forms.
- Invoices.
- Website. Every page should have an invitation to subscribe and a link to your registration page.
- Surveys. Including customer satisfaction surveys.
- Call center. Ask support and sales staff to ask customers and prospects if they’d like to subscribe to your newsletters and correspondence.
Registration Landing Page Contents
We've seen many customers whose registration landing page is a lonely form with a dozen contact fields. Make sure the landing page has the following contents:
* Make your case - clearly summarize the benefits. It sounds easy but 3 out of 5 sites don't explain the benefits
of signing up.
* Provide a link to a previous newsletter or two, or links to a few teaser pieces of content. This lets your potential subscribers review your newsletter before they sign up and determine if it is something they’d be interested in.
* Clearly state your privacy policy and include a link to the details.
* Include 1-2 customer testimonies
* Do not include a long list of links to other pages. This is distracting and your goal should be to drive prospects to
sign up - don't provide other distractions.
* Can you offer a relevant incentive? A free massage or T-shirt are nice options but you'll just get people who like free T-shirts and massages. If you offer reports or pay-for content, consider offering free access for subscribing.
* Use Double opt-in. Also indicate clearly on your registration page that a link will be sent to the person's email. This increases the likelihood that people enter a valid contact email address and reduces the likelihood of someone entering a spam honeypot address.
more email marketing tips ...
20 more tips and strategies are covered in this white paper (no registration required)
http://www.pinpointe.com/resources/whitepaper-email-prospect-list
