Building A List | Converting Subscribers Into Clients

At some point after you’ve been building your list for a while, you will be asking yourself what you can do once you have grown your community. Managing to build a big list is great but it isn’t all about the numbers.

Are the people who regularly receive your emails buying from you?

So today, I thought I’d write a blog with a few pointers on how you can maximise the number of your community who go on to become your clients too.

While this post relates to your email community, many of the strategies work just as well with the community you have built elsewhere… such as Facebook and Twitter.

For starters;
First of all, it is important to note that not everyone who opts to connect with you will become customers.

Some people…

• May feel comfortable making the decision to work with you immediately
• May want to work with you but not be in a position to do so yet
• Might need more time to feel reassured that you are the right person to help solve their pain
• Would happily work with you but so far your offer hasn’t been right for them

What can you do?

The greatest benefits of building your list and sending regular emails to your community are;

• Opportunities to demonstrate your expertise
• Reminders that you are there to help

Email frequency:
I’d recommend you send emails at least once a fortnight … if you don’t contact your community for several months, there is a good chance they will forget you… which makes it more difficult for you to build quality relationships.

Email content… what should your emails say?
If you’re clear about your niche, you will have more clarity around which messages to share. You need to ensure that emails you are sending talk to the recipients so they feel connected to what you say.

But for example, your emails can be a mixture of;

Blog content: As we do here at Shift, you can email your community whenever you write a new blog post. Your blogs will be demonstrating your expertise, and if done correctly, will be solving the pain your prospects feel around your topic

Newsletters: While people rarely opt in to receive email newsletters these days (you’ll need something more attractive to entice your prospects to hand over their personal info) sending a monthly newsletter is a great way to combine relevant content with offers and updates from your business

Offers: Packaging up your products or services into a value added offer can make it much easier for people to work with you. If you’ve got your Elegant Business Model in place, you will have products and services to offer at different price points.

Why not consider bundling up products with services or vice versa, which could be the perfect package for someone who has yet to buy from you… the very thing they have been waiting for.

If you’re a service based business, why not create a package of your services that combined are the solution to a pain your community face. For example, if you are a Virtual Assistant, you might sell your services by the hour. Offering a set price for a set number of hours could remove their fear of receiving a large bill at the end of a project.

Change the offer regularly, and if possible make it relevant to a topical event or occasion… such as a Designer offering a “Branding Spring Clean”

Promote offers from other experts: Your prospects won’t be feeling pain in only one area… by working with Joint Venture partners to promote their offers; you may tap into a more urgent pain that your prospects feel.

While they may not feel ready to buy from you, your JV partner could be the answer to their immediate issue… but of course, this still carries a financial benefit to you.

You’ll also have the opportunity to promote your services to their community which could bring you new clients… and introduce you to a whole load more prospects into the bargain.

Be topical: There is lots of inspiration around you at any given time… maybe the change of seasons, the weather, a TV programme that everyone is watching right now (X-Factor anyone?) front page news stories etc.

If your community is taking notice of topical events, they will be likely to take notice of your references to it. And it creates a common bond between you… a shared interest. People are more likely to buy from people they feel a connection to.

How do you keep in contact with your community? How often do you send emails and what email content do you find works well? Are you doing anything I have missed in this blog? Please share in the comments below.