3 Reasons Why Your Email Database Isn't Growing

Despite what you might think, email marketing is NOT dead. In fact, there is still a higher client conversion rate through email marketing. Social media is powerful, but it moves fast. When something pops up in your inbox, you might designate more time to read it.

The bottom line with email marketing is that if you're going to go through the trouble of creating content, you should maximize your efforts and get your material out to as many people as you can.

However, I see a lot of frustration with my clients when it comes to growing their email marketing database and, honestly, there are a few really simple reasons for that. Here are a few things you should keep in mind:

It's hard to find where to sign up.

This is probably the simplest, yet most crucial mistake. Where is your email sign up located on your website? Is it one field in the footer of your website? Do people have to go looking for it? Keep in mind that we're all pretty lazy when it comes to looking at websites and our little fingers get SO TIRED scrolling down. If email marketing is going to become an important part of your strategy, you need to have a newsletter sign-up front and center.

People don't know you have a newsletter.

If you're active on social media, making your audience aware that you have a newsletter should be part of your content scheduling. This means that you need to have a link to a landing page where people can sign up for the newsletter. A landing page is something simple that either your web designer can create or you can usually create within your newsletter platform (like Mailchimp or Constant Contact). Once you have that link, schedule it a few times a month throughout social media so people know it's there.

If you're creating video content or a webinar or whatever, you need to mention that you have a newsletter as part of your presentation.

You're not providing content that people want to read.

I know I said point #1 was the most crucial mistake, but I'm correcting myself: bad content is. And by "bad content" I don't mean stuff that's poorly written (although I don't like that either). I mean that you're creating stuff that no one really cares about.

A few months ago, my sister was feeling down and we got on the subject of self-care.

"Self-care isn't always what you think it is," I told her. "It's not just about getting your nails done or getting a massage. It's doing things that make you feel taken care of and feel your soul."

During the conversation, she happened to mention a podcast that she really liked. "Do they have a newsletter?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Then sign up for it. That's self-care."

She couldn't get to her computer fast enough. She'd found a resource she liked that gave her helpful information that resonated with her and SHE WANTED MORE.

So often we create content we think our audience should want without paying attention to what they really want (or need). Content that feels like it's meant for me is stuff I can't get enough of. I'm more than happy to give someone my email address - a very valuable thing, by the way - so I can get more from this person.

What are you doing that will make people want to know more?