How to Capture Your Customer’s Contact Information and Cater to Their Needs Forever

You’ll hear it time and time again when you launch your own business on the ‘net – The gold is in the list!  Your list is your database of customers’ names and email addresses.

 

            The reason this is said to be true is because you don’t want to have to be chasing individual sales every time you have a product or service to offer.  You want to have one loyal list of customers who you know are willing to spend money, so that you can market to them for a lifetime instead of just once.

 

            Building a list is easy and you can do it for multiple niches, products, or services that you want to leverage.  All it takes is a simple squeeze page or opt in box and an autoresponder system

 

Automating Your Customer Communications

 

            Autoresponder systems each have different features, but one of the most popular ones is Aweber.  Aweber costs approximately $19.95 per month and it allows you to create multiple lists and schedule your communications so that they go out on a timely manner and give you repeat opportunities to sell to your customers over time.

 

            All you do when you sign up with Aweber is click on Add New under managing list.  You just enter the details for your list, like what you want it to be called, and then you can create follow-up emails that automatically drip out to your customers using the time scale that you ask for. 

 

            You ideally want to keep your name in front of your list quite often, but not enough to appear spammy.  Anywhere from 4-7 days is a good schedule.  Within your emails, you can either promote your own backend products, or promote products that you’re an affiliate of and that would compliment your own product in some way.

 

            So for instance, if your customer bought an eBook on baby names, your follow up email might include reference to a common infant problem - colic.  You could either write your own product about the topic or promote an affiliate product.

 

              You want to treat your list like gold, because then when you mine it, you’ll get the results that you want.  If you abuse it and exhaust it, it’ll be hard for your customers to trust you and their loyalty will go elsewhere.

 

Adding an Opt-In to Your Web Presence

 

            If you’re using Aweber, go to List Settings and then Web Form.  This will take you to a screen where you click on Create Web Form.  (Make sure you’re managing the right list if you have more than one).

 

            Enter the name of the form, pick whether you want it to be static on your web page, a pop-up, pop-under, exit pop-up, or pop-over/hover box.  Then click Next.  Copy the code it gives you and paste it into your website. 

 

            It will automatically funnel your prospects into your autoresponder series.  You can add a box to a regular domain or a blog.  Then you’ll direct visitors to the URL with your subscriber box and begin marketing to them again and again.

 

Generating Sign-Ups to Your Subscriber Base

 

            How do you convince the online consumer to provide you with their contact information?  People generally aren’t at ease with letting marketers in the door to their email account, so you have to provide something of value in return.

 

            You want to allow your subscribers to receive something free, like a weekly tip email, a report that you’ve written, a template, or anything you think is a good trade.  You want to make sure you choose the double opt in method via Aweber so that you have proof that the subscriber opted in, and then verified his or her subscription.

 

            After the subscriber verifies their opt-in to your list, you’ll have your first follow-up response set to direct them to the download page where they can access the free report or download.  If they’re supposed to begin receiving tip emails or an Ezine, you can set your follow-up to begin delivering those direct to their email inbox.

 

Ethical Email Marketing

 

            If you start email marketing to your customers, you want to handle them with kid gloves.  That means never losing sight of the fact they voluntarily let you into their world.  Don’t ever sell their names to marketers who will spam them and ruin your reputation as a valued part of the online community.

 

            Watch your ratio of marketing to providing pure value.  Your subscribers don’t want to feel like they’re chained to an infomercial.  They wan to feel special, so make sure you provide them with lots of freebies and discounts outsiders wouldn’t have access to.  As word gets around that you’re the type of entrepreneur who puts his customers first, your opt-ins will increase and subsequently, your sales will skyrocket. 

 

            Next we’re going to talk about the best way to generate free traffic to your website – by maximizing your search engine optimization strategy so that your sites show up at the top of the page whenever someone types in a relevant keyword or phrase having to do with your site’s purpose.