5 Tips to Consider While Setting up Your Mailing Lists

You have long been thinking of creating mailing lists to reach out to your existing as well as prospective customers, in a more personalized way. You want to inform your site visitors about promotional events and updates on a regular basis. The best way to structure your mailing lists is to create separate lists for each segment so that you can send tailored offers to the appropriate audience.

Here are 5 points to be considered before you set up your mailing lists

1. Segment based on background
Ask relevant questions and find out what they like / dislike.
For e.g. find out if they are young / old, male / female . Based on their age group / gender / areas of interest – you can add them to separate mailing lists,
so you can send them special offers for products that would immediately appeal to them

2. Segment based on Behavioral Attributes
Take the help of surveys and quizzes to find about the behavioral aspects of your customers. For e.g. , a travel website would do well to find out if the visitors are looking for a luxury / adventure / activity-based trip and then point them to the right mailing list where you send tips / offers related to those types of vacations only.

3. Segment based on existing / prospective customers
Make different mailing lists for existing customers and leads who are on the fence.
Your current clientele might be looking for tips on how to use your products or support. On the other hand, you might want to send mailers that help convert the leads by highlighting advantages of your product and relevant discounts.

4. Content is king
Your email subject needs to be compelling, catchy and in synch with the mail content. You have only one second to convince a user to open your mail and the subject is the only thing that determines whether the mail will be opened or trashed.
Once a user opens your mail, ensure your content is crisp and interesting. Highlight key points and then point them to a perfect landing page that gives them more information.

Monitor open rates and click rates for your mail. Invest in a program like AWeber or Campaign Monitor so you can track these analytics easily. Keep tweaking your mail content and subject to make sure you constantly improve your subscriber response.

5. Make it personal
If your website gets access to personal information like birthdays and anniversaries, it would be a very nice gesture to wish your customers on such occasions. You can use an automated system to trigger this.

The value of a mailing list cannot be underestimated – connect with your customers and give them information that is relevant to them, so that they get into a habit of opening your mails and listening to you.

You can use the WordPress plugin SurveyFunnel to create surveys that end with a mailing list sign up form in minutes.