Email marketing is like going to the gym. We get stuck in a routine and just go through the motions, without thinking of a way to make that routine better. All too often, marketers send emails with little to no return on investment, but continue doing the same things. Making one small change, either in your email strategy or at the gym, will significantly increase your ROI.
This is part one of a five-part blog series that will provide you with helpful tips to optimize your email marketing strategy.
Maximizing Your Time with Email and Account Sign-Up
No one wants to spend all day at the gym, so you create a workout routine that is efficient, but also strengthens all the muscles you need. The same goes for email and account signup. No one wants to spend more time than necessary signing up for emails or accounts, so the process should be short and simple.
The Warm-Up: Signing Up For Email
The goal of an email sign-up is to capture just the right amount of data to enhance the relationship and move it forward. Like a warm up at the gym, you want to ensure that you have everything you need for the next step, but don’t want to overwhelm yourself. Some more tips for a simplified email sign-up:
- Ask for name, email address, gender, and birthday. Knowing someone’s gender and birthday will allow you to start sending personalized emails.
- Allow the potential customer to request additional information. This will help the customer learn more about your brand.
- Provide product preference/activity preference options. While it shouldn’t be mandatory to sign up, having this option will increase trust in the relationship.
Vera Bradley has a great example of an email sign-up. They ask for email, name, birthday, and zip code; that’s it. The process took less than three minutes, and it even directs you to continue shopping on the website. The best part is receiving an email within the hour, giving the customer more information about the brand and allowing them to easily grow the relationship.
Adding More Weights: Signing Up For An Account
Similarly, account sign-up needs to be simple and streamlined. Signing up for an account requires a bit more information, but having an account can provide customers with a lot of value. Adding more weights and elements into your workout routine also gives you more value, but you still don’t want to spend all day at the gym. Marketers still need to be respectful of a customer’s time and capabilities.
- Just ask customers for their first name, last name and e-mail address. This way, you can communicate with them later about filling in the rest of their profile.
- Make sure you have an easy way to capture a customer’s preferences, shipping address, and billing address later.
- If the user already included this information while signing up for email, repopulate it into their account.
I created an account with Vera Bradley, and the only required information was my name, email address, birthday, and a password. The initial sign-up was quick and simple, but I know I can add my checkout and shopping preferences later.
The Cool Down: Things To Remember
When you are at the gym, you should know how each movement is strengthening your muscles. Similarly, when you ask people for their information, either for an email or account signup, explain why you are collecting it. If you can’t provide a reason for asking for the information, don’t ask for it.
Email and account sign-up is the first step in creating a relationship with your customer, and these first impressions are important. By creating a sign-up process that is simple and streamlined, you show your customer that you will respect their time and preferences throughout the relationship.
To read more, check out my article in Target Marketing for more tips on email marketing, and stay tuned for our next Strengthening Your Email Marketing blog post, with tips to create an engaging Welcome Series.
