The desire to grow
In a recent survey conducted by ExactTarget, in collaboration with the Email Marketer's Club and the Center for Media Design at Ball State University, 38 percent of email marketers cited email list growth as a top priority in the coming year. That so many would have this at or near the top of their list should come as no surprise given the central role of a healthy list of subscribers in the success of any email marketing program.
Meanwhile, the rallying cry in email marketing over the last few years has shifted from batch-and-blast to relevance, and from focusing on the number of subscribers on a list to focusing on sending the right message to the right person at the right time. Herein lies the problem. Once list growth is stated as a priority, the focus tends to shift back to the numbers.
To a degree, this makes sense. For an email program to be sustainable it must have a critical mass of subscribers. If the program does not have enough subscribers to justify the expense of segmenting and sending targeted offers, then aspirations to send relevant messages will fall by the wayside even if the benefits of relevant messaging are well-articulated.
This tension between the need for relevance and the need to get enough subscribers to create a sustainable program is completely legitimate. But, it can easily derail organizations attempting to build or expand email programs, especially when those organizations look for a quick fix.
There are no silver bullets, but there are ways to position your organization to grow its email list while also positioning for email success in the future. There are also some pitfalls to avoid along the way. This article takes a closer look at potential stumbling blocks, along with corresponding best practices.
