It all starts with an email address.
Yes, it’s a ticket to enter someone’s inbox – but for brands and publishers, it’s more than that. It also opens a wealth of opportunities for monetization, customer engagement, and lead generation. In fact, 89% of marketers say the email address is their most important piece of data, according to a study by Forrester.
That’s why, in the first Real Time Banter webinar, LiveIntent’s SVP of global marketing Kerel Cooper and VP of marketing Nick Dujnic took some time to break down the intrinsic value of the email address and share tips on how to grow your subscriber base.
Here’s what they had to say.
Why email acquisition is important
Email has become a safe space for brands and publishers in a time when they’re struggling to find steady ground.
The ad revenue they once counted on is disappearing, and Facebook and Google have become pay-to-play networks with unreliable reach and data. The cookie apocalypse is also coming, taking away third-party cookies and leaving publishers without trackable customer data across sites.
Here’s how publishers can use email to get back on track:
Provide high-quality content: Email offers a way for publishers to deliver relevant, high-quality content to their audiences in a place where they’re already comfortable consuming information: their own inbox.
Drive revenue growth: Publishers can also monetize their emails with programmatic advertising, making up for some of that traditional ad revenue lost. They can then drive readers to their own website for further engagement and monetization opportunities.
Find paid subscribers: One of the greatest predictors of whether someone will become a paid subscriber is whether they’re signed up for your email newsletter. You can even reach subscribers by running programmatic advertising across other newsletters. After all, who do you want on your email list? People who are prone to subscribing, opening, and engaging with email. That’s why Prime Publishing drove 60K new subscribers and 56% higher email engagement with this strategy.
How to grow your email subscribers
Now that you’re on board with the “why,” here’s the “how”:
1. Keep it simple
This goes for everything: the copy on the creative, the design layout, and the lead capture form. Remember, the majority of impressions you’re going to serve are going to be on mobile devices. With smaller screens and an interface that relies on “tapping” instead of “typing,” it is paramount you quickly and concisely communicate your offer in a format that resizes well, and make it as easy as possible to convert.
If you’re having trouble choosing which elements to use and which to cut, try running multiple creatives and optimizing them against each other to see which options drive the most engagement and conversions.
2. Have a dedicated landing page
Aside from the ad creative, the destination is the most important element of any acquisition campaign. You can just send someone to your homepage and hope they find their way to your email sign-up form. You need a dedicated landing page that is directly connected to the ad creative you’re pushing out.
For instance, if you’re a publisher with newsletter that span a variety of interests, but the ad creative highlights your Recipes Newsletter, create a landing page that speaks to that content. This provides a seamless, intuitive experience that keeps audiences engaged and minimizes frustrations. Otherwise, you risk missing out on conversions and losing money on those ads.
3. Showcase value
Providing a brand or publisher with an email address is a big step. Someone decided to take a leap of faith and offer a valuable piece of personally identifiable information. Now you need to provide something valuable in return.
Use this opportunity to share your strongest content in email newsletters, reach audiences with personalized messaging, and continue to engage readers. In other words, make sure the relationship builds beyond the moment they click “Subscribe.”
