Provide value to retain email addresses

It is critical that companies provide value for value in virtually every exchange, and email exchanges are no exception.

My email address has value. It has value to me as managing it it takes up my time and it has value to others as it can be sold for monetary value and it can be used to generate revenue.

If a business wants my email address, they want something of value. Which means I want something of value to me in order to justify the exchange of information.

Daily emails of nothing but links to products for sale does not provide value to me. Weekly emails of nothing but links to products to buy does not provide value to me.

Free content conveyed via email is critical for email retention and should be the cornerstone of any email marketing campaign. If I know emails sent to me will teach or entertain me, I’m more likely to open the email, read the email, and stay subscribed to the list. If I know the email is going to be nothing but a list of products to buy, I’ll only ever open that during big sale times and every sales email sent to me drastically increases the liklihood of my unsubscribing.

Don’t push the sale at every turn – it drives away leads.

Balance offering free educational/entertainment content along with pushing the sale – that’s how you retain leads and drive long term success. It takes effort, but it’s worth it in the long run.