When I changed careers to be a Business Coach, it didn’t really cross my mind that I might need to start building an email list. I wanted to work 1-1 with busy mums to help them find clients and build a business they love. What would an email list add?

The truth is, it add loads. I don’t know a single person that’s ever said to me, “Gosh, I really wish I’d waited another 6 months before starting my email list.”

Luckily, I had my trusty coach to point me the right direction. I started my email list within a month of launching my business and it was one of the best decisions I made. Not only can I see my business and audience grow month on month, but I am now committed to putting out relevant and useful content (like this one) to help my audience every week. 

Still need convincing? Check out these facts:

1. Highest return on investment

Let’s start with the numbers. Put simply, email marketing is the greatest driver of revenue compared to other marketing platforms.

The return on investment for every $1 spent is a whopping $44, with the average order value 3 x higher than the average order value of social media posts.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the more subscribers you have, the greater potential to generate more revenue.  

2. You’ll reach more people

Not only does it give you the highest ROI, the number of email users is growing year on year, with 3.8 billion email users expected by 2019.

That’s compared to 2.27 billion users on Facebook and a mere one billion users on Instagram.

Better yet, email reaches 79% of people you send it to, compared to a 1-6% organic reach on Facebook depending on your number of followers.

3. It’s one of the most affordable digital marketing tactics

When you’re starting a business you have to weigh up a million different priorities from the cost of your website to exactly how you’re going to market your business.

The good news is that email providers such as Mailchimp are totally free for the first 1000 subscribers, so you can get this off the ground with no initial outlay.

4. You’ll improve your sales conversions

It is hard to make a cold sell. People need to get you know you, begin to like you, and then trust you before they are likely to part with their hard-earned cash.

Having someone on your email list gives you the chance to warm them up as they get to know you and learn your story. If week on week, you provide them with helpful content, they will begin to trust you and know that you are a thought leader in your field.

5. You control your email list

Aside from your website, your email list is the only thing you have control of. Facebook, Google and Instagram can all change their algorithm at any moment (and they will), and you could see your reach massively drop.

Ouch.

Not so with your email list - you have direct access to your most loyal, trusted fan base without relying on anyone else.

6. You get access To Your Audience’s digital living room

On social media, we ‘like’ things fairly freely. It’s not a big commitment and it gets added to the other hundred of social media posts we scroll through every day.

With email, someone has actually given you their personal details - a green light that you can contact them directly.

Your email lands slap bang in their digital living space and they’re already more engaged than on social media, because they signed up for this.

7. People check their emails every day

People receive important and sometimes critical information over email. A massive 91% people check their emails every day.

If you’re like me, with a new email pinging on multiple devices at point of arrival, you’re probably checking your emails a lot more than this too.

Email gives you direct access to your tribe, which is why it’s super important to nurture them and respect their time - don’t spam them, send them useful, relevant content that will actually help and show them why you are best placed to serve them.

8. You can build relationships with potential clients

Email marketing does not have to be a one way street. Actually, I’ll go further than that and say it shouldn’t be a one way street. 

You can ask your audience to respond to you. You can start building that likability, familiarity and trust. Chances are, when they need the services you offer, they’ll think of you. And if you put out an offer to them, they’ll be more likely to say yes if you’ve nurtured that relationship.

9. It’s the easiest way to keep in touch

If you have an announcement or offer you want to put out to your audience, you can simply drop them an email directly to their mailbox.

It is the modern day equivalent of sending a hand written letter. You can be personal, there is no word limit - you can even address your reader by their name,

Beautiful. 

10. You can leverage your list for events, webinars and courses

You may be working 1-1 with clients now, but somewhere on your roadmap you might want to launch a course, run a webinar or host a workshop.

If you’ve spent time building your audience, you have a pool of potential clients who you’ve nurtured and provided free value to. Yes, you can run paid ads to launch a course, but it’s much harder to make a cold sell than it is to your nurtured email list.

11. You can get valuable feedback

This one is important and so often overlooked! If you have an email list, you have a pool of your ideal clients - the people you actually want to serve.

If you need to know their specific pain points - ask them.

If you want feedback on an offer you put out - ask them.

If you want to know why they didn’t sign up - ask them.

12. You can increase traffic to your website

Generating traffic to your website can be a major challenge.

With email marketing, you can share your blogs and other relevant website content alongside a compelling CTA (call to action - all emails should have one) that send readers right back to your website.

The best part? You’re generating website traffic from engaged users who are already interested in what you’re offering and are more likely to stay.

13. You can easily track and measure your reach

Your list growth will give you a rough idea of how things are going. Each month you can set targets for how many new subscribers you’re aiming for and can track your email subscriber growth month on month.

As well as this, you can track the open rate (how many people open your email) and click through rate (how many people click on a link in your email) of each email you send. This is a great indicator of the quality of your emails and will tell you what works and what doesn’t.

14. You can automate your sales funnel

Oh the potential here is endless! Let’s start with the basics. You can create an autoresponder welcome email series so anyone that subscribes to your list receives your best crafted emails and content automatically. This welcome series can point people back to your website, to your offers or your FB group. Set it up once and watch the magic work.

THEN, you can segment your list based on activity on your website, and trigger particular emails based on their action. For example, say someone visits your ‘Book a free consult’ page but doesn’t fill it in - you can create an automatic trigger which emails them to ask if they want to jump on a call with you.

So, there’s 14 compelling reasons you should begin building your email list right now. You’ll thank yourself for this later.

Still feeling a bit nervous? Here are 2 common limiting beliefs and how you might reframe them:

Limiting belief 1: I don’t know if I have enough to say and am not sure who will want to listen

Reframe: I’m an expert in my field and I know people need support in this area

Limiting belief 2: I’m worried people won’t like what I send and will feel like I’m spamming them

Reframe: I’m going to send out truly useful and relevant content and dedicate time to creating it

Your next step is to take action and start your email list. How? Follow these 3 simple steps.

How To Start An Email List in 3 Simple Steps

• Choose an email provider (Mailchimp is free for the first 1000 subscribers, so my personal recommendation is start there and you can always switch later)

• Create a killer Lead Magnet which people have to subscribe to in order to access. (you can see an example of my lead magnet on 12 Ways To Find New Clients here). Your Lead Magnet should be the answer to your ideal clients biggest pain point. Can you guess what my clients’ biggest pain point is: FINDING CLIENTS!

• Put your Lead Magnet on your website and share on social media and on blog posts - link back to it wherever relevant (just like I did above!). If you don’t have a website yet, you can create a landing page in your email marketing provider and simple share this instead.