How to Grow Your Venue’s Email List
Did you know that investing in email marketing is investing in the growth of your business?
Businesses receive a return on investment of $44 for every dollar spent on email marketing.
However, if you want to see those business results, you need a large list of customers to reach out to through email. If you’re just starting out or if you have a small list, don’t worry. There are plenty of options to grow your email list. Start with these 11 tips:
1. Add leads from Tripleseat
Tripleseat has integrations with Constant Contact, MailChimp, and Fishbowl. If you use one of these email service providers, you can connect them to your Tripleseat account. Your Tripleseat leads will automatically sync with your email lists on a daily basis.
2. Tripleseat email tools
You can customize your email signature and email templates that are used in your Tripleseat account. Add your email signup form link in your signature and/or templates to give your email list additional exposure to your event clients. If they’re booking your venue for their events, they’ve taken an interest in your business, and may be more open to signing up for your email list.
3. Email signature
Add a link to your email list signup form to your email signature in Outlook, Gmail, or whatever service you use to communicate with individual customers on a daily basis. Try an app like WiseStamp to create a professional looking email signature that links to your signup form, your website, your social media profiles, and more.
4. Website
Your email signup form should be embedded on the homepage of your website, but don’t stop there. Visitors to your website might not notice the link there and may look at other pages on your site beyond your homepage to find information about your venue. Take advantage of that browsing behavior. Place the link on your about us, contact us, and private events pages. Add it in your header or footer next to the links to your social media profiles.
5. Business cards
Include information about your email list on your business card, but make sure to provide a link to a webpage that has your signup form and is easy for your new subscribers to remember. This could be your homepage or your contact information page. If you want to track how many signups you get from business cards, shorten and customize the link of the webpage you list there by using a tool like bit.ly, then track how many clicks you get from that web address.
6. The host stand
One of the easiest ways to gather email addresses is to place a clipboard with a signup form at your host stand or front desk. Or – if you’d rather not spend time trying to figure out people’s handwriting – collect business cards instead. Some email service providers have a signup form app that you can add to a tablet or smartphone that staff or the new subscribers can use to enter the information.
7. Social media
Your email signup link should be visible in your venue’s social media profiles. List it in the about section of each profile. You can edit the button below the cover photo on your Facebook page to say “Sign Up” and link it to your email list signup form. Try sharing posts on a regular basis or purchasing social media ads that remind your audience about your email list, and include the link to your form.
8. Provide value
Offer new subscribers something of value when they sign up for your email list, such as a discount or a document that includes tips or a checklist to help them plan their next event. Many email service providers include a feature that allows you to set up an autoresponder email to automatically send the offer to new subscribers.
9. Video
When you upload a video to social media, or sites like YouTube, Vimeo, or Wistia, you can place links in the video’s caption, as well as in any annotations or text popups allowed, depending on the platform. Let viewers know they can learn more about your venue by signing up for your email list.
10. Blog posts
If your venue has a blog, you should always have a call to action at the end of each blog post that asks the reader to have another interaction with your business. If you have a post that’s relevant to the information you’re sending out via email, tell your readers about your list and make it easy for them to sign up by adding the link.
11. At the table
Everyone has their phone with them, even at dinner. 75% of participants of a recent study said that their smartphone is always less than 5 feet from them at any given time. Take advantage of that behavior by telling customers about your email list at the table. Use table tents or insert small flyers in the bill folder that list the signup link and encourage them to sign up.
Be a responsible sender
There are a few things to keep in mind while you’re growing your list and improving your email marketing strategy:
- Provide information on what your recipients are signing up for. What’s the benefit for them? Let them know what value they’ll be getting from your list and how often you will be sending emails.
- Don’t make your email signup form too long. Only ask for the information you need so you don’t overwhelm prospective registrants. Reducing the number of form fields to 4 or under increases signup conversions by 160%.
- Use a reputable email service provider. Blasting messages from your Outlook, Gmail, or Yahoo account is time-consuming, and can be flagged as spam.
- Obey the Federal Trade Commission’s CAN-SPAM Act. Tell recipients that they can opt out of receiving email from you and explain how they can do so. Most email service providers include unsubscribe information and features in their templates.
When you grow your list, you grow your business
Try a few of these tips right now as the holiday season kicks off and your foot traffic increases. As you start to send regular emails about what’s happening at your venue, you’re making your business top of mind for your subscribers, and they’ll remember you as they start planning their events in the new year.
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