Email marketing is a great way to reach customers, find new prospects, and make sales. If your small business has yet to integrate email into your business strategy, you’re missing out on potential prospects and sales. According to research by theDirect Marketing Association, email marketing yields a 4,300% return on investment for businesses in the US. Email marketing can be beneficial to a variety of businesses. Whether you are running an e-commerce website, an on-site store, a blog, or a service website, business email marketing is a great way to connect with your audience and convert prospects into buying customers. Here are 4 simple steps to improving your small business email marketing strategy.

1.   Make it easy to subscribe to your emails

Place an email subscription sign-up box on your homepage, blog, Facebook, and wherever else your customers and followers are active. You can add a link to an email sign-up landing page on your company’s social media profiles as well. Expose your sign-up anywhere you can and make it easy to see and fill out.

2.   Let subscribers know what to expect

You always want to be clear and upfront about what and when you will be emailing the subscribers. Whether you plan on sending company updates, daily deals, weekly Friday sales alerts, it is important to tell your subscribers what to expect. By knowing what is coming their way, they are less likely to mark your email as unwanted spam or delete it at first glance. Give them as much information as possible on your sign-up form or welcome email. This way they can decide whether they want to be emailed or not.

3.   Send them a welcome email

Welcome new readers! Give them a warm “hello”! It’s a good idea to remind your readers why they are part of your email list and to reassure them that good things are in store for them. You can even throw in a special welcome gift, like a coupon or exclusive discount for new members. This is a nice way to show new subscribers your appreciation.

4.   Make it easy to unsubscribe

Yes, it sucks losing subscribers, but it’s better to have them unsubscribe than to have them put you on their spam list. Make it easy for people to opt-out if they decide to do so. Don’t try to hide the unsubscribe button thinking that it will trick subscribers into staying on your list. Learn to accept the inevitability of losing subscribers. It happens to the best of us, but you will soon gain even more subscribers following this business email marketing blog post!