Should you build an email list for your Hawaii web design?
Email list vs. no email list
Building an email list is essential to any business.
In my opinion, it's how you get new clients to trust you, old clients to buy what you're selling again, it's easier to upsell, cross-sell, and share new products and promotions. Basically, you make more money when you have an email list.
Let's say you didn't have an email list.
Your website traffic is coming solely from:
Google searches
Paid ads
Social media posts
You marketing your business in person
While this may be enough for some companies, for the bulk of Hawaii business owners, this is nowhere near enough to make a living. Plus, we all know how difficult it is to manage all of the above all by yourself AND still keep your business running without a hitch.
Now let's say you actively collect emails and send out non-salesy emails out to your audience every so often.
The result is you'll have a group of people who trust you, believe you're an expert at your craft, and think of you when they or a friend need your services.
These are people who willingly gave you their email because they were interested in you. They TRUSTED you enough to give out their private email so follow through with high-value emails that they'll find valuable.
They're interested in your business and your offer so take advantage of it. You have a direct line of communication so use it to build and increase that trust.
When it comes time for them to invest and give you money, their wallet will be that much closer to you because of that trust you built.
How would Hawaii businesses benefit from an email list?
I'm sure you know by now, Hawaii is all about connections. It's how we do business.
Take the babysitter example: If you mention to a friend that you need a babysitter, they'll suggest their babysitter and most likely you'll end up giving them a call and hiring them for your next Saturday night date.
It's the same for local Hawaii businesses.
If you mention to a friend that you're considering to hire a personal trainer to help you lose weight, chances are you'll visit their website and lean toward choosing them because your friend has vouched for them.
Sales circulate around trust and friendly, high-value emails allow that transaction to happen smoothly.
Does building an email list take time?
Not all the time, but for certain companies, yes. It depends on your industry and how well written your copywriting is and the design of your sales funnel. But more important is to ask yourself:
Is my email list highly engaged? Are my open rates/click rates high? Are my emails interesting to my audience?
Don't focus on the number of people in your email list. Focus on high engagement. High engagement means you're building trust, have high open/click rates, and can expect more sales down the road. If you have a lot of people in your email list and no engagement, then it doesn't matter how many emails you have.