INTRODUCTION:
Each week, we select a company and review their visible email marketing tactics. We never know what’s going on behind the scenes, but there are always lessons learned by looking in the window.
We don’t know this company but we were intrigued by their business.
This week we review www.wheregolfisfirst.com
We don’t know this company but we started looking at their website, like an interested web visitor might, and noticed there was one strategy that email marketing could help with.
Let’s dive right in and look at the home page.
1: What do you want from your visitors?
Take a look at the home page. We love the design. It’s big, bold, and makes me want to go golfing NOW. It’s a well designed site. One thing you’ll notice (only because we were looking) is where do you find a SUBSCRIBE button or link?
We found one where we like to see it. On the nav bar options. We like the simplicity of this site. It’s basically a one page site. Each nav bar link takes you to a point on the home page. Slick.
So we click on the SUBSCRIBE button and here’s where we land.
This is a pretty good offer, which leads me to believe they see value in their list. It’s one of the few sites we review that tells you WHY you should subscribe. It also tells you what to expect (exclusive special deals) and when (weekly). It’s not often you see an offer as clear as this.
What would I do differently?
Well, let’s go back and assume that they do want to build a big list of interested golfers that would be keen to golf in their part of Florida given a chance.
You can’t see from the screen capture of the home page but they are using a slider with three variants in it. If you click on one of the links on the slider you’re taken off the site and directly to a booking or information site so you can get right to it book your trip.
What if you made a decision to make building your email a bigger priority? Realizing that most people will pass through this site, never to return (like almost all sites on the web), one BOLD tactic would be to change the copy on the home page with the slider to read.
SIGN UP HERE TO GET ACCESS TO THE BEST RATES AND PACKAGES on FLORIDA’S FIRST COAST.
When your visitor clicks on that link, you ask for an email address BEFORE you pass them off to the specials page. What does that do?
Right now every one who clicks leaves the site and becomes someone else’s customer. I’m guessing this is probably done as an affiliate play to earn some revenue.
Suddenly, you might have a conversion rate of 75% of people who click to get the specials leave you their email address. Once you have this process in place you have a POWERFUL list building capability.
And what can you do with a big list? Aside from the normal things, we’ll give you one killer strategy in the third point coming up.
2: Get on the retargeting bandwagon
If you’re not familiar with retargeting, or remarketing, it goes like this. Someone visits your site. Using Google Adwords, or Facebook Paid Ads, or specialized retargeting software your visitor has a cookie placed on their computer tagging them as a visitor of your site.
Let’s use Facebook as an example. Next time they’re on Facebook the cookie triggers a Facebook Paid Ad that attempts to bring them back to the site with an offer.
If they don’t return on this ad, they will see the ad again, and again, until they react. In essence, you are using frequency in your favor.
Works the same way on Google as well. As your previous visitor is surfing the web, they will see ads for Florida’s First Coast of Golf again and again. Good for your brand, and gets your more repeat traffic.
With the repeat traffic, you have another opportunity to convert them or get them on your list!
Cool, huh?
3: Now that you have a BIG list, you have some negotiating power
Let’s say you have 50,000 golf lovers on your list whom you are keeping interested in Florida Golf with your riveting newsletters.
What if you approach another company who sells a complementary service or product and ask to do a Joint Venture mailing?
It’s very simple.
You send a mailing to your list on their behalf… and they return the favor.
Because you site is set up as a lead capture machine you’ll not only get a boost from the revenue but you’ll also give you list growth a shot in the arm.
If you did this once a month, you’d have a new source of traffic and leads to continue to build your list with. The bigger your list, the better your JV trade.
I’d suggest you always do a 1-to-1 trade. If you have 50K names do a trade with someone who has 50K or more names.
Joint Ventures are an often overlooked strategy to get the most from your email lists.
CONCLUSION:
We loved the layout and design of the site. We think the business model is interesting and we wonder what would the impact of having a powerful list building strategy be? Especially combined with the new retargeting strategies that are available to all.
You can read more about list building strategies using Facebook here.