How to grow your audience

Part 2 of “6 steps to start email marketing for your Shopify store”

Session number two, and you haven’t given up on your email marketing program! ✋🏾 

Without people to receive your marketing emails — aka subscribers — you have no email marketing program. Subscribers are people who signed up for your list because they are genuinely interested in hearing from you. 

They want to stay up to date with what you are doing — new collections and products, exclusive sales, major changes, your blog posts, etc. And they expect you’ll communicate these things to them. These are the folks who become loyal customers. Some even become brand promoters. We want them! 
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Avoid the lead list trap of purchased lists. Emailing these addresses could bring down your whole email program, and we do not want that!

Seguno's deep integration with Shopify means you do not have to waste time figuring out how to connect your subscribers' list to Seguno. It happens automatically.

All you need to do to build your audience is drive people to your site and give shoppers multiple opportunities to become subscribers.
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Tip: Learn more about list health and incentivizing sign-ups with discounts in our free course, How to Grow your Email Marketing List

In this post, I’m highlighting a few options you can set up right now. 
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Task: build mechanisms for capturing emails

Remember what we talked about in the last post: you want to ensure all colors and imagery align with your brand. So be sure to customize any of the following email capture options you choose. (Tip: If you need help selecting the correct colors and Chrome is your browser of choice, try something like this color picker extension.)

Popup
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Email signup popups are an effective way to call attention to your newsletter. They grab a moment of focus from your shopper, prompting them to sign up right then and there. Install Seguno’s popup app and launch your first one! 

‍Estimated time of creation and launch: 20-30 minutes  ‍

Learn the popup basics and get inspired with our beginner’s guide to popups. And for step-by-step instructions for creating them in Seguno, see how we build them.

Banner

‍A banner provides a persistent option for shop visitors to sign up at any point. And the static, always visible banner won’t interrupt their browsing experience and focus. Seguno’s Dynamic Banner Suite is free to Seguno Email Marketing users! Install it from your connections tab in the Seguno dashboard. 

Estimated time of creation and launch: 3-5 minutes

Newsletter form or App-block (if you are using a Shopify 2.0 Theme)

Newsletter forms are another way to offer a consistent, non-invasive option for subscribing in case you don’t catch them with the other tools. The directions for adding your form to your footer are pretty straightforward. If you use a custom theme, you may need to contact your theme builders for help. 

Estimated time of creation and launch: less than a minute

Marketing consent at checkout

‍This is probably the easiest method for you and the would-be subscriber. Upon checkout, add the option to enroll in your email marketing program. Your shopper already entered their email address and engaged with your brand in a significant way, so ask them to take an extra, simple step of clicking a box. Edit your checkout settings by going to Shopify Admin>Settings>Checkout> Marketing Consent. 

Estimated time of creation and launch: less than a minute‍

Bonus: Seguno-built newsletter form

Use this link at in-person events or link to it in social media. You can find it by going to Seguno>Settings>Pages>Subscribe. Learn how to customize and add the newsletter form to your site.
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Need ideas for what to put in these email capture tools? Start by considering short- and long-term wins. 

You might ask, “Do I need all of these?” Short answer, yes. 

Every single option is another opportunity to start a relationship with someone who could convert to a loyal, lifetime purchaser. And keep in mind that one type of email ask doesn’t work for everyone. You need a variety to entice, meeting the shopper with the right ask at the right point.

Next up, how to make an awesome first impression with our welcome automation. Get out that brand positioning worksheet from session 1!