When was the last time you bought something for yourself? Maybe it was the blender you’d always wanted or that course you had your eye on to uplevel your business. Now, imagine if that item had been free. With opt-in email, people choose to invest in something they want or believe will be of value to them. But instead of paying anything, all they have to do is click: sign up.
As a course creator, email sign-ups are your ticket to nurturing lasting relationships with your audience.
In 2022, over 89% of marketers reported using email marketing as their primary way of generating leads. There’s no better time than now to hop on opt-in marketing trends. So, in this article, we’ll cover everything there is to know about opt-in email marketing and how it benefits online knowledge entrepreneurs.
Opt-in email marketing is sending emails to members of your audience who gave you explicit permission to send them via an opt-in form. For example, people can sign up for your newsletter or email course, also known as opting-in to being on your email list.
As a course creator, your email list is a direct line of communication between you and your subscribers. By using opt-in email, you can build your audience and tap into your closest and most avid reader base.
Unlike social media, where engagement rates rarely pass 0.6% and can be restricted by the platform you’re using, you have total control of your email list. From the content cadence to the subject line and virtual greeting, your opt-in audience is plugged in from the moment they check their phone in the morning.
Opt-in email marketing gives you:
Opt-in email provides a valuable channel for course creators to engage with their audience. If you’re in the pre-selling stage, you can use an opt-in form on a landing page to attract new leads and future buyers.
If you’re using INDIE, we offer functionality for integration with MailChimp, which will allow you to set this up flawlessly.
Whether you’re brainstorming the perfect online course name, or you’ve got courses ready to launch, considering opt-in email marketing is wise. Email can bring $36 for every dollar spent in ROI, unlike any other platform. Here are three things to know about opt-in email marketing and how it benefits your online course business goals:
Using opt-in for email marketing protects your business from customer complaints that can lead to your emails being marked as spam. With enough spam complaints, your open and delivery rates could begin to suffer. It’s also a breach of trust and the CAN-SPAM Act (and other similar laws around the world) to send emails without consent. Opt-in email lets you know that your subscribers want your content in their inbox. For this reason, it's considered a form of inbound marketing because no cold outreach is involved.
Email open rates currently sit at a 25% average across all industries. That means you have a one out of four chance of reaching your audience on any given day. To optimize this, you can follow these best practices for your opt-in email marketing campaign. Here are the best practices for getting your opt-in campaign up and running and retaining subscribers.
Read more: 4 Easy ways to build an email list to promote your online course
Here’s where course creators commonly go wrong with opt-in email marketing. You can avoid these mistakes with ease and craft the opt-in message that will turn leads into learners.
Read more: Thinking of buying an email list to promote your online course? Think again
So, you’ve got the rundown on opt-in email marketing. To summarize, opt-in email marketing is a way to build trust with your subscribers through content that they give you explicit permission to market to them. Email marketing can be used for lead nurturing, getting feedback from your audience, and general communication between learners and instructors. With opt-in, you reduce the risk of sending out content that people reject.
INDIE LMS, helps you can create your course within the platform and use the integration to import and export learner contacts from MailChimp. How will you use opt-in email in your online course business?