According to recently conducted research, consumers subscribe to email marketing campaigns for the following reasons more than anything else:

1. They want to save money.

2. They want something free in exchange.

3. They want to stay up to date on the latest sales offers.

Successful marketers not only realize this, but understand how to use it to their advantage. In this article, we will explain how understanding what motivates subscribers to sign up for your email campaigns can benefit your marketing efforts.

Delivering Cost Savings

A report published by email marketing firm ExactTarget, shows that 67% of consumers subscribe to email campaigns to receive discounts and promotions. This is a clear indicator that a large number of people hand over their contact information because they believe doing so will help them save money. For these prospects, the cost of your products or services will play a huge factor in determining whether they decide to do business with you. While it is not advisable to make your prices so low that it affects your ability to profit, it would be wise to target prospects seeking cost savings with customized offers that allow them to save money.

Engaging Subscribers Who Want Something for Free

ExactTargets latest report reveals that 55% of consumers subscribe to email marketing campaigns because they want something free in return. These types of prospects are usually pretty easy to understand. In a nutshell, they signed up because the incentive you put on the table was just too good to pass up. At the very least, they found it valuable enough to provide their email address and permission to contact them. Some prospects who fall in this category will take the freebie and run, but others can be converted into paying customers. Personalized communications, relevant offers, and taking the time to understand their needs can make the conversion process significantly easier.

Catering to Prospects Who are Ready to Buy

The ExactTarget report also reveals some interesting information about online shoppers. According to the data, 50% of consumers subscribe to email campaigns to stay informed of upcoming sales. These are people who frequently use the internet to make purchases and come in with a strong interest in your offerings. While these prospects are generally ready to buy, the manner in which you approach them is still crucial to closing sales. Frequency problems, unreasonably high prices, and irrelevant content are just some of the factors that could cause them to lose interest, and cause you to lose out.

Conclusion

Understanding what motivates prospects to subscribe to your email marketing campaigns is not necessarily an easy feat, but it is not impossible either. Collecting the right preference data at sign up, gathering feedback, and taking the time to continuously understand the needs of your audience will provide you with much clearer insight into their motivation. Considering all the benefits that are up for grabs, we would say it is skill you definitely need to adopt.

Gary San is a best practices activist and advocate for getting social with Benchmark Email marketers.