It is certainly an accomplishment when a person joins your list. However, the real challenge is getting those people to act based on the information you are sending them. Think of the process as fishing. When a fish (person) takes a nibble of your bait (your content), it is an exciting accomplishment, but the real work is reeling the fish in slowly and making sure to give them some slack along the way. Reeling in too quickly (creating too much urgency too fast) will encourage the fish (the person) to leave despite their initial interest or investment (the subscription). Remember that slow and steady wins the race in this scenario.
Loyalty vs. abandonment – What makes them stay or go?
Maintaining your subscribers is a matter of giving them valuable information that they need. That is rather difficult because you have to ask “what does this person need?”
The best way to answer this question is to create a type of “feedback loop” where each subscriber can tell you subjects that interest them as well as products they might want to buy.
A survey can be used to gather this information. Simply ask them their primary questions concerning niches or topics that are on your list. You can do this for free with online surveys.
The other option is to write a blog post that encourages readers to give you feedback regarding what they need. Make sure you tell them to comment. After they comment, write back to them. By doing this, you will send a signal to future commenters that you are actively engaged in your work.
A third option is to just send them an email containing a question and ask them to reply accordingly. This question can represent the entirety of the email or be somewhere in the email.
Once you are aware of their primary needs or concerns, you can act accordingly by just sending them relevant content, which furthers their interest and keeps them actively engaged.
It is crucial that your list works with you. This means creating a list that will give you the information you need. Think of this process as a never-ending cycle where you figure out the evolving interests of your readers, respond to them, and they provide you with some form of feedback.
This process is not all about selling. It boils down to providing them with some type of content (free or paid) that they enjoy. Doing this creates a long-term relationship between you and each subscriber, which leads to them staying on the list and buying products in the future.
