Email marketing is the #1 way to build profitable relationships with your customers.

By making email marketing your top marketing priority, you’ll be able to cash in on relationships that are infinitely more intimate than those cultivated on social media.

After all, receiving a personal email in your inbox is a lot more meaningful than glancing at a post on Facebook that’s been shared with lots of other people.

Here are six steps that will help you build a relationship with your email list that you will be able to turn into sales for year after year…

1. Be consistent

Think of your closest relationships with friends and family.

Chances are those relationships include social interactions on and offline, phone calls, and getting together for dinner or coffee on a regular basis.

Your email relationships are no different. Be sure you’re sending emails to your list on a regular basis, which could be anywhere from twice a month to twice a week depending on your brand and style.

Whatever you do, don’t email your list only when you have something to sell!

2. Fine tune your subject lines

It’s impossible to build profitable relationships with your list if no one is opening your emails.

Try these subject line ideas to increase your open rates:

• Include numbers (“5 quick ways to improve your health”)
• Indicate when there is a [VIDEO] or [FREE REPORT] inside by using brackets and capital letters
• Ask a question (“Are you making these 3 common mistakes on social media?”)
• Use “this” and “that’ to create curiosity (“Why I can’t live without this new iPhone app?”)

Be sure to test your subject lines to see which style and technique gets the highest open rates with your particular audience.

3. Share relevant content

Position yourself as an expert and trusted resource by sharing relevant content with your list via email.

You might share things like…

• YouTube videos
• Product deals and discounts
• Funny pins or eye-catching Instagram photos
• Informative blog posts (written by you and by others in your field)

When your emails are packed with great content, readers are much more likely to keep opening, keep clicking, and keep buying.

4. Sell less stuff

If every email you send your list is a sales email, people will soon grow weary of opening them.

No one wants to be sold to all the time. A good rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule – 80% of your emails should be packed with great content and helpful resources (see #3 above). 20% should include paid offers for your products and services.

In this way, you treat the customer like you would a friend, cultivating a relationship based on mutual interests.

When you do happen to have a new product or service you’d like to sell, your customer will be far more likely to make a purchase because they’ve already been ushered through your sales funnel with all the great content you’ve been providing. In other words you’ve built your brand and increased your credibility in their eyes.

5. Include a call to action

The two most common mistakes regarding calls to action are:

a) Not including one

b) Including way too many!

With each email you send, ask yourself “What do I want the reader to do?”

The answer might be…

• Click on a link
• Share your content on social media
• Make a purchase
• Visit your store or restaurant

Choose one specific call to action and explicitly ask your customer to follow through on that action.

For example, “To see more details on this product, click here now.”

6. Give discounts and freebies

Thank your subscribers regularly with coupons, discounts, freebies, and special offers that non-subscribers don’t get. This n0t only brings you more business, but also rewards people for being on your list, and encourages them to tell others too.

By using these 6 proven methods for building a profitable email list, you’ll be grooming long-lasting relationships and customer loyalty while increasing revenue with each email you send.

Adapted from http://www.business2community.com/email-marketing/7-ways-build-profitable-relationships-email-list-0973682