Ever wonder what the single-most effective method is to grow your ROI online? It’s not SEO. Social media? Nope. It’s not even YouTube videos.

The tactic we’re talking about requires good SEO because it sends traffic to your website in the first place. Yet, ultimately, you want to use this tactic because it gives you the best ROI bar none (per the Direct Marketing Association).

How do you get such an astonishingly good ROI from this tactic? Because people you engage with it love you: which is precisely the reason they do so. They really want what you have and so they give you their information rather than your competitors.

So… what is this tactic, anyway? We won’t make you suffer in suspense any longer. It’s e-mail marketing.

How Can E-mail Marketing Work for You?

Building an e-mail list is simple but also not easy. It takes lots of time and hard work. You must also first drive traffic to your website via SEO and take advantage of how you currently interact with customers.

You can use this basic process to kickstart your e-mail list growth:

1. Add Sign-Up Forms to Your Website

These sign-up forms should indicate what your customers will get by subscribing to your newsletter. For example, “Free Money-Saving AC Maintenance Tips.” They’ll love this—who doesn’t like to save money?

At the small business level, not all companies use “lead magnets”: meaning free content subscribers receive right away in exchange for subscribing. This strategy helps win you additional sign-ups but does increase your costs. Nevertheless, you don’t need an elaborate or expensive lead magnet. Just a simple 2-to-3-minute smartphone video capturing a basic AC check, for example, can do the trick.

The sign-up form itself should be featured in multiple places on your website: the upper right-hand corner is best, however, because this is where eyeballs go first. On your blog, add it to the sidebar and at the end of all posts.

2. Consistency is Key

Think of e-mail marketing like dating. You don’t call your significant other just once and then again every few months or so. Instead, you call regularly: maybe a few times per week or every day.

With your list, ultra-high levels of frequency aren’t necessary (although you can certainly do this if you want to!). But you should send out a newsletter at least once per month. Then, when you decide to offer a special, people who enjoy this existing relationship are more likely to buy. Contact them out of the blue two or three times a year, and they’ll think, “Who is this? Did I sign up for this?” Your sales will suffer as a result.

Wrapping Up

If you’re serious about succeeding online, you should build an e-mail list to secure your long-term success both now and in the future.