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Email Acquisition via Sweepstakes: Attract the Right Subscribers Fast

By Megan Ouellet, Director of Marketing
December 17, 2010

According to the Email Experience Council, email marketers can expect to lose one-third of their subscribers annually due to bounces, unsubscribes, or spam complaints¹.  If you don’t follow email acquisition, relevancy, and deliverability best practices, your attrition rate can be even higher.  That’s why it’s so important to combat issues that contribute to subscriber churn while actively growing your lists with the right subscribers.

Your main acquisition goal should be attaining and engaging the right subscribers – people who are interested in your brand and will buy and brag about your products.  Your goal should NOT be to acquire as many email addresses as possible.  After all, the success of your campaigns depends on the quality and interest of your subscribers.

Even with quality lists, segmenting your audience and sending targeted emails will outperform the general promotional email every time – with higher open and click rates, increased conversion rates, and higher average order values.  However, with churn rates of 30% plus, you can’t completely disregard the number of subscribers on your list.  While the emphasis shouldn’t solely be on a specific percentage of growth, as that takes the focus off of the type of subscriber, you must find a strategy that allows you to quickly acquire the brand appropriate subscribers.  And, once acquired, it’s your responsibility to engage and interact with them in relevant conversations.

One way to achieve this is through an email acquisition sweepstakes, contest, or other viral campaign.  But, be careful.  If this strategy isn’t executed correctly it can be risky.  Here are some tips that will help you implement a successful sweepstakes acquisition strategy while avoiding the associated dangers.