Email marketing is the most critical component of almost all extremely successful online businesses. I'm not talking about spam, or unsolicited bulk email - that is obviously a complete no-no for any ethical marketer with an ounce of integrity. I'm talking about emails that are sent to a list of people who have opted in to receive your information.

This could be a list you've built by offering incentives. It might be a list of your previous customers. It could be a list of people who have signed up because they like you and theyc want to hear what you have to say. But the point is, they have signed up to receive information from you for some reason or another.

Building a list is absolutely crucial, because it increases the lifetime value of the customer. Studies have shown that most people don't buy a product the first time they see an ad for it. It may take several times of being exposed to a particular product for a person to finally make the decision to buy it.

If you don't build a list of prospects, then you could be losing out on hundreds, or even thousands of sales each year. By building a list, you can expose your subscribers to your offers several times, and you can also expose them to other offers. This increases your chances of making multiple sales from a single customer.

Almost all types of businesses trading online can benefit from using email marketing just by building a list of their existing customers. This list is incredibly valuable, because these people are proven buyers. They've proven that they're willing to buy online, and that they are also willing to buy from you. By collecting their email addresses, you can mail them information about new merchandise, sales, and special offers.

Information marketers will greatly benefit from building a list. You can build a list of previous buyers or people who have simply opted in to receive a free report or other incentive. Not only will you be able to market your own products to these lists, but you'll be able to use your list as an incentive to get people to JV with you, and also as a powerful method of promoting affiliate products.

Even if you only run AdSense-style information websites, you can benefit from the power of email marketing. Let's say that you run a web site about trout fishing. You provide articles and information about it, and you have AdSense and some few affiliate ads on your web site. If you fail to build a list of your visitors, you'll most likely only have a single chance to sell to them, which is the first time they visit your web site. Most people don't return to small niche sites, unless you have unusually sticky content such as a forum or a blog that's updated regularly.

If you grab their email addresses when they are first on your site, you'll have the ability to market to them over and over for a long time. Just make sure you provide solid content when sending out your mailings so as to minimize opt-outs and to keep people reading the messages you send out. People who visit content sites are usually more finicky about the newsletters and mailings they receive, and will want to receive good content on a regular basis, not just sales letters.

No matter what type of online business you're running, you'll benefit greatly by adding email marketing to your repertoire. You'll increase the lifetime value of your customers, and provide yourself with an ongoing way to monetize them.

Copyright (c) 2008 Paul Smithson