Every business is focused on building their lead lists, their customer base, their email marketing lists and their social media followers. And chances are that you’re sending out email campaigns. So you might ask, if I’ve already got the email address of the person I’m sending to, why should I include an opt-in form or link in my emails?

Your Emails Get Forwarded – Whether your recipients are using a “forward to a friend” feature so that you can track how many forwards you get, or whether they just hit forward in their email reader (most likely) you have new people now getting your messages. If they like what you have to say, and you make it easy for them, they might just click a link in your emails to join your list.

Your Emails Get Socialized – Hopefully you’ve got a link in your emails that take readers to a web-page that contains your email. We call this a “hosted version” of your email marketing campaign. This is great if your recipients can’t see all of your content in your emails. Now if you’re a social marketer like I am, you publish the link to your hosted version in your Twitter Facebook and LinkedIn feeds so you can spread your email even further to those that may not be on your list. If you’ve got a link to sign up for “email-only” offers, these new readers just might sign up.

It’s not hard to do, and doesn’t take much to get a few new sign ups. And who knows? They may just become some of your best customers!

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