How to Grow Your Business with Permission-Based Marketing

By Julia Gulevich

The term ‘permission marketing’ speaks for itself. It is an approach to marketing and selling goods and services when a prospect has explicitly given consent to receive information.
Opt-in emails, which users subscribe to in advance to receive information about particular goods, is an example of permission-based marketing.
Other examples include social networks where “follows” or “likes” give targeted consent, YouTube subscriptions, signups at events to win prizes, and subscriptions to access content on websites where a reader gives permission to be contacted via email or phone.
We’re going to focus more on permission-based email marketing. Email remains popular for most businesses due to its affordability, ease, cost effectiveness, and coverage.
If you care about your deliverability and customer experience, permission-based marketing is the way to succeed.
There are two common types of permission:
Implicit PermissionIt is the weakest form of consent. Implicit permission refers to an assumption that you have permission to send messages to a contact because you had a prior relationship with them.

Jarom Adair of Solopreneur Marketing developed a case study, which revealed some interesting things.
Finding 1:
“During the same time it took for my double opt-in list to gain 1,000 subscribers, my single opt-in list grew to 1,249 subscribers.”
Finding 2:
“Over the course of 5 emails via autoresponder, the overall percentage of people who opened and clicked through on email links were:
Double opt-in open rate: 57.6%
Double opt-in click-through rate: 15.6%
Single opt-in open rate: 63.8%
Single opt-in click-through rate: 17.0%”
Finding 3:
“Sending out an identical sales email to each list resulted in:
Double opt-in sales: 12
Single opt-in sales: 14″
I was surprised, honestly. However, Jarom doesn’t write anything about the complaint rate and bounce rate both lists generated. These metrics are critical. We don’t know how the two lists will convert during their lifetime.
The case study shows everything should be tested, tested, and tested again. Even if your theory is good, you should test the opt-in process with your audience, offer, and content specifically. Test email deliverability, analyze open rates, click rates, sales and proceed.
There is a handy spam testing tool called GlockApps. Run your subject lines and email’s content through the app to ensure your emails get to the inbox of your subscribers. You do not want to force your subscribers to search for your emails in their spam folders.
Permission-Based Marketing Best PracticesNo matter how you add subscribers to your mailing list, you should comply with the laws and respect your email recipients.
To develop a solid permission-based email marketing program, consider these 10 best marketing practices:

1. Don’t send without permission
2. Guarantee privacy
3. Send a welcome message
4. Send a notification
5. Let them choose
6. Add an unsubscribe link
7. Verify your single opt-in list
8. Re-engage or delete inactives
9. Encourage a reply
10. Be careful about a Facebook Group

The Bottom LinePermission-based marketing is all about respecting your email recipients and following the legal regulations.
For a marketer, the main benefits are:
Quality: It collects prospects who have interest into what you have to provide, minimizes complaints and protects your reputation.
Higher conversion rate: As it targets interested people, they are more likely to buy.
Personalization: It allows gathering the information about the prospects to help segment the list and send more targeted campaigns.
Long-term relationships: Permission-based marketing instills more trust and confidence and builds a long-term relationship between a prospect and a marketer.
Good reputation: Reputable marketers know that marketing starts with permission.
If you want a higher quality list, more engaged subscribers, better deliverability, higher open rates, and conversions in the long term, only start marketing after obtaining a permission from your prospects.
Source:​http://www.business2community.com/brandviews/mainstreethost/grow-business-permission-based-marketing-01776679#l3gU0Lz7eJZ7Bhzl.97