A lot of online marketing campaigns are focused on building brand image and getting click-throughs. While this as proved effective for thousands of marketers, many people don’t attempt to get a targeted e-mail address from their marketing efforts. A visitor who comes from a traditional advertisement may browse around for a while, but once they leave chances are they aren’t coming back.

However, if they give you their e-mail address in the process, you have a way to respark their interest.

So, how do you go about getting an e-mail address? People are skeptical and aren’t just going to give out their contact information, especially if they feel they are being sold on a product or service. So, for them to give you an e-mail address, you have to give them something in return. The easiest way to do this is through giving away a valuable informational product related to your industry.

Create an e-book or write an article and offer it as a free incentive for people who sign up to your e-mail list. Once they have signed up, e-mail them the product. The e-book industry has a slightly sleazy reputation due to long winded sales pages and “get rich quick” promises, but if you can show your expertise and prove that you are not selling anything but rather purely sharing information, conversion rates increase. This also helps if you or your company is already well established.

People always love free information and a free sample and giving away this sample via e-mail is the easiest way to increase engagement with the user. However, ensure that users have to confirm their e-mail address so that they don’t simply just give you a random junk address.