10 Tips for Building an Email List for Your Business
July 11, 2022
Email marketing can be a powerful tool for small businesses. The right email marketing strategy can help you stay top of mind with customers, nurture leads, drive sales and so much more.
However, not all email marketing campaigns are made equal. And, a big part of what determines a campaign’s success is the quality of the email list.
In general, you have two options when it comes to your email list. The first is to buy subscribers and the second is to build your list the old-fashioned way.
Why buying email subscribers is a bad idea
Buying email subscribers can be a tempting shortcut. After all, it’s much faster than building an email list one genuine subscriber at a time, but it’s a bad idea for many reasons.
Here are just a few of those reasons:
- You won’t know anything about your subscribers – When you buy email subscribers, you have no idea who they are or what they’re interested in. This makes it impossible to send targeted content that they’ll actually want to read.
- Your subscribers probably won’t be interested – Even if you manage to find a reputable source for buying email subscribers, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be interested in your products or services.
- Purchased lists are often outdated – Unless you’re buying from a very reputable source, it’s likely that the list of email subscribers you purchase will be outdated. This means many of the addresses on the list will no longer be active.
- You could get into legal trouble – If you’re caught buying email subscribers, you could end up in hot water with the law. The CAN-SPAM Act makes it illegal to buy or rent email lists, and there are stiff penalties for violators.
There are so many reasons to build your email list the right way instead of buying subscribers, and in the blog, we’ll go over a few tips to help you get it right.
10 tips for building an email list for your business
#1. Create a sign-up form
You need an easy way to capture email addresses from your leads and customers. One of the best ways to do that is to create a sign-up form on your website where visitors can enter their email addresses.
There are a few different ways to do this, but one of the easiest is to use a tool, like the Marketing 360® Forms app.
Here are a few tips for designing a more effective email sign-up form:
- Keep your form simple – The simpler your form, the more likely people will be to fill it out. So, ask for only the essential information, like name and email address.
- Make it visually appealing – The design of your sign-up form can also affect conversion rates. Use images and colors that are consistent with your brand, and make sure the form is easy to find on your website.
- Include a strong call-to-action – Your call-to-action, or CTA, is what you want people to do when they see your sign-up form. So, make sure your CTA is clear and concise. For example, it could be something like “Sign up now to get your free e-book!”
Remember, the quicker and easier it is for people to fill out your sign-up form, the more likely they are to actually do it.
#2. Use gated (or partially gated) content
Gated content is content that’s behind a paywall or some other type of barrier. In order to access it, people have to give you their contact information, like their email address.
Partially gated content is similar, but instead of being completely locked away, only certain parts are gated. For example, you might let people read the first chapter of your e-book for free, but they have to give you their email address to read the rest.
Gated content is an effective way to build your email list because people are only going to give you their contact information if they’re interested in what you have to offer.
Here are a few examples of types of gated content you could use to build your list:
- E-books
- Tutorials
- Reports
- Templates
- Coupons
- Free trials
Regardless of what type of gated (or partially gated) content you create, make sure it’s valuable enough for someone to trade their email address for it.
#3. Build a lead capture landing page
A lead capture, or squeeze, page is a stand-alone page on your website that’s designed for one purpose only — to collect email addresses.
The best lead capture pages are:
- Designed for conversion – A lead capture page should be designed to get people to sign up for your email list. So, it should be simple and easy to use, with a strong call to action (CTA) that’s impossible to miss.
- Focused on a single offer – The more focused your offer is, the better. That’s because people are more likely to sign up for something that’s specific and relevant to their needs. For example, if you’re a B2B company that sells software, your lead capture page might offer a free trial of your product in exchange for an email address.
- Free of distractions – You want people to sign up for your email list, not get distracted by other things on your website. So, make sure your lead capture page is free of links to other pages and any other type of distraction.
Once you’ve created your lead capture page, promote it on your website and social media channels to drive traffic to it. You could also run ads to it or include it as a link in your email signature.
#4. Optimize your website to get subscriptions
If you want people to sign up for your email list, you need to make it easy for them to do so. That’s why it’s important to optimize your website for email subscriptions.
Here are a few things you can do:
- Add an email sign-up form to your homepage – If someone lands on your homepage, there should be no doubt about what you want them to do. So, make sure your email sign-up form is front and center.
- Include an email sign-up form in your blog sidebar – If someone’s reading one of your blog posts, they’re already interested in what you have to say. So, give them the opportunity to sign up for your email list right then and there.
- Add an email sign-up form to your blog posts – You can also include an email sign-up form at the end of each of your blog posts. Just make sure it’s not too intrusive.
- Use pop-ups to get people to sign up – Pop-ups can be effective, as long as they’re not too annoying. You could have a pop-up appear when someone lands on your website or when they’re about to leave it. Just make sure the offer is relevant and valuable enough for them to sign up for it.
#5. Use social media to grow your email list
Social media is a wonderful way to promote your lead capture landing page and gated content offers and get people to sign up for your email list.
When you’re promoting your offers on social media, make sure to:
- Include a link to your offer – Make it easy for people to find your offer by including a link to it in your social media posts.
- Use a strong CTA – Tell people exactly what you want them to do, whether it’s “Sign up for my free e-book” or “Get my free report.”
- Use images and videos – Adding an image or video to your social media posts can help make them more engaging and increase the chances that people will click through to your offer.
- Run ads – You can also use social media ads to promote your offers. Facebook, in particular, has a number of different ad formats that you could use, including lead generation ads.
In addition to promoting your offers, you can also use social media to build relationships with potential and current subscribers.
#6. Run a giveaway
People love free stuff. So, running a giveaway is a fantastic way to grow your email list.
To run a giveaway, all you need to do is offer a prize and require people to sign up for your email list to enter. Just make sure the prize is something that’s relevant to your target audience.
For example, if you sell health and fitness products, you could give away a free workout video or healthy cookbook.
You can promote your giveaway on your website and social media channels and use it as an opportunity to build relationships with potential and current subscribers.
In addition to growing your email list, running a giveaway is also a great way to increase traffic to your website and social media channels and generate buzz for your business.
#7. Host a webinar
Webinars are an excellent way to generate leads and grow your email list. And, they are also an ideal way to build trust, educate your leads and customers, and become a thought leader in your field.
The best part is that they don’t have to be complicated or time-consuming to produce.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind while hosting a webinar:
- Pick a relevant topic – Choose a topic that’s relevant to your target audience and that will also appeal to their needs and interests.
- Keep it focused – Don’t try to cover too much ground in your webinar. Keep it focused on one specific topic so that you can go into depth and provide value.
- Promote it ahead of time – Make sure to promote your webinar ahead of time so that people have time to sign up. You can promote it on your website and social media channels, as well as through email marketing.
- Include a CTA – Include a CTA at the end of your webinar so that people know what to do next. For example, you could offer a free e-book or report as a follow-up to your webinar.
Webinars are a brilliant way to generate leads and grow your email list. By following these tips, you can ensure that your webinar is successful and that you’re able to get the most out of it.
#8. Create a loyalty program
Loyalty programs are an incredible way to encourage customer loyalty and grow your email list.
With a loyalty program, you can offer rewards to your best customers and give them an incentive to stay loyal to your brand.
In addition, you can use your loyalty program as a way to collect email addresses from your customers by requiring people to sign up for your email list to join your loyalty program.
Loyalty programs are a great way to encourage customer loyalty and grow your email list. By offering rewards to your best customers, you can keep them coming back for more while also collecting email addresses from new leads.
#9. Run a referral program
Referral programs are an effective way to grow your email list while also generating new leads and customers.
With a referral program, you can offer incentives to your current email subscribers and customers in exchange for sharing an offer with their friends and family.
For example, you could offer a discount or free shipping to your email subscribers who forward an offer to a friend.
You could promote your referral program on your website and social media channels, and use it as an opportunity to build relationships with potential and current subscribers.
In addition to growing your email list, referral programs are also a great way to increase traffic to your website and generate buzz for your business.
#10. Build your email list offline, too
From social media to website forms, there are lots of ways to build your email list online. While these online options are all worthwhile, they shouldn’t be the only thing you do to build your email list.
There are plenty of ways to build your email list offline, too. Here are just a few of them:
- Ask for email addresses at check-out – When you check out a customer or settle their bill, it’s the perfect time to ask for an email address.
- Keep an email sign-up form at your register – If you have a physical store, make sure to keep an email sign-up form at your register. This way, people can easily sign up for your email list while they’re already in your store.
- Include a business card insert – When you send out invoices or bills, include a business card insert that asks people to sign up for your email list.
- Attend trade shows and events – Attend trade shows and events in your industry and collect email addresses from the people you meet. You can also sponsor an event and include an email sign-up form on your booth.
There are lots of superb ways to build your email list online, but don’t forget about offline options, too. By using a mix of both online and offline strategies, you can reach the widest possible audience and grow your email list more quickly.
These are just some of the ways you can grow your email list. By using a mix of these strategies, you can reach more people, generate more leads, and build a stronger relationship with your subscribers.
Harness the power of email marketing for your business with Marketing 360®. Our email marketing software makes it easy to nurture leads, stay top of mind with customers and grow your business.
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