Growing your email list can be challenging but if done correctly can grow your audience and your business. Email is now the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences, behind only colleague recommendations and industry-specific thought leaders.
Whether you’re an agency, e-commerce shop, business owner or blogger, building an email list can only help you get closer to your business goals.
Let’s take a look at some proven ideas across different industries to grow your email list in 2019.
List size: 0-100
1. Use email marketing software (of course!)
If you’re a beginner think about using an email marketing software like Vision6 (you can start free today). An email marketing software allows you to import contacts, build emails and send mass emails to your lists. There are heaps of other benefits like getting professionally designed mobile-friendly email templates, drag and drop editors, spam compliance and GDPR compliance, email performance reports, automated emails and much more. You get the idea!
2. Use Opt-in forms
Your email marketing software will provide opt-in forms which can be used on your website header, footer, homepage, around blogs and more. Forms can be used for almost any purpose to collect data or leads, subscribers, surveys, RSVP confirmation or simply to update a customers profile or preferences.
See how you can add an opt-in form to your website.
3. Invite customers to join
If you’re feeling lost then try this!
Get your family, friends, customers – new and old, networking groups and acquaintances to sign up for your emails. This can create some momentum to your email marketing efforts and get you started on creating some content to share, optimise emails and share your ideas with the world.
4. Collect emails in-person
If you’re meeting customers in person, at networking events or business meetings you can take advantage of your physical location and collect their email address in person.
You need to get into the list building mentality to grow your list. Collect emails at the point of sale (POS) or during a call while you’re top of mind for customers.
But, make sure it’s clear you’ll be adding them to your email list, you still need to get your subscribers permission to use their email address.
List size: 100-1000
5. Use gated content
Offer something of value to your website visitor in exchange for their email address. Marketers like to call it ‘lead magnets’. It can be an educational resource or a critical piece of information like a pricing list, schedule, guide, e-book, tutorials, white papers, checklist or infographic.
Having gated content will invite a lot of keen prospects and might chase away unwanted traffic helping you focus your efforts on buyers who are actively considering your service. Vision6 allows you to automate your communication like the welcome emails and the follow-up emails to further engage the potential customers as they continue their buyer’s journey.
6. Use promo codes and giveaways
Everyone loves a good deal or a freebie! Use promo codes and giveaways to get new subscribers to your newsletter. Lower the purchase barrier for potential customers by offering promo codes to first-time buyers in exchange for their email address.
If you cant offer a discount to every new subscriber then host a contest and giveaway prizes while collecting many more email addresses. You can send a series of automated emails explaining your business and its benefits after they enter the contest.
7. Start segmenting your email lists
Keep an eye on your email reports and how the data trends. Pay close attention to performance metrics such as open rates and click-through-rates. And pay even closer attention to negative metrics such as unsubscribes and complaints. If you’re experiencing a considerable amount of negative behaviours, then it’s definitely time to start segmenting your email lists.
One of the most common reasons a recipient unsubscribes is irrelevant or annoying emails. And a surefire way to increase relevancy is to segment your audience based on commons characteristics, tailor make messages for that segment, and send your message to that audience ONLY. As a consumer, there’s nothing more annoying than being told about a great deal that you aren’t able to redeem.
For example, if you had a fantastic clearance event happening at your Melbourne location, but you send the promotional email to your entire list, you’re going to annoy pretty much everyone who doesn’t live nearby and can’t get in on the action. Too many of these FOMO moments, and they’re bound to start ignoring you, or worse yet, unsubscribe.
When it comes to segmentation, you’re really only limited by the type of information you have collected, and how tidy you keep your database. Protip: Previous purchase information is a great opportunity for segmenting and following up with hyper-relevant upsells.
See the advanced search and segment in Vision6 here and here.
List size: 1000-10000+
8. Embrace the power of video
Video marketing is hot and is here to stay. Take your list building game to the next level by helping potential customers find information about your brand via video content. Talk about your products and services, shoot demonstrations and tutorials, host educational webinars, run Q&As and build that trust and credibility in the market.
Convert your videos into gated content and ensurethe videos offer a lot of value to the prospects. You can also use a platform called Wistia which helps you collect emails at the beginning, middle or the end of your video. Import these leads automatically via Vision6 integrations and create automated follow-up emails with Vision6.
9. Upgrade your content
Don’t just have a blog for the sake of it. Drive visitors towards an ultimate goal: collect emails or sign-up so you can continue marketing to them.
If you have a great lead magnet offer (gated content), you need more stories around it so the prospects can discover and download it. This means creating more content!
More blog posts around the lead magnet mean more entry points on your website, social media and search results for that lead magnet to be discovered.
10. Advertise gated content
A sure way to get more traffic to your website and content pieces is to pay for it. It’s easy for prospects to get distracted and never return and use remarketing to help them find your website again.
Get a better ROI on your advertisements by collecting emails via lead magnets (if required, go back to idea #5 again). Link your ads to the landing pages instead of home pages and focus on personalising the experience for that segmented prospect.
11. Start guest blogging
Share your experience and expertise with the audience on other known websites who publish content in your industry. This also creates valuable backlinks to your website, builds your profile as an expert in your industry and creates credibility for your brand. It’s a great way to reach out to a new audience and readers.
Find blogs and websites that talk about your industry, ask for guest posting for a specific topic and find out how it would benefit their audience. Make sure you divert traffic to specific landing pages and segment this list to personalise future messages.
For even more ideas on how to grow your list check out this article from FunnelOverload.
Final thoughts
Whether you’re an agency, e-commerce shop, business owner or blogger, building an email list can only help you get closer to your business goals. Use these proven ideas to grow your list depending on your list size. Don’t forget to test all the ideas and promote the ones which drive results.
Ready to engage your community? Create your free Vision6 account now.
