In a world where social media and paid ads influence your marketing efforts with everchanging algorithms and are dependent on external forces, an email list is the only best and organic way to connect with your audience. An email list means you have a potential lead database to harness for conversion and a ready crowd to promote your upcoming content and the latest product updates.
However, creating your own email lists with people’s permission is difficult. So, if you don’t have an email list yet, this article is perfect for you. It'll help teach you email list-building strategies.
What is an email list?
An email list is a collection of email addresses that organizations or individuals have gathered from prospects and potential customers with their permission. These prospects would like to receive announcements, updates, bargains, and other information about your organization in their email inbox.
Why should you have an email list?
There are several reasons why having a contact list will always benefit your organization. Here they are:
- Emails can help you with your narrative, build brand awareness, and showcase your products or services.
- With an email list, you can send emails to your subscribers to nurture your leads and convert them into paying clients.
- Unlike social media accounts, an email address is not removable. It cannot shut down or get deleted anytime, in which case you lose all your potential prospects. It is also not influenced by the algorithms.
- You can ensure that each of your subscribers receives the emails, unlike other forms of digital marketing, where the platform decides who to show your content to.
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How to build an email list in 3 steps
Here, we have broken it down into actionable steps to start building an email list right now:
Step 1: Create incentives or content that people would want
As the very first step, you need to provide something enticing that people would not want to miss. Such content or incentives, known as lead magnets, can be accessed by people once they sign up with their email IDs.
We have listed down some ideas for lead magnets to get you started:
1. Free content or lead magnet
Offer content that people in your niche will be interested in. It should be something that provides them value. The type of content depends on your industry and target audience’s needs and interests. For example, you can create an ebook and market it to your potential customers to get their email addresses.
The free content works like a lead magnet that entices people to join your email list to receive free and valuable content. Here are some of the most popular lead magnets you can create and send out.
| Lead magnet | What is it? | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Email Newsletters | News report with information about the activities of an organization. | Email marketing best practices, latest updates, etc. from Mailmodo |
| Guides | What or How-to articles that help people figure out a process or pain point. | Guide to improve hashtag strategy |
| Whitepapers | An in-depth report on a topic’s problem while providing a solution. | Google Cloud's AI Adoption Framework by Google |
| E-books | Digital book publication with text and images to read on electronic devices. | Email Design for Newbies |
| Courses | Short education programs | Email Marketing Free Course |
| Checklists | List of things to do to achieve something | The Ultimate Email Campaign QA Checklist |
| Reports | Document with organized and detailed information about a topic for specific audiences. | Lead generation and management report |
| Toolkits | Set of guidelines or suggestions to do something | Marketing tools for every business and budget |
| Webinars | Live or recorded online seminar | The AI marketing show |
| Cheatsheets | Like a checklist, but it also contains hacks to help people. | Hacks to write a viral blog post |
2. Early access or insider benefits with exclusive content
You can offer people early access to quality content available to the general public only weeks later. Exclusive content makes people feel special and like they are a part of something special.
For example, Inktober gives people who sign up for their newsletter access to their challenge details one week before the general release. As a result, their audience wants to sign up because they get early access to the challenge.
3. Special offers and exclusive discounts
Discount codes or coupons are great incentives that usually get people to sign up. If you are an e-commerce or B2C brand, these incentives will attract customers to your product or content.
4. Offer incentives and free trials
Many product and service companies offer their audiences complimentary trials for a limited time or features. The free account or product requires people to sign up with an email ID to access a small part of the product or service.
For example, Mailmodo offers a 21-day free trial to try out the product.
Step 2: Create an email signup form linked with the incentive
Now that you have something to offer, you need a sign-up form to collect the email addresses of people. A sign-up or popup forms collect email addresses from people who want the incentive you are offering.
Step 3: Distribute the form and market your incentives
To build a great email list, ensure you are marketing the freebies to new potential customers. Now that you have set up the process and the backend systems, it's time to drive traffic toward your signup forms. You can tell your audience about the incentive to create exposure for your brand and increase your email list subscribers.
You can use social media channels to tell people what valuable incentive you offer them for free. Direct them to your signup bar when you advertise on social media. You can use the following media and create social media accounts to inform the audience about your email list:
Facebook - Facebook ads, posts, stories, shares in relevant groups, etc.
YouTube - Promotional videos, video descriptions, etc.
Instagram - Instagram stories, bio, posts, Reels, etc.
Advertisements - You can create ads about your free product or service on Google or social media. The ads will direct people to your landing page, where they'll sign up to receive the freebie.
Ways to market your incentives
Creating an email list requires work, but in the long run, an organic email list can become a reliable asset that consistently delivers results for your business. Now that you've created content or incentives people will love, try these strategies to reach as many people as possible.
1. Leverage your existing network
As a beginner, spreading the word far and wide is essential and efficient. Start by telling everyone you know about your newsletter – friends, coworkers, acquaintances. If you are hesitating to talk about your email, why would anyone else do it? It might seem daunting, but every big newsletter you know got its initial subscribers by sending personal emails to their first-degree connections and promoting it in conversations.
My first 100 subscribers were all friends. I'd send them a note saying, 'Hey, I sent an email that I think you'll dig.' I'd add them to the list, and pretty quickly, after getting a couple of my emails, I'd get a 'LOVE THIS!' response. To this day, the one-by-one approach has been the most successful!
- A Substack Writer
You can also share your newsletter's link in your email signature, personal website, and social media bios. A good practice is to share excerpts and insights from your newsletter along with the link to give your network a teaser of what they can expect.
2. Reach new audiences through partnerships
Building an email list from scratch is challenging. Still, a proven idea is to start by partnering with established businesses and brands in your niche. This could be through collaborations that require email registrations, such as co-hosting webinars, co-creating ebooks, and strategic sponsorships of events where you'll find your target market.
Partnerships are always a two-way thing. The proposition needs to be mutually beneficial to both parties. Incentives for successful partnerships could either be direct to each other's audience, exclusive discounts to each other's audience, or even a revenue share on any sales generated through the collaboration. By tapping into the trust and existing network of established players, you can significantly boost your email list signups and reach a wider audience.
If you're starting small, a simple hack is to tap into a big creator's audience by mentioning them in your newsletter and letting them know. They would like it and might share your newsletter with their audience on their social accounts or in their newsletter. This works because both parties are better off with this collaboration by supporting each other.
3. Reward referrals with incentives
Referral programs create a win-win-win situation. This works because existing customers get rewarded for sharing their positive experiences, their friends benefit from valuable offers, and your business gains trust through the power of word-of-mouth.
By offering attractive incentives like discounts, free trials, or early access, you encourage customers to become your advocates. This not only gets your emails noticed but also builds trust with potential customers who value recommendations from friends. You can include compelling messages in your marketing emails, prompting customers to join your referral program.
Most importantly, make it easy for them to refer you by providing a unique referral link or trackable code. Keep your customers informed of how many successful referrals they have made and at what stage they are in the referral program.With every recommendation from a trusted friend, you exponentially expand your reach to new customers more likely to engage with your brand.
4. Optimize your website for easy signups
You must ensure that subscribing to your email list is easy for the readers. A great idea can be strategically placing the subscribe button where the customer is bound to pay attention. This increases their chances of reading your offering and sharing their email addresses.
- Sticky signup buttons - Consider using a "sticky" subscribe bar that remains visible as users scroll down your webpage, keeping the option to subscribe ever-present. Place them on your homepage, blog posts, and landing pages.
- Pop-ups - Consider pop-ups that appear after a certain amount of time spent on your site or upon exit intent. Readers on your website already would want to hear more from you and, hence, subscribe for updates.
- In-built subscribe buttons - One way to get subscribers is to embed the signup button at the end of your every blog and other landing pages.
5. Host webinars or events
To attract email addresses of potential customers, consider hosting webinars related to your specific industry. Ask the attendees to share their contact details and email addresses while registering for the webinar.
This process allows you to collect email addresses of individuals genuinely interested in your offerings, as they've shown an active interest by signing up for your webinar or event. Later, you can nurture relationships with attendees and turn them into customers by sending emails about upcoming webinars on similar topics.
Email list building best practices
To boost your email marketing efforts, here are some best practices to keep in mind:
1. Get consent to collect information
Sign-up sheets are helpful because they get permission from people to collect their email addresses. Consent is necessary because you have to value their privacy. And also, according to laws like GDPR, CAN-SPAM, HIPAA, etc., people must permit companies to manage their data.
2. Validation of emails through opt-ins
Send people an email to verify and opt into your email list. Use a combination of single and double opt-ins to ensure that people want to be part of your list. This will help ensure the user is actually accepting to be a part of your contact list.
3. Gamify the signup process
Users can sign up easily by making the signup process engaging and fun. You can use gamification in your sign-up forms to get users to sign up. For instance, if you want the users to sign up for your emails, you can use an interactive spin-the-wheel with exciting offers that pop up on your website. The user has to give their email ID to spin the wheel.
Source: Optimonk
4. Beware of email list builders and providers
Let us tell you a secret: There are no email list builders. You can only grow an email list; no tool can make one for you. You can grow your email list with your target audience with consistent effort and valuable content.
Let's talk about email list providers now. These providers will sell you an email list; however, it is harmful to do so. It can hurt your domain reputation and cause legal violations. Moreover, a bought email list will target an inaccurate audience, so you are technically not gaining anything. It will only annoy the recipients, further leading you into their spam boxes.
5. Keep your promise and deliver the incentives
Once they have joined your mailing list and verified, ensure you fulfill your end of the deal in time. Send them the reward or incentive you promised and for which they signed up. If you promise and do not deliver, you will lose credibility and a potential customer.
6. Choose an ESP with list management features
Your email list requires continuous management and segmentation. You need a powerful email service provider (ESP) to help you create, automate, send, and manage the contact list. Moreover, you can also analyze the data to understand user behavior and preferences. Choosing an ESP is crucial; it is a platform where you can manage everything in one place without worrying about missing anything.
Learn how to choose an email service provider in this guide.
7. Create an effective CTA
Your CTAs are crucial in email list building as they direct the user to take the desired action. That's why the CTA copy, placement, and design matter so much when designing your CTA.
For instance, in this email, Airbnb places a clear CTA in the first fold to make it more visible while giving a brief context to what they can expect.
Source: Really Good Emails
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What's next now that you have an email list?
Okay, so you've got an email list; what are your next steps? How can you keep these subscribers with you for a long time? Here are a few things you can do after you've built an email list:
1. Manage your email list health
Once you have a list, keeping it clean and healthy is crucial. You must remove incorrect email addresses and segment them based on their interests. Check out our article on how to maintain a clean email list.
2. Segment your email list
When you segment your contact list, you ensure that each subscriber receives relevant content. This helps maintain email engagement and connection with the brand.
3. Keep your subscribers engaged
Consistency is the key. Maintain a consistent schedule for sending targeted emails to your existing subscribers to stay relevant in their minds. To maintain engagement, you can use interactive AMP emails to get more conversions and responses from your subscribers.
Final takeaway
Building an email list is a gradual process. It doesn't happen overnight and nor do you have a genie to build it in a whiff. It takes constant work. And a part of that work is providing valuable and relevant content to attract people. While creating content, keep in mind the etiquette we discussed in this article. Those are important as people should know what data you are collecting.
Once you have an email list, you must maintain it and send emails. So, signing up to an email marketing platform/ provider like Mailmodo makes the whole email marketing process much more manageable.
Mailmodo provides tools to manage email lists, create campaigns, and track and analyze email metrics. It helps you create and manage your email marketing campaigns all in one place. You can also send AMP emails for a better user experience.
