How to Build an Email List: 9 Effective Techniques

An email list is a collection of names and email addresses of people who opted to receive marketing materials for your business. Email lists are one of the best tools for business owners to obtain a database of qualified potential leads. The larger your email list, the more chances you have to convert a lead to a paying customer.

You can use an email list for numerous purposes. One of the most common uses is to offer promotional discounts like product sales or free shipping. You can also send informational newsletters containing appropriate content that your subscribers will enjoy.

Email lists can provide a way to collect survey feedback from your target audience to help you more knowledgeably set your prices, roll out products, and update features. Plus, with the help of an email marketing platform, you can easily collect and monitor data about your subscribers (such as demographics, interests, and buying habits) to more efficiently manage your email marketing strategy.

A robust email list can be built using these tools and techniques:

1. 1. Select an email marketing platform. Email marketing platforms, unlike personal email service providers, support content marketing. Email marketing platforms have useful tools to help manage email lists in the thousands, and some include pre-loaded email templates, segmentation features, and even automation features, like automatic welcome emails that are sent to new subscribers. Pick a reputable email marketing platform that best aligns with your business size, budget, and digital marketing strategy.
2. 2. Feature a sign-up form on your website. One important email list-building strategy—especially for e-commerce stores—is to include an opt-in form for the list on your site. This gives website visitors a simple way to sign up for more information about your company.
3. 3. Determine optimal sign-up form placement. When placing your opt-in form on your homepage and other landing pages, try conducting an A/B test. In the world of marketing and sales, an A/B test compares different versions of a sales campaign by randomly showing them to different customers, allowing marketers to see which version performs better. For instance, you might run an A test with your opt-in form placed at the bottom of a blog post and a B test with your opt-in form on a floating sidebar that stays in place as your visitors scroll. Perform a case study and evaluate your click-through and conversion rates on both options to determine which placement is more effective.
4. 4. Draw in subscribers with a value-centric and personalized call to action (CTA). Instead of using a simple "Sign Up" or "Subscribe to Newsletter" button in your opt-in form, use a CTA that offers exclusive content and deals. For example, an effective CTA for an email list might read, "Join our email list to access exclusive offers." This gives a clear incentive to sign up and lets potential email subscribers know there is additional valuable content. For email sign-up forms located outside your home page, personalize your CTA to the specific content on that page.
5. 5. Use pop-up forms strategically. Interactive pop-ups are an active form of lead generation for digital marketers, and they guarantee that website visitors will see the opt-in form. Set pop-ups to trigger at strategic points in your customer's website visit, like after the visitor scrolls past a specific piece of relevant content. You can also set an “exit-intent” pop-up that appears when the visitor displays behavior indicating they're about to leave the page.
6. 6. Provide a lead magnet as an incentive. A lead magnet is a valuable piece of content—like a free ebook, how-to guide, webinar, or podcast episode—that you can offer to potential customers in exchange for signing up for your email list. Make sure your lead magnet relates to your business and appeals directly to your target audience by solving a common problem they’re likely to be facing. As an alternative to free content, you can offer a discount coupon.
7. 7. Create a giveaway contest. A giveaway contest works in a similar fashion to a lead magnet, incentivizing potential new customers to opt-in to your list for the chance to win free products or services. Promote your giveaway contest on your company's social media channels with the only entry requirement being that people must sign up for your email list. Make sure the freebie is specific to your target customers’ needs.
8. 8. Advertise your email list across multiple platforms. Give potential customers access to your email newsletter beyond your website. Post information about your email newsletter on your company's social media accounts and include a link to an opt-in page in the email signature for all your company's employees.
9. 9. Optimize multiple landing pages using search engine optimization (SEO). By using SEO techniques on all your landing pages, you'll draw in a larger audience to each specific page. Search engine optimization will make each landing page directly answer your target audience's search query, so they'll be more invested in your content and more likely to sign up for your email list.

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