The power of email as a communication tool in the digital age is undeniable, and its value in marketing cannot be stressed enough. But the real power of email marketing is in the control of an owned asset – your email list. This is where email list building comes in. It’s collecting and curating a list of email subscribers who are interested in your product or service. It is the key of profitable email marketing campaign and remains a linchpin for digital marketing.
This post will look at secrets to creating a strong and active email list. We will look at a range of techniques, with practical examples and real cases, to give you a complete guide on how you can leverage email list building for growth of your business. So whether you’re a marketing veteran attempting to reinvigorate your strategy or a fledgling rookie looking to make an impact, this post will arm you with everything you need to take your email marketing to the next level.
The Importance of Email List Building
In an era where an online presence is key for business success, email advertising is undoubtedly one of the most effective ways to not just reach, but also grab and hold the attention of your audience. At the heart of that is the skill and science of email list building which has comprehensive advantages and directly impacts your marketing success.
You provide a direct and personal connection to your current and prospective customers with list building techniques that work. While most digital engagements are fleeting, emails go straight into your audience’s inbox – an incredibly intimate, high-conversion connection point.
According to a report by the Direct Marketing Association, the average ROI for email marketing is about 4200%. That is, for every dollar spent, businesses could expect to see a return of $42. That high upside itself is testament to the importance of nurturing your email list.
Take, for example, the one I referenced in a recent EmailOpShop article, MarketingSherpa and an online outdoor gear and apparel seller Backcountry. com leveraged an autoresponding email marketing series to deepen its relationship with subscribers. They segmented their customer base, customized their email content, and in the end, saw a 208% increase in their revenue from the campaign, which demonstrates how effective well-implemented email marketing strategies can be. As we can see, successful email marketing all begins with a great email list-building campaign.
The best list building tactics that can take your business to a level of growth that is extremely exciting, and we’ll get into the most powerful ones in the next sections.
Critical Considerations in List Building
As you grow your list, there are a few key things to keep in mind to make your efforts more successful and in line with general policies.
The point of “it’s better to produce a small number of peers of high quality” should be the principle anchored of fact in this process. While it may be tantalizing to pursue large numbers, a list with hundreds of unresponsive names isn’t worth much. Instead of that, try luring audience that are naturally interested in what you have to offer and you’re going to feel a bigger and positive effect on your marketing results. At the end of the day, the more engaged your list, the more impact your marketing efforts will have.
Second, in a world where data privacy is crucial, it’s important to abide by laws like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Make sure you get a subscription and that there is an easy way for your subscribers to unsubscribe. This legal adherence not only protects and strengthens your reputation, but it also leads to a healthier, more engaged list.
These are things that are crucial in the exploitation of digital marketing and even its ethical and beneficial association with your subscribers. By having a premium, opted-in subscriber base, you can begin to market to them. Now we will talk about the methods that you can use so you can start building a list just like this one.
Best Strategies for Subscriber List Building
Creating and maintaining a responsive e-mail list requires a multi-faceted approach. Here, we are going to explore some of the most valuable tactics that can help you gain a responsive audience.
1. Content Upgrades
Content upgrades are additional pieces of valuable content offered to your audience in exchange for their contact details. These upgrades could range from downloadable PDFs and exclusive articles to insightful white papers or eBooks. For instance, Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko, shared in a blog post that when he started using content upgrades, his site-wide conversion rate went from 0.54% to 4.82% – a significant increase of almost 785%.
2. Webinars
One other great way of attracting subscribers is by hosting webinars on something your audience is interested in. Webinars deliver deep learning on an aspect that is valued by learners. WordStream, which provides online advertising management software and services, relied on webinars as a primary tool for list building. “The great thing about free webinars is that we often have thousands of people who sign up, at which point many will join our email list,” says the company’s founder Larry Kim. If you want to read more, you can find detailed information in their blog posts and resources where they share their own webinars.
3. Social Media Promotions
Leveraging the power of social media platforms can help you a great deal in building your list. Sharing useful content, contesting or incentivizing joining your newsletter subscription on these platforms might turn your followers into a fan. One such company is the fashion retailer ASOS, it leveraged their killer social media game to drive signups to their newsletter and special offers to grow their email list. ASOS does lots of things to keep users engaged, such as sharing content that is relevant to their followers, conducting competitions and giveaways that persuade followers to sign up to receive their emails.
4. Partnerships and Collaborations
Cross-promotion with compatible businesses may work for both the parties involved. Then, you promote your partner’s newsletter to your list, and they do the same with theirs, and you both grow your lists. For instance, the makers of a fitness app, MyFitnessPal, worked with other health and wellness companies for mutually beneficial cross-promotions. They provided users workouts, recipes and articles from these publishers in exchange for users’ email addresses. As a result, MyFitnessPal saw a large jump in EngageMe user numbers and email list.
5. Use Email Finder Tool
Consider employing tools like an email finder to make acquiring contact information more accessible and efficient. For example, SignalHire is a tool that can make your email list building easier and faster. This tool simplifies gathering email addresses that are perfect for reaching a specific group of people.
All businesses can use an email finder to find and collect email addresses of prospects or potential customers. A strong email list makes it easier for companies to send tailored, relevant emails to prospects who may then be more likely to respond or make a purchase.
The email finder can also assist businesses with finding new people to connect with, increase the size of their audience, and make their email marketing more effective. In the next section we are going to explore how you can keep and grow your list.
Nurturing and Maintaining Your Subscriber List
Your work is cut out for you after you’ve begun to compile a list of subscribers. The worth of your list doesn’t just come down to its numbers, it comes down to how engaged and active your subscribers are, and that is where regular time and effort spent communicating and pruning becomes really important.
Firstly, keeping your subscribers engaged is essential by offering them valuable and relevant content. A great example of this strategy in action is Medium, everyone’s favorite online publishing platform. Medium does daily and weekly digest emails so well for reading what its audience prefers that its users keep coming back for more.
Furthermore, regular maintenance of your list is crucial to ensure its health. Remove inactive subscribers, correct invalid email addresses, and run re-engagement campaigns for inactive users. Great example here, again, now I’m going to talk about HubSpot, and how they do the same thing as well, a leader in marketing, sales and customer service. HubSpot consistently purges his email database to keep engagement and deliverability high.
Another good approach, is to persuade your subscribers to forward your emails. The daily newsletter theSkimm uses this tactic. Part of how they grew their large subscriber base was through their Skimm’bassador program, in which subscribers are encouraged to share the newsletter with their network. This not only helps you reach more people, but you might end up getting more high-quality subscribers into your email list.
In all, building your list ain’t nothing if you don’t nurture and maintain it. Using these tactics, you can extend the lifetime value of your subscribers and get better results from your marketing campaigns.
Email List Building Tools
As you continue to grow your list, ease your lead generation and management burden with these tools. Here, then, are some of the popular tools in a nutshell:
- Mailchimp: Not only is Mailchimp a complete platform from which you can oversee all of your email campaigns, but it has a form builder and has email responses for when new subscribers sign-up.
- Constant Contact: Not only is Constant Contact one of the best email marketing services out there, but it also makes for a great contact management system that can include list segmenting and automation.
- OptinMonster: It allows you to create beautiful opt-in forms to grow your email list on your site. It also has features like exit-intent technology that can capture a potential subscriber before they leave your site.
- SignalHire: This impressive lead generation app allows you to get professional email addresses from individuals or companies you are interested in.
- Sumo: Best known as the list builder, Sumo has email subscription tools and automation to turn visitors into subscribers.
All of these tools have their own pros and cons and can be a useful tool depending on your needs. Check out these tools and decide which one fits your individual needs. While you start using those tools and apply the tactics we discuss, you’ll be armed with the right knowledge to help build, foster and grow a healthy list of subscribers.
Conclusion
Email list building is an essential part of digital marketing. It is also the case that this asset was simply too valuable to let slip by and the potential returns it can offer made the gamble worth playing. Once you learn how to build your list strategically, focusing on quality subscribers as opposed to just having as many as possible, and you adhere to regulations, you will be able to build a list that works with your business.
Useful tools are great to help you build your lists efficiently, but nothing is more important than continously building and curating your lists to keep your subscribers engaged and your campaigns effective.
Should you have just started breaking into the list building game or want to expand your existing list, the tactics and examples in this article are a great resource. The email marketing world is an abundance of opportunity – access it and see the growth of your business.
