How to build your email list

We look at some ways you can go about building your email list

As businesses are migrating online, the importance of a faithful online customer base is increasing exponentially.

And the best way to increase your audience base is by building an email list.

Statistics suggest that when it comes to digital marketing, the return on investment (ROI) is highest in the case of email marketing. There are plenty of ways to obtain email addresses, including opt-in forms of your blogs, newsletters, incentives, social networking sites, and so forth.

There are several ways to build a large list. Here are some of them of the best email list building techniques:

1. Opt-in forms

It is one of the simplest ways to build an email list. When a prospective customer visits your website, your page will provide them with an option to sign up via email, and follow your updates. You can either make them sign up for the newsletter to offer them something like a free sample, discount coupon, ebook, etc., in exchange for their email address.

If your offer interests your prospects, they are unlikely to ignore your opt-in form.

2. Use of pop-ups

Using pop-ups is a dynamic way to build your email list. It requires a lot of trial-and-error to know at what point in time your pop-up should be visible to the customer, and it takes time to get it right. The best idea is to go with exit pop-ups. They appear immediately in front of your customer as they are about to leave your website, which helps you prolong their exit and them think again about your offer. Pop-ups can be very effective. They can pleasantly surprise your customers, making them sign up using their email address — a simple yet effective method.

3. Offer Incentives

Incentives are a great way to make customers sign up, using their email address. Customers always want value addition, and if you can offer something that customers value, they will be tempted to sign-up right away.

Incentives can be in the form of a discount coupon, a shopping coupon, free delivery, or even weekly updates. The interested customers are more likely to sign up if you tell them exactly what to expect. For instance, you should mention it how often do you plan to send them the newsletter or what you will do with their email address.

4. Add Lead magnets

Customers always want value. To make customers share their email address and look forward to your emails, you must offer the equivalent value.

After a careful study of the majority of your customer base, you could introduce a lead magnet to attract email addresses. For example, if the majority of traffic on your site consists of work-at-home moms, you could offer a free ebook of a famous recipe-book upon signing up.

If your target audience is science professors, then you could offer a free download of scientific journals. However, for this strategy to work, you must study and determine who your target audience is and what value can you offer them.

5. Host a Giveaway

Hosting giveaways is somewhat like lead magnets, but here you offer gifts or sample. Moreover, here also, you need to identify your target audience to discern their preference to drive maximum traffic and acquire qualified email addresses. For instance, if your target audience consists of bike lovers, then you could give away a customised helmet or a biking jacket.

6. Use referrals

When it comes to leveraging referrals, you get your loyal customers to generate more customers for you, from their own pool of acquaintances.

For every referral, there is an incentive to be earned or an offer to be received. For example, you could offer one free shipping to a loyal customer for every customer that he or she refers to you. This causes value addition to loyal customers and makes everyone happy.

Wrap-Up

You can use any or all of these methods to generate a comprehensive email list. Always work on consistently building your email list, so that you get more targeted leads and have a better chance of converting them into sales.

Remember, you have to first identify your target audience before even leveraging any of these tips. It helps you offer better service and incentives and acquire a more qualified email list.

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