If you want to succeed in business, you need to start by building an email list of your ideal customers. Email is usually the most convenient and profitable way to communicate with customers, so it’s a great place to start.
You have probably often heard marketers say that “The Money is in the list.”
Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing channels, with a return on investment of nearly $38 for every $1 spent. This is significantly higher than any other marketing channel, which is why 81% of small businesses use email as their primary means of acquiring new customers.
If you want to maintain a good relationship with your customers and continue to grow as a business, you need to have a good email list that you can use to communicate with them regularly.
This article explains the benefits of having an email list, and provides a step-by-step process for building an email list. It also outlines the most common mistakes people make when building an email list.
What are the benefits of building an email list?
An email list is essential for any business that wants to be successful. It allows you to connect with potential customers and build relationships.
Building an email list has many benefits that can help scale a business. Some of these benefits include:
- Increased reach: An email list gives you a direct way to reach your target audience. You can bypass social media algorithms and other third-party platforms by sending your message directly to people’s inboxes.
- Greater engagement: Email is a more personal form of communication than other channels like social media. As a result, people are more likely to pay attention to and engage with your message.
- More leads and sales: An email list can help you generate leads and sales. You can use it to promote your products and services, or to drive traffic to your website.
- Improved ROI: With an email list, you can track your results and measure your ROI. This data can help you optimize your campaigns and get more bang for your buck.
1. Primary source of business communication
Emailing is simpler and more professional than other ways of messaging and is used by most people. These reasons make 70% of businesses use email as their main source of communication. Creating an email list is a great way to start communicating with potential customers for your business.
2. Connect to anyone via email
A lot of people use email and it is a good way to communicate for business.
3. Increase returning visitors
It’s important for businesses to have a steady stream of website traffic. Relying solely on organic traffic from Google searches is not enough.
If you have an email list, you can bring back a lot of traffic to your website and maintain your customer base. It’s especially helpful if the people on your list are your ideal customers.
4. Emails build relationships
The best way to have a one on one conversation with the users is through emails. You can nurture prospects by helping them solve critical business issues and build trust in your product. In this way, you will establish a healthy relationship with your prospect.
An email list can help you sustainably grow your business in multiple ways. By taking a baby step of relationship building, you can bring colossal growth to your organization.
5. Easy to segment and target your audience
It’s important for businesses to segment and target the right audience. Emails are highly effective for reaching out to large groups.
It’s easy to build your email list according to your segments.
An email list is a key asset for any business. In this article, we’ll show you how to build one from scratch.
How to build an email list fast in 2022 and beyond?
This article will provide a guide to building an email list from scratch, which will help to improve your business growth.
1. Use Multiple Signup Forms
Some beginners start with a simple newsletter signup form in their sidebar.
The more signup forms you have, the more opportunities your users have to join your email list.
We recommend making your signup form more noticeable by combining it with a sticky floating bar or a lightbox popup. These campaign types are highly effective.
OptionMonster’s Display Rules let you specify when and how options should be displayed, so your users don’t see everything at once.
You can create display rules to determine when certain elements will be shown. For example, you can set a rule to only show the floating footer bar optin once the user has scrolled past the sidebar option. Or, you can set a rule to show a lightbox popup only when the user is about to leave your WordPress website.
2. Use an Exit-Intent Popup
Exit-Intent technology is designed to track a user’s mouse behavior and show them a targeted email signup form when they are about to leave a website.
Think of it as ‘Onsite Retargeting’.
This technology can be used to convert visitors who are about to leave your website into new email subscribers by using full-screen welcome gates, lightbox popups, or other optin types.
An exit-intent popup is a type of popup that appears when a user is about to leave a website. WPBeginner, used an exit-intent popup to help increase their subscribers by 600%.
Stelzner from Social Media Examiner used a pop-up on his website to increase his email subscribers by 250,000.
3. Offer Content Upgrades
A content upgrade is a marketing technique in which you offer users exclusive bonus content if they sign up for your email list.
For example:
- If you run a podcast, then you can offer show notes + transcription as a content upgrade.
- If you have a long form blog post, then you can offer a PDF downloadable version as a content upgrade
- You can turn your blog posts into a checklist or cheat sheet and offer it as a content upgrade
“In 1928, Ovsiankina found that, compared to a task that has not yet been started, individuals have a stronger urge to complete interrupted or unfinished assignments.”(source: https://nesslabs.com/unfinished-tasks)
When a user clicks on a content upgrade, they are more likely to complete the task, such as subscribing to a list.
4. Add Fully or Partially Gated Content in WordPress
Gated content, is content that can only be accessed by inputting an email address or performing some other specified action. Gated content can be created by hiding all or part of a website or blog post using a plugin, and is a way to get visitors to provide their contact information.
This used to negatively impact your SEO rankings, but modern JavaScript technology means it doesn’t anymore.
5. Run Giveaways and Contests
You can quickly get a lot of new followers and subscribers by running a viral giveaway or contest. It doesn’t need to be expensive to be successful.
People can join your contest by giving you their email address, sharing it on social media, or following you on social media. This causes a domino effect and allows you to connect with lots of new people.
One such WordPress giveaway plugin on the market is RafflePress. It comes with a drag and drop giveaway builder with tons of social actions to make your campaign a success.
6. Create Multiple Lead Magnet Pages
A lead magnet is an offer you make to potential buyers in exchange for their contact information. The lead magnet can be anything from a free report to a free trial of a product.
Locked content, content upgrades, and premium content on your blog can all be used to generate leads.
The value you offer with your lead magnet must be something your target audience desires. This could be in the form of a checklist, case study, or high quality infographic. Other possible forms of offering value could be a free ebook, webinar, resource newsletter, or workbook.
7. Use Discounts and Deals
If you offer a discount or exclusive coupon to a potential customer, they may be more likely to make a decision. You could use this opportunity to encourage them to join your email list.
On the Marketing » Coupons page in WooCommerce, you can create a coupon.
OptinMonster will generate a success view after users enter their email address. This view can include a discount code that the user can use.
8. Use Contact Forms to Grow Your Email List
A contact form is a great way to get a user’s email address. The user already has to enter their email address on the form, and you can add a checkbox to allow them to subscribe without having to enter it again.
WPForms is a WordPress form builder that will do this. It allows you to connect your forms with top email marketing services and helps you easily build forms with a simple drag and drop tool.
9. Add Sign Up Call to Action on Your Facebook Page
Facebook is introducing call to action (CTA) buttons for business pages. These buttons are prominently displayed on top of your cover image and are visible without scrolling. There are seven different types of CTAs: Book Now, Contact Us, Use App, Play Game, Shop Now, Sign Up, and Watch Video.
To create a signup button as a call to action on your Facebook page: 1. Log into Facebook and go to your page. 2. Click “Add a Button” under your cover photo. 3. Select “Sign Up” from the drop-down menu. 4. Enter the URL of the signup form you want to use in the “Destination URL” field. 5. Click “Create Call to Action.” Make sure to click ‘Save’ so the CTA button is added to your page. Your signup button will now appear as a call to action on your Facebook page.
10. Provide Incentives on Subscription
One way to build an email list is by giving incentives. This can be done by offering active readers free ebooks, research papers, or periodic assistance via email.
If you are an expert in your field, people will look to you for trustworthy, up-to-date information. You can share this valuable information by creating an ebook and exchanging it for an email address.
11. Write a Guest Post
Many bloggers and marketers include guest posts as part of their link building strategy. However, if done correctly, guest posting can be an extremely effective way to grow an email list that is relevant to your business.
If you share high-quality content online, people will view you as an authority in your field and be more likely to follow your ideas.
If you share knowledge and information on various top publications, you can turn their traffic towards your website. Proper call to action and email subscription forms can turn their readers into subscribers for your product, newsletter, and other resources you offer.
12. Reach Out for More Subscribers in Videos and Podcasts
There are two popular methods for building an email list: Youtube channels and podcasts. Your followers are likely to subscribe to your content if they find it inspiring, so that they can have the latest information delivered straight to their inbox.
You can send your next video release, product update, webinar, or podcast interview to your list.
Podcasts like Marketing School and HBR Idea cast help their audience by providing valuable content and driving them to subscribe to their email list. This helps to build a more curated email subscriber base that is more likely to convert into customers.
13. Conduct Networking Meetup Events
If you are hosting or organizing an event, you have the opportunity to connect with attendees directly. Thus, networking events become the best place to build your email list with people who have similar interests.
By conducting a Network meetup, you can encourage your target audience to sign up for future events and subscribe to your newsletter. If you have a beta product launch, you can use the meetup as an opportunity to get real user feedback to help you scale faster. However, it’s important to note that hosting a meetup isn’t a one-time event.
14. Make Your Customers Share Their Review About You
Your customers can do more for you than simply pay for your product or service – if you make them happy, they’ll become advocates for your brand. You can use different email templates to request online reviews.
Sharing positive reviews about their product in different channels can help to promote your product through word of mouth.
If your customers write positive reviews about your product or service, this will encourage other people who are connected to them to sign up as well. This will help you to grow your list of email subscribers organically, and it will be of high quality.
15. Initiate Forwarding Option
The most efficient way to build an email list is to allow your subscribers to share your content with their connections.
By doing this, you will expand your influence in your field and grow your email list at the same time.
16. Conduct Lucky Draws or Special Discounts
Discounts, lucky draws, and giveaways are always popular with new visitors. Many companies start offering these during holidays like Halloween, New Year, and Thanksgiving, which can attract a lot of valuable new customers.
If you want to build a large email list of relevant contacts, try providing some additional benefits to your clients.
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