We have some bad news: your email marketing contact database unfortunately decreases over time.
Your contacts' email addresses change as they move from one company to another, unsubscribe from your email communications or enter an address they've only used to fill out forms on websites.
As a marketer, it's your job to constantly add new contacts to your email lists so you can continue to generate growth. While buying emails is an option, it's usually not the best way.
In this post, we'll show you what strategies you can use to grow your email list so that you have a large number of subscribers who are eager to hear what you have to say and ultimately make a purchase from you.
What is an email list?
An email list is a collection of email addresses provided by people interested in your products, services or content. These addresses are usually collected by companies, organisations or individuals to run email marketing campaigns or to regularly keep customers and prospects informed of news, offers and updates.
An email list can be built up in various ways, e.g. through registrations on a website, sign-ups to a newsletter or events, participation in surveys or competitions, etc. The people on the list have usually explicitly agreed to receive emails from you.
It's important to build a quality email list made up of genuine and engaged prospects to get better open and click-through rates and minimise unsubscribes or complaints. A solid email list can help you achieve your marketing goals and maximise the success of your email campaigns.
Reasons for growing your email lists
The growth of email lists is important for several reasons:
- Marketing: Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach and communicate with customers. A growing email list means a wider reach for your marketing campaigns and more potential customers to hear and respond to your message.
- Customer retention: Email marketing is also an effective tool for retaining existing customers. By growing your list, you can reach more customers in your network and keep them up to date with news, offers or events.
- Sales: A growing email list can also lead to increased sales. Reaching more potential customers also increases the likelihood that you will make more sales and therefore generate more revenue.
- Customer feedback: Through email marketing you can also get feedback from your customers. A growing email list means that you have more customers who can give you feedback on your products or services. This allows you to improve your offers and respond to your customers' needs.
How to grow email lists?
There are several methods to grow email lists. Some effective techniques are:
- Opt-in forms on the website: Place opt-in forms on your website to encourage visitors to sign up for your newsletter or updates. Make sure the form is easy to fill out and that you can clearly communicate the value of your emails to the subscriber.
- Social media advertising: Use social media advertising to make your audience aware of your opt-in forms and encourage them to sign up.
- Content offer: Offer a free resource, such as a guide or e-book, that can only be downloaded by providing your email address. This can help attract quality subscribers.
- Events: Use events such as webinars, live streams or seminars to encourage subscribers to sign up for your emails. Include a link to sign up on the event page or in the registration confirmation.
- Participate in industry events: Attend industry events and use the opportunity to network with other attendees and grow your email list.
- Word of mouth: Encourage your existing subscribers to forward your emails to friends and family who may also be interested in your offer.
It is important to make sure that everyone who signs up for your emails does so voluntarily and with explicit consent. This way you can ensure that your emails are of interest and that your subscribers will actually open and read them.
Before we start
Before you start building your list, you should learn about some of the tools you will need to attract new subscribers to your email newsletter.
First, you should choose a professional email marketing service. The best email marketing company will ensure that your emails don't end up in the spam folder. They will also provide you with the right tools to build and grow your email list.
Tools for email marketing
There are many tools that can help you manage and grow your email lists. Here are some examples:
- Email marketing platforms: There are many email marketing platforms like Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor or ActiveCampaign that help you manage your email lists, create and send email campaigns and get detailed analytics and reports.
- Opt-in form builders: Tools like OptinMonster or Sumo allow you to create and integrate responsive opt-in forms for your website to attract more subscribers.
- Landing page builders: Landing page builders like Unbounce or Leadpages help you create landing pages specifically designed to encourage visitors to sign up for your emails.
- Social media management tools: Tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social allow you to manage and schedule your social media channels to draw attention to your audience on your opt-in forms.
- Contest and giveaway tools: Tools like Rafflecopter or Gleam give you the ability to run competitions and giveaways to get more subscribers.
- CRM systems: Customer relationship management systems like Hubspot or Salesforce combine most of the above options and also link all the information to your contacts.
Conclusion
So overall, a growing email list can lead to increased sales, better customer retention, better customer feedback and a more effective marketing strategy. Therefore, it is important for businesses to continuously grow their email list and run quality email campaigns.
With our website audit and digital roadmap, we help you identify your digital potential and give you an idea of what you need to implement to achieve an exceptional digital customer experience (CX) in your market.