Email marketing continues to have significant value to both businesses and consumers because nearly everyone has an email address and uses it every day. One of the most important aspects of email marketing is your email list, which can be the difference between being heard by the right people and not being heard at all.
What is an email list?
An email list, otherwise known as a mailing or subscribers list, is a collection of email addresses that a business has gathered from visitors and customers who want to receive communications such as updates and discounts.
Email list building is the process of getting more people to subscribe to your emails. An easy way to do this is having a call to action (CTA) on your website’s homepage to get visitors to sign up, or including a link to sign up on social media posts.
Why email lists are important
A quality email list can be extremely valuable to your business since email marketing has one of the ROIs among marketing methods. Email is more effective for acquiring new customers than social media and also has a higher click-through rate than social media posts. These characteristics make email marketing a powerful communication tool:
- Personal
- Targeted
- Purposeful
- Exclusive to you and your business
- Used often by customers
- Private and direct to customers
- Highly customisable
- Checked often
Without an email list, your business could be missing out on potential new customers since most consumers have an email address. Building a quality email list should be your top priority when starting a new marketing campaign.
How to build a quality email list
Add CTA buttons to your website’s landing pages
Calls to action are an opportunity for organic website visitors to sign up for your emails. Including them on every landing page throughout your website increases the likelihood of a subscriber signing up as they navigate your site.
Include a link to sign up for emails on social media posts and accounts
While email is a major communication method, many consumers find businesses through social media, so including a signup form for your emails is a certain way of adding interested consumers to your list.
Make social media posts devoted to signing up for emails
In addition to including links to sign up for emails in your regular posts, you can create social media posts, like Facebook ads, dedicated to telling your customers about your email list and what kinds of content they can expect to receive if they sign up.
Be clear what they’re signing up for, and make the process quick and easy. Also, consider providing an incentive for signing up such as a discount code.
Make email capture part of your intake process
You can work email list building into your everyday tasks at work, like when a new customer calls for a quote or when you’re providing information about your business. Be sure to ask explicitly if they’re consenting to receive emails from you.
Use exit-intent pop-ups
This is a pop-up that appears when a visitor is about to leave your website. You can customise these pop-ups to what you want, including an invitation to sign up for emails so the customer can receive more information about your business.
Offer discount codes or freebies
If you’re finding that your content isn’t enough to entice people to sign up for your emails, consider providing an incentive such as discount codes.
Create a challenge or giveaway
This method is similar to an incentive. You can create a challenge or host a giveaway where customers must provide their emails to participate.
Should I buy an email list?
Because it can take time to build an email list, many businesses have purchased pre-made email lists or an email database. However, you rarely get what you pay for and are more trouble than they’re worth.
Buying email lists may hurt your brand’s reputation, as well as your domain’s reputation. It might make you a few quick sales but it’s not worth the harm it can cause your business. An email list can contain old, fake, or invalid email addresses and those that are real probably don’t have an active interest in your business.
You also run the risk of being flagged as a scammer, which could result in your emails not being seen by legitimate customers. By purchasing an email list, you can also put your email and ad accounts at risk.
Best email software
Once you’ve built your email list, there’s still plenty to do to get your marketing campaign up and running, including plenty of maintenance. Email marketing management software or an email service provider can make creating and managing your campaigns easier and more professional as most services come with email list management.
Here are some of the top picks for email marketing software:
Benchmark: A budget-friendly email marketing service that’s easy to use and offers plenty of features, which includes a free plan for up to 250 emails per month.
Mailchimp: A good choice for businesses looking for a free option that doesn’t skimp on features. Its ‘Forever Free’ plan lets you send up to 12 000 monthly emails to 2 000 contacts, and it includes all the features you need to create and manage a campaign.
Constant Contact: A user-friendly interface that has multiple price points for any budget. It makes it easy to create professional-looking campaigns and provides detailed analytics to keep you up to date on how your campaigns are doing.
Sendinblue: This differs from other email marketing campaigns in that you only pay for what you use, making it a great option for businesses of all sizes that have irregular email send volumes. It lets you segment your contacts based on several factors including age, gender, location, and interests.
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