7 Easy Ways to Build Your Email List

Sometimes checking your inbox can feel like flipping through the yellow pages. The perfume site you purchased your aunt’s birthday present from four years ago is trying to sell you their latest floral fragrance. A random stranger is claiming he can boost your Google ranking for just $299.95. Let’s not forget the dry ice steak company starting their Father’s Day campaign… in February. Meanwhile, it’s Monday morning at 8am and all you can think about is the insurmountable workload ahead of you this week. Whatever your personal relationship with email marketing, one truth remains in the universe—it works.

When visitors, followers, and customers opt to hear from your business, those email addresses are pure gold. This is a captive audience of people who have either proven they will spend money with your company or may do so in the future. However, as you know from your own sentiments on promotional mail, not everybody opens, clicks, or buys. For this reason, the power of email marketing is in the numbers. Growing your list is critical to success.

Here, we’ve compiled a handful of effective strategies in building an email list, which are applicable to nearly any industry or business type.

1. Subscription Form

Prominently place an email subscription form on each page of your website. A dedicated row above your footer is prime real estate. When executed properly, a pop-up modal can also be an effective capture tool.

2. The Giveaway

Offer users a free e-book, white paper, coupon, exclusive content, or similar incentive for subscribing. Be sure to note that the freebie is automatically sent via email to minimize invalid entries. The more valuable the giveaway, the more subscribers you’ll get.

3. On-Site Signups

Do you have a brick and mortar business? Give customers the opportunity to provide their email address whether they purchase something or not. Again, consider incentives you can offer!

4. Host an Event

Whether it is a local gathering or a global webinar, asking your target audience to register for an event is a worthwhile means of growing your email list quickly. If this proves effective for you, consider hosting recurring events annually, quarterly, or even weekly!

5. Educational Series

Create a drip campaign that sends a series of informative emails on a particular topic to each subscriber over a short period of time. This isn’t necessarily an opportunity to sell, but to provide real value. Your audience will look forward to checking their inbox every day, and you will enjoy watching your list grow exponentially.

6. Get Social

Most of the major email marketing platforms (Campaign Monitor, MailChimp, etc.) offer the ability to place a signup form on your Facebook page. This is a great way to get your social media followers to take a step forward with your business.

7. Guest WiFi

Whether you have a retail storefront, restaurant, or office space, guests will happily exchange their email addresses for free WiFi. Services such as Gazella and Zenreach make this automated strategy seamless and simple.

Hopefully these ideas have inspired you to establish and grow a massive list of potential customers eager to learn about your products and services. Be creative. Always be thinking of ways to capture new subscribers and provide value to those on your list. Building your email audience is an ongoing effort that will prove itself to be instrumental in your company’s growth.