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5 Effective Ways to Build Your Email List

by Kristin Crabb

Expanding your email list is one of today’s most effective methods of broadening the reach of your online presence.  Through a robust email list, you are able to cultivate relationships with new customers, continue your relationship with existing customers, and disseminate knowledge about your brand and products in an efficient and timely manner.

In this article, we’ll outline 5 of the top avenues you can use to build out your email list.  When beginning the project of expanding your email list, it is important to view each of these avenues as one part of an overall campaign.  Depending on your industry, some of these methods of outreach may be more effective than others, but they each provide important layers of redundancy that give you the best chances for securing increased subscriptions to your email list.

Encourage Site Visitors To Subscribe

Leveraging your existing website traffic to build your email list is a fundamental step towards expanding your online presence and reach.  Visitors of your website are already potential customers; they have seen a product or service they are interested in, and are browsing to determine if what you offer is a good fit for their needs.

Related: 4 Key Email Sequences Your E-Commerce Company Needs

By using dynamic splash pages, a prominent area to subscribe to your email list on each page, and a responsive chat interface to your customer service representatives, you can significantly expand your email list.  Capitalize on your potential customers’ interest in your goods and services to bring them into the fold of your ongoing development.

Leverage Your Social Channels

Social media is not merely a platform to display your products or services in a new light.  Social media marketing campaigns should also regularly entice viewers of your posts or videos to subscribe to your newsletter to learn more.  This can be encouraged through exclusive discounts, early access to products, or the promise of more detailed development notes.

Related: Tactics to Grow Lifetime Value of an E-Commerce Customer

The most important tool for using social media to effectively build your email list is to approach your social media presence with creativity.  By creatively reaching out to your existing customer base and beyond, you will be able to generate brand awareness, increase product interest, and expand the reach of your social media marketing campaign.

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Reach Out To Your List

As surprising as it may sound, utilizing email to expand your email list is an incredibly effective tool.  Think of this as taking a proactive step towards securing more subscribers to your email newsletter.  By reaching out directly through email, you are already halfway towards gaining a new subscriber.  Use this tool to encourage customers who have already purchased your products in the past to take the next step and stay up-to-date on your company.

Related: What is a Marketing Funnel?

Reaching out to previous customers to inquire about their experience is a great way to bring customer service to them, demonstrating that you are interested in what they have to say and engaged with your customers on a deeper level.

Connect With People In-Person

Traditional avenues of advertising are often forgotten, or dismissed, in today’s fast-paced digital age.  Don’t make the same mistake as your competitors; add time-proven methods of outreach to build your email list.  These include things as simple as encouraging your employees to carry well-designed business cards that offer a means and an incentive to join your email list.

Along these same lines, promoting or attending events or business conferences where you can chat with potential customers is a demonstrated method of expanding your customer outreach and email list database.

Building Your Email List Is Only Half The Battle, Don’t Ignore The Other Half

Adding new or existing customers to join your email list is important.  However, just as important as this is keeping your existing customers interested and excited in your products.  The most effective way of doing this is by providing regular updates through your email list.

Not only will this allow you to stay relevant in the minds of your customers, but it will also encourage your customer base to stay invested in your continued success and development.  Regular updates allow your customers to see your continued growth, that you take their desires and comments into consideration, and demonstrate to your customer base that updating them is important to you.

Related: Art of the Reshare: How to Stretch the Value of Your Existing Content

Building your email list is a critical step in maintaining an effective web presence.  By incorporating each of these avenues into your efforts to expand your email list, you will maximize the opportunities for new and existing customers to be brought into the fold of your development and growth.

Email lists are an important means of creating new connections, generating interest in new products, and deepening the connection between your company’s success and your customer base.  It is also important to remember the end goal: use your email list regularly to send product updates, development plans, and share your successes.  Doing so will ensure that your customers stay engaged with your brand and vision over time.