Too often, a business email list resembles a wool sweater after a run through a dryer: it shrinks and loses its utility. According to Hubspot, email lists decrease by about 22% every year. That’s a lot of shrinkage, the inevitable attrition that occurs when customers opt out, change their addresses, or abandon old accounts only used for filling out forms on websites.
Build your email list consistently and you’ll be adding plasma to your business. Here are 4 easy ways to do it:
1. Run a contest or giveaway
2. Team up with a complimentary business
3. Use pop-up forms
4. Look for dedicated e-blasts and other paid email placement opportunities
1. Run a contest or giveaway
The psychology behind a contest is simple: People love winning or getting free stuff and are often willing to exchange their email address to be “in it.”
The contest can be anything, really — ask people to share their cutest pet photo, a video of their best blooper, or a favorite poem. Then, use your social media accounts to promote it and direct users to a landing page on your website where they can enter by using their email address. Be sure to add social sharing buttons to the landing pages and thank-you emails.
2. Team up with a complimentary business
If you don’t have a robust social media presence, partner up with another business or organization that does — one whose customer profile matches your own. Real estate agents often do this with attorneys and mortgage lenders. Create an email newsletter or webinar where all partners can pitch in to create the content and share their respective audience’s emails.
Think about how your business can pitch an event to a library, a municipal organization, or a chamber of commerce. There are many organizations who are willing to take a chance on working with local businesses. Ask yourself: How can your business add value to their patrons?
3. Use pop-up forms
A pop-up form is like a digital version of your handshake asking website visitors to buy into your brand in exchange for their email address. Include a clear and punchy headline that succinctly describes an important benefit that your potential customers will receive by subscribing.
Of course, pop-ups have their downside. They can be annoying. But, according to Mailchimp, business owners see their lists grow by an average of 50.8% after adding a pop-up form to their site. That’s all you need to know to build your email list.
4. Look for dedicated e-blasts and other paid email placement opportunities
If you don’t have the bandwidth to create and build your email list, there are still options. One fast track to reaching potential customer or client inboxes is to leverage the email channels of local and niche media companies. Schneps Media, for example, has over half a million email subscribers in the NYC region alone, and with campaigns including sponsored giveaways, webinars and events, you can even share in the entry/registrant emails to build your email list directly.
Remember, you can’t wear a shrunken sweater to protect you from the cold, and you can’t grow your business with an outdated email list.
Interested in discussing how to build your email list and your overall digital strategy and goals?
