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Email marketers often focus on improving content, but it’s equally important to consistently add contacts to your email list. Email is one of the most valuable channels in digital marketing, so generating leads quickly and efficiently is critical for virtually any business.
In this article, we’ll cover some of the most effective tactics for building an email list and increasing your outreach. Keep in mind that this is an ongoing process—the best marketers are always looking for new ways to get ahead of the competition.
Consider Your Audience
A few general tips apply to almost every situation, but you need to build digital marketing practices based on your unique audience. Marketers should have an idea of who they’re selling to before they try to develop sophisticated strategies.
Customer personas are a simple way to imagine your customer base. Think about the average customer’s age, gender, salary, and location along with any other information that could be relevant.
Attract Leads on Social Media
From there, you’ll also need to consider the most popular channels among your target audience. For example, older customers are typically on Facebook, while younger demographics tend to use platforms like Twitter and Instagram. You might also want to focus on LinkedIn if you primarily sell to other businesses.
Developing a strong web presence on your audience’s favorite channels will give you a steady stream of email contacts who are already engaged with your brand. In turn, driving more cross-channel traffic will help you build better relationships with your audience and maximize lifetime customer value.
Create a Landing Page
You can bring users to your website from social media, blog posts, or other channels. Even if you don’t do much business online, it’s critical to have an eye-catching landing page in order to increase your subscription rate.
Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to set up a visually appealing landing page that introduces users to your brand. Websites like Wix, Unbounce, and Hubspot provide the tools to create professional landing pages. This should be the first page users see after being redirected to your site.
Provide a Unique Value
Most internet users are already subscribed to a variety of email newsletters. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that people are reluctant to give their contact information to new brands.
They’ll have a much better reason to subscribe if you offer a unique or exclusive value. Ebooks, guides, discounts, and other gifts can substantially increase your subscription rate. Users are much more likely to stay engaged with your brand once they join your email list.
Use Popups
Popups are often considered distracting, but they can be incredibly effective when it comes to generating subscriptions on your site. Rather than simply displaying a generic popup when visitors access your website, marketers have more tools than ever to customize every aspect of each popup. Many email marketing service providers suggest popup forms such as Mailchimp or Constant Contact.
Segmented Popups
You can send different popups to different visitors for even more targeted marketing. For example, you might offer a discount on the product a user was looking at when they started to leave your site.
In turn, collecting this data on your site allows you to include a segment tag when adding a user to your email list. Gathering audience information is crucial for providing relevant messaging and increasing average lifetime customer value.
Using targeted email capture will help you target emails and personalize subject lines. You can even use a free email subject line analyzer to find the perfect formula for your online shop.
Exit-intent Popups
Exit-intent popups are designed to trigger when a user starts to leave your site, usually by moving their cursor away from the page. An unexpected display will bring their attention back to your website, increasing the length of their visit and giving them a chance to reconsider.
Exit-intent popups are particularly powerful when combined with a valuable offer. You could email a code for free shipping or 10% off their first order to all new subscribers.
This is a relatively affordable way to grow your email list and customer base—for most businesses, 10% off a single order is a small price to pay for a new lead.
Ask for Contact Information During Checkout
Some leads go from your email list to your online store, but others make a purchase before engaging with your brand via email. If customers don’t have an existing account, you should give them the option to quickly create one during the checkout process.
Converting leads into first-time buyers is critical, but it’s equally important to keep existing customers interested in your products. With that in mind, leads that have already ordered from your ecommerce shop are incredibly valuable. Collecting their information extends their engagement and increases the chance of them making another purchase later on.
Of course, you can combine this tactic with a discount or another offer that provides an added incentive to join for your email list. An opt-in checkbox is the easiest way to offer a sign-up option without distracting customers or extending the checkout process.
Building an email list doesn’t happen overnight, but changing your strategies today can help you start making progress toward your digital marketing goals. These are just a few of the most effective ways to