The Value of Building Your Own Email List

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For some individuals, email seems incredibly old-fashioned. There are numerous forms of messaging available at the tip of our fingers so why should we bother with building our email list?

Regardless, for smart digital marketers, email remains one of the most powerful ways of communicating to an audience. It is still capable of yielding significant marketing results for those who want to increase their lead generation and earn more revenue.

Before we discuss the value of building your own email list, let’s talk about email lists first.

What Are Email Lists?

As a business owner, compiling contacts in an email list is vital. This list contains a collection of email addresses from individuals who may have:

  • Subscribed to your brand for updates
  • Decided to opt-in to receive free products or valuable information from emails
  • Bought something from your shop and have chosen to get further updates

No matter the reason for their desire to be part of your email list, these are all people that have given you the permission to send them emails so you can contact them in the future.

Why Is Email Marketing Still Effective?

Email marketing offers unique advantages over other media that are commonly used today.

First of all, sending emails is direct. This means that each person on your email list will get a message from you the same way they would receive one in real life. It’s significantly different from finding a piece of content in a brochure or newsfeed.

The second advantage is that email remains to be a necessity. It’s possible for people to go a few days without visiting their preferred social networks or to chatting with their loved ones, yet most check their inboxes at least once a day.

The third benefit is that email marketing is extremely customizable. You can set up an email campaign on nearly any topic and add the personalization elements you believe fit your brand.

Utilizing email marketing is also incredibly affordable and many experts have provided great documentation on how to do it effectively.

How Can I Build a Good Email List?

Now that you’ve read about the effectiveness of email marketing, are you interested in building your own email list the right way?

If you are, here are the steps you should take to do it

Step 1: Start With the People You Know

The beginning of your email list should be all the contacts you have at the moment. You can model your list after email lists from previous marketing campaigns.

If you don’t, then you need to do some searching. You can import all of the current customer contact details you have out of your CRM system. This method should provide you with enough contacts to get started with your email marketing list.

To build this email list, there are many reputable email marketing solutions available today. Some of the most well-known choices are AWeber, MailChimp, and Infusionsoft.

Step 2: Develop an Ideal Blog

One of the best ways to start driving email subscribers to your list is to provide them with valuable content via a blog. Besides serving as a way to bring people to your website, it also provides visitors with motivation as to why they should subscribe.

Although it can take some time to develop blog content, the end results are definitely worth it. Once you have a decent amount of posts and topics published, make sure you add the appropriate call-to-action so that people will subscribe to your email list.

For your sign-up, you want to limit the number of details that you’ll require from those who opt-in. Even asking people for their names and email address should suffice.

Step 3: Include an Opt-In Incentive

To entice people further towards subscribing to your email list, you should offer them something of value in exchange for signing up. This valuable product is commonly known as a lead magnet.

Many expert digital marketers settle with providing subscribers with a free whitepaper or ebook download in return for their contact information. You can also choose to provide a free sample, free trial, or even a discount when they purchase from your shop.

The important thing here is that you recognize the importance of personal information from potential customers and that it serves as a sort of currency exchange for you. Since you are providing something that your audience values, then people will want to give you their data in exchange for it.

You can always make changes to your offer every now and then depending on what you believe is more valuable to your visitors.

Step 4: Encourage Your Contacts to Share

Social sharing is one of the most powerful ways to increase exposure and awareness nowadays. For example, you can include a “share” button in your email content to increase click-through rates from your readers.

But you shouldn’t think of sharing as just a way to encourage people to engage. It should also be about getting more people subscribed to your email list.

Step 5: Leverage Various Calls-to-Action

Finally, you want to maximize your ability to drive more subscribers by using different ways of recruitment. This means you should take advantage of both internal and external sources.

For instance, you could try experimenting with signup email popups or you can use an external ad to attract a different segment of your target audience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, starting and developing an email list the right way is important if you want your business to gain more exposure and visibility online. Not only will you be driving more visitors to return, but you also increase your overall revenue.

If you’re looking to grow your small business in the digital world, then investing time and effort in building your own email list can yield amazing results if you do it well.

The advice and tips provided in this article should help guide you in growing your email marketing list.