Dollar for dollar, email is one of the most powerful marketing channels available to digital entrepreneurs today. On average, it returns $42 for every $1 spent .
That’s why 81 percent of SMBs turn to email as a driver for customer acquisition , and another 80 percent use it for customer retention, according to Emarsys. But it all starts with building an email list.
In this guide, you’ll learn the basics of building your email list from scratch, including both free and paid strategies.
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What is an email list? An email list is a list of people who have opted in to receive email updates about your brand, products, and offers. email marketing software . On their platform, you create a form that you can use on your website to build an email list. When you want to send an email to your list, you use their email service to format the email and blast it to your list.
Why is an email list important for your online business? Email marketing is important for growing your digital businesses. It helps you turn a random collection of individuals into loyal fans who feel they know you. More importantly, it helps you turn those prospects into customers. ExactTarget confirmed that 77 percent of consumers prefer receiving marketing messages through emails. The second favorite, direct mail, was preferred by only nine percent of consumers.
Email marketing is also the most effective way to connect with your followers. Sixty-six percent of consumers buy from emails, according to ExactTarget. Direct mail is a close runner up, but the third choice, telephone, is less than half as effective at 24 percent.
Here’s why email can’t be beat for growing your business:
When someone signs up for your list, it’s because they’re interested in what you do. So they’re usually qualified prospects. Your subscribers are eager to hear from you. They know you’ll send them marketing messages and welcome them. It’s a two-way channel. At any time, your subscriber can hit reply and start a conversation with you. Compare email to social media. Most people are on social media. But there, you’re relying on dumb luck to get your message in front of them when they happen to be active.
How to build an email list for free (12 tips) 1. Create a Subscribe page on your website. A few years ago, I got a message from a new Facebook connection. They loved my website and wanted more. But they couldn’t find my subscription form. Solopreneur Life .
This is an easy page to build. Give it the title, Subscribe. Then explain what visitors get for subscribing. Focus on the value they get.
2. Create lead magnets Once your Subscribe page is built, the next step is to create a lead magnet. Lead magnets are small offers that are closely related to your product. They’re designed to attract your ideal customer and do one of three things:
Generate interest in your paid offer Give them information that will help them be better buyers Share valuable information that creates a desire for more For example, you might create a:
Free report Buyer’s guide Ebook Resource that goes with a blog post PDF of a pillar post in your blog Template Checklist After you create your lead magnet, build a landing page for it. On that page, tease the information your visitor will learn from your lead magnet. Embed a form for visitors to sign up and access it. confirmation email in your email marketing software. This email will be sent automatically to the people who opt in, giving them a link to your lead magnet.
3. Optimize your website for subscriptions Don’t stop there. Every visitor will look for your subscription form in a different place. So optimize your entire website for subscribers. Kajabi website:
A banner at the top of the blog
When someone visits the blog, they can’t miss this form. It’s in our brand color and quickly explains what they get for subscribing.
Exit intent pop-up when you leave the site
When a visitor moves to exit the site, this form pops up. Notice how similar it is to the banner at the top of the blog. That creates consistency in our messaging, so visitors know what we’re all about.
A floating subscription form in the sidebar
This form stays visible even as visitors scroll down the page. If they don’t subscribe at the top of the page, they can join here without scrolling back up.
Note: It’s okay to be direct. Noah Kagan invites people to subscribe at the top of his homepage:
4. Do a giveaway A giveaway is a way to gamify your list building. Instead of giving your content or information to everyone who subscribes, a giveaway has only one winner. That being the case, you can offer a bigger, more valuable prize.
Giveaways are especially powerful because they can go viral. When someone enters the giveaway, they’re offered the opportunity to share the giveaway with their friends. Each time they share, their name is added to the drawing again. The more they share, the better their chance of winning. KingSumo . Integrate it with your email marketing software, and it will automatically add all your participants to your email list. Or, when the giveaway ends, you can download the CSV of participants and add it to your email list.
5. Gate part of your blog Instead of creating a lot of lead magnets, you can ask visitors to sign up to get access to your highest-value content. does this by putting their entire blog behind the gate. If you aren’t a registered subscriber, you only see a portion of their blog posts.
Click the button, and you’re shown this opt-in form.
To be clear, signing up is free. But you must sign in to read their blog and access their content.
6. Offer webinars and live content People often prefer live presentations, because it gives them the chance to engage with the host and other attendees. If they have a question, all they have to do is ask. does this on her website. As you scroll down her homepage, a pop-up is triggered. It offers a masterclass, which is actually an evergreen webinar.
As with all our list-building tactics, once someone signs up, they’re added to your main email list, so you can send them content, other learning opportunities, and marketing offers.
7. Offer premium content in different formats As you’ve probably noticed, building an email list is as simple as offering premium content that answers your prospect’s questions. We’ve talked about written content and webinars. You can also create:
An email series A short video training An audio series Instead of one-off pieces of content, create a series that you’ll deliver by email over several days or weeks. This is especially valuable for teaching your subscribers to open your emails. Since you’re delivering the information one piece at a time, they must open your emails to get all the information.
8. Speak at events Anytime you show up or deliver content, you can create an opportunity for people to join your email list. Put together a lead magnet for your audience.
9. Create a quiz A quiz is highly engaging for most visitors. They like the idea of filling out their details and getting a personalized recommendation.
10. Tell your social media followers to subscribe This is the easiest way imaginable to build an email list from scratch. Just ask.
11. In each email, ask the recipient to share Another simple option is to ask your subscribers to invite their friends. Do this in your P.S., and include share buttons to make it easy on your subscribers.
Notice, too, how much he packs into the P.S. of his newsletter. He offers a sample chapter of one book and a link to order another. He invites feedback to build relationship with his followers. He also includes his social media links, so his subscribers can connect.
12. Offer a 7-day trial It’s possible to promote your product and build an email list at the same time. A trial of your course or membership program is a lead magnet that quickly converts happy customers. . Pack it with promotional copy that explains the features, benefits, and outcome of buying. Include testimonials from your existing students. . Instead, invite prospects to sign up for a 7-day trial. within the 7-day trial. Front-load your course to ensure they get addicted to your product. that their trial is about to end. Give them a link to your order page.
How to build an email list using paid strategies (9 tips) The 12 tips we covered above are a good place to start. For many businesses, they’re sufficient. But if you want to fast-track your list building efforts, try putting a little money behind your efforts. Here are nine tactics you can try today.
13. Invest in advertising If you’ve got a valuable offer on your website, it’s worth making sure as many people as possible see it. When you advertise, you target your ads to reach your best customers. That can give you more subscribers in less time.
Lead magnet Guide Event Webinar Create an ad in Google Adwords, LinkedIn, or Facebook. With as little as $10 a day, you can put your ad in front of hundreds or thousands of people who fit your ideal customer profile (ICP). landing page where people can sign up to get the guide.
14. Pay to promote your high-value content This tactic will help you boost your brand while also building your email list. You’ll use the same approach as Tip #13. But instead of sending prospects to a landing page, you send them to an in-depth article with a resource offer.
Find your best-performing blog post . You can do this with Google Analytics. Make sure it closely relates to your product, and make sure it will whet people’s appetite for more. Look for an article that can work as a lead magnet. . Is there a worksheet or checklist that you could create to go with this article? Offer it on the blog post, and ask people to sign up to get access to it. . Set this ad to target your ideal customer, so you’ll only drive qualified traffic to your article.
15. Pay for celebrity endorsement With this strategy, you’re looking for a known celebrity to use your product, give you a glowing testimonial, and help you promote your product. For instance, Jessica Simpson has endorsed Proactiv skin care and Matthew McConaughey has endorsed Lincoln Motor Company.
16. Sponsor popular media creators: YouTubers and Instagrammers If your audience isn’t very large yet, you can get in front of other people’s audiences by sponsoring a Youtube or Instagram personality. This partnership allows them to offer value to their audience while helping you build your email list. who has an audience that looks like your ICP. Reach out to see if they do sponsorships. that works for both of you. The sponsor will promote your lead magnet and send traffic to your landing page. for the sponsor to use. On this page, offer a unique resource or lead magnet that will interest their audience.
17. Sponsor a blog or newsletter Media companies often sell sponsor packages to pay the bills. They have a large, engaged audience, and they sell ad space and sponsorships to vendors in their space. , for instance, is a blog that sells sponsored articles and webinars. The Hustle sells ad spots in their daily newsletter.
18. Sponsor an event Most conferences and large events look for sponsors to help pay for the event. Sponsors often get promoted on the landing page, in brochures and on screens, and from the stage.
19. Sponsor a booth at an event Most conferences have an exhibit hall. There, vendors (people like you) can pay for a booth, where they show off their products, generate leads, and sell. Attendees browse the booths and stop to chat when they see one that interests them.
20. Put on your own conference This option requires a huge investment in time and money. But it’s a fantastic way to build your email list and sell your courses.
21. Offer monetized incentives Instead of offering a lead magnet, you can ask people to sign up to get a coupon or discount. This is a tactic used frequently by e-commerce sites :
But it can work just as well for digital entrepreneurs. For instance, you could create a popup or banner offering a 20 percent discount on any of your products.
Cost-per-lead modeling for list building When building your email list with paid tactics, you must carefully monitor the cost of each subscriber. It’s important to keep your cost of acquisition below the value of each lead.
Importing your email marketing list into Kajabi You can build your email list on your website. But you might also use other platforms to attract new subscribers. how to import your email marketing lists into Kajabi .
Upload a CSV from your other apps and tools to Kajabi Create new fields during import Intelligently map your Kajabi contact columns to your upload list Add notes and tags to your imported contact list Most platforms allow you to generate a .CSV file of your contacts, including tags and notes you’ve assigned to each subscriber. Simply upload the .CSV to Kajabi. Even if these contacts are coming from a different CRM platform, Kajabi lets you keep all the fields and information you’ve gathered around your contact.
Leveraging your list for success Email marketing is about building a list of potential customers, building relationship with them, and making offers that you know they’ll appreciate. Generally, only 10 to 15 percent of your list will open your emails. Another percentage will click through to your offers and buy. . Your first list should be your newsletter list. This is the primary list you’ll use to engage your subscribers. Everyone who signs up for any of your lead magnets or buys any of your products will be added to this list. . Do this in your email marketing software. Use your copywriting skills to create an eye-catching headline and description. Change the colors to match your branding. . In this email, you’ll congratulate your subscriber for signing up. You’ll also give them the link to any gift or lead magnet you’ve promised. This email doesn’t need to be long, but it should get them excited about being part of your tribe. . Use the tips we shared above. Your email software will give you the code to embed the form on your website. Get that code and add it to your page. . Start driving traffic to your page, and inviting people to subscribe.
Bottom Line Building an email list is key to building a strong, profitable business. And it’s easy to do with a good email marketing software.
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