11 Jun 11 Ways to Grow and Maintain Your Email Marketing List

Maintaining your own, high-quality list will always deliver the best conceivable results in terms of engagement and return-on-investment for email marketing campaigns. There are various ways you can grow your list quickly and efficiently whilst ensuring the quality remains high. We summarize 11 ways here:

1. Improve your website conversions

Make it as easy as possible for visitors to your website to register for your email newsletters. Place your newsletter subscription form on every single page (not just the home page). Never hide your subscription form behind a link in your website navigation. Remember, once someone has left your site it is very hard to get them to return.

2. Online sales

This should be too obvious to state but it constantly amazes us how many online retailers do not target existing customers with email marketing and instead pay to acquire the same customers again. When someone buys a product or service from your website you have permission to target them with similar marketing offers. Make sure these names are added to your list as soon as possible.

3. Get social #1

Drive subscribers to your email marketing list via your social media activity. While it is easier to grow your following on Facebook or Twitter than collect email addresses, email marketing has the potential to drive more significant ROI. Be sure to add an email subscription form to your Facebook pages. Many email marketing service providers have simple Facebook apps which allow you to do this easily.

4. Get social #2

Make it easy for your email recipients to share your emails with their friends and family by adding social media share buttons to your newsletters. This will ultimately send more traffic back to your website which, if optimized as per point #1, will help drive email subscriptions. The best way to encourage sharing is to invest time in creating great content.

5. Keep blogging

An active blog gives your website a heartbeat, aids your SEO efforts and helps your business stand out in a sea of static website content. Don’t forget to include your email subscription form on every page of your blog.

6. Get mobile

Email marketing apps for iPhone and Android mobile devices make it easy for you to add names to your list on the move.  Whenever you meet potential clients ask them if you can add them to your email list.

7. Tradeshows

It’s not a high-tech solution, but there is nothing wrong with placing a goldfish bowl on your booth and soliciting email subscriptions (perhaps with the aid of a competition) from tradeshow attendees. The cost of adding names to your list in this way is negligible, therefore email marketing offers an ideal solution to dealing with lukewarm leads while your sales team focus on more immediate prospects. The unsubscribe functionality on your emails will also go some way to helping your clients self-prioritize their lead status.   

8. Webinars

We love webinars for the plain and simple reason that every time we run a webinar we sell something (ebook, consultation, service subscription). Even if we didn’t sell something they are a great way of building your lists (by taking email addresses of those that tune in) and putting yourself in front of an audience.

9. Point of sale:

How much repeat business is lost at your sales counter? If you don’t ask for your customers’ email details, you’ll never know. Sweeten the deal by offering an incentive to hand over their contact details such as a discount off a future purchase.

10. Incentivize and reward

You don’t always need to offer a financial incentive to win repeat business. How about offering exclusive promotions, such as the first chance to buy, for email subscribers? This will be particularly useful if the customer is presented with a perception of scarcity.

11. Manage unsubscribers

Manage your unsubscribers carefully by offering them alternatives. Just because someone no longer wants to receive your weekly newsletter, it doesn’t mean that they would not appreciate a more targeted or less frequent communication.