Five Steps To Growing An Email List

The most widely adopted Internet social network isn’t Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn: It’s email. In fact, more than 85% of adults have an active email account, while only about 60% have an open social networking account.

Email users tend to be far more engaged than even Facebook users, and email performs better than social media when it comes to content visibility and interaction.

While it’s still important to keep growing your visibility and help customers through a social media outlet, don’t forget to nurture your email list…it’s still the most lucrative and engaging sales channel.

So, what can you do to grow your email list? Here are the 5 steps to growing a lasting email list:

1. Focus on building lists rather than buying them.

Focus on relevancy and retention when building your emails list.
Be sure that everyone on your lists actually wants to hear from you.
Avoid any sources in which the contact didn’t explicitly give you permission to send them emails.

2. Know the purpose of the list.

Define your reasons for creating a list prior to setting out to collect subscribers
If you plan on having more than one business goal or target audience, you might want to consider creating multiple email lists.

3. Start off with clean data.

Be sure you know exactly what data you’ll need before requesting for opt-ins.
Initial data should include email addresses, opt-in records, and subscriber names.

4. Put the subscribe form where your customers will see it.

Know your audience
Know where your customers are
Create an easy opt-in process
Place your subscriber forms I n areas with maximum visibility

5. Convince your customers to subscribe.

Create a strategy for how to ask for a customer’s email address
Simply throwing in a “learn more about us” or “hear more from us” tagline is not going to compel anyone…be assertive and creative.
Make sure your email is going to stand out in their inbox. What’s in it for them?

Email continues to be a consistently valuable way to connect with your target audience. Email engagement – which includes click-through rates – can be even higher than it is with social networking.

Audiences subscribe to email lists because they want to hear from that particular company. Remember, emails don’t compete for screen space with other content the way it does with social networks.