Every year your email list decreases to 22.5%. Contacts in your list move from one job to another, unsubscribe from your list, using fake email addresses to fill the form, these types of contacts are removed from your CRM and it’s all automated.
It’s a marketer’s job of adding new contacts to email marketing campaigns and getting more engagements. But do not buy email lists from third-party vendors.
What is a contact list?
The contact list is a collection of prospects’ information like Email, Name, Job title, Phone number, Region, Industry and more, that marketers can use to promote their product and services to get more engagement and leads.
If you are looking to build your contact list then these 35 list-building techniques will help you.
1. Create outstanding email content
If prospects want to be on your list then you should create outstanding and engaging content. Then only prospects will stay on your list and forward content to their network.
2. Motivate subscribers to share and forward your content
Add a social sharing button and an email to friend button in your emails. So prospects can share your email with their friends, colleagues, and network. Include a subscribe button in your email, so that the prospects who are receiving the forwarded emails can easily subscribe to your contact list.
3. Segment your mailing lists
Segment your list based on buyer personas. Send targeted emails to specific segments to get more engagement and click-through rate. Create multiple target lists and subscription types, so you can increase your chances of getting more visitors and subscribers.
4. Resend a stale email list with subscribes email
If you have an older list that prospects have not engaged previously. Send them re-engaging campaign and encourage them to re-subscribe. During this exercise, if prospects don’t subscribe to your list, permanently remove them from the contact database. This way you can clean your database and build a highly responsive list.
5. Add a subscriber link to your email signatures
Including subscriber links to email signature can lead prospects to a landing page where they can sign up to your email list. Add a subscribe link to all staff members of the company, so you can see a higher sign-up percentage.
6. Develop a new lead-generation offer
Create a free ebook or whitepaper offer on the landing page and ask email id to download marketing assets.
7. Build a free online tool or resource
Create a free online tool to get more subscribers. Give visitors a free trial or free access to resources and gather email addresses.
8. Create ‘Bonus’ Content
For website visitors only downloading whitepapers or case studies will not work. Along with that, you need to create ‘Bonus’ content that is helpful for prospects. Like a step-by-step guide, tips and tricks blog post, training program, webinar, suggestion, or free giveaways.
9. Promote an online contest
Make use of social media to give free downloadable material in return to get contact information from prospects.
10. Promote offers on Twitter
Promote an ebook and free resources through Twitter campaigns. Offer free resources to followers in return take their email addresses.
11. Make use of your Facebook timeline
Place a promotion offer on your Facebook timeline that followers can see the offer and access your offer by signing up. Also, add a social sharing button on your landing page so that visitors can share your offer with their network.
12. Include CTA button on Facebook business page
Adding a CTA button on your Facebook page, there are higher chances that visitors can click on that CTA and visit your landing page to sign up.
13. Publish downloadable content via social media
Post downloadable content on Facebook, Linkedin, or Twitter and get signup from a visitor. And also post your content in relevant social media groups to improve engagements.
14. Use Pinterest to promote visual content
Use Pinterest to grow your email list. Post your cover image on Pinterest and create a Pinterest board where you can pin well-designed images.
15. FAQ Form
Create Frequently ask question forms. Figure out what question visitors can ask and create a form where visitors can sign up to ask questions and get an automated reply.
16. Reduce the length of your lead-capturing forms
Lead capturing forms should ask for limited information. It should include two to three fields to collect information. Mainly ask for a name and email address. Rest of the information you can ask at the later stage of the sales cycle. For visitors also it’s quicker and easier to get information.
17. Run offer across your website
Run offers throughout your website and include a lead capturing form. So that visitors can see your offer without digging your website. Easy for them to download and get the required information.
18. A/B testing copy
Try different copies and designs. A/B testing will help you to improve conversion. Slight changes in content and CTA will lead you to more engagement and leads.
19. Create a blog on your website
If you don’t have a blog for your website, create one. Creating a blog will help you to increase website ranking in search engines. Get higher traffic from search engines and increase the volume of conversions and leads.
20. Guest blogging on another website
There are many websites where you can create guest posts. By creating guest posts in other publishers or websites you will get traffic to your website. Choose a website that is relevant to your business. The more traffic you get the higher chance of getting the conversion. This is one of the ways of building an email list.
21. Add customer reviews on the website
Adding customer reviews on a website or landing page encourages visitors to sign up for your business. Because customer reviews are social proof it gives visitors confidence if they subscribe to a website they will get valuable and quality products or services.
22. Do promote on a partner website
If you have any partners then you can post your offer on the partner website. It is just like guest blogging. This way will get more subscribers.
23. Reach out to a partner network
Create an eBook or webinar with a partner. Reach out to partner contacts and get qualified leads.
24. Collect visitor information at a trade show
Collect contact details from the tradeshow. Attend your industry-relevant tradeshow and collect visitor information. Later use this list for your campaign and send a newsletter.
25. Business Cards
When you meet people offline, ask for their business cards, or offer your business card. Incentive them to get their contact details.
26. Refer Campaign
Send refer friend campaigns to your old list. For referring, offer them giveaways or incentives. This way you can grow your existing list.
27. Direct Mail
If you have customers’ physical addresses but not email. Send them direct mail and ask them to visit the website to sign up. To get their email address, offer a discount code in a post letter.
28. Telemarketing
If you are reaching customers or prospects through telemarketing, always ask if they want to sign up for an email newsletter to get updated info or discount offers.
29. Online Community and Forum
Create an online community and forum. Discuss products or share articles with customers and prospects. Offer direct discounts to prospects through online community and Forum.
30. Exit pop-ups
Include exit pop-ups to capture leads. This is one of the effective ways of improving conversion and building email lists.
31. YouTube channel
Use your YouTube channel to generate more leads. Provide offers through Youtube videos and ask viewers subscribe to your channel to get more discounts.
32. Linkedin Contacts
Export your Linkedin network contacts. Send them to personalize emails with the context of a linked connection and offer valuable resources and giveaways to subscribe. You can use free email finding tools to find out the Linkedin member email ids.
33. Paid Ads
This is a more efficient way of building email lists. Paid ads will give an immediate boost to grow your email list. But cost and optimization is an important part in paid ads. If done properly you will enjoy the benefits of paid ads.
34. Ask the customer to promote your product
Ask your valuable customer to promote your product in their network. In exchange give them more offers or discounts for the next purchase.
35. Gamification
In the process of building an email list, you need to focus on attracting visitors to your website. Providing an offer or discount will not always work. you need to think out of the box. Gamification is one way to engage visitors with small fun games like spin the wheel. To access the game you can ask visitors to their email addresses. In this way, you can collect information and grow your email list.
Conclusion
Building email lists is the most challenging in email marketing. These tips and techniques will help you grow your email list. Implement it properly so you can grow your email list faster.
If you have any other ideas or suggestions please comment below.
