5 Tips to Triple Your Email Subscription List

Only some people are ready to buy immediately when engaging with brands, so email allows small businesses to remain top of mind with customers and communicate offers that will drive action, and eventually a purchase. It is also an inexpensive way to keep in touch with your audience. You only need a tool or platform to capture, send and analyze your emails. Some solutions on the market give you a free version to get started with your email program. 

But how can you generate a good email list to communicate consistently with your potential buyers if you are just starting out? It might seem daunting, but convincing a potential buyer to share their email during their first interaction with you is much easier than enticing them to buy from you. Giving up their email address doesn't cost your potential buyer a penny. 

What makes a good email list will differ for each company, but you should consider what emails you need to gather to make this an effective channel for you. Generally, these priorities apply to help businesses generate a high-quality email list:

1. Get accurate information from sign ups. Only use email lists from directories or other sources where the individuals have explicitly given you their email addresses. 

2. Target people that are your ideal buyer. You will be sending offers and information aimed at your target buyer, so to increase engagement and get accurate analytics on your communications, aim to generate lists filled with your ideal target buyers.

3. After checking the first two boxes, which give you a foundation for your email list-building strategy, you can focus on growing your email list. The more extensive the list, the bigger the reach, but you want to ensure you are reaching the right audience.

So let's get building! Here are our top recommendations for building your email list.

1. Promote your email subscription across your website.

You want to ensure visitors take your primary call to action, which could be purchasing, signing up for a meeting, or viewing a demo that moves your prospect further down the sales cycle. However, only some people that visit your site are ready to engage or buy directly from you at first interaction. You want to take advantage of the opportunity to get these visitors into your funnel to nurture them with emails and other tactics until they are ready to buy. 

A few ways to promote your email signup on your website include:

1. Add a signup button to your footer that appears on every page.
2. Add an exit pop-up triggered when visitors click away from your website. The message implies, "but wait, before you go…" allowing you to entice your visitors to remain in touch by sharing their email addresses.
3. Add a pop-up, button, or notification bar to specific pages like blogs or resources that encourage visitors to sign up to receive similar information direct to their inbox regularly. 

2. Offer something of value

Typically called lead magnets, they give helpful gated content away. Your audience needs more time to consume lengthy documents. Still, they will likely appreciate checklists, guides, templates, and other short forms of content that provide helpful, actionable information they can leverage. Think about content and messages that will help your audience save time, save money or make money. These are outcomes everyone can appreciate.

3. Sell the email

It isn't enough to ask someone to subscribe to your newsletter. They want to know precisely what they will be getting and when. Think about why you started your business in the first place. You found a need customers were trying to fulfill and were likely unable to meet because of a common problem. You launched your product or service to provide a solution. Let your email subscribers know you will share tips, examples, resources, special offers, and other information to help them. 

4. Cross promote on other channels

If social media channels are part of your strategy, promote your email sign-up on your social media channels. On Facebook, for example, you can edit your action button to encourage visitors to sign up for your email newsletter. So, in addition to following you on Facebook, they can now also receive your emails. You'll be reaching these responders across multiple channels. 

5. Work your network

Start with your current network by through social media to ask your network to opt into your email list. Ask your existing network, friends, family, and colleagues to promote your email sign-up and consider offer them an incentive like a gift card or schwag in exchange.  Make it a habit that every time you interact with someone, whether it be in person, online, or on social media, ask if you can add the contacts to your email list. 

Engage in social media and online networking groups. As people connect with you or follow you, thank them personally and ask if they mind if you add them to your email list. If you engage with someone on messenger, ask for their email. Ask to add contacts you meet to your email during or after events. You can include a QR code on your card, flyer, or electronically on your phone that helps people subscribe or easily share their email with you to include in your email list.