7 Strategies To Grow Your Email Marketing List

Business owners and marketers are always looking for ways to build an email list.

That isn’t surprising knowing that nearly 80% of marketing professionals in 2020 said they’ve seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months.

This, paired with the fact that 59% of shoppers' state marketing emails influenced their purchase decisions, should create enough of an incentive to try your hand at email list building (Hubspot, 2021).

We’ve gathered seven of the best ways to create an email list from scratch.

Best Strategies for Growing Your Email Marketing List

1. Use embedded signup forms
2. Use popups and overlays
3. Create a lead magnet
4. Employ gamification
5. Use opt-in fields at checkout
6. Create a referral program
7. Nurture subscribers using an automated email campaign

1. Use embedded signup forms

6 Sign Up Form Examples For More Conversions (https://vwo.com/blog/sign-up-form-examples/)

This is the most traditional way of gaining email subscribers. Static forms are non-intrusive, which is great because they will not affect your visitor’s experience with your website.

They will simply be there if your site visitor decides to sign up for your newsletter. The best place to install one is either in the header or the footer of a high-performing page.

POWR’s own Form Builder app is very fitting for this as it’s been proven to boost conversions up to 300% and save 50% organizational time. Embedding a signup form on your website will be a stepping stone in helping you get more customers and in generating new leads.

2. Use popups and overlays

How To Create a Custom Sendy Subscribe Form in WordPress

A dynamic popup on your website might boost your conversion rate even more than static forms.

However, be sure to look over Google’s interstitial ad guidelines before adding a popup to your site. Any violations of said guidelines will result in a penalty. You can familiarize yourself with the guidelines in this article.

Once you know what you cannot do with popups and overlays, you should think about which types of popups you can have on your site.

The POWR Popup app is another powerful tool that you can use to create welcome and exit intent popups for your eCommerce website. POWR popups notoriously generate 5x more sales and help small online businesses grow.

3. Create a lead magnet

How to Create a Lead Magnet (& Get More Email Subscribers)

A lead magnet is a free resource that you can present to your site visitors in exchange for their contact details (i.e. emails). This should be something that solves a real problem, has perceived value, and is instantly accessible.

A downloadable eBook is a good lead magnet an eCommerce business can employ to attract potential new customers. While it is not quick to create, a well-crafted eBook will certainly grow your email list.

If you - as a newer business - can’t create an eBook yourself, consider hiring a freelancer to do that for you. The investment will pay off big time when your email subscribers convert into paying customers.

4. Employ gamification

Gamification helps encourage engagement with a signup form through various interactive elements. One example of gamification is a spin-to-win popup that offers a discount or some other freebie.

As a matter of fact, you can use the previously mentioned Popup app to build a spin-to-win popup.

Other types of gamification to think about include quizzes, scratchcards, and giveaways. Whatever contest you choose, it won’t be in vain as 33% of contest participants say they’re open to receiving further marketing communication about the brand and partners (Outgrow, 2021). So a little hassle is well worth the effort.

5. Use opt-in fields at checkout

Email List Building: 8 Best List Building Strategies for 2021

Another non-invasive way to collect emails is by adding opt-in fields to checkout.

Shoppers that have already made a purchase are more likely to leave contact information as they expect to receive a confirmation of their order through text or email.

Those email addresses can be added to your email list and used to notify your customers of new deals and promotions. This strategy takes the least effort, but it can yield quite impressive results if done right.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity.

Lastly, dedicate effort to making your email list healthy using an email verifier that validates the authenticity of email addresses.

6. Create a referral program

What Is Referral Marketing? (+ 8 Examples and Strategies)

A referral program rewards customers who successfully refer new people to your business. Monetary incentives are necessary for both the referral and the referee.

For example, you may give $20 discounts to both parties. The reward should only be issued when the referee submits their details and makes a purchase.

It’s been proven countless times that people trust recommendations from friends and family more than a business’s marketing efforts so incentivizing your paying customers to introduce the people they know to your product makes a lot of sense.

A nice bonus of this strategy is the fact that new customers acquired through it are more loyal and interested in what you have to offer. It’s a win on all fronts.

7. Nurture subscribers using an automated email campaign

After you collect emails using the above tactics, be sure to nurture those prospects into customers.

Section 5 of our eBook 7 Steps for Turning Visitors Into Customers details how you can segment your email campaigns and tailor each campaign to the audience’s needs. It also features some statistics that will convince you to segment campaigns and yield the best results.

Check out the eBook for more ideas on how to grow your email list and - subsequently - your business.

Wrap Up

If done correctly, these seven strategies will help you build an email list from scratch. Make sure to use the ones most suited to your business needs.

If, for example, you already have a popup on your eCommerce website, you may refrain from using an embedded signup form.

If you don’t feel comfortable including opt-in fields at checkout, skip that step too.

However, we highly recommend employing a lead magnet, gamification, and referral program in your marketing activities. Those three are foolproof methods of growing an email list.