How to Engage and Grow Your Email List

Sharayu Thakare

4 min read

‘Email marketing is the meet up for coffee. The original 1 to 1 channel.’

Erik Harbison, CMO, AWeber communications.

grow your email list

Looking at email marketing as dates for a potential romance (a.k.a customer purchase) can be a tickling thought but can also be a perception changer.

Just for a moment, look at your email and think if you would say yes to this date. Would you click on the call-to-action (CTA)?

Does this change your idea of email marketing?

This shift in mindset works well for email marketing when you are building a database or wondering how to engage better with your audience. You could start with identifying potential doorways to discover your audience.

Here are some sources to grow your email list:

#1 The Store

If you have a retail store or a brick and mortar kind of setup, ask your customers to sign up while interacting.

‘Huh! Genius advice’ is what probably ran through your head.

We know the method is old but the pitch is a game changer.

Get your counter manager to make a future offer on the product your customer is interested in.

For instance, someone who has just bought pet food could be told about an upcoming sale on pet accessories or the stocking of a new food brand in the store.

To grow your email list, make the pitch a part of the conversation while billing. Tailor an offer whenever possible.

#2 Events

Just like going to a party when hunting for a date, events present multiple opportunities to collect and connect. Seminars, conferences or trade shows are probably the only events where you can chat with a significant audience size directly.

Making the most of such events is essential especially if you are a B2B company. Here’s how to collect email addresses at events effectively:

For a ticket purchase to the event, make it mandatory or optional to share the email ID.
While at the event, give away free access to eBooks, printables, freebies etc through email. Put up a tablet to make collecting email IDs convenient.
Ask people for feedback about a free sample or to fill a survey post-event. Collect email IDs for sharing the link.

#3 The Website

With more than 1.8 billion websites (source), there is so much content online it’s exhausting to create a loyal following.

If you have a website or are building one, you must have a ‘Subscribe to the Newsletter’ button. But will that be enough?

Give your website visitors a strong and workable incentive to share their ID’s.

Here’s a list of things you could try:

Offering a printable calendar or a planner with unique and catchy design can serve as a remarkable incentive. This especially works well if your industry is design oriented.
A service provider like a digital marketing agency could offer their website visitors PDF’s on digital marketing topics. You need to offer value in exchange for their personal information.
Try making a checklist or reference guide that you know your clients would love to have. Something that can come in handy every time they sit down to work. For example, an SEO checklist for content developers.
Make your opt-in box as visible as possible. This may sound counter-intuitive, but placing your box discreetly in the middle of a well-received piece of content is one of the popular list building strategies.

#4 Social Media

Enticing your social media audience to subscribe could be the fastest way to grow the email list. Your social media fans know who you are and what you offer. For active engagement with your brand you could try this:

Include in your description a landing page from where your followers can subscribe. This is a passive approach that increases your chances of converting your social media fan base to a dedicated email list.
Hold a contest or promote an offer that requires an email address to participate. It takes a lot to pull your audience off a social networking site. Make an irresistible offer that compels them to leave their social media handle. Selling a trade secret could work well.
Use your LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook profile to cross-promote the same offer that’s on your blog. You could simply redirect them to the blog post.

A tip to remember is that social media platforms are designed to be visually engaging. When you pull your audience off a handle make sure your landing page is equally easy to navigate and visually appealing.

Gathering a database is just the beginning of the process. You could very easily be rejected by your email list if you don’t follow these basic Email Marketing guidelines.

Deliver what you promise at the time of signing up. Do it as fast as you can.
Don’t ask for too much information while a person is opting in. Unless necessary, keep it to just the name and email ID.
We cannot iterate the importance of content enough. It’s what will keep your audience interested in you.
Try to make a visually attractive landing page. Avoid using words like ‘Subscribe’ or ‘Join email list’ on your opt-in buttons. Try something engaging like ‘Get My eBook’ or ‘I Want This Now’.
Touch a particular email list only with relevant information. Segregate them using Email marketing solutions and statistics tools. (could we put in some recommendations)
When choosing bulk email services like MailChimp or SendGrid, do look at customization features and analytics. You don’t want to be stuck with a rigid software in a dynamic and exciting environment.

Wrap Up

Email marketing has an average ROI of 3800 percent and is the third most influential source of information for B2B audiences (source). Given these statistics, it isn’t a surprise that marketers love it. Use these techniques to test new waters while watching your business grow.

Happy Marketing!