Secrets to build the ultimate email list ....#52
- Adrian Dionisio - business737 owner
- Jan 23, 2022
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 30, 2024
In this guide you'll learn;
What is an email list
Why an email list is important
How to build an email list
How to increase revenues and profit using your email list
Why is an email list so important?
People give you their email because they are interested in what you have to offer. They give you their info along with permission to send them updates and promotions. As you get more addresses your email list grows.
Why is it important to collect and grow this list of email addresses? With email addresses you can start email marketing;
Email marketing has one of the highest return on investment (ROI) rates
It is one of the most predictable driver of growth and sales
One of the most effective traffic channels
Email subscribers are more likely to become paying customers
Email continually outperforms most other marketing channels. When done properly it is extremely effective because;
1. Email is Personal
2. Email is Purposeful
3. Email is Targeted
4. You Own Your Email List
5. Email is One-on-One
6. More People Use Email Several Times a Day
Collecting email addresses should be a foundational part of your online marketing strategy. Convert your visitors into subscribers. This can be the first critical step to figuring out who is your potential future customer .
The personal connection
Email lists are one of the most effective ways to communicate with your customers. It offers opportunities for more personal communication.
It allows a personal connection with prospects, leads, current customers and past customers. Email marketing provides a very effective way to;
build brand equity
engage your target audience
increase revenue
accelerate profit
It registers interest, it puts a face (name) to the people who are interested or at least have shown some level of curiosity.
How to build an email list from zero
Core Actions;
Give people an incentive to give you their email
Use capture pages
Use referral programs
Use Your Social Media Accounts
Use CTAs
Offer Content Upgrades.
Use Giveaways
Leverage Social Proof
1. Give people an incentive to give you their email
You want people to subscribe to your email list. So give them an incentive - something in exchange to sign up. Give them something valuable, relevant and useful. These incentives are often called Lead Magnets.
Lead magnets are a great way to build an email list. Offer a valuable resource that your visitors really want. In order to get that resource, they will need to give you their email.
Capture emails with lead magnets that entice people to sign up. Exchange value for an email. Examples include
A free eBook
A checklist summarizing steps from a blog post
A PDF version of a blog post or case study
A cheat sheet
A coupon
A webinar registration
A template or worksheet
A free course or video/ email series
Membership
Apply the most basic rule in marketing, provide more value!
2. Use capture pages
You can build an email list outside of your home page. Instead of sending people to your homepage (where they can get lost), you can send them to a capture page.
A capture page provides information on a specific feature, product, item, or event. It makes things easy and simple for potential customers
Your capture page has one end goal – you entice them to provide you with their data. Then you can nurture the relationship between your business and your potential customers. Read why capture pages are crucial
Your marketing and advertising campaigns should focus on capture pages to get subscribers &/or sales
3. Use referral programs
make people who like what you’re doing a part of the process and your growth.
Use your own customers spread the word about you and your brand. Referral programs use current subscribers to get more email subscribers. It is a very effective tactic. Starbucks, Dropbox, and McDonald’s all use referral programs to dominate their markets
With referral programs, you incentivise and encourage your subscribers to share your offers with their friends, family, and colleagues (read more). A direct recommendation from someone you know is a great way to convince people to join your list, trust your brand and purchase from you.
This will grow your email list.
Give away something valuable in exchange for a referral - as mentioned already there are many things you can offer (look at lead magnets above). This can be free shipping, coupon, discount or even a free gift.
There are free ways to get referrals, where you don’t have to bribe your contacts with anything. These include:
adding the option to forward or share your newsletters or welcome email with others
adding the same option at the end of your lead magnets (videos, PDFs, cheat sheets, etc.)
Referral programs are among the most popular tools used in eCommerce to build a strong and loyal subscriber base.
4. Use Your Social Media Accounts
If your business is doing social media marketing then it makes sense to leverage this channel to build your list
-In your bio add a CTA / a sign-up button /opt-in form
-Run campaigns encouraging followers to subscribe
-Run campaigns offering exclusive discounts & coupons for people that sign up
-Promote your contests and giveaways for subscribers
5. Use CTA (call-to-action)
Strategically place personalised CTAs where it counts; on landing pages, blog posts, About Us page, newsletters, Home Page etc
Do
Test where you place your CTA
Use multiple CTAs on a long page
Use directional cues when the CTA is below the fold
Develop a story to guide people to your CTA wherever you place it
Use design to make it stand out (contrast, whitespace)
Create a personalised CTA for each blog or landing page.
Don’t
Don’t be afraid to go below the fold
Don’t place your CTA in a busy or cluttered area
Don’t have multiple CTAs unless they all have the same core purpose
To be effective a CTA will have;
A powerful and descriptive headline
A complimentary supporting sub header
A brief benefit statement:
An urgency or special offer statement
6. Offer Content Upgrades.
Here’s how it works;
1. Create a post.
2. Create a piece of content that goes more in-depth on the post’s topic
3. Offer viewers of your post the option to receive the upgraded content in exchange for their email.
This strategy is effective and simple. Your readers have already expressed interest in a topic by clicking through your post. Take advantage of their interest by offering them more.
7. Use Giveaways
Giveaways are a powerful tactic used to acquire new email subscribers. News of the giveaway spreads fast. Numerous email contacts can be collected in a short period of time.
The prize that you’re giving away has to be relevant and directly aimed at your target audience. In this way, you’re not just getting more subscribers to your email list, you’re acquiring qualified leads
Use this blueprint to build your list
- List customer problems
- List frequently asked questions around these problems
- Create SEO optimised posts solving these problems
- Show benefits of solving these problems
- Create free courses / lead magnets around these subjects
- Link to the free courses / lead magnets in these posts
- Gather emails of those who sign up. Build list
Uses Airbnb's formula for Email success
1. Keep Subject Lines Short
2. Use Social For Feedback
3. Focus on Emotional Outcomes
4. Include User-Generated Content for social proof
5. Clear Objective
6. Personalize to customer intent
7. Use templates to scale personalization
8. Re-Start the funnel
1. Keep Subject Lines Short
Airbnb's average subject line has 30 characters. They use those 30 characters to:
1. tell you what the email is about ( e.g. unique stays in Paris)
or
2. stimulate interest (imagine waking up to this)
Keep it short so it's readable on mobile. If it's over 50 characters, there is a chance the subject line will get cut off.
2. Use Social For Feedback
Airbnb uses social media channels for feedback wrt their campaigns. They check their socials to see
- what people are talking about
- what are they mentioning
- what are their reactions
Feedback helps guide the decision making process. Successful campaigns give insight into what structure, creative, and copy resulted in the highest engagement. Now, rinse and repeat.
3. Emotional Outcomes
Airbnb includes emotional outcomes into their emails.
They make you to feel inspired. How?
By crafting a story, putting together your dream vacation, or using pictures that create a sense of wonder, amazement and excitement.
Airbnb uses their emails to create the desire to travel. That feeling of wanting to hop on a plane right now and touchdown in a new culture.
Inspired Consumer = Bookings
4. User-Generated Content
Airbnb's emails are centred around the experience. They take user generate content from their social channels and integrate it into their emails to show the experience through a traveller's eyes. It's also great social proof.
5. Clear Objective
Airbnb has clear objectives. They do a great job of not confusing consumers.
Email structure
Creative choice
Copy writing
Call To Action
Everything points to the same obvious outcome. The consumer knows exactly what to do. If the customer is confused > no action
Be clear and concise so customers know they're making the right choice.
6. Personalisation based on customer preferences
AirBnB don't send the same email to someone who read a blog post about Italy as to someone who almost booked an Airbnb in Thailand.
They personalise based on customer preferences. Data collection helps you understand these customer insights.
They strive to understand intent. This is knowing why a consumer came to you in the first place.
Airbnb uses this to set off triggers based on a customer's intent. Example triggers:
- reading a certain blog post
- clicking through in a newsletter
- viewing but not booking
- destination choice
7. Personalisation at Scale
Airbnb scales personalisation with templates.
They create simple templates that they use for plug-and-play abilities. Templates where the content can be interchanged quickly for different cities, countries, experiences etc
8. Re-Starting The Funnel
Airbnb is obsessive over retention. At the end of the year, they send out an email looking at all the traveling you did the past year.
Then they encourage you to do it all over again. This re-engages the user and gets them back into the Airbnb app or site to book their next vacation.
Quick List; Tactics to build your email list
1. Create a landing page
2. Create a homepage sign-up box
3. Create a welcome mat
4. Create a smart bar
5. Create an exit-intent pop-up
6. Use a scroll box
7. Use a static sign-up form
8. Use free trial periods
9. Include an email field in your checkout process
10. Give a discount in exchange for an email address
11. Give a freebie in exchange for an email address
12. Pre-sell a product
13. Put a gated entrance to paid content
14. Set up a closed course sign-up
15. Host an event
16. Ask on the phone
17. Update your email signature
18. Add an autoresponder email with a call to action
19. Conduct a survey
20. Include a CTA in your social media bios
21. Pin a Tweet with a CTA to join your list
22. Reply performing Tweet with an email list CTA Tweet
23. Do a call-to-action post on Instagram
24. Facebook page cover image
25. Set your Facebook page’s call to action button
26. Set your email sign-up tab on Facebook
27. Schedule Facebook post with email CTAS
28. Post in Facebook groups
29. Start a subscribers-only Facebook group
30. Use Instagram stories swipe up feature
31. Add a link to your landing page on LinkedIn
32. Share in LinkedIn groups
33. Create a Youtube video CTA
34. Pin your call to action to your own board on Pinterest
35. Pin your call to action to a group board on Pinterest
36. Start your own group Pinterest board
37. Share an opt-in offer on Reddit
38. Answer questions on social media platformsg
40. Submit your opt-in offer to community sites
41. Host a webinar
42. Be a podcast guest
43. Start a podcast
44. Guest post on other sites
45. Republish your content
46. Add opt-in box in posts
47. Host a giveaway
48. Exclusive notifications
49. Create an email course
50. Create an email challenge
51. Create a quiz
52. Create a resource library
53. Repurpose content
54. Find and promote your evergreen content
55. Offer content only subscribers get
56. Subscriber-only deals newsletter
57. Cross-promote on other email lists
58. Ask your existing subscribers for referrals
59. Sending an email outside of your email list
60. Ask them personally
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