Email marketing can’t go without a regular email list growing. 25% of your base decays each year (that’s why you should run a dedicated campaign to clean it at least once a year). Even if your list is impressive, there is no reason to relax – you might lose it before you know it.
Besides, who wouldn’t want to grow her list? Who would say, „No, thanks, I’ve got more than enough addresses in my base, no need for more?”
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Marketers with too small list face the burning need to grow their audience because without it you can’t implement any more sophisticated and personalized ideas (like segmentation).
But before we focus on ways to win new email addresses, let’s ask one question.
Is small list a problem?
Well, not always. Take a look at your email marketing KPIs: Open Rate, Click Through Rate, Unsubscription Rate. Are these satisfactory? Keep them and go back to that metrics as you grow the list to see whether you gain new potential customers or some random addresses of people who are not interested in your offer. Compare your KPIs as the list expands.
1. Something in return
Let’s start with a basic assumption: nobody is going to give you her address if you can’t answer a question „Why? What’s in it for them?” It’s all about eternal gift economy: I give something to you, so you give something to me. The exchange is a foundation of the society and civilization. Cialdini says: “We are human because our ancestors learned to share their food and their skills in an honored network of obligation.”
So respect the law of reciprocation: what are you going to give in return? An access to useful knowledge? An opportunity to network? Or jus a discount?
2. Buyer Persona
How do you know which incentive would work? How do you choose your lead magnet? Well, deep insight into your audience’s needs and challenges will be essential. That’s how you could use Buyer Persona: a conceptual image of your customer, based on research, surveys, analytics, feedback, social media and many others.
If you’re interested in trying that tool, check out our free ebook: Buyer Persona in Marketing Automation. It describes in detail how to build a persona and use it on the everyday basis.
If you don’t have time or resources to go deeply into the persona question, just focus on finding out what will be a useful material or tool for your potential customers.
3. Valuable Content
Neil Patel says that one great post, updated regularly, can be the primary source of new addresses. How to create such a piece?
• Pick a topic that is meaningful to your audience. Go through Quora and social media. See what trending posts your competition produced.
• So you’ve found your subject. Great! Now write, remembering the rules of good content marketing
• Make sure that your subject is an evergreen, not something that will be outdated in 3 months.
• Put a subscription form there. How does it look? Is it visible?
• Or gate the content, so the user gets access when she gives you her email address. It can increase subscription rate from 1% to 5 – 10% provided that the piece is exquisite.
4. Other forms of gated content
Gated content (content that can be accessed only after logging in) is the most efficient way to obtain new contacts. It might include not only posts but also:
– ebooks
– case studies
– email courses
– templates
– quizzes (read our case study about Bonobos using quizzes in their content marketing)
5. Free tool
Are you looking for a different subscription magnet? You can provide a free tool. CoSchedulee created a free Headline Analyzer for marketers – their target group –to use. That way the audience gets a substantial benefit (a functional and free tool improving their everyday work) in exchange for personal data.
6. Make a subscription box visible
Sometimes marketers hide forms on the bottom of the website, and it seems tough to find these (and impossible on mobile devices). Now is the moment of truth: see your forms and say: can a user find them quickly? Do the attract eye?
Consider static forms (iframe), putting them on sidebars (check for mobile experience – will the box be visible when the website is browsed on a smartphone) or applying popups. Which one will work best for you? Take a close look at the last one.
7. Popups
Popups can increase the number of new subscribers twice: Entrepreneur.com boosted subscriptions by 86% and sales by 162% thanks to popups.(source : WebMeUp).
8. Personalized forms
As Rainbow Tours case study proves, personalized contact forms can increase lead generation by 45%. A bit of knowledge about user’s interest will allow customizing forms. That way you can promise the most concrete and relevant benefit.
To personalize your contact forms, you will need Marketing Automation software (as it requires contact tracking and dynamic content in the real time).
9. Test contact forms
Sometimes a little change (a different copy or a different button color) can bring dramatic results. That’s why it’s vital to run A/B testing on the regular basis. That way you know what your real users prefer, so don’t speculate, just test what you can test.
10. Don’t be afraid that it will look ugly
Many marketers are scared that popups or sidebar or forms can ruin website’s aesthetics. To be honest, they’re right. Objectively a website without a popup is prettier, and minimalism looks gorgeous. But you can’t pay the bills with gorgeousness, sorry.
We wrote before about the fact that ugly websites often sell better because they put function first. And that approach drives revenue: function should always be more important than aesthetics. Collecting emails and list growth are essential aims of your website, so submit a design to realizing that.
11. Get more sources
A common mistake is to limit yourself to one or two main channels of growing subscribers’ list. To change that you should start from:
– identifying list building tools that you’ve used and they delivered the desired effect
– identifying list building tools that you’ve used but the result weren’t satisfactory
– List building tools you haven’t tried.
Now be critical: maybe you’ve tried too little new things? Maybe you used the new methods in a wrong way? When you notice a problem, begin with reviewing the situation, your resources, and steps already made in the desired direction. Spot and understand your mistakes.
12. Retargeting
Retargeting campaigns (AdWords, Facebook or RTB networks) are a great idea for reminding your brand to the people who visited and left the website. In the remarketing creations, you can not only encourage users to buy but also to subscribe (In exchange for a bonus).
Remarketing is a great place for such action: especially if you personalize campaigns with Marketing Automation.
13. Conduct a webinar
Webinar during which you share your expert knowledge will increase the amount of addresses in your base. According to Adobe B2B report, it’s the best Lead Generation technique.
The most important part of preparing it is choosing the right topic: something that interests your audience (and about what you has a lot to say). Invite guest to make your webinar more attractive.
Also, follow up: prepare a recording and express willingness to answer all questions that might have appeared after the webinar.
14. Dedicated Landing Pages
When you create a list growing campaign, prepare a dedicated landing page. Put 1 (one!) CTA there, so you don’t distract the user with multiple options and mixed signals. Simplify your message.
Apart from a CTA, your landing page should also include some arguments for subscribing. Show specific numbers, stats or customers’ reviews and opinions (or telling how many satisfied subscribers you have). Remember about reducing risk (share your newsletter policy: how often do you send messages, what do you send).
Your landing page has 8 seconds to draw user’s attention, so give up long, sophisticated essays, but deliver concise and easy to digest message.
15. Welcome Mat
Welcome Mat appears on the website and hides the content for a moment, so the user sees only a subscription form or a „Follow me” button.
Some inspiring examples of using that tool you can find on Zac Johnston’s blog.
And the best part: you can have your welcome mat for free (see Sumo).
16. Organize and online contest
Contests in which you have to register to participate can massively grow your list, but at a cost: sometimes you gather the data of people who will never buy from you. In the effect, you might increase the number of subscribers only temporarily or gain worthless contacts.
How to avoid that? Firstly, be sure that your awards will appeal to your target group (and not something universally desired). Be also sure that the form of the contest puts potential customers in the best position.
17. Put the subscription form on the blog’s homepage
Put it everywhere. On the homepage, in each post, in many parts of the website, so a user must come across it as she browses.
18. Be organic
Grow your list organically: add only the people who agreed knowingly to receive your messages. Don’t buy lists. Don’t add addresses manually – not even business partners, well-wishers or your mum. The double opt-in procedurę is sacred.
Organic list-building means that you don’t go shortcuts. The growth rate might be slower, but stable, and your base will be more valuable.
19. Send welcome messages
After someone has subscribed, send her a welcome message saying „Thank you” or create a welcome cycle introducing a user to the world of the brand. That way you will escape the situation when user forgets about subscribing to the list when she gets the first email two weeks later. With welcome messages, you will lose less newly acquired leads.
20. Measure
Each marketing action you undertake should be measured. When it comes to list building, you should measure not only the growth rate but also effectiveness of campaigns (how OR, CTR and unsubscription rate are affected by the base enlargement) and monitor also:
– Amount of SQL (Sales Qualified Leads),
– ROI,
– Cost per lead
– Sales closing rate
– Cost per customer
Source: Marketing Profs
Monitoring these metrics will help you see if you don’t grow the base at the cost pf its quality and react as soon as it happens.
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