How to Build & Grow an Email List for Your Business in 2024?
Undoubtedly social media is one of the hottest platforms in today’s world. People and brands turn viral with the right kind of content, and it is easier than ever to reach out to anyone. But, despite this people still, go home to the most old-school way of digital communication– the emails.
If you thought that emails are dead, you must know that they are far from it. In fact, in the other way around, you might have heard people say ‘the money lies in the list. While you probably couldn’t figure out what it means, it becomes easier once you take a look at emails as a medium for doing business.
The Importance of Emails for Your Business
While brands have started establishing their presence on social media worldwide, it is beginning to take place only now. Before all these super feature-packed platforms existed, brands and customers found emails as the way to stay in touch. But, naturally, you ask, why use emails now when we have moved forward in the technological race? And that’s because email is still one of the most widely used platforms of communication by people. Be it registering on a platform, signing up for something new, making a purchase, etc., the need for email goes without saying.
For brands, email turns into a huge opportunity to reach out to people and stay connected. But it does more than that. Statistics say that emails beat every other platform in terms of the return on investment. And according to some sources, emails have as much as $40 return for an investment of $1. It might sound unbelievable at the moment, and you may find an argument that says these points hold only for a particular industry.
On the contrary, research suggests that email outperforms other channels in ROI for most industries and niches. Social media marketing paid search, search engine optimization, referral marketing, mobile advertising, content marketing, etc., email wins the day every time and everywhere.
On an altogether different note, brands struggle with retaining customers in today’s world. With so many choices and lower-cost options emerging almost every day in the industry, customers find it challenging to stay with one brand. For brands, on the other hand, it costs five times more to attract a new customer than to keep one. No matter how many new customers you get or unique page views you receive on your website, it comes down to how many customers are returning to shop from you.
Customer retention is the long-term solution for any business, and it goes without saying. Still, more than a few companies struggle with it. While cultivating loyalty might not be easy, successful brands are those that inspire people. Even though your products might not be ideal for every customer, it is your message that echoes around with people. In other words, people like your brand not entirely because of your product but also partly because of the message they feel related to.
Email as a platform is best served for this task. It is a channel where you can establish yourself as a brand in the eyes of the customers. Needlessly to say, you can keep them engaged as well. This promotes loyalty and gives you a voice to inspire your customers. Be it promotional emails, offers, discounts, order updates, or anything else. Emails are awe-inspiring to their core.
People subscribe to your emails to get the value, even if they don’t like your product very much. They want to hear about a new product you’ve launched, the flash sale you’re offering, the festive promotions that are coming up on your store, among other things.
For this reason, having an email list enables you to reach out to your relevant audience and keep them in the loop of your business. If you haven’t got one, it’s high time that you did! None of the things will make a difference to your brand if you don’t start working on your email list starting today.
Building and Growing Your Email List
Remember that building an email list is a fundamental way you can maximize your brand value. But don’t’ worry if you can’t figure out where to get started! We’ve gone ahead and compiled the best ways to build your email list and leverage it for unprecedented growth. Let’s take a look at them-
Understand Your Audience
The first step to building your email list is to understand your audience. You can’t just have a bunch of email ids and start sending emails because you desire. This practice will probably do you more harm than good. It is better that you start building an email list by understanding the demands of each of your customers. This is where the customer personas come into the picture.
Every customer has a unique set of preferences, likes, dislikes, demographics, history with your business, among several other things. Make sure you have a sound understanding of these before you send out any emails. Create different segments based on these personas and then move ahead to create a personalized email campaign for these segments. Remember that nobody wants to be addressed as a crowd. They want to be spoken directly and vividly. Understanding your audience will help in creating personalized email campaigns, therefore bringing more satisfaction.
Build a Website
Where will you gather your email list if you don’t have a potential place? This is where the need for a professional website kicks in! While selling on a marketplace does earn you sales, creating a website helps nurture something that entirely belongs to you. While it might seem scary at first, building a website becomes easy with hassle-free drag and drop tools like Shiprocket. You can create your website on the platform without having to master tech expertise, among other things.
Your website helps people subscribe or opt into your email list. It must have a page with your email opt-in form. Make sure you give your visitors an apparent reason to sign up for your email list.
Opt for an Email Marketing Service
An email marketing service is fundamental to your marketing strategy. As you build and grow your list, you will need to send detailed campaigns for the targeted audience. Be it promotions or regular order updates, and you can’t keep on relying on manual work in the long run. On the other hand, an email marketing service helps you automate your emails, send personalized campaigns to customers, send them regular order updates, among several other things.
Add a CTA to Your Website or Blog
Your call to action button is what your customers will fall for. Make sure you put your best efforts into creating one. Statistics suggest that personalized call to action links have a 42 percent view to submit rate compared to ordinary CTAs. And if you look at it closely, it makes perfect sense.
Your website visitors might not be looking for something specific. They might just land there for a purpose. The point is you’ve got them on your platform. How do you grab their attention? Hint: it lies in a button! Make sure your CTA is compelling enough to provoke the customer to build their email list.
Create a Pop-up for Your Website
Pop-ups and slide-ins are some of the best ways of growing your email list. Has your customer reached the end of the page? Why not remind them to subscribe to your email address with a pop-up? Similarly, someone might land on your website only to read a blog or find details about the price of a product. Your task is to capitalize on such users with prompt suggestions to subscribe to your email list. Make sure you don’t overdo it, as it may spoil your experience.
Describe the Value in Your CTA
Add value to your call-to-action link. Think of ways it will stand out. Many brands often use a long and positive CTA such as ‘Yes, I want to opt-in for your email list’ or ‘Count me in for your weekly newsletters’ Don’t shy away from experimenting with your CTAs, but make sure you add some value.
For example, you could create something that says. ‘Yes, I want to learn how to grow my business. Not only is this an affirmative statement, but it makes the user feel that they’d miss out on something by not clicking on this button. Let your CTA speak for your brand.
Promote Your Newsletter on Social Media
Remember we talked at the beginning of this article, how social media is one of the fastest platforms to spread the news. Leverage it to grow your email list. Ask people to sign up for your newsletters so that they can learn about some valuable information that you’re offering. Alternatively, you can also provide some gated content on your social media handle or create an offer that requires subscribing to your platform.
Offer an Amazing Promotion
Offering a lucrative promotion always inspires people to subscribe to your email list. Make people fall in love with your business by giving them a discount. Most brands entice customers to sign up to their email lists by offering a 10% discount on their first purchase. You can try a similar strategy for your business or let a pop-up on your website say that you’re sending a one-time discount coupon over emails. Watch the responses flood in!
Growing your email list might seem challenging. We’re not claiming that it is an easy task. But it is advantageous for your business. Once you build an email list, you can do a lot for your business, right from promoting new products to selling low-moving inventory, catching eyeballs during sales, and a lot more. Emails open the door to unprecedented profits even in the world of social media. The key is to start leveraging it today.