How to start building an email list on your website?

You would get 121 emails today. At least if you’re an average working individual, as on an average a working individual gets somewhere around 85 – 121 emails every day.

Emails have always been (and still continues to be) an important aspect of creating a strong digital foothold. While some may be quick to disregard the efficiency and need of emails, it is the root source of achieving all your website objectives – from page views to conversions.

If you are starting new or have already started, we have a few important tips that you should follow if you want to build an email list and grow in on a constant pace.

Also read: How Amazon drives business using email marketing

Tips to build an email list for maximum reach

Start even before you go live

Even before your website is up and running, you can start amassing a list of subscribers by putting up relevant calls to action. A ‘coming soon’ website template along with a call to action like ‘know more’ can give you a head start.

Also, if you’re building the hype around it that would work amazingly well even before you go live. People want to know about something that is being talked about. If the objective of your website isn’t something that would create a buzz, it can still get the people in the industry – who are either interested in or involved in the topic – interested in your website and what it would be about. Which in turn would lead them to subscribe.

Know what you offer is of value

Building an email list isn’t that difficult when you know what you offer them is worth its money in gold. The primary agenda of every website is self-centered, they want to make a conversion. But to do that, and through maximizing reach, you have to offer something in return.

Why should someone sign up to your newsletters or to your weekly emails? What’s in it for them? Would you be sharing something that would make them live longer, richer, or save them time? If not, why should they even bother subscribing to and reading an email that only talks about how great the company or the website is.

Do the email part right

Whether it is getting the timing of sending an email or building a calendar around it, you have to know how to go about it. Targeted is the buzzword of the season and emails aren’t exempted either. Creating multiple subscriber’s categories and list will help you to send targeted mails to these, which in turn have a higher click-through rate.

Leverage your existing email lists and reach out to more subscribers by encouraging your current subscribers to share with others. And encouraging doesn’t mean asking them to share, but giving them a reason to share – and that mostly is solid content. Another way to encourage sharing is through referrals, giving a discount coupon or other rewards to existing subscribers if they share and get another person on board, is an excellent way to build an email list.

How you word your emails, what you write in the subject line, what you offer and how you present it would further determine the share-worthiness of an email. So pay special attention to this.

Content is King

Despite how clichéd that may sound, content is undoubtedly king. Even when you’re trying to build an email list of potential prospects, you have to present them with content that resonates with them and which they would be interested in.

The most common way to get email ids is by creating lead gen offers. When you offer something like an e-book or a whitepaper as an opt-in bait, you get a lot of emails ids in return. You could even do something like an invitation to a free webinar, a trial offer to test run a course, each of these have to have content in some form. And as a webmaster you have to ensure that this content is one of the best in its genre, because that would prompt people to opt in and download/consume it.

Create content plan to work this out effectively.

Harness the potential of social media

Some believe that the power of social media is at a saturation level now since it’s done to the dust. But it’s actually only increasing, the platforms might have changed and the rules of the game might not be the same anymore. But social media definitely still has the power to rake in a huge chunk of email subscribers.

Every business with a page on a social media platform must have a call to action button on it. It could be as simple as a sign up button on your Facebook page or a click here hyperlinked to an opt-in page form if you offering that in return.

Another way to use social media to get email subscribers is by promoting your lead gen campaigns and offers on social media. With targeted advertising, you can also chalk down the audience you can promote your offer to for maximum returns.

Besides, you can post regularly on platforms like LinkedIn and at industry-specific groups to reach out to your targeted audience and then invite them to share emails through a CTA in the post. This can be done on every platform actually, from Instagram to Facebook.

Run contests and giveaways

By far one of the most popular ways to build an email list is through running a contest. A contest gets the ball rolling fast and is a sure shot way of good return, provided you do it right. First off, the ‘prize’ should be an awesome one, something that would get them typing with both hands. A shoddy, off-the-rack prize never built a long email list anyway.

The idea is to choose a prize that is connected with the objective of the website and it is something that your audience would love to have. Once you get that sorted, you have to build a strategy around it and plan everything from building the hype around it to the final execution stage.

Final Thoughts

Remember that your website layout and hierarchy also plays an important role in how many people actually sign up. Hidden CTA buttons, long contact forms, and slow loading pages can deter your potential subscribers and can cost you. A de-cluttered, easy to find CTA button is as important as any of the aforementioned points, if not more.

So, let’s start to build an email list. Let us know which tip you find the most useful or your experience on how you started in the comments section.