The Dos and Don’ts of Building an Email List
There are around 4 billion email accounts worldwide.
With so many emails, it shows how much of an opportunity there is in building an email list. A strong email list is essential for a successful email marketing campaign.
But building an email list is not as easy as you might think. For instance, you should never buy an email list because of what it can do to your business reputation.
Instead, you should consider the organic ways of building your email list. You should consider ways to attract your target market so they want to be a part of your emails.
Here’s a guide on the dos and don’ts of building an email list.
Don’ts of Building an Email List
When it comes to building an email list, there are a lot of wrong ways to go about it.
You want to avoid building your email list the wrong way because it can send your emails to spam. It can also lead to a lot of unsubscribes.
This is why permission marketing is so critical to know. Permission marketing is about getting someone’s permission to email them. When you have someone’s permission, they are more likely to enjoy the emails you send them.
Without permission marketing, people are not going to recognize your emails. They are going to wonder how you retrieved their emails without their permission.
As a result, it could blacklist your email, which prevents you from sending emails to anyone.
Here are some specific don’ts to consider when building an email list.
Don’t Steal Emails From the Chamber of Commerce
One of the best pieces of advice when it comes to building an email list is not to steal emails from a local chamber of commerce.
Although the local chamber of commerce may have a list of businesses and their emails, they are intended to be used if you need to contact them regarding a general question.
You don’t want to swipe these emails and put them on your email list without asking. It’s a form of stealing without getting permission. You also can’t assume that anyone who has their email in the chamber of commerce wants to be put on a list.
Don’t Ever Buy an Email List
The next cardinal rule of email marketing is to never buy an email list.
Again, this goes back to permission marketing. Whenever you buy a list from someone who may have built up their email list, it only leads to poor results.
You need someone’s permission to email them. If enough people say that you are spam, it could lead to your email being blacklisted.
In addition, when people receive an email from you and they don’t remember signing up for it, they will often be frustrated. They are frustrated that they are getting a sales email.
Don’t Forget to Segment Your List
When you are building an email list, you don’t want to forget to segment them. This means you are dividing your email list based on the actions of your subscribers.
You don’t want to send the same email to people who just bought and to people who are ready to buy. Segmenting your email list gives you an opportunity to send personalized content.
Segmenting your list is about knowing the behavior of your audience. It’s about knowing what choices they make. And then you are sending customized email content based on their behavior.
Don’t Ignore the Analytics
The final don’t of email marketing is don’t ignore the analytics. Don’t ignore the open rate, the eCPM, the revenue, the click-through rate, and more.
If you do ignore some of the analytics, you have no idea how you can improve your emails. You have no idea what emails are performing better than others.
Analytics should be a guiding hand on how you can improve your email content. It should help you figure out what’s working when you are building an email list.
The Dos of Building an Email List
Now that you know the don’ts of building an email list, it’s important to look at the dos.
You want to see what you should be doing in order to build your email list. You want to find the best strategies when you are learning how to build an email list.
Here are the best email list tips that can help you attract more of your target market.
Do Create a Lead Magnet
If you are trying to build your email list organically, you need to consider creating an appealing lead magnet.
This is typically a guide of some sort that is attractive to your target market. It’s something that your target market wants to download. It’s something your target market will give you in exchange for the lead magnet.
Creating an effective lead magnet is all about solving problems. It’s about knowing your target market’s problems and knowing how you can help them in your business.
When you create a promising lead magnet, it makes your target market want to give you their email address so they can see how the lead magnet benefits them.
Do Use Other Means of Growing Your List
There should also be other means of growing your email list beyond a lead magnet on your website.
In the age of social media, you should be considering strategies that help you attract followers on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
When you have a strong social media presence, it can help you grow your email list. Whoever is following you on social media can jump your website and then join your email list.
While this may sound easy, it’s important that you have a social media strategy so you can build a following. You need to be consistent in what you post and have pictures or videos that want your target market to visit your website.
Do Make Your Emails Useful
When you are building your email list and you getting more and more subscribers, you want to make sure that your emails are worth subscribing to.
You want to ensure that your emails tell stories and provide insight.
If someone is added to your email list and they are bombarded by emails trying to sell to them, it can be a turn off. They may want to unsubscribe to your email list because they receive too many emails or too many of the emails are trying to sell to them.
You have to find a balance in your emails. You need to consider how your emails are telling stories to your target market.
You should also consider giving away free information. This helps you build the trust of your target market. They trust you more and find your business authentic because you aren’t trying to sell every piece of information to them.
Do Email Consistently
The last do when it comes to building an email list is making sure you are emailing consistently.
You don’t want there to be a long gap when you are emailing your list. You want to ensure that you are emailing your list consistently during the week.
You want to ensure that you responding to them if they ask you a question. When you are emailing your list consistently, it can help your business benefit.
One of the benefits is that your target market will never forget about your business. They will be reminded of what you have to offer, especially if you are sending promotions and information about your product.
Being consistent means you are also building a relationship with your subscribers. By telling them stories about how you’ve helped customers or how your business got started, it helps build a solid relationship with your email subscribers.
You are more than a business that is trying to sell something. You are a business that is showing your target market the power of stories in emails.
Now You Are Ready to Launch Your Email Marketing Campaign
There are a lot of dos and don’ts in email marketing. It’s not as easy as buying an email list and then sending out sales emails. You need to be strategic so you can avoid email mistakes or having your email getting sent to spam all the time.
Building an email list is about relationship building. It’s about knowing what your target market wants and how you can connect with them.
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