Your Email List: 7 Ways to Grow Your Email List

At Blueprint.Inc, we believe in the power of email and we always have. This is your most direct communication with your customer. Yes, your website matters, your social media matters and your customer service matters. But, only one thing can augment each of those. That one thing is email.

When you have an engaged email list, you have much more than just emails.

Through email, you can:

Connect directly to your customers or potential customers.
Keep your brand top of mind.
Use your email list to create a custom audience on social media platforms for paid promotions and ads.

For anyone unconvinced previously that email is King, the pandemic shutdowns may have changed that thought. Email lets you connect directly with your customer. Directly. Your email will arrive in their inbox. They will see it. It’s up to them if they open it, but it’s there. No other form of marketing is as powerful.

Also, your email list is an asset you own. Subscribers can unsubscribe, yes. But, you do not need to worry about a change in algorithm that will affect your email list like you do with social media and SEO on your website.

So, how do you grow your email list? It’s much harder than it was just 10 years ago, but it’s possible and it’s worth doing right. There are at least a 100 ways to grow an email list, but today we are going over our top 7 ways.

#1 Give something free in order to receive emails. Do so with a pop-up on your site. For example:

If you have an online store, offer 10% off in exchange for a new email subscriber.
If you have a B2B business, offer a free PDF download filled with useful information in exchange for an email.
Compile information you already have into an easier-to-navigate ebook. It’s free in exchange for an email.
Make sure that the content you are offering for free, in exchange for an email, is hyper-relevant to the customer you wish to gain.

#2 Host a giveaway:

One example is to host a giveaway with like-minded brands. If you own a local cosmetics store, team up with a local boutique, a local jewelry store and a local day spa. Together, offer a nice prize and everyone promotes the prize online, via email, on social media and in-store. Pick one winner. It’s likely that everyone who enters the giveaway will like all the brands involved and be a good customer to all.
Another example is to offer something from your own company, perhaps a facial, a beautiful bag, a 5-hour home design consultation, a free oil change for 5 years, free donuts every month for a year … there are so many possibilities. What do you do best? What can you giveaway? Host a giveaway and then promote it through a platform like Viralsweep. Use a paid promotion on Facebook and Instagram to spread the word to a targeted audience.

#3 Use a popup on exit-intent from your website:

When someone is leaving your site, a pop-up to remind them to sign up for your newsletter as they likely enjoyed what they were just reading. Again, offer them something. “Sign up and receive our list of The Top 6 Reasons Your Marketing is Not Working” Don’t just say “Sign up for our newsletter.” No one wants to sign up for a newsletter. People want to sign up for something where they get something they want, immediately.

#4 Create a quiz which require entering an email to receive the results. If you use Mailchimp, Fyrebox is a great Quiz integration for your website.

Which Nashville neighborhood Should You Live in?
Which Atlanta Restaurant Should You Eat at Tonight?
What Countertop is Best for YOUR Kitchen?
Which Dress is Right for YOUR Body?
What Email Platform is Best for Your Business?
What Website Platform is Best for Your Business?

#5 If you have a retail store, always ask for email when checking someone out. ALWAYS!

This seems obvious, but it rarely happens. And, retail clerks often seem apologetic to ask. Simply ask and give them a reason to sign up.
- “Can I get your email to send you your receipt so you won’t have to worry keeping up with it?”
- “Can I get your email so that we can send you special saving as they come up?”
- “Can I get your email so that we can send your our monthly round up of favorite products?”

#6 Consistency:

Be consistent! Depending on your business will determine how often to send emails. But, we suggest at least once a week. At the barest of minimums once a month, but it hurts to put that out there. If once a week is too daunting, really try for every two weeks.
Unsubscribes: don’t worry about them (for the most part). As you send emails, people will unsubscribe. Make sure you are putting out good content and then be okay with unsubscribes. You will have a cleaner list of people who WANT to hear from you!
- If your unsubscribes are concerning, there are more sophisticated tactics to help.
  - A welcome series to new subscribers to let them know who you are before you start sending them your regular emails
  - Segmenting of your audience for different interests
  - Look at your emails. Are they ones you would want to receive? Do they look nice? Are they helpful? Be your own critic and continue to optimize what you are doing.

#7 YouTube video with link to a download PDF in it:

If you have YouTube videos, please start adding a call out for a PDF download that is filled with great info to your video. And, a good reminder at the end of the video as well. Then, right where people can see the description of your video, add a link, right there, for that free download. You want to capitalize on the other marketing you are doing and be able to convert it into emails!

Hopefully at least a few of those email list growing tactics spoke to you and you can now implement a plan to start growing your email list today.

If this seems overwhelming, or you simply do not have the time, please let us know. At Blueprint Marketing, one of the things we specialize in is growing email lists and we’d love to work with you. Contact us here!