How to Build an Email List: 10 Proven Strategies

Building an email list is the foundation of an effective email marketing program. That, however, is easier said than done. This blog will delve into the top strategies and best practices for building a business email list, its importance, and more.

An email list is a collection or a list of email addresses used by businesses or individuals to send marketing messages, such as company newsletters and announcements, product recommendations, promotions, offers, etc., to people who have opted in to receive such emails. While adding email addresses consistently to the business mailing list is not easy, a comprehensive strategy of offering something valuable and relevant to potential subscribers, such as content, special offers, exclusive access, and so on., can nudge people to sign up.

Why You Should Build an Email List

Building and maintaining an email list for marketing is important for a number of reasons, including: 

• It provides value for your business as it represents a pool of potential customers – individuals with genuine interest in your products or services.
• Your mailing list provides a direct, one-on-one communication channel with your customers and prospects.
• You have complete control over your business email list, which makes it a reliable channel for your marketing and outreach efforts.
• It is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing channels, generating an average of $36 for every dollar spent.
• It enables you to drive personalized and targeted marketing by segmenting the recipients based on their needs, preferences, and behaviors.
• It helps keep your target audience engaged with relevant and timely emails.
• It provides you valuable insights into evolving customer tastes and preferences over time.

10 Proven Tactics to Build an Email List for Marketing

Here are the proven methods that can help you build an effective business mailing list for your business and ensure its consistent growth over time.

1. Creating an opt-in pop-up form for your website

Website pop-ups are one of the most effective ways of capturing your audience’s contact information. They are quick and convenient for marketers to add to the website as well as for website visitors to share their information.

Here are a few key considerations for creating and implementing effective pop-up forms:

• Include a compelling headline or title that clearly states a key benefit that the visitors can expect after subscribing to your email list.
• Add a brief description to explain your value proposition that nudges visitors to sign up.
• Keep the form short and simple. Ask for only necessary information like name and email address.
• Ensure the pop-up appears after a visitor has spent a certain amount of time on a page, such as exit pop-ups. Pop-ups that appear soon after page loads disrupt visitors’ experience and can cause them to bounce off.
• Try different types of pop-up forms, such as exit pop-up, delayed pop-up, scroll trigger, fullscreen, on-click, etc., to see what’s working the best.

2. Including a relevant call to action (CTA) for each landing page or blog

Including relevant and tailored CTAs on blogs and landing pages is an effective strategy for getting visitors’ contact information, enhancing their experience, and keeping them engaged. However, this requires a well-planned strategy for creating quality content and resources, taking into account the high-performing pages and topics that resonate the most with the target audience.

For example, if your blog on “Key Customer Engagement Platform Capabilities You Should Look for” is attracting good traffic, you can include a CTA, such as “Download key customer engagement platform capabilities checklist.” Offering something valuable to readers can help convert them into subscribers.

3. Optimizing CTA copy and A/B testing

The CTA copy should clearly convey the action and the value you offer. It should also be interesting enough for the audience to click on it. As a best practice, using non-generic CTA copy as much as possible is recommended.

It’s important to convey what benefits the potential subscribers will get once they sign up like access to exclusive content, special offers, early access to events, etc. For example, for an eBook download CTA, you can use “Get the eBook” or “Get your complimentary copy”; for a business email list subscription, you can use “Get exclusive access” or “Get the latest content in your inbox,” and so on.

Run A/B tests using different visual elements and copy to identify what’s driving the most conversions.

4. Offering incentives

Incentives are a great way to nudge website visitors to sign up for your email list. Sign-up discount offers, free shipping, or any other offers exclusive to new users can entice visitors to subscribe to your business mailing list and make their first purchase.

Making the offer time-sensitive can push visitors to sign up immediately, such as offering an additional 10% discount to new users until November 30.

5. Gamifying the process

Gamification of the sign-up process is a fun yet powerful way of driving visitors to subscribe. One of the most widely used tools is the spin-the-wheel, where visitors stand a chance to win some offers depending on where they land. This could be a buy 1 and get 1 offer, discount codes or offers, free shipping, etc., which the visitors will receive after they sign up.

6. Implementing a referral program

Referral programs are another effective and widely used tactic for growing the email addresses list. It is a type of word-of-mouth marketing, wherein existing subscribers are offered incentives to encourage them to get their friends, family, and colleagues to sign up for an app or website.

7. Using chatbots

Chatbots are an easy and efficient way to improve user engagement and turn visitors into subscribers. All you need to do is develop well-thought-out conversation flows that nudge visitors to share their contact information. It is also a great way of making the sign-up process engaging and interactive.

8. Providing an opt-in option at checkout

This is a commonly used strategy for building an email list. When shopping online, shoppers usually go directly to the checkout page to purchase something they like. On this page, they are required to enter their contact details and payment information.

Many companies include a checkbox on this form asking the shoppers if they would like to subscribe to their email. This is an effective and transparent way of building a business mailing list with the consent of the people.

9. Promoting email subscriptions on social media accounts and email signature

Companies often have a proliferating social media presence and can consider converting their followers into subscribers. Strategies include promoting your newsletter on X, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other platforms, running contests or giveaways on these platforms, promoting quality content with a link to sign up for your email to get such content directly in the inbox, and more.

You can also add an email sign-up CTA to your email signature, providing a quick and efficient way for the recipients to subscribe to your email newsletter. This is an effective way of gaining new subscribers from a pool of people who you have already corresponded with.

10. Implementing a robust email marketing software

Choosing and implementing the right email marketing platform is a must-have in today’s digital-first business environment. Most of these tools not only help store contact information but also segment the mailing list for marketing based on customer needs, behavior, and preferences.

Furthermore, email marketing platforms also simplify integrating email with other digital marketing channels, such as WhatsApp, SMS, chat, etc., for a more cohesive approach.

Best Practices for Building and Maintaining Mailing Lists

Here are the best practices that can help you build and maintain a quality email list that helps keep up your engagement and conversion rates.

1. Consent

One of the main goals of email marketers is to grow the email addresses list. While purchasing email lists or tricking people to share their contact information is easier, it is not ethical or recommended. Such tactics can affect your engagement rates in the long run and even pose the risk of getting blacklisted by email service providers and anti-spam services.

You should always ensure that every contact has been added to the list with the consent of the subscriber. As a best practice, many companies implement the double opt-in strategy wherein people are asked to confirm their consent to be added to the email list by clicking a link in an auto-generated confirmation email.

2. Accuracy and Hygiene

The email addresses in your marketing mailing list should be valid and active. Over time, you might notice that the email bounce rate or spam rate is going up.

An email bounces either due to a temporary issue like a full inbox (soft bounce) or a permanent issue such as an invalid or incorrect email address (hard bounce). Your emails can also be marked as spam by internet service providers when recipients start ignoring your emails over a long time.

You can avert this by regularly cleaning your business email list to remove email addresses that are no longer valid, or active, or have stopped engaging with your emails.

3. Segmentation

Personalization is key to making your subscribers feel valued. Instead of planning email blasts to the entire email list, send personalized emails by segmenting your list based on subscribers’ geographic, demographic, behavioral, and psychographic factors.

Crafting and sending personalized messages goes a long way to not just improve engagement and conversions but also build meaningful and lasting customer relationships.

4. Relevance

The subscribers in your email list for marketing should be aligned with your ideal customer profile and target audience. They should be genuinely interested in your products or services. Only then they will actively engage with your emails.

5. Easy Unsubscription

While it may seem counterintuitive, it is a best practice to make it easier for people to unsubscribe from your email list. The unsubscribe rate doesn’t affect the deliverability rate. However, if recipients start ignoring your email, the spam rate might go up and can cause your email to end up in the spam or junk folder.

An easy unsubscription process helps maintain a healthy email list with relevant and engaged subscribers.

6. Regulatory Compliance

Your business email list should be compliant with relevant regulations at all times. There are a number of email marketing and data privacy regulations around the world, including the CAN-SPAM Act in the US, the CASL laws in Canada, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations of 2003 in the UK, and GDPR in the EU.

Depending on your global footprint, you need to ensure compliance with regulatory mandates in respective jurisdictions. Failing to do so can result in hefty fines and penalties and can also hurt your brand image and reputation.

Some of the common regulatory compliance measures for marketing mailing lists include:

• Ensuring all the email addresses have been added to the list with subscribers’ permission and consent.
• Providing a clear and easy way for the subscribers to opt out of the email list.
• Responding to the unsubscribe or opt-out requests within 10 business days.

Measuring Success: Important Email List KPIs

Here are some key metrics for tracking email list growth and engagement:

1. List Growth Rate

List growth rate measures how quickly your email list is growing and helps you understand the effectiveness of your list-building efforts. It is calculated as:

List Growth Rate = ((Number of New Subscribers – Number of Unsubscribers) / Total Number of Subscribers at the Beginning of the Period)) X 100

2. Unsubscribe Rate

This metric indicates the relevance of your emails and how engaged your contacts are with your emails. It is the percentage of emails that led recipients to opt out of the mailing list. It is calculated as:

Unsubscribe Rate = (Number of Unsubscribed Contacts/Number of Emails Sent) X 100

3. Bounce rate

This metric measures the percentage of emails that were not delivered to the subscribers and got “bounced back” to the sender. A high bounce rate indicates potential issues with your email list, such as incorrect or invalid email addresses or spam filters. It is calculated as:

Bounce Rate = (Total Number of Bounced Emails / Total Sent Emails) X 100

4. Deliverability Rate

It measures how many emails were successfully delivered to the subscribers. A low deliverability rate is indicative of potential issues with the email list, such as emails getting filtered or rejected by the email service provider. It is calculated as:

Deliverability Rate = (Number of Emails Delivered / Number of Emails Sent) X 100

5. Spam Complaint Rate

The spam complaint rate denotes the percentage of emails that were marked as spam by your subscribers. It is calculated as:

Spam Complaint Rate = (Number of Emails Marked as Spam / Number of Emails Sent) X 100

Start Building Your Email List – Now!

Your email list is the most valuable asset of your business. Building a relevant and accurate email list is central to a successful email marketing program and the overarching marketing strategy. Regularly adding engaged subscribers to the list requires consistent effort and a well-thought-out strategy. Technology plays a key role in streamlining the process and improving operational efficiency.

CleverTap’s advanced email automation capabilities help you manage your email list effectively. You can easily integrate your email service provider and benefit from a wide range of purpose-built capabilities such as segmenting the email list, managing email preferences and personalization, handling unsubscribes, monitoring email campaign KPIs, and more.

To see how our email automation capabilities can level up your email marketing campaigns, request a personalized demo today!

Schedule a Demo Now!