How to Build an Email List From Scratch: 14 Powerful Tactics (2022)

Have you ever wondered how to build email list from scratch?

If you’re unsure what an email list is or why it matters, this blog will explain everything. We’ll also cover the benefits of having a large email list and how to grow your own quickly.

You can use your email list for many things, including marketing campaigns that drive sales and customer retention. This guide will show you exactly how to do that!

It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting with no subscribers at all or have been building up a small subscriber base over time – we’ll help get your numbers growing quickly!

So, without further ado, let’s get started on how to build email list from scratch.

What Is An Email List?

An email list looks a lot like your conventional contact list. It’s as simple as sending emails to existing and new customers instead of SMS or phone calls.

An email list comprises many email addresses – everybody registered to your article, website, or even monthly newsletter. They’re interested in learning more about what you have to offer.

Email marketing, on the other hand, entails more than merely sending emails. Online firms desire to reach out to potential customers. This is where opt-in and signup forms come in handy.

Email marketers also use lead magnets to create leads; they may also employ popup forms and Google/Facebook advertisements to expand their businesses.

Why Is List Building So Important?

A corporation requires more than one sort of email. As a result, keeping different email lists for the various types of emails you’d like to send is critical.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, mail marketing has a return on investment of at least 4.900 percent for small businesses in the United States.

The email recipients want to learn more about your website, brand, and products or services. By visiting the link, people may confirm that they are genuine.

New subscribers are more inclined to become consumers because of the following factors:

How To Build Email List: List-Building Techniques That Work

1. Choose Your Platform

Before doing anything else, you must first decide which email program you want to use.

This will be determined by various things, including your company’s desires and needs, but you’ll have plenty of possibilities to select from. Constant Contact is a terrific place to start for newbies, but it’s not the only option. Take a look at similar email marketing tools like:

They’ll all have comparable features and capabilities, for the most part. It all boils down to your choices in terms of interface, cost, and other things.

Before making a decision, compare at least a handful of these options. One thing is sure: you will want the software to assist you with this process.

Platforms for email marketing will make your life a lot easier. That’s because what you’re attempting to do here isn’t the same as sending out a bulk email to your friends and family.

If you want to take things seriously, sending promotional information to your subscribers directly from your email account isn’t a practical solution.

Plus, doing everything manually would take a lot longer than it needed to. We both know how valuable your time is, so take advantage of any time-saving marketing solutions that are accessible.

2. Incentivize People to Subscribe

After you’ve decided on a marketing platform, you’ll need to set up a technique for collecting addresses on your site. But, first and foremost, you must be able to persuade them to sign up, i.e., offer them a cause to present you their emails.

People aren’t going to give you their emails for free. As a result, building a simple email registration form with the message “Sign up to our list to receive our newest content from our site” will most unlikely give you high conversion rates.

Creating a lead magnet that entices people to sign up is one of the most acceptable methods to get someone’s email address.

Here are a few suggestions:

These incentives entice visitors to register using their email id. You may develop lead magnets that will perform best for your target demographic and their behavior.

However, you’ll find that combining all these distinct concepts gives the most significant outcomes in most cases. Furthermore, content upgrades (an extra piece of content tailored to a single blog article) will provide the best results when your marketing plan grows.

3. Make Your Pop-up forms for Your Web Page

Pop-ups may have a reputation for being rude and intrusive, but if they are well-designed and have a specific mission, they may be a game-changer when it comes to growing your list.

One crucial suggestion when building pop-up forms is to keep the user experience in mind. This guarantees that your pop-ups are timely and relevant.

Pop-ups may now be used in a variety of ways. You may, for example, make an “unexpected” pop-up bubble that emerges after the visitor has invested some time on the website or has browsed and interacted with it.

If you have a better grasp of your audience, on the other hand, you can use that knowledge to build a more visual pop-up form that also promotes the value of your product.

Marketers must make their pop-ups appealing in general by using high-quality content and attractive incentives such as a free ebook, promo coupons, and so on.

There is a variety of online form builder software available to assist you in creating beautiful forms to collect email addresses.

4. Create Calls to Action (CTAs) For Your Webpage Page

It’s reasonable that few individuals will look for a means to join your email list. As a result, you should present customers with various opportunities via your material, such as a Facebook page, blog post, or websites in general. If your online marketing approach incorporates any content marketing, this is what you need.

To begin with, it would be a waste to offer excellent materials for your readers and not use them to expand your mailing list.

Let’s say you’ve written a beginner’s guide on customer personas, and you’ve gotten a lot of traffic. In such a situation, implementing a CTA like “Get these 4 BONUS Consumer Persona instances and raise your sales today!” is more than necessary to persuade visitors to join your email newsletter.

Even if you don’t have a lot of resources to develop such high-quality content, people will appreciate it if you bring value to your audience. Of course, they won’t feel compelled to sign up for your newsletter.

5. Make a Landing Page That Converts Email Subscribers

When starting an email list, it’s a good idea to branch out from your site. In this scenario, do so by developing one or more landing pages that are linked directly to your LinkedIn advertisements, Facebook ads, and so on.

Assume you want to provide free delivery, a special deal, or a limited-time discount. It’s considerably preferable to redirect people to a specific landing page rather than your homepage, where they can get lost.

Online businesses must offer a seamless experience for users to attract their attention and bring them to the desired action. The crossover from the ad to the next thing consumers view must be “fluid” and meaningful.

In general, three main features are required to construct a high-converting landing page:

6. Make the Most of Your Social Media Platforms

Social networking is a powerful technique that may aid in the growth of your email list. If your company uses social media in addition to email marketing, you must take advantage of this channel.

First and foremost, you may increase your total lead generation by including a signup tab or opt-in form on your Facebook profile. It’s simple to accomplish, yet it may make a big difference if you’re just starting.

You may also undertake a social media campaign to encourage your social media followers to subscribe to your newsletter. As you may be aware, social media provides a massive reach and enhanced visibility, so whether you run a tiny business or not, it is well worth your time to participate.

Furthermore, social media may be used to help in marketing. Running marketing campaigns with unique discounts and vouchers for those who join your mailing list is a fantastic idea.

Lead Ads, which enable in-platform form entry with little friction, are also available on Facebook. These ads are mobile-friendly and don’t need a landing page.

Finally, as you’ll see in the following strategies, social media is a great tool to advertise your competitions and giveaways and expand their reach.

7. Create a Contest That Will Go Viral Amongst Your Target Audience

A viral event is one in which participants are encouraged to distribute it in exchange for additional entries. For example, you might give each reference who registers up for the contest 25 other entries. The person must submit their email address to join up, making this a terrific list-building approach.

This is a terrific option to start with since it encourages others to sign up by encouraging them to perform your marketing for you.

That’s not all, though. Contests that go viral are fun to get people to create user-generated material (UGC). Apart from being unique and honest, this content can enhance brand trust and attract more people to interact with it.

This effectively translates to increased signups, with some of them undoubtedly converting into new clients. As a result, using UGC has a twofold advantage.

8. Contact Your Audience Personally

Another method for growing your email list is to contact your connections. At least a few people on your contact list are likely interested in signing up.

Send them a mail telling them that you are starting an email list and explaining why they should join. You can even persuade them to distribute the information to their contacts.

If you have a customer base for your service but no email list for content promotion, you may do the same thing. Reach out to your users and ask whether they’d want to receive emails from you about your newest and best stuff.

9. Establish a New Signup Referral Program

Nothing beats having your existing customers raise awareness about you and your company to increase your email list rapidly.

A recommendation from a friend is a specific approach to get people to sign up for your mailing list, let alone trust your business and buy from you.

As a result, creating and implementing a referral program for new members is critical. Many people are naturally motivated to make their friends happy. Therefore, you must provide them with the opportunity to do so.

Furthermore, you will provide them with a compelling motive to do so, obviously, by giving them additional incentives. And it is the most fundamental marketing rule: provide more value!

Referral programs are the most common ways to grow a robust and loyal subscriber base in eCommerce.

Luckily, several tools make the procedure simple and user-friendly while removing the need for sophisticated knowledge. ReferralCandy, Tapfiliate, and Partnerstack are just a few examples of such products.

10. Organize a Giveaway

Freebies are another practical approach for most internet shops to gain new email subscribers these days. The reason for their effectiveness is that word of the giveaway spread quickly, allowing you to acquire many email addresses in a short amount of time.

This is particularly the case if you’re advertising on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, which are not only famous but also cost-effective.

When designing your freebie, there is one crucial thing to remember. The reward you’re giving away must be relevant to and targeted towards your target market.

You’re not only increasing the number of people who enroll in your email list this way. You’re generating quality leads, which are critical for your company’s success.

Last but not least, gifts have the added advantage of raising brand recognition. There’s no harm in attracting new potential clients while expanding your mailing list.

11. Make Use of a Scroll Box

It’s critical to provide a call to action to your audience at the proper time. Scroll boxes are required for lead creation because of this.

A popup launched when web users reach a specific point might be a subtle yet efficient technique to acquire their email address, based on the genre of the page. It all boils down to determining when consumers are most likely to convert.

A/B testing can help company owners identify the “perfect moment” depending on visitors’ on-page behavior.

12. Play Around With Popup Templates (Exit-Intent, Inline, Full-Page)

You’re already familiar with some of the provoked popup forms, but there are plenty more to try out.

First, you should think about employing exit-intent subscription forms, which show in front of website visitors when they “sense” they are about to leave the page.

They’re helpful since they can bring in signups that would otherwise go unnoticed. Make sure you write compelling text to get the most out of them.

Next, experiment with other attention-getting options, such as inline or full-page forms. Inline forms can integrate with the rest of the page’s content while still drawing attention to them.

13. Encourage Them to Sign Up by Using Your Email Signature

Include a newsletter registration link in your email signature as another practical way to expand your email list. It involves no work, is simple to set up, and, of course, is ideal for building your list from the ground up.

Consider it this way: you and the other firm employees regularly contact various individuals through email. If you include a registration link in your email signature, people will learn more about your firm.

Naturally, if such exchanges are excellent and profitable, those sent emails are more likely to attract additional subscribers.

14. Using Offline Techniques to Enhance List-Building

Pop-Ups, navigation bars, and landing pages are all effective. However, it would be a waste not to use the offline options available to expand your list. If you have a physical store, keep your business cards on the counter or in a booth.

Encourage customers to leave their contact information for a hassle-free email registration experience. However, this implies that you’ll have to complete the job manually and send a double opt-in email later.

Finally, if you’re attending events or fairs, make sure you have a registration list that includes a place for collecting email addresses.

Additional Tips to Build a Massive Email List

Mistakes to Avoid In Email Campaigns

Email marketing remains an excellent tool for generating great marketing campaigns, particularly for young entrepreneurs. Without breaking the bank, it may captivate an audience, grow a readership, and lead sales.

While email as a medium serves many organizations effectively, many email campaigns fail due to various factors, including stale content and poor planning. Here are the most typical email marketing blunders of small businesses to help you avoid them.

Using Substandard Subject Lines

If you look through your inbox, you’ll see that many you don’t open most of the emails you receive. Do you know that over 47% of email subscribers open an email solely based on the subject line?

Interestingly, 69% of email receivers rate emails as spam based merely on the headline. Marketers frequently fail to recognize that inflated subject lines are the primary reason receivers send advertising emails to the spam folder.

Even if readers try to avoid classifying usual senders as spam, promises of the unattainable might entice them to delete the email message. When writing subject lines, keep the following elements in mind:

Failure to Send an Invite Email

Let’s imagine a new member discovered the importance of the content offered in your email newsletters while browsing your website and chose to join up. You’re making a mistake if you plan to send them regular newsletters right after signing up.

Welcome emails (or a welcome email series) have the most significant open rates of all marketing emails and provide a terrific opportunity to interact with your consumers. This is the primary reason why welcome letters should be issued as soon as possible after signing up.

Welcome emails earn 320% more money than ordinary marketing letters. Furthermore, these emails had a staggering 196 percent click rate and a 336 percent transaction rate compared to other emails.

Not Allowing Your Subscribers to Respond

Among the most common blunders that marketers make when sending emails is “do not reply” messages. No one wants to receive emails from a company that doesn’t allow them to respond.

Make sure that your newsletters are delivered by email so that the reader may respond. If you find that handling this is a bother, you might include a reply back button that directs visitors to a dedicated landing or squeeze page where they may submit any questions they have.

Mobile Readers Are Given Less Consideration

According to studies, more than 77 percent of Americans view their emails on their cell phones. The importance of designing your email communications for desktop users is demonstrated by this statistic alone. Potential customers may be irritated by a mobile-unfriendly message.

There’s a good chance that they’ll unsubscribe or stop reading your communications in the future. To prevent this, you must make every effort to ensure that your emails are mobile-friendly.

Marketers cannot control lousy network quality or outdated devices, but they may create layouts that allow their readers to view the material more correctly.

Omitting a Call-To-Action Button

If you’re sending emails to your consumers, ensure they are unique and releveant to them. Be explicit with your goals. Sending a simple “hi” email adds a little value to their lives.

As a result, including a call to action button is critical. Take heed of the following, though:

Failure to Keep Track Of the Campaign

The response rate of your email campaign is an essential component in establishing whether or not your current marketing approach is functioning as intended.

To analyze the efficacy of email marketing campaigns and discover which messages motivate customers to take action, they should be coupled with tracking software.

As a result, using a monitoring system may help you enhance your marketing approach and conversion rate.

Having an Overabundance of Emails in Your Inbox

This is among the most prevalent campaign blunders made by marketers. To avoid sending too many emails, advertisers overpopulate their emails with too many bargains, product information, and notifications.

Although the initial intention was to ensure maximum information exchange with fewer emails, it may negatively impact readers’ thinking.

Readers nowadays prefer emails that focus on a single primary point in the text, conveying the message clearly in the subject line. Additionally, ensure that the email loads promptly on both desktop and mobile platforms.

Making Use Of Complicated Opt-In Forms

It’s not a terrible idea to have an email signup form on your website, but don’t make too many questions essential.

Include clickable and straightforward checkboxes instead of gathering a lot of information to figure out what the recipient is interested in. They’ll understand what they’re getting into and feel more empowered as a consequence.

Including Photos with a Low Resolution

Pixelated images, stretched or otherwise unappealing, appear amateurish and distract from your message. Working with a high-resolution photograph and downsizing if necessary is preferable. There’s no way to make a low-resolution picture sharper.

Way Overly Aggressive In Selling

Even if you avoid trigger phrases and exclamation marks, if you’re not attentive with your content, you might miss your goal with email marketing. Let’s assume you send out an email and then cut-and-paste it to send it again.

That’s an easy method to irritate your recipients by being caught in a SPAM filter. If you need to resend an email for a good cause, modify the subject line so your consumers understand why you’re sending it twice.

Not Performing A/B Testing

If your email marketing campaign isn’t yielding the desired results, you know something isn’t right. A/B testing is a method for determining what’s wrong and how to fix it.

In other words, you’ll test two alternative subject lines or even two distinct email campaigns to determine which one generates the most interaction. That’ll help you decide where to spend your time and money.

Sending Emails at Inopportune Times

Do you send emails at midnight or on Sunday afternoons? That was a wrong decision. Examine your send history and open analytics to determine the optimal time to send emails so that your recipients read and respond to your marketing communications.

Frequently Asked Questions

Takeaway

It’s impossible to create an email list from the start in a single day. However, by using these easy and successful strategies, as well as avoiding the blunders listed above, you’ll be able to grow your subscriber’s list in half the time.

Some of these approaches will be more effective than others. I will advise you to mix match them to get your company’s most significant potential outcome.

Once you’ve mastered the basics of how to build an email list from scratch, you’ll want to move on to more complex approaches like webinars and podcasts.

Remember, it’s not about how quickly you can expand your list; it’s about how successfully you can get a new website visitor’s email address and keep them.