22 Email List Building Tips To Grow Your Business

Businesses are always on the hunt for new prospects to boost growth and sales. B2C and B2B list building are critical assets on this journey because they help you reach the right audience and target them without wasting much time. However, list building can be challenging because it involves many techniques, methodologies, and obstacles. 

You can outsource list building services to a trusted company or commit to it in-house with the right resources and infrastructure. If you choose the latter, here are 22 tips to help you. 

1) Choose the right platform

Before you build a list, you must choose an email platform that fulfills your business requirements. You can create a list of the top 5 platforms and check the benefits, features, interface, and pricing of each. For the most part, they all will have similar features and benefits; however, pick the one that caters to your business needs. 

Also, make sure the platform is reliable, easy to operate, and offers quick support. 

2) Offer incentives for subscribing

Once you have chosen a platform, you must give people a reason to subscribe to your email list. This can include

• Discount Coupons
• Free eBooks/courses
• Product/service usage guides
• Free webinar registration
• Free subscription to a magazine/newsletter, etc. 

You can entice your audience with personalized proposals as well; just ensure whatever you offer is valuable. 

3) Create unique CTAs for your website/landing pages

You must provide multiple avenues for people to find a way to your mailing lists. Call-to-action (CTA) is another useful strategy that can encourage buyers to subscribe without feeling pressurized. 

For instance, if you provide digital marketing services, adding content like “A free guide to boost your sales 5x” on your website’s home page or web pages can encourage visitors to subscribe. Make sure you place your CTAs aptly without hindering user experience.

4) Design high-converting landing pages    

You can utilize secondary landing pages to build effective email lists. They offer an incredible opportunity to convert visitors into subscribers. Let’s say you want to offer a limited-period sale. Instead of directing customers to your homepage, you can create a dedicated landing page and save the hustle. 

Take a look at the below example:

As you can see, the page encourages visitors to “Get the box” at exclusive prices. This, in turn, can help the brand acquire new email addresses, increasing the chances of conversions. Similarly, you can create a landing page per your brand’s services/products and build an email list. 

5) Trigger pop-ups when visitors exit 

Though pop-ups annoy visitors, they can do wonders if they are carefully crafted and placed, keeping the user journey and experience in mind. 

Here are a few ways to utilize pop-ups:

• You can display a pop-up box after the visitor has browsed and interacted with the website for some time. The pop-up can offer a discount on the first purchase or freebies.
• A pop-up might appear when the user intends to exit the website. Make sure the pop-up form is visually appealing and engaging enough to stop the visitor from leaving your website.

6) Create an opt-in checkbox during checkout 

Offer an opt-in checkbox during the checkout process where buyers can purchase as a guest but provide their email addresses to receive order updates. This serves two purposes:

• You build your subscriber list
• You reduce the cart abandonment rate

7) Create engaging social media posts

Accelerate the growth of your email list with the help of social media. You can add a sign-up button or opt-in form to your Social media accounts to increase your total lead generation.

Additionally, you can launch an interesting campaign to get your audience to subscribe to your newsletter. You can also run ads on diverse channels that give subscribers access to freebies, coupons, or other exclusive offers. 

8) Add a sidebar to your website 

An email opt-in form on the sidebar of your homepage is a simple yet effective strategy that can build your email list without degrading the user experience.

It forgoes the use of forceful subscription forms that appear in the middle of web pages. You can also place it on other website pages alongside it. This will increase your chances of getting more subscribers as those landing on pages besides the homepage too will see the sidebar. 

9) Manually reach out to your contacts

Reaching out to your contacts is another method for growing your email list. Send those you think are interested an email informing them that you are building an email list and outlining the advantages of signing up for it. You can also persuade them to spread the word with their contacts for maximum reach. Ask if they would like to get emails about your latest launches and updates and mention the same to your B2B List Building outsourcing agency. 

10) Offer content upgrades

A content upgrade is an extra content pertinent to the article being read, like ebooks, whitepapers, a cheat sheet, and free access to extra podcasts. If you offer something of value in return, people are more likely to subscribe to your email list. 

11) Use a scroll box

Scroll boxes are essential to provide your audience with a call to action at the appropriate time for lead creation. It’s a tactful yet efficient approach to obtaining their email address by anticipating the user's readiness for conversion, especially when pop-ups are used. Based on the visitors' on-page behavior, business owners can determine the "perfect moment" through A/B testing.

12) Create timed quick surveys

People like to feel that they matter and that their opinions are counted toward improving a product or service. You can use this factor to gain their contact information via quick surveys. Using pop-ups with a question and simple yes or no answer options in a multiple-choice format is the best way to conduct such surveys, with dedicated forms being the other. Asking for their email ID for submission will likely get you the result you need. 

13) Make your About Us page matter

Customer relationships are built on their trust in the brand. The more that trust, the more likely they will want to divulge their email ID. One of the most important tools is your site’s About Us section. It will offer the transparency your customers need to build brand trust if filled with the right content about your brand. Add a CTA button on the page, and you’ll collect customer information in a flurry. 

14) Provide QR code links in offline ads

While the world may be going gung-ho about digital marketing, veterans of the field recognize the immense value offline marketing holds in drawing customers to businesses. This is especially true if you want to build a loyal fan base in your local market. But you’d need to bridge the offline with online to get potential leads’ contact information via online signup. 

A QR code in your marketing material, like flyers with links to your site’s signup page, can be that bridge. This way, you can capture a market that may have not noticed your business. 

15) Conduct data scraping

The internet is a treasure trove of information of all types, including people’s email IDs. You’ll most likely find them on their social media profile pages. However, there could be other sources of it too. 

To be thorough in searching for such IDs in some corners of the internet, you should conduct data scraping. You can hire a data scraping professional, too, when you outsource B2B list building services, and they will scour the internet to find a list of email IDs that fit your required criteria. 

16) Run fun games

Modern apps and web development allow online gaming to be a part of them. You could use this facility to get your customers to sign up for your email list building efforts. People like playing games, and you could introduce a sign-up form in exchange for in-game currency, an extra life, or something that helps them progress through it. The best part about this is that they won’t be bored or apprehensive about providing you with this information, unlike in other cases where some may feel coerced. 

17) Provide sign-ups in Ads

Digital marketing has provided the opportunity for marketing teams to use a variety of ads not possible via traditional media. By far, the most useful ones are interactive ones used for Pay-Per-Click. 

Since people would be clicking on such an ad anyway, you could make your Contact Us page the landing page for an ad by adding a CTA button to it. The advantage of this email list building avenue is that it’s versatile enough to be used in multiple locations, like third-party mobile apps. It gives you access to environments you wouldn’t be able to use for this purpose otherwise.  

18) Open a forum

People enthusiastic about a product or a brand have forums where they like to get together and discuss things about their favorite topics. These places also serve as an important tool for people looking to solve problems related to the products they’ve bought. They may also ask questions about it. You could introduce a signup option for allowing access to this forum, thereby helping yourself to their email ID while they get help for something else. 

19) Add a signup option in unconventional places

The most common places where the button or link to signup forms are present include CTA, pop-ups, etc. While these serve their purpose of getting you the contact information needed for your list, they needn’t be the only ones. 

You can get creative with where you place your signup options to generate more leads. The email signature section, for instance, is a great place. These exist at the end of the email and right after the main body, thereby making it easy to be spotted and used.

20) Have an opt-in bar at the top of your homepage

If you need to display some type of information you deem important to your site’s visitors without distracting them from the main content, then you should add banners/ribbons. This bar highlights information like present discounts either dynamically or statistically. It can act as a CTA that people can click to avail of the offer, but they would have to sign up to get it. 

21) Have a referral program

Your customers can be your most significant flag bearers, helping to spread the word about your business both online and offline. This word-of-mouth method of attracting new leads is a proven strategy, with its digital avatar being a referral program. By offering something to your newly signed-up customers to help bring in others they know, you multiply the number of names on your email list quickly. 

22) Print your contact info on corporate gifts

Corporate gifting, be it to B2B clients or B2C, is one of the most powerful tools for marketing. If you give an item of value to people, they will remember your brand name better while displaying it far and wide, thereby aiding your brand visibility expansion. If you include your contact information on it, they will likely take you up on that and provide theirs in return, including the coveted email ID. 

Conclusion

Only a strong customer relationship driven by the trust can provide the thrust your company needs to capture the attention of your target audience and garner increased market share. While there are many ways to send your brand’s message out to them, email still stands out as the most convenient and effective. The capability to reach multiple email accounts at once and present your intentions in various media formats makes it a favored choice among senders and receivers alike. By outsourcing B2B list building services, you get the added benefits of time and cost savings and the potential to expand your brand visibility and value beyond your present horizon.