Email databases are like German cars. They’re fun to drive, but they lose their value very, very quickly. If you don’t replenish your email contact list from time to time, you might end up losing thousands of dollars in revenue.
There are a few main reasons for this: people change their email addresses, opt out of your newsletter, or simply lose interest. Contacts you added two years ago are less likely to have that “a-ha” moment and suddenly convert to a customer.
It’s your responsibility as a marketer to keep your mailing lists fresh by adding new contacts, so you can continuously generate leads and drive profitability to your business.
This week, we will give you eight actionable ways to grow your email list and keep in touch with the people that matter the most to your business.
1. Add a Personal Touch
Just because you’re using email for business does not mean you have to use a stern, corporate tone. The recipient of your email is a person after all, so it doesn’t hurt to infuse that human touch into your messaging. With a little bit of creativity and communication skills, you can keep your message professional and still make it stand out from the other emails piling up in their inbox.
If your brand’s identity permits, you can make your messaging entertaining and fun to read. No matter the communication channel, content is always king and should be treated as such.
2. Sort Your Contact List by Buyer Persona
Cold emailing is an age-old practice; sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn’t. It’s a numbers game that you can’t win unless you are sending out countless emails each day.
A better way to grow your list and increase your conversion rate is by segmenting your contact list by buyer persona. People are more likely to read and act on a message that caters to their specific needs and interests. For instance, instead of sending the same email template to 500 recipients, create five different templates to target your audience based on what they like and where they are in the conversion funnel.
3. Make an Offer They Can’t Refuse
If you have a decent amount of monthly website traffic, you can convert them into subscribers by publishing gated content on your website, such as a free ebook, webinar, or online tool.
Once your visitors identify the value that you are providing, they are more likely to give you their information in order to gain access to it.
4. Use Social Media Giveaways
Social media is a powerful marketing tool that can get virtually anything done — from driving traffic, to boosting conversions or increasing brand awareness. It can even grow your email list.
For example, you can use one of your social media accounts to promote a giveaway contest and allow prospects to participate by using their email address. The prize money doesn’t have to be large; anything that suits your budget will likely work. And you can promote the giveaway not only on your home page, but also across various third-party websites for free.
LinkedIn is another great place to promote your giveaway. By using a LinkedIn automation tool, you can send invitations to your connections, as well as to other people who might be interested in the contest.
As far as Facebook goes, you can add a temporary CTA button to your FB profile, which will lead visitors directly to your giveaway page.
Based on how well you promote the contest, you can potentially pull in thousands of email addresses in a month.
5. Use Video to Grow Your Email List
Whether on social media, YouTube, or videos you host on your own site, videos can be a powerful tool to grow leads.
If you post videos regularly, try using the custom post-play screen feature to direct your viewers to your sign-up landing page featuring a free ebook, giveaway, or anything that is worthy of trading in an email address.
You can also enable lead capture if you’d like to require your viewers to provide their information before watching your content.
Finally, in-player calls to action are a great way to reach out to your audience at any point in your video you choose, and direct them to a landing page, lead capture form, or to more information.
6. Build a Thought Leadership Blog that People Want to Read
Blogging is one of the proven ways to improve your website’s ranking, build readership, and command authority in your niche market. Having a blog on your website gives you the opportunity to showcase your knowledge, while offering tips that your readers can actually implement in real life.
Blogging just for the sake of it won’t do you any good. Therefore, make sure your content either solves a problem or provides useful information. The bigger the problem the information in your blog helps solve, the more people will seek out your website. And if they like what they see, the more likely they’ll submit their email address for your free newsletter.
7. Create a Customer Review Page on Your Website
Whether product- or service-based, your business needs customer feedback in order to improve and grow. Creating a customer review page on your website will get you the feedback you need. Unfortunately, you should prepare yourself for some inevitable negative reviews as well. In order for your customers to leave a review, they must provide their email address, so not only will you receive new contacts, but this will also be an opportunity to address your customers’ concerns and learn to better assist them in the future.
8. Handle Unsubscribers the Right Way
This may sound counterintuitive, but you must let your subscribers go if they want to. Don’t make them go through a series of questions or feedback forms after they click the unsubscribe button. Maybe they are trying to declutter their inbox; forcing them to stay will only make them more determined to leave.
After they unsubscribe, you can retarget them with an offer that might change their mind. For instance, you can extend a store credit, free ebook, or a premium membership for the next three months. Remember, this might be your last chance to win them back, so make it good.
Conclusion
You can use any of the methods above, or even try different combinations to approach your prospects from different angles to increase your odds of success. Once you have new email contacts in your database, you can nurture them with attractive offers and close without much struggle.
