How to Build Your Email Marketing List: A Mini Guide for Small Businesses

Believe it or not, email is still one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways of marketing. According to the Data & Marketing Association, on average, businesses receive a return on investment (ROI) of about $42 for every $1 spent on email marketing. This is the highest ROI of all digital marketing methods. When done well, email marketing can be a very effective marketing tool for small businesses. In this blog, we’ll explore why having an email list is important, different strategies for building an email list, tools that can help you streamline the process, and how to segment your email subscribers for maximum impact.

Keep in mind that ROI is only one metric to look at when you’re running an email marketing campaign. You can also look at metrics like customer engagement, brand loyalty, and lifetime customer value to indicate whether your email marketing is successful. The effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns depends on several factors, including the quality of your email list, the relevance of your content, the timing of your emails, and your ability to engage and convert subscribers. Be prepared to continuously test your email marketing campaigns to find what works best with your target audience.

You may be thinking, I’m already successful with my marketing efforts. That’s great! But here are some reasons that building an email list and engaging in email marketing is useful.

Direct Communication: When a customer is subscribed to your email list, you have a direct line of communication with them. You have full control over who gets your email messages compared to social media, where the algorithm makes that decision for you. Also, when a social media platform goes down, has glitches, or if the algorithm changes, you may not have access to your customers at all. Email allows you to communicate with your customers at any time.

Higher Conversion Rates: Email marketing has a higher conversion rate than other types of marketing because people are already interested in your business. They have invited you to contact them with information about your products and services. They want updates from you and they are primed to take action.

Cost-Effectiveness: Email marketing is very cost-effective compared to other marketing methods. And as mentioned before, it has a high ROI.

Trust Builder: Providing your subscribers with consistent emails that contains valuable content helps build trust over time. Customers will see you as a reliable source of information.

Personalization: With email marketing, you can segment or categorize your list based on different factors. This allows you to send customers specific content that can lead to higher open rates, better engagement, and increased sales. Here’s a few segments you can use:

• Demographics: age, gender, location, or any other demographic information you collect.

• Behavior: shopping preferences, shopping frequency, how subscribers interact with your emails.

• Purchase History: personalize recommendations or offer exclusives to subscribers based on past purchases.

• Engagement Level: reward your most engaged subscribers with exclusive content or early access to promotions.

• Email Preferences: allow subscribers to choose the type of content they receive.

Here are some ways that you can begin building your email list:

• Create valuable content on your website. To be valuable, the content should address the pain points and interest of your target audience. For example, you can write blogs, eBooks, or create a webinar. Be sure to require an email for consumers to gain access to it.

• You can host giveaways or contests as another way to build your email list. Require participants to submit their email addresses for entry. Make sure that the prize is something of value to your target audience.

• Creating a landing page for an offer can also help you obtain emails. Each landing page should focus on one single offer or message. More than one can cause buyer confusion and reduce the effectiveness of your landing page. Include a button that stands out, that asks for an email to gain access to your offer.

• Many websites offer an exit-intent feature. These are messages that pop-up when someone takes action to leave your website. Invite them to subscribe to your email list before leaving. Likewise, you can add a subscribe pop-up whenever someone accesses your website.

• Finally, you can use your social media channels to highlight the benefits of subscribing to your email list.

These are very basic methods for building an email list. For businesses who want to streamline building an email list, there are tools available to help. Email marketing platforms such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, or ConvertKit provide list management and features to help you automate your efforts. You can also run social media ads using lead generation as an objective. This will allow you to collect emails directly from your social media platforms.

You can see why building an email list can be an essential part of marketing for a small business. Email marketing can support business growth and customer engagement. Keep in mind, building an email list is an ongoing process. You’ll want to keep your list fresh, and you’ll want to continue to grow it over time. With the right strategies and tools, email marketing can provide results, such as customer engagement and increase sales.

Comment below if email marketing has been a helpful strategy for your business. If so, how?