How you can start building an email list for free
One of the oldest but most effective ways of digital marketing is through emails. Email campaigns have been for years one of the best ways of marketing your product or brand. And despite other channels such as paid adverts and social media coming onto the scene, it remains a tremendously effective form of marketing.
It's important to follow a set of tips to get your campaign right. However, before you even begin on the design of your campaign. You first need a list of people to target the campaign towards. And of course, that includes needing an email list.
A lot of people are under the misconception that it can cost thousands to get an email list. However, that’s not true whatsoever. You can start building an email list for free straight away.
Today we are going to look at just some of how you can start doing this straight away.
Build a landing page
A landing page is a certain style of the webpage you can create. It is essentially a page whereby you are giving something away in return for their email address.
The most common things that tend to be given away include guides, tips, how-to’s, videos and much more. The landing page will run through briefly the benefits of your product.
Once the user has filled in their email address they are sent their free content. This means that not only do you have an email address to add to your list but someone who is a possible lead. This is the first step of building an email list for free.
Create yourself a smart bar
If you haven’t heard of a smart bar you should have. It’s another one of the best ways to building an email list for free. You may have come across them before without even noticing. They sit at the top of your website window and stay there no matter how far down you scroll, or what page you’re on.
Typically they usually invite the user to subscribe to a newsletter. The magic behind smart bars is that they seamlessly blend in with any page on your website naturally without being obstructive or intrusive.
Design an exit pop-up
You have probably come across these exit pop-ups more times than you’ve even noticed. They appear when you go to exit a website enticing you to subscribe with your email address.
Usually providing something in return such as a guide or a trial of one of their products. The magic behind this method of building an email list for free is that if you manage to get this right.
What you’ve actually done is convert an uninterested visitor to your website into a potential lead.
Offer a free trial
Nearly all of us have taken advantage of a free trial at one point or another. But one thing a lot of us probably haven’t taken notice of is that we always gave our emails away in return for access to the free trial.
And when we did that those companies not only had our email addresses to add to their list but they knew that we were potential leads due to wanting a free trial of their product.
This is an extremely effective way of building an email list if you have a digital service or product you can give trials of.
Include an email field on your checkout page
If you are selling either services or products directly from your website this is an effective way towards building your email list.
On the checkout page, you’ll notice that different types of information are requested by the customer. One of which you can make an email address. This is especially useful as not only does it allow you to gain an email address, but you can target them for feedback following a purchase of a product and even for reviews.
Meaning that you can maintain contact with the first-time customer and turn them into returning customers.
Why your business should focus on email marketing TODAY
As was touched upon earlier in this article there is an abundance of ways to market your business. However, when it comes to ROI nothing is more effective than email marketing.
A recent study by American firm Adobe found that for every $1 on average that was invested in email marketing, it would return $40. Compared to $22.24 for SEO and $17 for Keyword Ads.
This isn’t to say that these other forms of marketing aren’t effective. They absolutely are and SEO should be integrated at all times throughout your site.
However, more businesses have steered away from email marketing due to these other forms of marketing when they should have in fact been doing the opposite.
Summary
We have looked at five things that you can do to start growing your email list for free
- Build a landing page.
- Create a smart bar.
- Add an exit pop-up on your website.
- Offer a free trial of your product or service
- Include an email field in your checkout page.
Some of the above may sound difficult but with a helping hand you could soon be set up in no time at all. Why not get in touch to see how I could help you get your sales and marketing strategy back on track.