Have you ever thought about why it’s important to build a mailing list? According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing sees an average return on investment (ROI) of 4,300%, which is a phenomenal amount. With that being the case, it makes sense for your business to get a slice of the action. Once you’ve decided on the best platform to use and you are ready to start sending an email newsletter to your clients and potential clients, what is the best way to get your target audience to give you their personal information and join your email list? There can be a bit of a knack to list building, but I’m going to share some easy-to-implement ways to get your audience to give you their e-mail address.
Facebook Group
This is a very simple way to help build your list. If your business has a Facebook group, you will likely have membership questions that people should answer before membership is granted (if you don’t, I would recommend it as it is an extremely useful way to find out a little more about your potential clients). This is a perfect place to ask if they want to receive your monthly newsletter. It’s a good idea to also point them in the direction of your privacy policy. In my group, I ask them to leave their email address if they would like to join my mailing list. I then take a screenshot of this, making sure that their name is visible, and then save this image in a secure file. I save the image so that I have proof that they requested to join my mailing should I ever need it. There are professional add-ons for your browser that will automatically take this information and add it to your list, but they are only really worth it if you have thousands of new members each month. If you decide not to use a browser add-on, then you’ll have to add the email addresses and other details manually.
Website Pop-up Form
No doubt, when browsing the internet, you have come across forms that pop up asking you to join the mailing list for that business, often they will offer a special discount or access to exclusive content in exchange for your details. The good news is that all email marketing platforms offer small businesses the opportunity to have a pop-up contact form on their website with the use of a simple newsletter plugin added to the backend of the website. You can edit the settings so that it will only appear on certain pages, once they have scrolled halfway down the page, after a set length of time on your website or only the first time they visit your website. Best practices dictate that you should have a cookie statement and privacy policy on your website.
Landing page
Having a landing page on your website with an embedded form or built within your email marketing platform is another straightforward way of getting people to sign up for your mailing list. This is useful if you have a short-term offer, such as an event that you want people to sign up for. It is also handy to make it clear that the desired action is for people to join the mailing list. The great thing about landing pages is that you can have more than one. I have a few landing pages for people to sign up, most of them offer an incentive (more on this shortly), but this one allows people to view past copies of my marketing emails if they wish
Offer an Incentive
One of my favourite marketing campaigns is to offer valuable content in exchange for contact details. This could be in the form of an online challenge, a free gift, a guide to something, a discount, or early access to an event; the possibilities are endless! I offer free guides, such as lists of blog topic suggestions for small business owners, in exchange for their contact details.
Checkout Option
If you have an online shop, then you will already be asking for information in order to fulfil the order. This could be as simple as having a booking form that people fill in so that they can secure an appointment with you. It doesn’t take much to add an option asking if they want to be added to your mailing list. My contact form has a simple question box that has been set as mandatory, so all they need to do is write the word ‘yes’ or the word ‘no’. It’s also wise to point them in the direction of your privacy policy here, too.
Collect at an event
If you are attending an in-person event, then you may want to collect contact details here, too. When you are setting up your email list, you could assign people to groups based on how they came to be on your list. This will then allow you to send targeted email campaigns, such as promotional emails or details of upcoming events, to those who have signed up at an event. This can easily be achieved by having a QR code that takes people to a landing page that you have set up specifically for the event you are attending.
Share on Social Media
A web designer I once knew is very clever in the way she uses social media to encourage people to sign up for her newsletter. Before the newsletter email is due to send, she posts that it will be sent on a specific date, and she includes a link to sign up so that people can get on the list before they miss it. You can also share a link to sign up after you have sent your newsletter by sharing a taster of the latest updates from your business, so people can see the quality content they will receive as a member of your mailing list.
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