Strategies to build an email list

While marketing platforms like TikTok and Threads offer exciting new opportunities to small businesses, don’t ignore tried-and-true tactics like email marketing.

By providing a direct line to customers, email marketing remains a great way to promote your small business online — the average ROI for every $1 spent on email marketing is $40.¹

That said, one of the most important steps in any effective email marketing campaign is to build and grow your email list. A well-maintained email list lets you personalize content to subscribers, foster loyal relationships beyond purchases, and reduce marketing costs otherwise spent on pricey ads.

Read on to learn more about email lists and how email marketing improves customer engagement.

How to build an email list

Without taking the time to build your subscriber base with targeted, engaged customers, even the most creatively designed emails promising compelling content will fall flat. And given that more than 306 billion emails are sent and received daily, you'll need to get strategic and creative to encourage people to opt into your marketing emails.²

Use these tactics to help build an email list:

• Add opt-in forms to your website, including your navigation or footer.
• Incorporate pop-up offers into your website.
• Leverage social media marketing tactics, such as giveaways or exclusive deals.
• Collect emails via in-person touchpoints.
• Offer high-quality, gated content.

But before you start building your email subscriber list, make sure to take the time to:

• Set clear goals: Define specific objectives for email subscriber growth, such as gaining 500 new subscribers in three months or achieving a 20% open rate. This provides direction and metrics to track your progress.
• Choose a good email list platform: Select an email service provider that offers the features you need (such as sign-up forms, email templates, automation, and analytics) at the right price point.
• Craft engaging email content: Only send emails with valuable and relevant content tailored to your audience's interests. High-quality content keeps your audience subscribed, while hastily written emails may cause them to hit the “unsubscribe” or, worse, “mark as spam” button.
• Optimize your emails: Ensure emails are mobile friendly, easy to understand, and have a clear call to action.
• Offer incentives and rewards: Discounts, free shipping, early access to sales, and points programs are some ways to motivate your target audience to opt into your email list.

Build your email list digitally

With people spending more time online, having a robust digital footprint across owned media properties like websites and social platforms can prepare your business for online sales.

Here are some digital tactics that can scale email marketing for small businesses, including building awareness, driving traffic, connecting with customers, and ultimately growing your email list:

• Email capture forms: Opt-in forms in your footer, navigation, blog posts, homepage, and product pages are essential for adding new subscribers.
• Pop-up forms: Pop-up forms go one step further when it comes to capturing site visitors’ attention when they’re already scrolling through your website content.
• Social media offers: Promote your email newsletter and opt-in offers (such as discounts) on social channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. You can also run social media contests that require your audience to sign up for your emails.
• Exclusive or gated content: You can generate interest with high-value content (such as eBooks, tools, guides, or checklists) that site visitors can only unlock once they subscribe to your emails.

Leverage store visits to grow an email list

Though digital tactics are essential, small businesses shouldn't overlook in-person touchpoints and in-store visits as opportunities to expand their email lists. After all, face-to-face interactions can help build trust and familiarity with potential subscribers in a way that digital channels often cannot.

Some ideas to consider include:

• Business cards: Beyond a link to your website or email, you can include a shortened link or QR code on your business cards that takes people to an email sign-up page.
• In-person workshops or classes: Collect email addresses when people register or attend your in-person events. Offer an incentive for signing up, like a discount on future courses.
• Customer surveys: Provide an incentive like a coupon code or free sample for customers who fill out in-person surveys and provide their email addresses.
• Point of sale collection: Consider asking customers if they’d like to sign up for your emails at checkout in exchange for a special offer.
• Local collaborations and sponsorships: Partner with complementary local businesses or events to cross-promote each other's customer base and share email sign-ups.

Avoid common mistakes when building an email list

When growing your subscriber base, you must comply with all email compliance regulations. Being overly aggressive with tactics or ignoring opt-out preferences can backfire, ultimately reducing your list size and harming deliverability.

Here are some common email marketing mistakes to avoid:

• Sending spammy content: Avoid spammy subject lines, content, or messaging that email providers could flag. This may cause them to deliver your emails to subscribers’ junk folders.
• Having no unsubscribe options: Always include a clear unsubscribe option in each email — otherwise, subscribers could click the “mark as spam” button, causing email providers to mark your future emails to other subscribers as spam.
• Buying email lists: Purchasing lists of emails from people who never consented to receive your messages may hurt your email marketing efforts. These email lists often have low open and click rates since the subscribers don't recognize or trust your brand. They may even consist of bots, spam accounts, and abandoned email addresses.
• Disregarding privacy laws in favor of an extensive email list: Comply with regulations like GDPR to maintain trust and prevent violations that may lead to fines, lawsuits, and damaged credibility.
• Sending too many emails: Nobody likes being inundated with marketing emails. Avoid sending more emails than subscribers signed up for. Even better, consider personalizing the frequency of emails sent to subscribers based on how much they engage with your brand.
• Using clickbait or deceptive subject lines: While attention-grabbing subject lines are key, never use misleading language just to boost open rates.
• Ignoring list hygiene: Monitor for inactive subscribers, spam complaints, and non-deliverable emails. By cleaning up and culling your email list regularly, you can boost deliverability and lower your email marketing costs.

Email marketing best practices

As your email list expands, make sure to implement these email marketing best practices designed to keep subscribers engaged:

• Prioritize your list quality over quantity: Focus on organic list growth with customers already familiar with your brand through website sign-ups or in-person interactions.
• Create clear and relevant emails: Don't make subscribers guess why they signed up; ensure every email has a relevant, valuable message and call to action.
• Review your opt-in forms: Keep sign-up forms short and only request essential info. Otherwise, potential subscribers may just give up.
• Optimize for mobile devices: Ensure emails are mobile responsive — 41% of people check their emails on mobile devices compared to 39% on desktops.³
• Send a welcome email: They set expectations and deliver value upfront, making subscribers more likely to open your future emails.
• Use analytics to guide strategy adjustments: Review your engagement, open/click, and conversion rates regularly, then update your strategy as needed. Research has found that you can boost ROI by 28% once you have a process for QA testing, A/B testing, and spam testing your emails.⁴
• Personalize content: Segmentation and behavioral data let you tailor content and offers to subscribers' interests.
• Respect email frequency preferences: Ask subscribers how often they want to receive emails or let them choose during sign-up.
• Be consistent with branding: Use your brand colors, logo, tone of voice, and other elements in all communications.

Manage email lists

Now that you’re familiar with email list benefits, you’re one step closer to unlocking high conversion rates and meaningful connections built on trust and familiarity.

Once you have a solid email list, consider managing it with a point-of-sale solution that lets you sync customer data to see sales, inventory, and more insights in real time and all in one place.

Learn more about promoting your business online.