Growing an opt-in email list takes time. It is highly
discouraged to buy an email list, since the people on it are not
qualified, and more likely to mark your email as spam. Once too many
people mark your emails as spam, service providers like Gmail will send
your messages to the Spam box for legitimate recipients, as well. Here
are some more fruitful tactics you can try.
1. Find a Partner.
If you want to reach a lot of people quickly, consider
partnering with another business that has a larger opt-in email list.
The joint email should be very clearly marked as a partner email so you
can build upon the trust the recipients have with the existing brand. It
should simply be presented as an introduction or a special offer for
people on the list.
Ideally, you would create a special landing page for the people
on the partner company’s list so there is continuity in the message. A
special discount code never hurts, either.
2. Use Your Existing Customers.
If there are not any relevant companies willing to partner with
you, you will need to build your own list. You should start by asking
all of your current clients for their email addresses. If you already
have their email addresses, you can send them an initial email asking if
they want to receive regular email messages.
It is a good idea to send all optional email messages from an
email address that is different from the address you used to send admin
communications. This way, if the customer unsubscribes from the new
email series, they can still receive notifications about system outages
and updates, as well as billing information.
According to CAN-SPAM,
since you have an existing business relationship with your customers,
you do not need to ask for their permission to email them. However, to
keep people from marking your email as spam and affecting your
deliverability, you want to be sure you have their permission before you
send a second one. This is known as a double opt-in, and is often a
required step for legitimate email service providers like MailChimp and Emma. It also ensures that anyone on your list has chosen to be there, which should improve your deliverability in the long run.
3. Ask for New Email Addresses.
There are a number of different ways you can collect email addresses.
If you have a physical location, the least painful way is to keep an
iPad at the front counter or desk so people can sign themselves up. This
saves the time of retyping and prevents having a paper sign up sheet
where people can see each other’s email addresses; it protects your
customers’ identity security. If you have to have a paper sign up sheet,
ask your employee to keep it hidden until people need to sign up.
You can also ask people to sign up online. You should have an email
sign-up form on your website, and preferably on your Facebook page, as
well. Many of the most popular email service providers have a Facebook
app that allows you to easily add a form to your profile.
It’s a good idea to let people know the type of content you will be
featuring in your emails as an incentive to add their name to your list.
You can also offer something for free in exchange for an email address,
like an e-book, but it needs to be compelling enough for people to give
up their real email address. Jay Abraham
is doing a very excellent job with this. He gives away the transcripts
for all of his books as a way of building his email list and developing a
relationship with potential clients.
You can also ask for email addresses as a required field in live chats.
Slowly but surely, you will build a list of interested recipients. Do you have any other suggestions? Let us know.
