Mailing List Building

What an email marketer should do as soon as possible is to build an mailing list. The best way to create it is to use every possibility to keep in touch with customers and prospects. To avoid misunderstandings and complaints, and keep you reputation clear you are recommended to use a double opt-in option so that you could be completely sure in subscriber’s wish to subscribe. You should require necessary information from your subscriber, thus later you will be able to manage well targeted email campaign with high personalization, but don’t try to obtain too much information, in particular obviously inessential. There always is a part of your list you should work on – this part contains inactive users, which have to be transformed into active ones. While building an email marketing list and subscribing people on your mailing consider informing them of your privacy/ email policies.

This was general information on building an email marketing list. Respecting these simple tips you will create your list rather fast. But you should think not only about the volume of your list, but also about its quality. Here are the guidelines to a quality email marketing list:

• Always keep your list clean from incorrect and out-to-date email addresses, thus reducing bounces and maintaining the reputation on high level.
• Use list segmentation to better satisfy your subscribers’ needs. Dividing your list on relevant segments will allow you deliver targeted messages.
• Never prefer list volume to its quality.

There are several ways to increase your email address list volume.

Online means of increasing the list

1. You should think of optimizing the web site form to attract new subscribers. Your home page is not the only place the form should appear. A simplified copy of the main form may be places on every page of your web site.
2. You can offer your customer to opt-in while requesting customer’s email address to check out process for order and shipping confirmations.
3. The most popular way to find products online is surfing through different search engines. So the PPC programs can forward a lot of potential customers and subscribers on your page, thus driving the traffic of your site.
4. Search engine optimization also should be considered, due to driving traffic and growing your list.
5. Refer-a-friend option can also add definite number of new subscribers. Even though the amount of such new subscribers is not very large it still may be enough to offset your unsubscribes each month.

Using the online ways of building your email address lists avoid limiting the subscriber’s freedom to make their own choice and try not to use prechecked boxes. Maybe in such case you will have less opt-ins but you will be sure you have collected the email addresses of those people who really want to be with you and get messages from you.

Offline means of increasing the list

Besides the online methods of collecting email addresses there are several ways to do it offline. Here are the most popular ones:

– Trade shows. This is a very convenient way to create not only your B2C email marketing list, but also B2B email marketing list. But do remember that holding you a personal card doesn’t necessary mean the person wants to opt-in. Considering such situation you should call or email to ask if that person wants to sign-in.

– Use direct mail and catalogs.

– Your call center operators and sales staff should ask customers and prospects if they’d like to get newsletters or promotional materials from you.

– Send postcards to customers encouraging them to subscribe to email.

– Promote your emailing in presentations and handouts.

Uniting your efforts and using all possible ways to collect email addresses you will definitely increase your opt-in list quite fast, at the same time preserving its quality.

Friday, September 10th, 2010 : Email Marketing, Mailing List : No Comments