List Building 101: The Beginner's Guide to List Building
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List building is an essential part of any successful business.
With so much information fighting for consumers' attention online, most companies now find email marketing necessary to enable a direct communication channel with their customers.
It is one of the essential traffic drivers and communication mediums for most businesses.
While many marketers now focus on newer opportunities and platforms to reach their customers, email marketing remains one of the most successful and effective ways of messaging and marketing today.
Research shows that email marketing has a significantly higher Return On Investment (ROI). On average, email marketing generates $36 for every $1 spent.
In this post, we look at everything you need to build a list and start email marketing for your business.
What Is List Building and Why Is It Important?
An email list is a collection of email addresses from people who consent to contact them and share information they are interested in via email.
List building is the process of growing your email list.
List building involves acquiring email addresses from people interested in what you have to offer.
An email list can be a valuable asset for your business as it allows you to communicate with your customers and followers regularly.
Importance of Building an Email List
Email Lists Help You Build Relationships and Trust With Customers
- Earning the trust and building a relationship with your prospect is perhaps one of the most important reasons why you need to build a list. Very few people will work with you the first time they interact with you. It takes time to know if they can trust you and if your services/ products are worth their money.
- The basis of any successful marketing campaign is the ability to demonstrate that you understand your potential customer's needs, problems, or desires.
- An email list will help you build trust by sharing valuable information and free resources with your subscribers.
Communicate with your customers and followers regularly
Email Lists offer a Direct Communication Channel With Your Customers
- An email list is a direct communication channel with your customers. Other social media channels use algorithms to determine who will see your message. This means that you have no control over how many customers see your message.
- On the other hand, a high number of people on your list will see your email. They will have total control over whether to read your emails or not, which is different from social media algorithms that make decisions on people's behalf.
Email Marketing is More Effective
- Email marketing is more effective than other communication channels such as social media and paid advertising. Paid advertising can be very costly, and it isn't easy to track the results.
- Social media is also known to be less effective for marketing messages. Email marketing has a significantly higher ROI when compared to other channels. On average, email marketing generates $36 for every $1 spent.
You Own 100% of The Traffic
Every time someone visits your website, you have a chance to convert them into a lead. Recent data shows that the average conversion rate of an ecommerce website stands at 2.86%.
With email marketing, you can improve your site's conversion rate by building trust and sharing valuable information with your audience.
Considering that email marketing has a significantly higher ROI when compared with other forms of online marketing, it is likely that email marketing will become one of the main drivers of visitors to your website.
How To Get Started With List Building
Now that you know the importance of list building, it's time to learn how to get started.
The bottom line is to obtain the email addresses of your target audience.
1. Understand Your Audience and What They Want
Before starting a list-building campaign, you need to understand your target audience and what they want.
This will enable you to create valuable and compelling content for them to give you their email address.
2. Create a Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is a free resource that you give away to your prospects in exchange for their email address. It's usually a PDF, guide, or video that is valuable enough for your audience to resist.
Value is subjective to your target audience. A lead magnet can be valuable in the sense that it's entertaining, educational, inspirational, or a solution to a problem.
Your lead magnet could also be a
- swipe file
- check list
- tutorial
- sample chapter of a book
- service free trial
- cheat sheet
- report
- resource kit
- printable
- software
- plugin
- app
- etc.
3. Get an Email Service Provider (ESP)
Once you have a lead magnet, the next step is to get an email service provider.
An email service provider is a dedicated service that you use to build and manage your email marketing efforts.
Email service providers are necessary for marketing and anti-spam laws in your country.
They provide an easy way for your subscribers to unsubscribe from an email list. Sending bulk emails to many people without an email service provider will also get you flagged as a spammer.
ESPs allow you to:
- Set up signup forms and collect emails on your website
- Automate your email marketing
- Collect and analyze data for tracking subscriber behavior
Some typical email service providers include Aweber, GetResponse, and the all-in-one marketing platform Systeme.
4. Create An Opt-In Form / Landing Page To Capture Email Addresses
The next step in your list building process is to create opt-in forms and landing pages to start capturing email addresses.
An opt-in form is a small webpage that asks for your visitor's name and email address in exchange for some value, such as a lead magnet or free content.
Possible places where you can add opt-in forms include your website, blog, social media profiles, and at the end of your content.
A landing page is a standalone web page that has been designed to collect email addresses specifically.
It usually contains
- an attention-grabbing headline
- a brief description of the lead magnet you are offering
- and a form for visitors to enter their email addresses
Conclusion
To sum it up, list building is essential for any business.
Building a list will help you start email marketing for your business, improve conversion rates, and boost your ROI.
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