How to Create an Email List: Leading Marketers Give Their Top Strategies

• Updated on: 2018-10-28
• Read original article here

Every business wants two main things: traffic and sales.

But how do you turn traffic into a sale?

That's where creating an email list comes into your online marketing mix.

You need to create a list of people who are interested in your tools.

Now, you could buy one. But most lead-selling businesses charge way too much for that to be scalable for early-stage businesses.

Or you could earn one.

And that's my recommendation.

Earned email lists tend to convert better, and you don't run the risk of losing trust by cold-calling/emailing people who have never heard of you.

This article will break down my own recommended strategy for creating an email list as well as the strategy of several of the leading marketers on the web.

Let's get down to business. Here's my four-step actionable process to create an email list:

But every business and thought-leader has a different strategy. I'm confident that mine can drive serious results, but that doesn't mean it's the only way!

So let's turn to a few other digital marketing experts.

I reached out to several of the leading email list-building marketers out there and asked them for their most recent and innovative strategies for creating an email list. Here are their responses with takeaways for you to take action on right away…

Give away the kind of knowledge your readers would never expect to receive for free. Your secrets, your playbook, your personal blueprint — something you’ve developed over years of dedication and hard work (which your readers are eager to skip). Not only will your offer be impossible to resist, it’ll also position you as a credible expert in your field. Alternatively, instead of offering yet another piece of downloadable content, try offering something more personal and engaging like a webinar. If you’re not great on camera, you can use a tool like WebinarJam to pre-record and schedule your lesson as though it were airing live.

Both of these strategies focus on delivering something different from everyone else - your secrets; your personality through a webinar. And I think that's the actionable takeaway here: Create something different. Create something your prospective customers aren't getting or seeing from your competitors. Give value only you can give. And if you don't think there's something you can offer which no one else can? Find something. Create something. Dig deeper.

More businesses are experimenting with text messaging to grow their email lists. Text-to-join services give teams the flexibility to collect email addresses during offline events, podcasts, and webinars. How does it work? Your audience sends a specific keyword to the service provider's shortcode. The automated system responds and asks for the customer's email address. After the email address is entered, it is instantly added to your list. It's not always convenient to give people a web address. This tactic makes it easier for your audience to join your email list with their mobile phones.

I love whenever the offline and online worlds come together, and this is a fantastic way to do that. Just type "Text-to-Join tool" into Google and you'll get several great companies providing this service. This strategy is particularly effective if your business has invested heavily in real-world marketing (like conferences, meetups, job fairs, etc). Another cool idea is to drive people from a Facebook Live video to your email list, as most of them will be on their phones while watching your video and will be better-able to text to join your list.

I only call this innovative because we don't see many people doing it - we use an Auto DM that includes a link to our top posts email list. It's not the biggest source of signups but it's significant enough to keep doing it. Given the "common wisdom" that Auto DMs are evil and the worst thing you can do on social media, this is a tactic that's ignored by most. Caveat: Our hypothesis is that many that follow us tend to have discovered value through the Twitter feed/community for a while before choosing to follow. That's why the ask to also subscribe to the email list doesn't come across as premature. I suspect that the hate people feel for AutoDMs is simply because the ask comes too early. There are other times when people respond with some pretty snarky comments about having been Auto DM'd (sometimes they're just testing to see if they're communicating with a bot). We always respond to those so it's not like it's "Auto DM and done." The human response that follows tends to be pretty well appreciated. It also often leads to conversions that might otherwise not have happened without this tactic to spur that initial response, however negative it might have been initially.

I agree that auto DMs have a bit of a reputation, but it's tough to argue against results. Also, so long as you're not being aggressive (and a subscription prompt isn't too aggressive in my book) I can see how people might respond, even a marketing audience who knows they're being auto-DM'd. What I liked most about Anuj's list-building recommendation was the follow-up element: The note that if you have someone yell at you for an automatic marketing strategy, address it and start a conversation.

Hopefully this article has given you a better idea of how to create an email list.

But, do you have a strategy to turn that email list into customers?

Click here to read our guide to lead segmentation and also our guide to nurturing a lead into a sale.