How to Start Building an Email Opt-in List

Marketers should never ignore new income streams for their business. As soon as you are satisfied with your advertising is when your business will start to decline. Even though the advertising landscape is constantly evolving and changing, the world of email marketing is not expected to change anytime soon.

Related: To learn more about getting the most out of your email list, see 8 email marketing tactics every brand should embrace.

Email list building campaign

For many years, email marketing has proven itself as one of the best ways of achieving new leads while strengthening the relationships with existing ones. Emails are extremely flexible, so it’s easy to give both businesses and customers great benefits—one of which is the very fast delivery of new sales, deals or information that may be relevant.

Even businesses that are not currently pursuing email marketing should be collecting visitors’ email addresses to start building an audience for when they do decide to start sending out emails.

No need to worry. There are great ways to collect email addresses without annoying your users. Read on.

How to build email opt-in list

Here are five of many email list building tactics:

1. Giveaways

A sweepstakes or giveaway is a great way to get visitors to give you their email addresses enthusiastically. Make sure to notify visitors of the giveaway early so they can quickly sign up, and always promote your new events on all your business social media accounts for the greatest exposure.

2. Call-to-action

Having a beautifully crafted call-to-action on your website can be very attractive to consumers. You will want to entice your visitors by offering new informational updates by email. If you are not currently sending out emails, don’t overcommit to future content ideas, or you may annoy some people.

Sign up and keep up
photo credit: Howard Lake / Flickr

3. Cross-promotion online

Be sure to always promote your email subscription sign-up link on social media accounts, and if you regularly send out emails to non-subscribers, include a signature with a link to subscribe to your email list. The more people you can get to look at your sign-up form, the better off you will be.

4. In-store giveaway bowl

An old yet effective method of gaining users’ emails is by placing a bowl in your store. Everyone who puts in a business card has the opportunity to win some free stuff. This could be a free lunch, gift card, or anything else related to your services. You can keep the emails on the cards to create a powerful foundation for your email marketing campaigns.

5. Make friends

Having good relationships with a partner business can help you gain subscribers. If they are nice enough, maybe they will offer a link to your email list sign-up page in their newsletter. This increases your brand awareness and generates tons of new leads for your business.

Takeaway

So, there you go – five simple yet effective email opt-in building tactics you can try for your small business. By following our strategies, you will be well on your way to collecting great emails from voluntary consumers.

Last but not least, always make sure to check the legality of your email collection and sending to ensure that you are obeying any privacy laws.