3 proven strategies to capture more emails and supercharge your list building efforts

Building a robust email list is often one of the most overlooked marketing activities. However, it’s a fundamental component of a successful marketing strategy. When your prospective customers give you their email address, they are giving you permission to directly message them, allowing for personalized engagement and the promotion of products or services. However, capturing those valuable email addresses is often done incorrectly or not done at all, but it’s critical to your marketing. Let’s explore three proven strategies that can help you capture more emails and supercharge your list building efforts, turning website visitors into subscribers and potential customers.

Key Takeaways

• Offering irresistible lead magnets like e-books, webinars, or exclusive discounts can entice visitors to exchange their email for value when they aren’t quite ready to buy or contact sales.
• Creating engaging and user-friendly opt-in forms, such as pop-ups or slide-ins, can make the subscription process seamless and increase sign-ups.
• Providing a call to action or value offer in each blog articles gives your audience an easy way to subscribe or take action to continue receiving ongoing value.
• Using the right tools matters. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms like Hubspot offer a holistic view of customer relationships and advanced automation capabilities but may be more complex and costly to implement. Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp are user-friendly and cost-effective for email marketing campaigns but may lack the depth of customer data and integration capabilities provided by CRMs.

1. Irresistible Lead Magnets

Offering an irresistible lead magnet is a cornerstone strategy in email list building. A lead magnet is essentially a value proposition given in exchange for a visitor’s email address. Popular forms of lead magnets include exclusive discounts, ebooks, or downloadable guides. We look at email capture the same way we do building relationships. People typically don’t get married before they date. It takes time to build a relationship. Your “marry me” is your primary call to action to schedule a call or buy. But sometimes, people want to go on a date first. Offer your audience something of value that’s low commitment and easy entry to explore more about you before they are ready to buy. These lead magnets should be followed by an automated email nurture sequences so you can continue to build that relationship until they are ready to take the next step.

To create a lead magnet that truly captivates, focus on delivering something of genuine value that solves a problem or fulfills a need for your audience.

For instance, if you’re using an ebook as a lead magnet, use a tool that has the ability to build compelling pop-up offers that encourage sign-ups. Here’s a simple breakdown of effective lead magnet types:

• Exclusive coupons or discounts
• Free ebooks or PDF guides
• Access to webinars or educational courses
• Templates or toolkits relevant to your niche

Remember, the goal is to provide something so valuable that visitors can’t resist giving you their email in exchange. By doing so, you not only grow your list but also build trust with potential customers.

2. Ditch the Boring “Sign Up for Our Newsletter” Phrase

Web users consume more content than ever so if you’re not providing value, it’s unlikely your users will sign up for your traditional newsletter. Avoid the dated “sign up for our newsletter” headline and instead position the opt-in of your list as a valuable resource for your prospective customers. Use clear, action-oriented CTAs to guide visitors toward that subscribe button. “Join the tribe,” “Get in on the action,” or “Unlock exclusive perks.” Make it impossible for your audience to resist!

3. Insert a Call-to-Action in Every Blog Article

The saying goes, “if you build it, they will come.” The same is true on your website. If you don’t ask your user to take an action, they won’t. Tie an offer or call to action to get more advice, tips, etc. at the end of every blog article on your website. While providing valuable information through your blog content is important, use this engaging content as an opportunity to ask your audience for their email so you can continue to deliver value to them.

What Tools Should I Use?

There a variety of tools you can use to accomplish an effective email list building strategy. CRMs and marketing platforms like Hubspot will give you extreme flexibility in building email campaigns and a wide range of marketing automations. But tools like these can also be extremely expensive and require specific expertise to set up and automate. Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp or Constant Contact come with easy to use interfaces and most of the functionality needed to capture your audiences emails and build automated email nuture campaigns, but may also be limiting in managing your customer lists.

Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform compared to an email marketing platform like Mailchimp:

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems

Pros

1. Holistic customer view: CRMs centralize customer data from various touchpoints, providing a comprehensive view of each customer’s interactions with your business.
2. Advanced segmentation: CRMs allow for more sophisticated segmentation based on demographic, behavioral, and transactional data, enabling targeted and personalized communication.
3. Integration capabilities: CRMs often integrate with other business systems, such as marketing automation tools, e-commerce platforms, and customer support software, enabling seamless data flow across the organization.
4. Workflow automation: CRMs offer automation capabilities beyond email marketing, including lead scoring, task assignment, and sales pipeline management, streamlining business processes.

Cons

1. Complexity: CRMs can be complex to set up and require ongoing maintenance, training, and customization to fully leverage their capabilities.
2. Cost: Comprehensive CRM solutions may come with a higher price tag, especially for businesses with large contact databases or advanced feature requirements.
3. Learning curve: Due to their robust feature sets, CRMs may have a steeper learning curve for users who are not familiar with CRM concepts and terminology.

Email Marketing Platform (e.g., Mailchimp)

Pros

1. Ease of use: Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp are designed to be user-friendly, with intuitive interfaces and pre-built templates that make it easy to create and send emails.
2. Quick setup: These platforms often offer quick setup options, allowing businesses to start building and sending email campaigns with minimal time and effort.
3. Cost-effective: Email marketing platforms typically offer tiered pricing plans, making them accessible to businesses of all sizes and budgets.
4. Specialized features: While not as comprehensive as CRMs, email marketing platforms offer specialized features for email marketing, such as A/B testing, delivery optimization, and reporting.

Cons

1. Limited customer data: Email marketing platforms may lack the depth of customer data and segmentation capabilities available in CRMs, limiting the ability to deliver highly targeted campaigns.
2. Integration challenges: While email marketing platforms may integrate with some third-party tools, they may not offer the same level of integration flexibility as CRMs, leading to data silos and disjointed workflows.
3. Focus on email: While email marketing platforms excel at email campaigns, they may lack the broader functionality needed for comprehensive customer relationship management, such as lead management and sales automation.

Conclusion

Capturing more emails and enhancing your list-building efforts is crucial for any business looking to thrive in the digital landscape. By implementing irresistible lead magnets, engaging opt-in forms, and strategically placing calls to action within your blog posts, you can significantly increase your email subscriptions. Remember, the key to a successful email list is not just in the numbers but in the quality of leads and the relationships you build with your subscribers. Utilize the strategies discussed to create a robust email marketing strategy that resonates with your audience, drives action, and ultimately contributes to your business’s growth. With consistent effort and a focus on delivering value, your email list can become one of your most valuable marketing assets.