Techniques and Strategies - Building an Email List

[sonaliafrin]

There are literally thousands of websites and dozens of books on how to put together and execute an email campaign. However, the central ingredient to any successful strategy is simply having a large enough list to mail people. This articles attempts to address this issue by giving our readers practicable and seasoned tactics on building a large and viable email list.Underlying PrinciplesNo Matter what method you choose, most will not be successful unless you follow the following principles.Principle 1: Provide ValueFor most people, an email address is treated in the same regard as a phone number or address. People simply do not like to release their private information readily especially in the online environment.

You can overcome this natural hesitation If you offer something of value in return. Offering something doesn't mean a tangible or monetary good. Quite a few academic studies and business marketing research on internet usage have shown that people go online for two basic reasons; to learn or to communication. Offering valuable information or content can easily be your carrot to unlocking large volumes of email contacts.Principle 2: Keep it simple and easyIf you want to build a large Email List. Keep it simple and easy to sign up. Many marketers make the mistake of collecting too much information. Usually a name and email address works fine. Your subscription box is not meant to be marketing research. Some marketers ask for data such as age, occupation, sex, etc. But keep in mind he more fields a person has to fill out, the less likely they are to complete it.Principle 3: Assure PrivacyThe most frequently cited reason for hesitation when giving out email addresses is spam. (Surprisingly ahead of identity theft.) Overcome this hesitation by posting a privacy notice. A simple phrase such as "Your privacy is important to us.

We will never sell or disclose the email address and information you provide with us" will lead to more emails collected.Principle 4: No Funny BusinessMarketers have become far more aggressive in collecting emails. Often adding scripts and relays to forcibly extract email addresses. List building with involuntary ways will ultimately get you de-listed by the search engines when the various search engines crawl your website.Principle 5: Honor your subscriber's wishes. Whether they ask to be removed altogether or removed from a particular topic, always honor your subscriber's wishes.Email Gathering TechniquesNow that we have gone over the basic philosophy underlying our methods, let's talk about various strategies on gathering emails.1. Your Website. A quick way to generate emails for your list is to place a subscription form on key web pages. Normally, the left top side of a web site is the area that a visitor looks at first.

This is a natural area to place a small box that says, "Subscribe to our informative newsletter" or "download our free ebook" to increase your email list. Another method is you can create a pop-under that appears before they leave, asking if they would like to subscribe to your quality content. However, this degrades from the user experience.2. Checkout. Adding an opt-in box at checkout is a great way to increase your opt-in list as the customer usually gives you their email for receipts. A great way to entice more opt-in emails is to let your customers know you'll be sending them great discounts or coupons in the future if they sign up.3. Google AdWords. Google AdWords is a very powerful global advertising platform. Allowing anyone to send traffic to their website and only pay per click (visitor) they receive. Clicks can start from as low as $0.01 and go right up to $100+ per click! If you do your keyword research thoroughly you could gain new subscribers to your list for less than $0.10 each 4. Landing Pages - You can use paid searches to reach higher positions in marketing through the various search engines and post a email opt-in list on the landing page.5. Buy Pre-Existing Opt-in Lists.