Building Email List Based On Permission

Any email marketer will tell you that having a recipients’ list is of prime importance. However, it is a known fact that nearly thirty percent of email addresses on any list keep changing. Hence, a marketer is always on his toes trying to expand his list so that he has up-to-date email addresses.

In order to have an up-to-date email list, one of the steps is to take permission of the recipient. In fact, taking permission is mandatory or else you will be accused of spamming and breaking the law. In order to turn every visitor to your website into a subscriber, a form should be available on your website. You can attract more subscribers by offering incentives as they go a long way in increasing the conversion rates. Another option that works well is letting a potential subscriber see the value of the subscription. This can be done by way of sample emails, testimonials or screen shot of your email.

One of the proven methods to increase traffic and subsequently the subscription rate is by search engine optimization. Your website content as well as archived web pages should be optimized for search engines so that you are among the top hundred search results. Use Google Adwords to your advantage for promoting your website and subscription landing page. Make sure you have an opt-in box and results clearly indicate that this helps in increasing the subscription rate by at least fifty percent.

A simple method of increasing subscription that is being used by marketers is having a Send-to-friend option. This option allows the recipient to send an interesting email to friends. And if the friends like the content of the email, there is a high possibility that they will subscribe to receive your future emails.

Email subscription should not be limited to just websites and emails. You can use print ads, direct mailers, radio, television and even product catalog to increase your subscription. Encourage your employees to add a subscription link in their official email signature line. If you have a customer service department, ask your customer support employees to seek permission from callers to subscribe them to your organization’s monthly newsletter. Another fantastic method of lead generation is handing out opt-in forms to visitors at trade shows.

In case you do not have the email address of a customer but you have their postal address, send them a postcard requesting them to subscribe to newsletters. You can also have an optional link for new subscription on receipts of credit cards, invoices, product warranties and even product registration cards. If you ship your products to customers and clients, make sure to include an opt-in form in each box. 

If your newsletter has excellent content, you can always use it to make a press release which should contain information on how to subscribe for a newsletter. This is an excellent way of building an email list, especially for smaller companies.