Email marketing is a valuable tool, but building a list can be a lengthy process. Are you struggling to grow your email list? Here are 7 tips to follow to build an engaged database!

1. Give people a reason to subscribe. 

Provide website visitors and customers with an incentive to subscribe to your email list. This can be a discount on a purchase, a free resource from your business, or the insight of being the first to know about new products, promotions, and more. Your subscribers may only sign up to receive that initial incentive, but if you establish a good relationship and provide quality content, they can become loyal customers.

2. Add an email opt-in to your website. 

Adding an email opt-in to your website allows visitors to peruse your website and decide whether they want to subscribe to your email or not. Placement is key. You can include an opt-in in multiple places throughout your site including the home page, product pages, blog posts, and more. 

3. Encourage your subscribers to share your emails.

Simply asking your subscribers to share your emails with someone they think would enjoy it can go a long way, but to build upon that you but you can continue to grow your email list by giving your subscribers an incentive or added value when they share your content with others. You can offer a discount, free resources, or even free products when someone refers to a friend.

4. Reinvigorate a stale email list. 

Do you have a list of subscribers that opted-in years ago? Create an engaging opt-in message to send to this older list and encourage them to re-opt in if they’d like to, but also promise to remove all contacts who don’t respond. Though it may seem counterintuitive to remove people from your email list to grow it, you want to make sure your contact list is engaged. This increases the odds of your email being opened and shared with those outside of your current subscribers.

5. Add an opt-in link to your employees’ signatures. 

Hyperlinked email signatures is an easy way for people to land on your website, where they can sign up for your mailing list. Plus, if you’re already in conversation with a customer, subscribing to more emails is a natural next step. Employees can also share a direct call-to-action in their email pointing the customer to the link so they can opt-in to your mailing list.

6. Create a free online tool or resource that requires sign-up. 

As mentioned above, potential subscribers may want something in return for subscribing to your emails. A great way to do this is to offer free online tools or resources that would make their lives easier, and all they have to do is give you their email address in return. After they opt-in to your email list, keep them engaged with unique content related to the reason they subscribed in the first place.