Email marketing is undoubtedly an essential approach for growing your business.
But email list building is not everyone's cup of tea. You need to offer something valuable and worthy around your product to attract visitors. It’s a process where you have to test different kinds of strategies continuously. Tactics that are appealing to visitors' minds.
You will be surprised to hear that, every $1 you spend on your email marketing will return as about $36—that’s exactly 3600 % return. It’s one of the core reasons why marketers still trust emails as the most effective channel for customer acquisition.
Lost between where to start and how to get people convinced to sign up with their real emails? You’re not the only one!
This blog is a beginner-friendly guide on how to build an email list with the fastest, easiest, and simplest ways. In this guide, I’ll share 10 actionable and practical ways to help grow your email list from zero!
Why Building an Email List Must-Have For Any Business
A properly elaborated email list is an asset that you truly own and directly control for your business. Social media algorithm changes now and then, campaign/ad costs may increase, Google algorithm keeps changing, but an email list is something that is constant and provides direct access to your audience.
So, let’s look at its unique advantages-
# Cost-effective communication
Once you have the genuine email list, it actually costs nothing to market your products or services to your targeted audience. Besides paid advertising, you can reach your audience’s inbox with a new product launch, update, or anything valuable in no time.
# Trust and Authority
Your business or brand should run in a way that users can easily rely on your service, regardless a small or established brand. Email lets you connect consistently with valuable business insights, personal stories, or reward programs, like anything. Hence, subscribers start actually seeing you as a real person, not just as an ‘asd’ in their feed. It gradually builds trust and authority.
# You Own the Relationship
Social platforms' followers are great. But with one algorithm tweak, your reach may drop overnight.
On the other hand, email list strategy is different and organic. It’s a direct, more precise permission-based line to your audience. It means your message actually lands where it should.
# Nurture Your Leads Automatically
Lead nurturing becomes easy when you have an ideal email list. The only task left for you is to set up an automated funnel. So that whenever anyone subscribes, they’ll automatically get routine content about your product or services.
This process is known as email automation, which doesn't require sending a message manually. Instead, the software takes care of everything from sending a welcome message to delivering a free resource or useful tip.
# Get Reliable Customer Insights
When you have a legitimate email list, it means you have access to real audience data who actually want your service. In that way, it’s easy to track which subject lines get more attention or which link gets more clicks. These insights are very crucial if you have a growing business. Also, these insights help to make better and smarter business decisions.
# Personalize Every Interaction with Your Customer
Unlike other traditional campaigns or social media ads, having an email list lets you connect person to person. For example, you can segment your audience from an email list based on customer behaviour, location, and interest. To be precise, segmentation helps to increase revenue by almost 760%.
# Launch and Test Products Easily
If you’re running a software or SaaS product company, then launching new products or releasing new features is a common scenario. Thus, having an engaged email list helps notify your users more quickly. Simply send a simple survey or soft launch message to your subscribers, and see how instant feedbacks in-coming. It’s more like a low-key way to test your product as well as validate your business idea.
How to Build an Email List from Scratch: Effective Strategies
Building an effective email list needs practical strategies and doesn’t have to be complex. In this section, we’ll discuss 10 proven email list-building strategies for beginners to advanced-level users.
1. Make Your Sign-up Form Super Easy
The opt-in form serves as the gateway for your email list. So, better make it simple, clean, and action-focused. When designing forms, try to keep the number of fields to a minimum so that the sign-up rate can be higher. In forms, let people know what they’re signing up for, mention useful tips or exciting deals, and never try to spam.
An effective way you can follow is to add sign-up form easily by designing an informative subscription page and then add it to a navigation bar. As a result, users can easily find out, fill it up, and join your email list.
Besides, you can also embed these opt-in forms on-
Home page
Landing page
Blog post
Pop-up
Some quick tips for Sign-up form placemats:
Allow people access from multiple points -footer. exit-intent, in content, sidebar, during checkouts
Scroll-triggered pop-up, like when someone scrolls half of the page
On the sign-up form user should not scroll down
Tools like EzyCourse make it easy to create and connect these forms without coding requirements. With it’s drag and drop web builder, you can create easy and attractive subscription page with a bunch of editing options.
2. Lead Magnets = Game-Changers
Lead magnets are old school in terms of today's digitalized approaches, yet quite effective as it solve specific problems and meet the user's wants. In simple words, lead magnets are something valuable you offer for free in return for a subscriber’s email address. It can be a free guide, checklists, free templates, special discount, etc. In short, anything that can benefit users.
For example, if you own a UI/UX related website and want to sell templates or themes, then your ideal lead magnet could be “ 5 free portfolio templates” or “Up to 70% off on all templates”. You can design your lead magnet using tools like Canva. Later share it through your website or social media platforms with a clear and actionable CTA.
3. Design A Convertible Landing Page
Landing pages are standalone pages designed for collecting emails, even when you are napping! If you want visitors to act fast, then nothing beats a well-designed, action-based landing page. A good landing page is a direct invitation rather than some vague suggestions. While designing a landing page, try to provide persuasive text that attracts visitors to try your service.
Some secrets to make an ideal landing page-
Clear and service-focused headline
Visually appealing images
Make a short and precise lead capture form
For proof, provide testimonials or a trust badge
Stick to one offer per page
Suppose that you’re a nutrition coach and offer customized diet plans. Instead of providing your website link to the user, you can send a landing page that offers a “7-day free diet plan PDF”. The page should include how the plan helps busy people to eat healthier. Additionally, include two real client testimonials and a clean form that asks only for a name and email.
4. Social Media Followers- Your Potential Email Subscribers
Social followers are the ideal or maybe the best to turn into your email subscribers. Instead of just telling them “Subscribe to my newsletter,” tease them with some free products or discounted services.
Recently, I have experienced this firsthand- I was looking for a good hair serum on Facebook, and then, I found a trusted hair care page. I’ve messaged them to ask for the price of that specific product. I was intent to place an order and they offered me a special coupon code and mentioned that if I purchase from their website, I will get a flat 20% off.
Eventually, I ordered from their website! By this smart move, they not only made a sale but also got my email address during checkout.
5. Let Your Subscribers Bring More Subscribers
How about your existing trusted user base does the marketing for you? With referral programs, you can also expand your list organically. Word of mouth is still in the game, and people love recommendations from friends and family. You just have to create a simple CTA to provide more authenticity- “ Refer your friend and get early access to my upcoming product”.
If you have heard about Harry’s- a new men's grooming brand, they ran a pre-launch referral program. Surprisingly, in just one week, they collected around 100,000+ emails from their referral links! Their technique was like the more friends you refer, the better the rewards will be. Such as, if you refer five people, you might get a free shaving cream; referring ten people might get you a free razor, etc.
6. Quizzes, Polls, and Surveys are Fun to Get More Subscribers
Interactive content is a hidden gem for creating and boosting your email list organically. Instead of bothering visitors to sign up out of nowhere, you can give them a gamified experience. Such as a quiz, polls/vote, spinning pop-ups, survey, or assessment. Visitors who participate will share their emails for answers or voting results.
But the trick is to make it simple, eye-catchy, and valuable for maximum engagement. In this way, visitors are kept engaged and attracted more than static content. It’s like a mind game that they become curious to see the results.
Razorpay- a popular payment gateway platform- experienced a massive 250% higher survey response through interactive AMP forms inside the survey emails. This worked because the experience felt fast, engaging, and frictionless - key principles of gamification that turn casual readers into active participants.
7. Use Pop-Ups to Catch Instant Visitor Attention
Visitors leaving your site without any activity? No problem, provide a last-minute offer with an exit-intent pop-up to catch them. This approach is smart to attract them rather than annoying them with extra activity.
Some secret sauces to make this approach fruitful are:
Best exit popups should be concise; don't even try to write a paragraph
Understand your visitors’ journey to make an alignment with their needs. If they’re spending more time on pricing, then display a discount pop-up.
For an authentic experience, use context like- provide new visitors informational pop-up while existing user know about your brand.
The key point is to offer users something irresistible that encourages them to subscribe without feeling bothered.
8. Contest and Giveaways Work Like a Charm
There is no debate that people love winning stuff/freebies. For this reason, content and giveaways are fun and quick to grow email lists. Unlike traditional sign-up forms, newsletters, or unnecessary pop-ups, giveaways provide incentives and immediate value.
Imagine you own a skincare brand and are running a giveaway offering a free product bundle or exclusive makeup kit. So, the minimum requirement of the giveaway contest is to submit an email address. Moreover, you can encourage participants by offering bonus entries upon referring friends.
9. Collaboration with Other Creators: New Trend
This is a paid approach that expands your reach quickly. Collaboration with other creators helps to gain exposure for each other’s audience. Technically, it works like you are using a trusted audience base of another established creator. It’s a win-win situation- you get new subscribers and the partner gets more exposure.
Some ideal collaboration methods are:
Cross-promotion on social platforms
Joint giveaways
Podcasts
Co-hosted webinars, live sessions
10. Make Urgency by Creating a Waitlist
This strategy is specific to e-commerce owners. Urgency is a clever way to entice people with your product. If your product is out of stock, don’t just let customers leave your site. Design a waiting list or sign-up form for restock alerts. It works well for limited-edition products, popular courses, or sold-out items.
I mentioned a real-time example about a popular hair serum earlier. If their serum is about to stock out, they can simply offer a “DM Us When Back in Stock” option on the product page, which captures email addresses from interested buyers. When the serum is available again, an automated email will be sent for immediate purchases.
Mistakes You Should Avoid
Now we know the basic to advanced strategies for growing an email list. But as a creator or brand owner, you should also know what points you should avoid for better engagement. Some common mistakes you should avoid:
Don’t opt for buying an email list.
Don’t spam by sending daily emails unless it’s necessary
Don’t forget to make your landing page and sign-up forms mobile-friendly if most of your users come from this device.
Lastly, don’t ask for too much of their information
The Bottom Line
As we came to the end of this discussion, one thing you should remember is that with the right strategy and tools, email list building is not complicated or boring. Think like you are building a little community that you fully own and control. Where every email is an opportunity to connect with your audience, provide value, and grow your business.
So, what are you waiting for? Try and implement these strategies and get your email list thriving! Looking for a reliable platform to implement these strategies? Try EzyCourse to get the best possible results along with advanced email automation tools.
