https://www.ometria.com/blog/effective-tactics-for-growing-your-email-list

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6 Super Effective Tactics for Growing Your Email List ometria.com

It is now widely acknowledged (and proven) that email is one of the bestchannels for ecommerce marketers to grow and engage with theircustomer base.

According to American Express, the reason email works so well as aB2C communication tool is that consumers are firmly in control of it: theydecide whether they want to read it, delete it or unsubscribe for good.And it is this power that (somewhat unconsciously) encourages visitorsto sign up to ecommerce newsletters if they specifically like yourproducts, and they want to take advantage of an incentive you’reoffering.

Having said that, growing your email list with interested subscribers that purchase regularly and are brandadvocates is the ultimate goal, and is also a big challenge for marketers.

We have gathered 6 good ways to help you increase your mailing list:

1) Get the placement of your signup box right

There’s no right or wrong location for your signup box, you simply need to test different options to seewhich works best for driving signups on your website. We suggest running tests by placing the signup boxin different locations on your pages to see how many new subscribers you get.

Should you have it in your homepage footer or header? Or in the middle of your homepage? It also doesn’thave to be in only one place - you can (and should) create various opportunities for visitors to subscribe.

Here are a few best practice examples:

Hunter

Hunter allows you to sign up in all category pages (menu on the left), on the navigation menu (on the right),and on their main homepage (middle).

  

P & Co

The fashion company has its signup box veryclearly placed right in the middle of theirhomepage, and also highlighted in their ‘Story’page.

 

In additionto signupboxlocation,you need to

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you need totest thesignupprocess interms ofamount ofinformationyou ask for.Someretailers askfor a bareminimum inthe initial

signup process and attempt to find out more later, while others ask for more details upfront.

 

2) Have an opt-in (instead of opt-out) option for email marketing permission on checkout

Following our intro about growing a quality mailing list, we’d strongly advise you ask customers for emailpermission at checkout using opt-in boxes, rather than opt-out ones.

When making a purchase, customers usually assume that small line of text is asking for their permission tobe included in your list, instead of asking for their exclusion from it. And for those customers who prefer tokeep their inbox free from promotional emails, getting unwanted emails because they didn’t tick the opt-outbox can have negative consequences for your brand.

So, to avoid annoying your new customer (and getting higher than usual unsubscribe rates), make sure youhave an opt-in choice for your email marketing.

Here is a great example from  checkoutLancôme’s and acknowledging this is my first(letting me opt-inpurchase).

 

 

And here is an example of not-so-great practice from the Domino’sPizza checkout, where you need to tick the box to opt-out of theirmarketing list.

 

3) Implement a carefully-planned emailsignup popup

Althoughcontroversial,email signuppopups that

are well

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are wellimplementedand trackedhave provedto be aneffective toolto acquirenew

customers. Make sure your email popup onlyappears to first-time visitors, to those thathaven’t purchased yet, and to those who haven’tclicked-through from your emails to avoidfrustrating existing subscribers. 

We've covered email pop up best practice in greater detail in this blog post: 8 Tips for Using Popups to.Grow your Mailing list

 

4) Encourage your existing email subscribers to forward your emails to a friend

Leverage your subscribers’ network by giving them the option to send your newsletter to a friend, insteadof only sharing to social media channels. The ‘forward to a friend’ process may vary depending on youremail service provider, but if you have the ability to implement it you should take advantage of thisopportunity and allow your subscribers to share your content (if they think your newsletter is awesome, ofcourse!).

And because your newsletter is referred by someone within their circle of friends/family/colleagues, thenew receiver is more likely to be actually interested in your brand. Don't forget to include a link in theshared newsletter for the new receiver to sign up to your regular emails, to make sure you reach the goal(getting a new subscriber).

Hard Graft

A great example - the images below illustrate the two-step process of forwarding a newsletter to a friend,and what the friend will receive.

Swarovski

Another good example:

5)Promoteyournewsletterinyourofflinestores(butdoit

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swarovski

itamazingly!)

Youmaynothaveconsideredpromotingyournewsletterinyourphysical

stores, as it’s always a challenge to implement online-offline strategies. There is no easy way to captureemails in an offline setting - however, offline can still represent an important touchpoint with your customers(if you’re an omnichannel retailer, that is). Why not try to engage them and lure them to your onlinedatabase when they’re actually showing interest in your brand (= when they’re buying in store)?

H&M

The fashion retailer has recently run an offline campaign to get new newsletter subscribers. Behind theircashier tilts, they offered an incentive of 25% off if you texted them your email address. The discount wasonly valid on that same day and could be redeemed immediately.

I have participated in this campaign, and below is the text message received after texting my email to H&M(and, of course, using the discount!).

I also immediately received their welcome email on my inbox, which shows that there isa clear integration between mobile/text data and their triggered emails’ workflow.

 

6) Try out Twitter ads

Social media channels are great for creating brand awareness. And paid social ads canboost your brand if you have specific goals, like getting more newsletter signups.Sponsored Twitter sign up cards, for example, can help increase your mailing list,though it means you need to allocate part of your marketing budget to build a campaign.

Unlike the other suggestions we’ve been giving you, implementing a Twitter ad topromote your newsletter is cost-demanding - which is why it should have clearly defined goals. You’re likelyto see the best results for targeting these ads at your followers - people who already have a certain level ofbrand awareness. Social paid campaigns need constant monitoring of signup performance and quality ofsubscribers as time goes by.

FC Bayern

The football club offers the chance to win a prize in exchange for newsletter signup.

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DropWines

DropWines also uses Twitter ads to get newsubscribers to join its club. Although this ad is notexactly promoting their newsletter, it still enablesDropVines to capture email addresses and addthem to a segmented mailing list.

Wehopeyoucannowtestsomeofthesestrategiestogrowa

sustainable email list!