How to Build an Email List

Kristen... How do I build an Email List?

I’d say that probably this one of the most common questions I get asked during strategy sessions.

Then the next biggest question is “okay…how do we build it fast because I’ve waited so long to get started?

And the next question I get asked is from people who already have a list and that is ” how do I best monetize my email list?”

Let’s dive into answering these questions in detail…

Building an email list is normally one of the top most goals prospective clients (and you should too) have when they initially meet with me.

That’s smart…

Let me be straight with you, if you haven’t taken the time to build your email list, you are leaving money on the table. As a business owner you need a way to build a relationship with your tribe and to sell your products and services.

Email marketing is the simply best way you can stay top of mind with your prospects, customers and make more money.

Permission-based email marketing serves to reduce the perceived risk of doing business with you while increasing usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyment.

Here are a few statistics about email marketing that should get you thinking…In 2017, global email users amounted to 3.7 billion users (Statista, 2019). This number is forecasted to grow to 4.3 billion users in 2022 (Statista, 2019).

Think about it…that number is approximately one-half of the world’s population.

In 2017, 269 billion emails were sent and received each day according to Statista, 2019. That’s a boatload of daily emails – no wonder our inboxes are crowded with emails! And the number is forecasted to grow to over 333 billion daily emails in 2022 (Statista, 2019).

That alone should prove to you that email marketing isn’t dying…just the opposite, it’s growing.

And if you are wondering about your ROI…here’s another important statistic for you to consider: For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $32 (DMA, 2018).

So what does all of this mean to you?

These statistics clearly show that email marketing is an opportunity that you shouldn’t be missing out on.

You should be building your email list and leveraging your follow-up emails to start building that relationship with your “perfect customer”. How you want to do that is to lead with content and give, give give.

Simply put this is how you build your reputation as an expert while building trust and giving them a taste of what it’s like to work with you.

You want to leave them thinking: “Wow this free content is so great…I wonder what their paid content is like.” This makes it so much easier to turn those leads into paid customers using email marketing.

My advice is don’t keep putting off email list building your website is “perfect” or until you’ve found the “perfect” offer.

It makes me sad when I see this and trust me I’ve seen lots of business owners making this big mistake.

So let’s dive into how to build an email list by taking a quick at the biggest mistakes I see people making when building an email list.

4 Email List Building Mistakes to Avoid

Not Collecting Leads

Yes it is really that simple and yet so many people do not have an opt-in box on their website! It is never too late or too early to start building your list. Don't get stuck into the mindset of thinking that I'll get around to doing this later.

Offering Too Many Choices

Too many calls to action on a single page = No Action! Having too many choices for actions actually ends up confusing your visitors and if you are not clear, they will not take the action you want them to take

Not Offering an Incentive

Don't make the mistake of not offering the opportunity (or the right one) to join your email list. When you get this wrong, you are wasting valuable traffic. If you offer an incentive and it isn’t converting enough, then it is it time to start testing.

Not including Content Upgrades

This is one of the most simple ways for you to get more people on your list. Wondering what a content upgrade is? It can be as simple as a checklist that helps your readers take what you have written and get started applying what you've taught them.

Here's How to Fix Those Email List Building Mistakes

Use these 3 tips to give youself a bigger boost for your efforts

Tip #1: Get your opt-in form set up on your website.

I’ve written a post here where you can learn about Opt in Strategies that Convert. In this post I show you exactly where you should put your opt-in on your website and the best way to entice someone to sign up for your email list.

Don’t stop at just adding your opt-in on your home page!

There are loads of other places on your website and ways you can get even more people on your email list. I give you the top 5 places that will give you the best conversion right
here in this post on the best places to put email sign up forms.

Better yet check out my FREE download: 7 Ways to Make Money with Your Website. This guide walks you through everything I discuss here and much more. You’ll know exactly where to put those opt ins on your website and how to build an email list.

The 5 best places to put your opt in form on your website

BONUS:

I love content upgrades and I go into them in further detail below in tip #2. Adding those content upgrade offers in multiple times in a blog post has been one of the most effective ways to build my email list in the past year.

I have to say that my number one favorite place other than on my home page for an opt-in is at the end of my blog posts.

I drive a lot of people to my website with my content marketing and oftentimes this is the first place they land on my site and I want to make sure I give them an opportunity to sign up for my email list so I am sure to include an opt-in at the end of every blog post.

I’ve been very successful with building my email list by creating simple content upgrades and adding the main opt in at the end of my blog posts. I love to use Opt In Monster (see my resources at the end of this post) to create opt ins that are targeted to my content categories. Then I set up different cpt – ins that relate to the content category for my blog post.

*NOTE: Using this strategy is how you naturally lead your “perfect client” to your products and services.

Tip #2: Create Simple Content Upgrades For Your Blog posts

Feeling stuck with an opt in that might not be working as well as you’d like it to? When clients come to me asking how to build an email list faster this is one of the first things I tell them to start doing.

So just what’s a content upgrade? As I mentioned before it can be as simple checklist or cheat sheet that helps your reader take action with what information you have shared in your content.

Tip #3: Create Landing Pages for Your Main Opt Ins

Wondering how to build an email list with paid traffic? The most effective way is to create landing pages for your opt-in and then drive traffic to it using paid advertising like Facebook Ads.

We’ve found that quizzes and longer-form content that focuses on helping your target audience recognize and fix their biggest problems are the best ways to grow your list fast using paid advertising.

Strategies to Supercharge Your Email List Building Efforts

Use these 3 tips to give youself a bigger boost for your efforts

The Short Burst:

Method is one that you see a lot of marketers using right now where they plan a few times each year where you focus completely on building your list using the short planned burst method. You can learn more about How to Use The Short Burst List Building Strategy.

Cross promoting with partners or blogging on their site:

is another great way to build your list. I’ve seen the power of this especially when mentors / coaches partner up with their clients and help them get started. One client had 400+ people register for a webinar using this approach! I give you 7 tips to find promotional partners in this article: How to find promotional partners & build your list.

Webinars:

One of the fastest and best ways I’ve found to build my email list is through webinars. And by doing webinars, you’ll build the know like and trust factor faster with your email list.

Challenges:

While I haven’t done one yet for myself, I’ve created 2 highly success challenges for one of my clients that have proven to be effective email list builders and a great way to turn those who participate into paying customers. So consider adding challenges into your email list building tactics.

Challenges are pretty simple in theory…basically, you teach your participants over the course of 3-5 days. Each day should have a short teaching email along with an assignment. Then you have your participants join you ideally over on Facebook in a live session where they get additional tips from you and have an opportunity to ask questions.

The final day is where you wrap up the challenge and ideally, they’ve done the work and ended up with a massive amount of value from you along with bonding with life for 5 days. Now’s your opportunity to introduce the natural next step…working with you 1:1 or enrolling in your course.

Then you follow up with them via email to make your offer and close them into becoming a paid customer.

My advice is to pick one of these list-building ideas (my pick is to start with webinars) and get started.