Getsitecontrol Insider

How to Build Email List: Proven Tactics for 2020

March 04, 2020 Getsitecontrol Episode 11
Getsitecontrol Insider
How to Build Email List: Proven Tactics for 2020
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Flash news.
Adding an email subscription form isn't enough to build a thriving email list.
And that's why the number of your subscribers is probably lower than you anticipated.

The thing is, people aren't eager to give away their email addresses to companies anymore. Their inboxes are already full, and the last thing they want is another marketing newsletter.

So how do you entice people to join your list then?
Don't worry. We've collected 17 tactics that will help you get started.

Once you listen to the episode, here are the links you may find useful:

To create a beautiful email signup form for your website, check this out: https://getsitecontrol.com/templates/collect-email-addresses/



Create beautiful email signup forms, coupon boxes, and pop-up surveys for your store with Getsitecontrol.

Speaker 1:

Hi, you're listening to Getsitecontrol Insider and today we're talking about ways to build an email list in 2020.

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You know that having subscribers is valuable, but how do you actually go from zero subscribers to a thriving list? When you're just getting started, it can feel overwhelming. It doesn't have to be though! By following the tactics we're about to cover, you can start growing your email list and turn it into the evergreen asset that you know it can be. Let's get started. 1. Give your opt-in forms the attention they deserve. If you want to get people to sign up to your list, you need to make it obvious exactly how they can do that. That's what your email opt-in forms do. I know- adding an opt-in form isn't exactly a mind-blowing tip, but you'd be surprised how many people ignore it and just tuck away an ugly"Subscribe" form in the footer on their side.

Speaker 1:

Your opt-in forms are the engine that drives your list growth. So if you want to learn how to get more subscribers, a lot of it is going to come from experimenting with them: where and how you display your forms. And that's where popups and slide-ins are going to bring much more value than a subscription form hidden in the footer.

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2. Experiment with different opt-in form types. First, if you're looking for a tool to create email opt-in forms, Getsitecontrol is a great option. It requires zero technical knowledge and allows you to build beautiful online forms in no time. Now, rather than just throwing an opt-in form on your site and calling it a day, you should run some experiments to figure out which type of opt-in forms get you the most email signups. For instance, one way to boost your conversion rate is to use forms that display after a user interacts with your page. The most common example here is a lightbox popup that appears after visitors spend some time reading your content or scroll down the page. Modal popups work extremely well here, but you don't have to use them if you feel they might seem aggressive. Consider more unobtrusive forms such as slide-ins or floating bars at the top or bottom of a webpage. 3. Let visitors subscribe from other areas. Dedicated email opt-in forms aren't the only way to build an email list. You can also harness other areas where people are already interacting with your site. For example, you have contact forms, registration forms, comment sections, order forms. By adding a checkbox that lets people subscribe to your newsletter, you can use them too. 4. Use a lead magnet to incentivize signups. Which sounds more enticing to you:"Sign up to our email list" or"Sign up to our email list and get a free ebook on how to build an email list" It's the second one, right? You feel like you're immediately getting something back in exchange your email. It's a quid pro quo transaction rather than just you handing over your email address for free. These types of incentives are called lead magnets or content upgrades, and they're one of the most popular strategies to get more subscribers. There are a ton of different incentives that you can offer depending on what your website is about. Coupons, eBooks, checklists, cheat sheets, toolkits, and more. All are great examples as long as they bring value to your audience. 5. Personalize your opt-in forms. Here's another common-sense rule. If your visitors feel that your email list is related to their interests, there'll be more likely to subscribe to maximize the chances of that happening.

Speaker 1:

Though you should consider personalizing your email opt-ins. For example, let's say you have two different sections on your site: one about WordPress, another about digital marketing. Rather than using a single opt-in form on both sections, you'll be more successful if the opt-in copy for the WordPress section relates to WordPress, and the opt-in for the digital marketing section relates to digital marketing. That way you can make sure that each visitor sees an email opt in form that's related to what they like.

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6. Try a two-step opt-in. A two-step opt-in is a different take on an email opt-in form that harnesses a psychological principle called the Zeigarnik effect. The Zeigarnik effect basically says that people are more likely to finish a task that they've started than the one they haven't started. And here's how that applies to growing your email list. With a two-step opt-in, you do not display your form right away. Instead you just show a button. You only display the opt-in form after a visitor has clicked the button. That is, after they've started the process. You start with the easy thing, having them click a button and then only move to the harder thing- filling in their email address and name after you've already got them started on the process. 7. Experiment with opt-in copy. Your opt-in forms themselves aren't the only things that matter. All the texts outside the forum plays a role too. So if you want to maximize the number of people that sign up to your email list, it's important to experiment with this copy to find what works best. The most important bit of text is your call to action or a CTA. The CTA is what visitors click to sign up for your email list. A lot of people will just go with something generic like"Subscribe". But while"Subscribe" is descriptive, it's not very motivating. To get more email subscribers, use more enticing CTAs. If, for example, if you have a fitness website using something like"Get weekly fitness tips" is better than a generic subscribe button. 8. Run A/B tests to optimize forms. Speaking of experimenting, another great way to optimize your opt-in forms is something called A/ B testing. During an A/B test you compare two different variations by sending one segment of traffic to variation A and another segment of traffic to variation B. Once you get enough data, you can make an evidence-based decision about which variation gets the most email subscribers. Some things that you can A/B test are form types, text and button copy colors, images, and form triggers to find out what works best( Displaying a form right away verse displaying it before a visitor closes the page). 9. Consider a negative opt-out form. A negative opt-out form is another way that you can play with optimizing your list building strategy. It takes the same basic approach as the two-step opt-in form from above but adds another little twist to boost your conversion rate. Specifically, it uses a popup with two buttons instead of one. One button starts the opt-in process. The other button is a negative button that closes the popup. However, rather than just using a generic" Close" text, this negative button uses a phrase that makes people think. For example, if I were creating a negative opt-out from this post, I might use something like positive button"I want to grow my list" and negative button"I'm not interested in growing my list right now".

Speaker 1:

10. Build a blog at your site.

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I haven't forgotten that this post is about how to build an email list for your business, but in order to grow an email list, you need traffic and when it comes to web traffic, building a blog is one of the best ways to draw in targeted visitors. Once you draw them in with your blog content, you can use all these other tactics to convert them to subscribers. 11. Write guest posts on other websites. Writing guest posts is a popular general marketing tactic and if done right, it can also be a great way to build your list. What you should not do is use your guest blog byline to just link to your generic homepage. That's fine for general SEO, but it's not the most optimal strategy. If you want to build your email list instead, use your byline to drive visitors to a customized landing page that connects to the topic of your guest post and puts an extra emphasis on getting people to subscribe to your email list. For extra emphasis, you can even dangle a lead magnet or a content upgrade in your guest post byline. 12. Use your social media accounts to cross promote. If you've already done the hard work to grow a social media presence, don't forget to leverage that existing audience to get people to subscribe to your email list too. This is especially important because of how social networks have been decreasing the organic reach for content. So if you can get social followers to subscribe to your email list, you'll always be able to reach them rather than just hoping they see your content in their social media feeds. 13. Let people choose their own preferences. When people are considering subscribing to your email list, you have to help them overcome two big fears. They're worried that:- you'll send them too many emails.- or content that they're not interested in.

Speaker 1:

A good way to overcome those fears right at the beginning and convince people to sign up is to simply let them choose their own preferences for how often to receive emails and what type of emails to receive. If you only send a few emails per month, this might be overkill, but if you're very active with your emails, this approach can pay dividends.

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14. Add microcopy to alleviate fears. Beyond letting people choose their own preferences, another way to boost your email list is to use smart microcopy to help alleviate those fears. Microcopy is basically small text that explains more about your opt-in form. It's unobtrusive, but it lets people know exactly what you expect from your newsletter. 15. Show an example of past emails. A third way to overcome people's fears is by showing them exactly what types of emails they'll receive. To accomplish this, you can create a public web archive or your most recent emails. Most email marketing services have a built in feature that lets you do this. When your visitors know exactly what they're going to receive, they'll feel more comfortable sharing their email addresses with you. 16. Add a call to action to your email signature. For another little boost, consider adding a newsletter sign-up CTA to your email signature to push people to sign up to your email list. Being able to meet people in their email boxes like this is a great way to pick up some extra subscribers with no extra effort on your part. Sure it won't make or break your list building efforts, but every little bit counts, right? 17. Add a"forward this" email option. No matter what business you're in, word of mouth is always a good thing when it comes to your email list. Word of mouth means making it easy for subscribers to share your emails with their friends and family. A good way to push subscribers to do this is with a"forward to a friend" link. Adding this link is better than relying on people to use their email software's forward feature because it also ensures that your subscribers don't get accidentally unsubscribed by their friends

Speaker 2:

Amd that wraps up the best tips on how to build an email list from scratch.

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If you apply at least some of them, you'll start picking up more email subscribers in no time. Just remember, it all starts with an effective email opt-in form, and the easiest way to create one is to register an account at getsitecontrol. com. You'll be able to place stunning popups, slide ins and floating bars and your website. But most importantly, you'll be able to use various targeting settings and run AB tests to optimize conversions. Start a free trial, and you should see the results by the end of the first week. Thank you for listening. This is it for the episode. Don't forget to subscribe until next time.

1. Give your opt-in forms the attention they deserve
2. Experiment with different opt-in form types
3. Let visitors subscribe from other areas
4. Use a lead magnet to incentivize signups
5. Personalize your opt-in forms
6. Try a two-step opt-in
7. Experiment with the opt-in copy
8. Run A/B tests to optimize forms
9. Consider a negative opt-out form
10. Build a blog at your site
11. Write guest posts on other websites
12. Use your social media accounts to cross promote
13. Let people choose their own preferences
14. Add microcopy to alleviate fears
15. Show an example of past emails
16. Add a call to action to your email signature
17. Add a "forward this email" option