Building an Email List Effectively and Compliantly

Email marketing can be an extremely effective strategy that helps you connect with your customers in a deep and meaningful way. But it can also be a way that you upset your potential customers and leave them wondering how you got into their inbox.

How you build your email list is so important and can be the driving factor behind whether your customers appreciate the interaction with you or whether they feel annoyed by the email in their inbox. 

We’ll walk you through effective and compliant methods for building out your email list to ensure you create valuable relationships with your customers and avoid serious fines for failing to handle email addresses the way the law outlines.

1. Include Email Subscription Boxes Throughout Your Website

If you’re generating meaningful traffic to your website, an email subscription box should be an effective way to reach your customers. Place these boxes in prominent locations, such as the footer of your website and throughout high-quality content on your blog.

Offer an incentive for subscribing, such as a small discount or the promise of thought-provoking thought leadership. You could even give away a free service, such as an assessment to those who subscribe. Just be sure it’s a realistic offer based on the volumes of email inquiries you could receive.

2. Avoid Buying an Email List

Email lists promise an audience that fits your business area. And while the emails might be high-quality from the standpoint that they don’t bounce when you send to them, they aren’t high-quality in the sense of people knowing who you are and being glad to see you in their inbox.

Harvesting emails from online or blanketing an online group of people can make those recipients dislike you instead of building meaningful relationships with you. Find better ways to reach out to these individuals that don’t seem as surprising as an unwanted email in their inbox.

3. Make it Easy for Subscribers to Share Your Messages

Referrals are some of the best forms of flattery in the marketing industry. Encourage your email subscribers to share your messages with their connections. Create easy-to-use buttons where they can enter their friend’s email address to share the content. 

And if you create great content, you might get a new subscriber from that interaction so that you can keep in touch with these people.

4. Allow People to Subscribe Via Social Media

Having more than one way to stay in touch with your customers is beneficial. So although your followers already see your content on social media, they might enjoy seeing it in their inbox as well. And you can provide exclusive email offers that entice them to join you in both places. 

Just be sure that you make it easy to subscribe from social media because consumers want to accomplish tasks quickly when they are scrolling.

5. Use Clear “From” and “Reply-to” Information

Even once you’ve earned a new email customer, you need to use careful methods to keep them as subscribers. You can’t create shady or confusing email messages that leave a customer wondering who is sending the message. 

Be clear in your “from” and “reply-to” fields so that email subscribers know who they are interacting with. Include your mailing address and a clear place where recipients can unsubscribe if they want to. And when a user does opt out, honor it as soon as possible.

Never use deceptive subject lines that promise something that isn’t in the body of the email. 

If you’re looking for a marketing partner to help you build an email list and use it effectively, New Light Digital is an expert in this area. And with expertise in all areas of digital marketing, we can help you view email marketing as a tool in all that you do. Schedule a free consultation now to get started.

Further reading:

• How to Use Landing Pages to Improve Email Marketing Performance
• How to use Email Reactivation Campaigns
• How to Sell to Customers Who Are Just Too Busy