5. Include a privacy policy. When someone gives you his or her email address it is an act of trust. You can even have a simple privacy policy posted near the sign up form, "We value your privacy and will never sell or share the information you provide to us." Many sites also have a more formal privacy document and provide a link to it on their site.
6. Make it easy to sign up for your list. If you make it complicated or ask too many questions, many people will find it not worth the effort. There is a fine line in collecting too much information and too little information but try your best to find that sweet spot. Sometimes a simple sign up box asking some basic information is enough.
7. Promote your email list sign up in your printed material, with a link provided. Your collateral could have sparked enough interest for the prospect to want to learn more.
8. Consider a sort of email list splash page that loads on your screen before the site. It gives people and opportunity to subscribe before moving on to your main site with a quick click if you do not want to subscribe. The page does not appear when you visit the site in the future. Marketing Sherpa does this as do a number of other sites.
9. Keep the subscribers you have now. Just as it is easier to keep an existing customer than get a new one. The same concept applies to your email list. Do your best to provide consistently useful content and offers to your subscribers to keep them engaged and interested. This is one of the most effective ways to get repeat business.
10. Do not buy a list. If you do you are very likely to see a spike in spam complaints when you send to purchased addresses, which will cause your deliverability to tank to your best customers and subscribers. In addition, your Email Service Provider (ESP) will not look kindly on this violation of their Terms of Service (TOS). Buying a list is more trouble than it is worth and is not a good way to build a list.

Employing these tips can help marketers grow their lists, but they must remember that growing lists and keeping them up-to-date is an ongoing process. Pay attention to your lists and your associated campaigns, and you will have great results.

« Previous page | 1 | 2