You decided to buy email lists. The only engagement you’re seeing is sky-high unsubscribe rates. It’s a completely predictable situation.
Buying Email Lists Is an Ineffective Marketing Strategy
Purchased email marketing lists are not effective. They do not generate strong leads, and could result in email providers marking your domain as spam.
Organic growth yields better business results
People who willingly submit contact information want to hear from you. They’re less likely to unsubscribe and more likely to engage when you tell them to book a meeting or download a checklist.
Building a list is easier than you think
Put your website to work for you, and have it help you organically grow your list 24/7.
How To Build an Email List Using Your Website: 10 Organic List Growth Hacks
1. Add pop-ups, modals or overlays to your website
OptiMonk’s data proves pop-ups work, but efficacy varies depending on the type of pop-up.
In their study, asking people to opt in to a newsletter via pop-up had a 5.1% conversion rate. But offering a free guide or ebook chapter in a newsletter signup pop-up had a 7.49% conversion rate.
As you design your pop-up, make it so the person immediately perceives value in handing over their information. If you don’t have an ebook or guide, offer a free business review related to your services.
Don’t be annoying!
Pop-ups that appear the second a user lands on your website irritate users. Here are 3 less annoying ways to display pop-ups:
1. After a user has been on your site for a specific amount of time, like 30 seconds, 1 minute, etc.
2. Based on how far down the page the user scrolled
3. If it looks like the user is about to exit your site
2. Put multiple calls to action on every page
Forcing users to backtrack zaps their will to follow through. Do not make them scroll up, down, or hunt for links. Put multiple calls to action on every page.
Vary the formats and what you offer
The first call to action could be a graphic, the second a button, and then another graphic at the end.
Make the call to action pop off the page
Stay away from dull colors – like a grey button and black text. Catch users’ eyes with bold font and bright colors that align with your brand.
Program one call to action to scroll on page
Design your website so a call to action stays visible on the page as users scroll.
3. Live chat apps or bots
People are impatient. They do not want to hunt through your site to find information. Chatbots easily satisfy prospects who want instant answers.
When queries become too complex, the bot shifts to a live person
At this point, you can collect information like their name and business email address.
Like pop-ups, you don’t want your chatbot or app to be a nuisance
Give people the option to minimize or close the feature.
4. Create valuable guides, checklists, videos, and other assets
Saying Hey, give me your email! without offering any incentive in return does not work.
Publish assets that leave a positive impression on prospects
Crave-worthy assets offer tips and insights a prospect can’t easily find elsewhere. Share actionable, insightful advice that proves your subject matter expertise.
5. Promote live and virtual events you’re running on your site
Speaking at events is a powerful lead generating activity. You showcase your subject matter expertise and directly engage your target market. But you don’t have to wait for an organization to invite you to speak! Host your own events and webinars.
6. Offer free consultations or demos
Don’t have time to create guides? You still have options.
Turn a pre-sales activity, like a consultation or product demo, into a free offer. Create a landing page with a Contact Us form and promote it across your site and social media profiles. You’ll capture interested prospects and immediately engage them in a conversation where you can qualify the opportunity.
7. Run contests or product giveaways
Your only guidelines here are to: have fun, show off your personality, and tie the offer back to your business.
Cloud providers could offer 3 months of free storage to the person who writes the best caption for a photo on social media. A SaaS company might give away a subscription to the first person who gets a trivia question correct.
8. Ask people to share your content
One simple share puts you in front of people who never visited your site and don’t know who you are. Tell people who read your blogs, sign up for your webinars, download guides, or register for your newsletter to share them with their peers.
9. Subscribe buttons for your newsletter
Those pop-ups we mentioned earlier aren’t the only way to capture new newsletter subscribers.
Create a webpage explaining what you write, when you send it, and the value it provides. (See how we did it for our Thoughts on Generating Revenue monthly digest!) Then add buttons, banners, and other promos to your site to make it easy for people to sign up.
10. Drive traffic to web form fills with social and digital ads
Google estimates businesses earn $2 in revenue for every $1 spent on Google ads. To maximize your potential ROI, we recommend you point your ad to a specific web asset or landing page – not a generic solution page.
3 success tips for your digital ads
1. Pick your highest-converting asset or offer
2. Write snappy ad copy
3. Select keywords that will attract the right target market
Get 10 More Hacks To Build Your Email List
Get more ideas by watching the replay of our Coffee with Kendra webinar, 20 Strategies to Build a High-Converting Email List.
Do you have a favorite list-building hack that we missed?
Add a comment to the Coffee with Kendra webinar video and let us know!