Heaven And Hell: Do's And Don'ts Of Email List Building

A high-quality email list is the most valuable asset for any business – online and offline. There are, however, various factors that determine the overall effectiveness and success of your email list. Mainly, it is the list building techniques that you use.

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In this post, you will learn 10 do’s and don’ts of email list building. If you follow the advice given in this article, you are more likely to end up with a much more effective and high-quality email list.

 1.  Do Use the Permission Based Technique

Permission based email marketing is arguably the most important part of the entire process. It is equally beneficial for your business as well as your prospects.

As a matter of fact, a study reveals that 77% internet users prefer it when an online business use the permission based method. Otherwise, you could seriously damage your credibility.

Therefore, always seek permission of your prospects before you start sending emails. In order to do that, use the double opt-in method. If you are not sure what's right and what's wrong, you want to check out on the subject of email list building.

 2.  Do Offer a Solid Reason to Your Prospects to Subscribe

If you don’t give your prospects a reason to subscribe, very few would actually fill that sign-up form.
Every online marketer and entrepreneur understands the true importance of an email list. Therefore, it has become very common to offer a free product, e-book or trial period to email subscribers. And because of the fact that it has become so common, you can’t do without it.

So, offer a solid reason – a free 50-page e-book should do – so your prospects find it more benefiting to subscribe.

 3.  Do Promise to Deliver Valuable Content

If you want to see better results with your email lists, remember this simple formula:

More Value, Less Marketing

When you constantly provide valuable content to your subscribers, they love you for it. On the other hand, if you constantly promote and market different products, why would anyone like to subscribe anyway?

Constant marketing – without providing any real value – will push your readers to either unsubscribe or mark you as a spammer.

 4.  Do Make It Easier to Subscribe

Make it extremely easy for your users to subscribe. Don’t make it complicated by adding tons of information. Instead, just focus on getting the email address first.

Apart from that, you can also ask your prospects to enter their first names, along with the email addresses. But there must not be anything more than that.

In other words, the subscription should be sweet and simple. Just the first name and e-mail address should be enough. You can later ask for more information to complete your users’ profiles.

 5.  Do Segment Your Email Lists

Segmenting is another very important aspect of a high-quality email list. Segmenting your email list allows better, more effective and highly targeted communication to your subscribers.

Divide your lists into various groups, depending on the diversity of your subscribers. They all differ in age groups, sex, demographics, preferences, income groups, etc.

When you segment your email lists on the basis of that, you enable yourself to target each group in a much better way.

 6.  Don’t Make it Hard to Unsubscribe

Still, not many email marketers make it easy for their subscribers to unsubscribe. If you do the same mistake, you might end up as a “spammer”.

When users don’t find a way out – and they also want to stop receiving your emails – they mark your emails as spams. Regular complaints may permanently blacklist your service.

Therefore, never make it hard for your users to unsubscribe. A good technique to avoid this pitfall is to clearly provide an unsubscription link at the end of each email.

 7.  Don’t Buy Email Lists

Building an email list can be a long, tedious process, but it is all worth in the end.

Many email marketers follow the shortcut by purchasing email lists. Don’t do it. Never buy an email list. Build your relationship from the scratch.

Your prospects should be completely aware of what they are getting into. They must be genuinely interested in establishing a contact with you and receiving your emails.

 8.  Don’t Forget to Create a Separate Landing Page

A successful email list building process requires a thorough and well-rounded strategy. Having a separate landing page is one of the important pillars of that plan.

Don’t forget to dedicate a separate landing page for your subscription form. In that landing page, make sure to promote your free product, its benefits to your prospects and your sweet-and-simple sign-up box.

 9.  Don’t Trick Your Prospects

There are various tactics that a person can use to trick its prospects. The end-result is often a huge e-mail list of subscribers who don’t even know that they have opted in.

Using any such trick can never give you the results you want. Building an email list is a long, on-going process. Moreover, it is more about the journey than the destination.

Create your email list genuinely – without tricking your prospects. At the same time, give them valuable content, build a relationship, and then leverage your trust and credibility to successfully stable your online business.

 10. Don’t Overburden your Subscribers

Last, but not the least, never overburden your subscribers with emails.

Yes, they have subscribed to your email list, but it doesn't mean that you keep sending them emails all the time. There must be a fine balance that you’ll have to maintain. Further more, there should also be a difference between a genuine content marketer and a spammer.

Never overburden them with content and marketing emails. In fact, devise a well-thought content marketing strategy. For instance, you could develop a strategy that requires you to send an email every week on a certain theme.

Whatever it may be, just remember that “curiosity” is essential for online marketing success and email list building.


About The Author: My name is Tom. I am an email marketer.