Updated July, 2024
Are you thinking about building an email list, but not sure why it is so important? Many bloggers and business owners don’t see the importance of building an email list right away until they see the impact email lists can have on website traffic and revenue.
What is an Email List and Why is it so Important?
An email list is a list of names and email addresses of people who gave you permission to send them updates and promotions from your business via email.
Why is this so important?
Because these subscribers joined your email list from your website and verified their identity by clicking on a link (double opt-in). They are extremely interested in what you have to offer.
Email marketing on average sees a 4300 percent return on investment (ROI).
Advantages of email
Email lists can get up to 10 times higher conversions than social media campaigns. This makes sense if you think about these five advantages of email as a communication channel:
Email is Personal – Email allows you to land into a user’s inbox. There is no ranking system limiting your reach. It is very direct, personal, and casual.
Email is Purposeful – To get your email a user needs to sign up for your email list and confirm their email address. Someone doing this much work is obviously interested in hearing from you, and they are much more receptive to your message.
Email is Targeted – As we mentioned earlier the user has already shown interest in your products / content. Since you already know what they like, you can deliver them highly relevant content and offers to get better results. This is called segmentation.
You Own Your Email List – You do not own Facebook, Twitter, or Google. Your social media campaigns and SEO efforts can go to waste when these platform change their policies. On the other hand, you own your email list, and it is not influenced by decisions of other businesses.
Email is One-on-One – People read email in the privacy of their inbox. The message is not on a public timeline or newsfeed. They can ask you questions directly in private with confidence. This helps build trust and connection.
This is precisely why every smart business in the world has an email list.
Big name brands learned this lesson a long time ago, and that’s why they spend thousands of dollars on social media campaigns to get people to sign up for their email lists.
They understand that email marketing is the best long term investment with a much higher return. Because people will continue to get their message at a very low cost for a longer period of time.
Social Media vs Email Marketing
Now you’re probably thinking, wait a minute. What about social media?
A lot of social media experts and consultants, in an attempt to sell their services, downplay the importance of an email list.
Isn’t email marketing kind of dead with social media taking over everything?
The best way to answer this question is to look at the information Twitter and Facebook ask you before you create an account: Yup, it’s an email address. Because these companies know that emails are the most direct and reliable way of getting in touch.
All social media platforms are building an email list because they are smart business owners. This helps their valuation when selling their business. While social media is a great way to reach your audience, it’s important to keep in perspective the timely nature of social media platforms.
They come and go.
Not too long ago there was MySpace, FriendFeed, Google Buzz, Plurk and countless others. Most of them are either dead now or irrelevant.
Today there is Facebook and Twitter, but not everyone is as hooked up on these sites. Some prefer other places like Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, Snapchat, etc.
But studies show that at least 91% of consumers check their email on a daily basis.
That’s not to say that social media is not important. It is, and you should explore every opportunity to reach out to your audiences.
However you should spend more time and effort on something that guarantees much higher results.
What You Need to Start Building an Email List
Hopefully by now, you should know why building an email list is so important, and why ignoring it would be a HUGE mistake.
3 Things You Need to Build an Email List:
- A website or blog.
- An email marketing service.
- High-converting opt-in forms
There are hundreds of free and professional email marketing services available.
Once you have signed up with an email marketing service, the next step is to add opt-in forms to your website to allow your users to subscribe.
Growing Your Email List and Getting More Subscribers
While choosing the right email marketing service is important, getting more subscribers is even more important because this is how you make money.
The biggest mistake beginners make is not strategically placing high-converting opt-in forms.
You can easily create high-converting opt-in forms such as lightbox pop-ups, floating header and footer bars, slide-in scroll boxes, full screen welcome mat, after post and in-line forms, and more.
You can automatically show different opt-in forms based on where the user is coming from, which page they are visiting, and what they are doing on your website.
For example, an exit-intent feature can track your users mouse behaviour and show them a targeted opt-in form at the precise moment they are about to leave. This helps you convert abandoning visitors into subscribers.
This is important because over 70% of people leaving your website will never return.
Having the right tools is crucial, but knowing how to use them properly is what makes the most difference.
In your email marketing strategy, the most important thing you should plan out is segmentation. This is the process of grouping your subscribers, so you can better personalise your emails based on interest. It helps you get higher open rates and click-through rates.
Content Upgrades are the highest converting opt-in forms. It’s a technique where you give your users bonus content at the end of your popular blog posts. These usually convert 5 times higher than a regular opt-in.
It does not matter what kind of business you run, what kind of website you have, or what industry you are in.
If you have a website, and you want to turn your visitors into returning customers, then you need to get them on your email list.
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