Any email campaign exists to drive sales growth. But before launching one, you have to do a lot of groundwork, starting with finding the contacts of existing or potential buyers.
There are two options: use an existing list (paid or free) or build your own. If you're interested in growing your business, the first option is immediately off the table. Any ready-made list carries plenty of dangers and risks — from a likely violation of the law (the Advertising Law, the Personal Data Law) to simply not being effective. It's your call, but we strongly recommend not wasting time and going straight for the second option.
How to properly build a list
A signup form on your site
This can be an embedded input field on the page or a popup, depending on your preference. The site doesn't have to be your own — it can be a partner's. Just don't forget to specify information about your company in the consent to receive emails.
An embedded form looks fairly organic and natural, while a popup is more intriguing and eye-catching. On your site, you can pick the conditions for showing the form — time spent on the page, number of clicks and page visits, scroll percentage, segmentation, referral from partner sites, presence of UTM tags.
A/B testing will help determine the effectiveness of different form formats:
- lead magnets;
- prize wheels;
- quizzes;
- banners;
- animations;
- simple forms;
- diagrams.
A dedicated landing page
A dedicated landing page is a web page created to convert visitors into a target action: signing up for a newsletter, registering for an event, downloading materials, and so on. This type of landing page is often used in marketing to run targeted campaigns, promotions, and to collect contact data.
The landing page's content and design should be as relevant as possible to the target audience and the offer, in order to convince visitors that they should complete the target action (fill out a form, leave contact details, etc.). The structure should be simple and clear, so users don't have to put in extra effort. A dedicated landing page is usually integrated with analytics systems, letting you track conversions and analyze campaign performance, as well as make changes to optimize results. Running A/B tests on different versions of the landing page helps identify the most effective design and content elements for maximum conversion.
In other words, it's a powerful tool for attracting and converting visitors, but its effectiveness depends on careful planning, design, and optimization. What matters to us here is that it lets you build a large list of email addresses and other useful information.
Online shopping carts
Most online stores use exactly this method of collecting contact data. Users have to go through a simple registration before adding an item to their cart. After going to their account, they're offered the chance to leave additional information about themselves (gender, city, date of birth), which also comes in handy when building your own customer database. The main thing is not to forget to get consent to receive messages about discounts, promotions, and other offers.
Social media
Building a contact list through social media is an effective way to attract subscribers and potential customers. Create ad campaigns with a call to subscribe to your newsletter. Use targeting to reach specific audiences who might be interested in your content. Run contests or promotions where participants have to subscribe to your newsletter to take part. This will help you attract a huge number of new subscribers. Regularly post promo content on your social media pages. Access to exclusive content or special offers makes a great lead magnet. You can also use popular hashtags and start collaborating with other accounts or brands to expand your audience and attract new subscribers. Add a call to action (CTA) to your profile — a link to sign up for your newsletter or a "Subscribe" button. It's important to create appealing, valuable content that motivates users to subscribe.
Messengers
Collecting information via messengers is similar to collecting email addresses on social media. It's enough to leave a direct link to a page where a potential customer can leave their contact details and consent to receiving promotional emails.
YouTube
Even video content can be a great way to collect user information. Shoot an engaging video and leave a link to a signup form page in the description. Or set up a popup with a link right inside the video.
Web chats
Building a list isn't the main function of chats, but you can absolutely use them to collect subscribers' contact details. Just set up automatic welcome messages in the web chat offering to subscribe to your newsletter. Keep the conversation going and explain the benefits of subscribing. Add a call to action (CTA) in the chat messages, inviting users to subscribe to your newsletter for more information or offers.
Bonuses
Create a loyalty program where subscribers can earn bonuses, discounts, or free gifts for purchases or completing certain actions. Participation in the program requires subscribing to your newsletter. Launch a referral program, offer exclusive discounts or access to closed promotions and sales for subscribers only. Give out gift cards or electronic discount certificates to users who subscribe.
It's important for bonus programs to be appealing and to encourage users to subscribe.
Building your email list needs to be taken seriously, since the success of your ad campaign depends directly on it.