Email marketing is a beneficial way to stay in touch with your audience. Studies suggest 89% marketers consider their email marketing campaigns successful. This means increases in conversions, list growth, ROI, and click-throughs.

To begin email marketing, you need an email list. Although many vendors try to sell lists, this isn’t beneficial. Why? Because:

• Your competitors may also buy the same list
• The email list may be a spam trap; you may get blacklisted as spam
• People on the list may not be quality leads for your business; they may mark you as spam
• You may violate GDPR and face heavy penalties

Apart from emails actually reaching their target audience, organic lists also promise a better open rate. So, how do you organically build your list?

Here are tactics that will help you build your organic list.

Use a Pop-up Opt-in Form

There are easy ways to build your list. One is to add a simple inline opt-in form on your website. Place it at an ideal spot where it will not be missed.

Check out this inline form by Email uplers. It’s on their website towards the end of their homepage.

Pop-up forms are forms that ‘pop up’ on the screen. They appear on-screen at a designated place and time. You can assign when and where in advance. However, these types of forms are known to impact user experienc. They should be created in a way that does not disturb the reader.

This form pops up on the Best Buy website when a user intends to leave. It encourages visitors to sign up so they don’t miss out on any amazing offers. A great way to entice!

Use Incentives 

Incentives are a great way to get and retain subscribers and customers. If you want visitors to sign up, give them something in exchange. What are the common ways to incentivize? Offer discounts, sales, or free shipping.

This email sign-up form on Everlane’s website is a great example.

The brand entices visitors to sign-up by offering 10% off the first order. This is a great way to encourage both sign-ups and sales.

Build a Dedicated Landing Page

Your email sign-up form doesn’t have to be restricted to your homepage. Integrate it into your other marketing campaigns, too. For example, rather than send those clicking on your links to your home page, send them to a dedicated landing page. Include a sign-up form there.

With only specific elements on the landing page, there are higher chances of conversion. Include a short form and ask visitors to enter their email addresses.

Encourage Existing Subscribers to Spread the Word

Word of mouth travels fast. Encourage existing customers to spread the word out about your products or services. Recommendations work on a personal level. This will help bring in more website visitors and email sign-ups.

An amazing way to encourage personal recommendations is through referral programs. Nudge your subscribers and customers to share your newsletter, offers, etc. with their friends and family. Why would they do that? They’d do it for an incentive you offer in exchange.

Wrapping Up

What is it you need to do to build your email list? Urge your website visitors to sign-up. This way, you welcome those who are genuinely interested in your services and products and avoid bad leads.

The best way to benefit from email marketing is to build the lists for scratch instead of buying lists from another source. By curating organic email contacts, you’re sure to get the right audience.

Remember the two highlights: create easy subscriptions and offer valuable incentives. Once you have your campaigns underway, learn email marketing metrics and KPIs to measure.

Author Bio: Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, a company of Mailchimp email experts that specialize in professional email template creation and PSD to HTML email conversion. Kevin loves gadgets, bikes, jazz, and breathes email marketing.