What is an EMAIL LIST?
An email list is a special use of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many internet users.
It is like a traditional postal mailing list – a list of names and addresses – as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to its members or customers.
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Why do you need an email list?
It’s the best method to grow your business and build a relationship with your customers and prospects than through email. Identifying your target market and creating a personal connection with them can be done very effectively through thoughtful and focused email campaigns. You need interested prospects to know, like and trust you. Send resources and information that help them understand their specific need and the solution to that need. This helps build your brand authority in your specific field (niche) and will develop a know, like and trust value.
How do you get an email list?
Opt in forms coupled with lead magnets. Offer a simple and practical solution to one problem that your target customer is needing. A short how-to ebook or video, a check list, a helpful infographic, etc… Offer this as a gift (FREE) in exchange for their email and name.
You now have a personalized connection with someone interested in your product or service. Even better, they’ve given you permission to send them emails!
What do the leading authorities in digital marketing say about email lists?
Neil Patel
Co-Founder of KISSmetrics, CrazyEgg, and QuickSprout“
Out of all of the channels I tested as a marketer, email continually outperforms most of them.
Not only does it have a high conversion rate, but as you build up your list you can continually monetize it by pitching multiple products. Just look at ecommerce sites like Amazon, one way they get you to continually buy more products from them is by emailing you offers on a regular basis.
And if you aren’t selling any products, you should still collect emails so you can get people back to your site on a continual basis. For example, if you have a blog, every time you publish a new post, you can notify your list, which will help increase repeat traffic.”
Corey Dilley
Marketing Manager at Unbounce
Email marketing consistently generates 80-90% of our landing page traffic when we launch a new campaign, piece of content or product feature. Email allows us to engage our audience in a creative, personalized way that blog posts or tweets can’t.
Joe Pulizzi
Founder of Content Marketing Institute
An email list is critical because you can’t build your content on rented land. So many brands and companies build their audiences on Facebook and Google+, which is fine, but we don’t own those names – Facebook and Google do. If we are thinking like real media companies, the asset is in the audience. Getting an email address is the first critical step to figuring out who my reader is, and hopefully in the future, my customer of some sort. If our goal is to drive sales or keep customers happy in some way, we first need to get them as part of our audience”.
Noah Kagan
Founder of SumoMe
This is the preferred method of effective communication now and in the future.
Email is the most scalable way to make sales with new customers and build deeper relationship with customers.
Ramsay Taplin
Founder of The Blog Tyrant
Google is constantly changing its algorithm and, sometimes, you can end up with a penalty without even knowing what you’ve done wrong. In that situation your mailing list is the only real protection you have.
Even if all of my search rankings disappeared tomorrow I’d still be able to promote my blog to tens of thousands of people via email.
Nothing gets engagement like email. Twitter, Facebook, etc. is almost irrelevant by comparison. If someone has given you their email address they are ready to engage with your content or products. And, best of all, they’ll help you promote it so you can get more email subscribers.”
Nathalie Lussier
Digital Strategist at Ambition Ally
“Building an email list is crucial because it’s the best way to build a relationship with potential customers in an intimate way.
Email is where your customers receive other important communication from their work, family, and friends.
Emails wait in someone’s inbox until they’re read, and when you write really useful emails people might refer to them more than once, because emails are easily searchable, too.
People consume email differently than they do other media, and it still converts to sales better than other mediums at this point. The more people you have on your mailing list, the more potential buyers see your marketing messages, and I see spikes in sales every time I send an email.
Plus, when you build an email list it’s “yours” – you don’t have to worry about a third party changing the rules on you. For contrast, a free service like Facebook can decide to decrease the reach you had with your fans to encourage businesses to pay for ads, but you don’t have these types of restrictions when someone has given you permission to send them useful emails.”
Francisco Rosales
Founder of SocialMouths
“There are many reasons why building a list is important, but I’ll go with a topic that’s popular at the moment: Reach.
Today, you’re able to reach an average of 1-2% of your Facebook Fans, the same way a very small percentage of your Twitter following sees one specific Tweet.
Email is not perfect either, according to studies, 22% of emails sent get lost in the junk or spam folders or are blocked by ISPs. But that still leaves you with an average of 78% messages delivered.
At that point, the lifespan of your message will be decided by your recipient, your email will sit in the Inbox as “unread” until it’s acknowledged. This is the reason you keep getting clicks even several days after sending the campaign. On the other hand, the lifespan of a social media post can range between a few hours to only minutes.
Email is by far the most effective communication platform between your brand and its audience (or most of it).”
In Conclusion
If there is one thing that business, content, and conversion rate experts agree upon, it is that building an email list is vital. Don’t be the business owner that misses out on engaging with your audience, driving new business, and protecting yourself from changes in search and social algorithms.
Be the business owner that doesn’t have to regret not building your email list sooner!
Key Takeaway
An email list is one of the foundational pillars of the modern business model. Your business cannot afford to ignore this essential component.
Find out how your business can use an email list to create a stronger relationship with you prospects and customers.