Email Lists: Build Don’t Buy

Shortcuts are efficient, and as the name implies, they get you to where you need to go in a shorter amount of time. But not all shortcuts are good. In fact, some shortcuts are just plain lazy and can result in a heap of trouble. 

Take, for instance, your email marketing. You’ve got some great content, but all you need are people to email it to. As a busy professional, it can be tempting to take the route that will get you the most contacts as quickly as possible. But buying email lists can actually cause your business more harm than good. It’s a shortcut you just don’t want to take. 

Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons why you should steer clear of this practice and some legitimate ways to build a solid, lucrative email list on your own.

7 Reasons You Shouldn’t Buy an Email List

• You’ll violate General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules (and could end up being fined heavily)
• Quality email addresses are rarely for sale
• Contacts on purchased lists do not know you or your business, and cold outreach isn’t as successful
• Reputable email marketing platforms won’t allow you to use purchased lists
• You’ll risk being flagged as a spammer which damages your IP and sender reputation
• You’ll paint your business in a bad light
• Your email service provider could penalize you

Well, we hope that convinced you to stay away from the buying shortcut. So what should you do when you need to build a quality list?

The most effective way to build an email list that will keep you out of hot water and will actually generate real results is to do so via the opt-in method. Creating your own list of people who have chosen to receive content from you complies with legal regulation and protects your reputation. It also provides you with the opportunity to develop and nurture genuine relationships with your customers.

But what are some ways you can encourage opt-in subscribers? Here are some tips: 

1. Use Gated Assets

People will gladly hand over their contact information and agree to receive email communications from you if you give them something worth it in return. Create gated assets, such as eBooks, guides, whitepapers, or other premium content that visitors can download for free in exchange for their names and email addresses. Content is great fuel for your email marketing efforts, but make sure you practice a few ground rules with your content first:

• Make sure it’s high-quality. Edit your content and make sure it’s grammatically sound, flows nicely, and includes images and infographics where helpful. 
• Keep it interesting. It never hurts to make your content humorous or fun. In fact, the more engaging your content is, the more your audience will get out of your emails, and the more they’ll be inclined to download more content from you in the future. 
• Share educational information. The content your audience downloads has to be information they can’t just receive anywhere. Keep it educational and informative, so they’ll get a lot of longevity out of it. 

2. Use Marketing Channels to Promote Gated Assets

Gated materials aren’t completed when you publish them on your site. Your job isn’t done until you effectively distribute that content on various marketing and social media channels. 

Having a promotion plan in place for all your important gated pieces ensures you’re not only getting that content in front of the right people but that you’re reaching a wider audience and introducing new leads into your email marketing.

Utilize the tools that are available to you, such as social media, email, and PPC, to start getting the word out to the masses. Include links to your gated assets in relevant blog posts and guest-contributed content to generate attention and get more opt-ins.

3. Include Popups on Your Website

Popups are a great way to get quick attention to something of importance. You can create popups on specific pages and blog articles that encourage readers to opt-in to your email newsletters and receive more updates from you. 

Make your popups fun and eye-catching by including images and bold copy. Don’t bog them down with tons of content, rather keep them short and simple so people can act fast and get back to what they were reading on your site. 

4. Focus on Producing Quality Email Campaigns

Many people discount email as a channel to generate new business since the recipients are already signed up. What they fail to take into account, however, is the fact that many people forward emails to their friends or colleagues. That means your messages could potentially reach a whole new audience of prospective new customers without having to pay a penny extra for advertising. And since people tend to trust the recommendations of others that they know, your odds are even better. 

Remember to include calls to action and make it easy for your subscribers to share your content. Don’t dial-in your newsletters. Spice up your newsletters by sharing that quality content you worked so hard to create. 

Email marketing remains one of the most effective tools for nurturing and converting leads, but buying a list of contacts isn’t the way to go about it. Instead, you should focus your efforts on producing quality content and going through the right channels to promote that content. Over time, this process will enable you to consistently build and maintain a solid list of contacts that will produce steady results.

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