In Part 1 of our series, you learned the fundamental best practices for organically growing your email subscriber list. In Part 2, we are going to list ways to grow your list including sharing, offline ideas, and other tips.
Make Sharing Your Email Marketing Campaigns Easy
If you're not including simple ways for your subscribers to share your emails, then you'll never be successful or grow your list going forward. Always include a mechanism for sharing, forwarding and posting your content.
Ensure that there are widgets or links for Facebook, Twitter, Digg and forwarding in your emails. Also, check them to make sure they actually work; meaning that, say, the Twitter icon is more than just a picture, but an actual functioning link.
If there is something worth sharing in your email, it will be shared.
Further, consider developing a free mobile app for your business. This is another great way to capture email addresses (through registration) and allow subscribers to update their preferences easily.
Don't Forget Offline Opportunities
Remember those old days, where people exchanged their contact information face-to-face, instead of over a computer?
Think beyond the web to grow your list. Offline still holds incredible value.
If you're a retailer with physical stores, ask customers upon checkout if they're interested in signing up for "future discounts." Again, make the process easy. If you can, ditch the pen and paper, and opt for a system that allows staff to enter the customers' information for them.
Use every offline opportunity to physically sign up new subscribers or to direct them to your landing page.
Remember, the offline context is everything.
What do they get out of it?
Also, try to include reminders of your email marketing campaign on business cards, email signatures, voicemail system and physical advertisements.
Quick Tips
Respect Your Subscribers' Preferences
Sounds counterintuitive, right? How would respecting existing subscribers' preferences grow your list? Again, everything boils down to making it as easy to your subscribers as possible. If you respect any changes your subscribers make to their account and actually stick to them, it increases the chance of that subscriber sharing your information.
B2B vs. B2C
Though, in years past, growing your email marketing list differs depending on your audience. For example, for B2B email marketing campaigns, one of the best practices is to not include links to social media, but with B2C, this is already standard.
Right now, the best practices for growing your email marketing list are merging, where the tactics for one works for the other type.
One of the standard B2B practices is to have free webinars as a bonus for signing up for an email blast and now this is a recommended practice for B2C as well.
If you haven't already, read Part 1 of this series.