Got an Online Store? Here Are 5 Quick and Easy Ways to Grow Your Email List

When it Comes To Efficient Digital Marketing Practices for eCommerce Websites, Email Blasts And Newsletters Take The Cake

Running an online store in the 21st century means having access to more marketing platforms and advertising options than ever before. This is a double-edged sword: On the one hand, being able to reach potential customers in a variety of ways means opportunity is everywhere. On the other hand, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and be unsure of where to focus.

Email marketing has been around for a while and persists to this day for good reason. Read on to learn about the importance of gathering customer emails and how you can grow your list.

Why Do I Need Email Marketing and Why Should I Care?

Gathering data about potential customers is tricky work but can open your eyes to a wealth of information that can help you grow your business. Most importantly, it can shed light on how to increase your website’s conversion rate (the percentage of people who visit your site and complete a desired action like contacting your team for a quote or purchasing a product).

Many companies struggle with boosting conversions on their website—people go to the site once, don't make a purchase, and never come back again. But getting users to provide their email in a newsletter sign-up field can substantially increase their likelihood of their return; collecting emails provides businesses the opportunity to win potential customers back, giving them a second—and maybe third—chance to convert these users.

A well-maintained email list allows you to remarket to your customers or potential customers as well as to show off your business as a thought leader. If you are working on more advanced marketing strategies, you can even use email marketing to track visits to your site.

Finally, email newsletters are proving to be one of the highest-converting online marketing platforms. The effort you take to gather, create, and send out email blasts and newsletter campaigns could do a better job of bringing in customers than any of your other marketing efforts.

Below are some simple ways to gather emails from potential customers.

Place a Newsletter Sign-Up Field in a Pop-Up Window on Your Website

You may find pop ups annoying but they work! One study found that a pop up gathered 1,375% more subscribers than a sidebar opt-in field.

You don’t need your pop-up window to show up immediately when users first land on your homepage. There are other options: timer-based pop ups give your readers the chance to browse your homepage first; scroll-based pop ups show up after your user has hit a certain point on a page; and content-based pop ups can appear when your users interact with certain content.

Offer a Birthday Club

Everyone loves free stuff on their birthday. If your business has the ability to give your customers something free or discounted once a year, consider collecting both birthdates and email address with your newsletter sign-up form. This will allow you to establish a personal connection with your customers while also giving you the ability to market to them throughout the year.

Use Facebook/Instagram Ads

One of the most affordable and cost-effective ways to grow your email list is through social advertising. Facebook and Instagram allow for very specific targeting based on locations, behaviors, job titles, age, and more, which means you can target those who are already predisposed to make a purchase. Your ads can link to whichever page you’d like, including a landing page with a newsletter sign-up feature.

Offer Users Who Sign Up Something of Value

Some people will sign up for emails just because they want to stay in touch; many others need a little incentive. If you run an online store, consider offering a discount on the customer’s first purchase—most email and eCommerce platforms will allow you to send a once-per-customer coupon code automatically upon sign up.

You can also offer users a free eBook or White Paper on a topic that you know generates a lot of interest and is relevant to your business. If you already have a great newsletter, let people know it’s awesome and tell them they’ll get some good (and possibly exclusive) content when they sign up for it.

Follow Up After Checkout

Gathering emails is a part of any eCommerce process. But following up with customers using these emails can help set you apart. Good eCommerce platforms help you keep track of buying patterns and you can use this info to remarket to your customers. You can also make use of these emails by reaching out to customers and asking them to review a product; alternatively, you can provide them with a discount on future purchases. Just make sure that marketing to customers via emails provided during the checkout process is legal in your country (if you sell to European residents, check out our recent GDPR post).

It’s as easy as that. Some of these things might seem intimidating, but with the world of automation, you can easily front load the work and then let the emails slide in. Emails can keep folks engaged, updated, and coming back for more, so take advantage and inspire your visitors to sign up!

Let Us Help You Leverage Your Online Marketing Tools to Rev Up Sales and Generate More Leads

At efelle creative, we've been designing, building, and marketing eCommerce websites since 2005. We're specialists in all things digital and know how to add extra zip to your newsletter campaigns and email marketing efforts. If you're looking for ways to get more eyes on your website and inspire return customers, give us a shout at 206.384.4909 or fill out our online contact form and let's start chatthing about what our team can do for you.