Even though we’re well into the era of social networks, VR, and wearables, the grand-digital-daddy communication tool, the humble email, is still one of the top tools for reaching your current and potential customers. Our society, from logins to workflow, is hardwired to email communications. As with all communication networks, the true value of the medium depends on how many individuals you can reach with it. Size matters when it comes to email lists, and we’ve laid out below five ways that your brand can grow your email list without blowing your budget.

Does Email Marketing Still Matter?

The Database Marketing Institute pegs the annual worth of an individual email at $19.36. In other words, if you have a strong email marketing strategy, you can expect to squeeze, on average, $19.36 from each person on your list.  From an ROI standpoint, this means that if you acquire emails for less than that, you’re ROI positive!

Still not enough stats? Additional research by Blue Kangaroo found that:

• 42% of consumers opened and read most of the marketing emails in their inbox
• 30% didn’t open most of them but carefully read most of the subject lines
• 35% had used a coupon or discount from an email in the last week
• 33% had used a coupon or discount from an email in the last month

Bottom line, emails matter in marketing.

5 Ways To Grow Your Email List Without Blowing Your Budget

Now that you’ve got the low down on email marketing, here are some of the easiest ways to grow your email list and start generating more conversions.

1) Piggyback Off Your Paid & Content Marketing Initiatives

Whether it’s a sophisticated remarketing plan, or a defined content distribution strategy, chances are your business is investing in costly traffic driving initiatives. Start growing your email list by leaning on your site traffic. Popups, Hellobars, and post-checkout asks, are just a couple areas of your site you can utilize to capture email addresses.

Encourage users to trade their email by offering something in return. A discount code, free shipping, or information on upcoming products, can help to convince a visitor to part with their email.

2) Place a Sign-Up Button on your Facebook Page

Depending on how active your brand is on Facebook; your Facebook page is another asset you can lean on to grow your list. Place a CTA button on your Facebook page that takes users where they can join your email list. The stronger the content your brand pushes through Facebook, the more effective this strategy.

3) Include a Sign-up Link in Employee Signatures

Think a B2B company can’t cheaply grow their list? Think again! An easy way to start pushing your list is to include a link to your email sign up page in your employees’ signatures. Think about how many emails your employees send out. Each email is an opportunity to grow your list.

 Pro Tip: Employee signatures can be used to market all sorts of items, from stockholder reports, to case studies and upcoming webinars. Don’t overlook this valuable real-estate!

4) Host a Sweepstakes or Contest

Sweepstakes/Contests are a tried-and-true method for earning a large batch of emails with a relatively low investment. As a rule, the better the prizing the more emails you can expect to solicit. This holds true up to a certain extent. You can expect more entries in a $5,000 prized contest vs a $500 prized contest, but don’t expect exponential gains from a $10,000 prize to a $12,000 prize.

To further drive email recruitment, ensure your contest is being managed on a platform that awards additional entries for individuals that get their friends to join. Referral entries can go a long way towards turning a sweepstakes/contest into an ROI positive email solicitation initiative

Pro Tip:  Send this new list a couple emails unique to it to judge performance, open rates, and click-through rates. Once this audience has been nurtured and pruned, you can merge it into your existing list(s). 

5) Utilize an Ambassador Program

For those looking for a more robust solution to building an email list, considering utilizing a brand ambassador program with SocialToaster. As members join your program, you’ll not only receive their email address but also access to their social networks. Advocates will be able to share your content directly to their social networks with a simple click of the mouse.

Further, brand advocates can be encouraged to pull their friends and family into the program by being award unique prizes and points. Brands can also share unique discounts and offers exclusively to brand advocates to further drive and increase the value of members (earned media value anyone).

Email Matters

Remember, the more names on your email list, the more value that list has! Whether you’re looking for your first 1,000 names, or you’re a seasoned email marketing machine looking to take the game to the next level, SocialToaster can help. Get started today!