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What Is an Email List and How to Build One Right

Ivan Djuric

Does the world need another tutorial on building an email list?

When it comes to email-list building, most articles on Google just give you some vague tips and beat around the bush. However, that is not the case with this one.

In this tutorial, I’ll first go over the basic theory and answer what an email list is and why it is important. Then, I’ll show you how to build a list from scratch and go over some don’ts, and best practices you should follow to keep your list spotless.

Feel free to click on any of the links above to jump ahead.

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What is an email list?

An email list is an organically built collection of email addresses you gather generally through double-opt in or permission-based forms. You keep them in Excel, Google sheets, or just regular .xlsx or .csv files, then upload to your chosen email marketing platform, and send them various types of emails like newsletters, email marketing campaigns, etc

A list the heart of every email marketing strategy; like the wheels to a bicycle, it’s what makes it spin. Without one, trying to run an email marketing campaign would be like turning on an empty microwave and expecting a meal to appear.

For example, if you open your personal inbox, you’ll probably find a newsletter email or two. Congratulations, you’ve received it because you’re on someone’s email list.

So, you can leverage this for yourself and your business. Gather email addresses, send newsletters, product updates, or other types of email campaigns, and voila: profit! 

Fun fact: Did you know that one of the first email lists was formed in the 1980s and was about science fiction, adequately called SF-LOVERS? 💡

Why an email list is important

Okay, without an email list, you can’t do email marketing; we’ve got that out of the way.

However, what I want to address here is what a quality email list can do for your business. A list you build yourself from scratch that consists of responsive contacts who are willing to engage.

Building relationships with your audience

By personalizing your emails, you build long-term trust, people not unsubscribing from your list, not marking you for spam, etc.

For example, when you ask your customers/clients for feedback, be sure to start the email with their name instead of saying ‘Hello there’ and specify the service/product they bought instead of writing a generic line. And if they answer, write them a tailored thank you message with the key points he/she mentioned for bonus points.

Long-term asset, not just ROI

At this point, even the birds on the trees know that email marketing has the highest ROI, so I won’t bother you with that. But what many forget to tell you is that an email list is not a quick and immediate return. Instead, it will provide you with ongoing value, but only if you invest in it first.

And no, investing doesn’t equal buying an email list. Although you can technically buy an email list, you shouldn’t at all, but more on this later. 

Source: Reddit

Personalize your emails, grow your list, and get loyal subscribers. Then, you’ll start to notice repeat purchases, new customers you get by recommendation, brand recognition, and more.

No middlemen and full ownership

As we’ve seen recently, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok can go down, meaning you can have your contact with social media followers cut overnight. Additionally, there are more data regulations by 3rd party middlemen, such as Meta’s change in content rules this year. 

With an engaged email list, you create your own rules and you own the communication between you and your audience.

How to build an email list

In this chapter, I’ll first show you how to build an email list organically, from scratch by adding list building mechanisms on your website and your social media channels. 

Additionally, I want to note that building an email list essentially means using existing marketing channels to convert traffic into subscribers. Hence why I went with websites and social media.

Note: You can follow these steps one or combine them for maximum results, it’s up to you. Also, as I’ve said, this is a methodology for building lists from ground up. If you’re looking to grow your list, we’ve got a dedicated article prepared for you on the topic. ⬅️

Websites

Websites are free real estate for building email lists since every visitor is a potential subscriber, that is, if you give them enough reason to subscribe. And here are some ways you can nudge them toward hitting that Subscribe button.

1. Add embedded forms across your website

Embedded forms are static forms you can place directly in your webpage in footers, sidebars, below blog posts or contact pages and about pages. 

Here’s an example embedded form you can find at the bottom of any Zendesk blog article:

To add embedded forms to your website, you can:

Pro tip: When adding embedded forms to your website, don’t forget to validate your emails. This is an industry-standard practice that detects and prevents typos and invalid addresses from being entered into your forms.

2. Add opt-in pop-up forms to your pages and automated flows

Pop-ups are like embedded pages, except they are not a part of your web pages but rather show up at some point while the user is browsing, hence the name. 

And here’s another Zendesk example, this time a form that pops up after you’ve spent some time on their website:

Another difference between the two is that pop-ups typically have a higher conversion rate because they actively prompt the website visitor to action. On the other hand, embedded forms are passive and can be simply scrolled through.

You can create embedded forms as you would pop-ups, except use different tools:

Pro tip: Don’t make pop-ups pop up immediately when a visitor lands on a page. Instead, make them appear right before visitors leave. How? Simply measure the average time spent on key pages, and there you have it! Also, don’t know where to add your pop-up best? Check out the article on the topic by FirstPageSage.

3. Offer valuable freebies/lead magnets

Most articles you can find on Google will tell you the exact same thing: offer freebies or lead magnets that provide value. And this is true, cause let’s face it: no one wants to give out their emails and be spammed for scraps.

But, what no one tells you is how to use lead magnets most effectively and how to find the value everyone seems to be mentioning.

Now, let me share an example from SEO space:

And voila, I’ve bypassed the first page of Google, landed in my customers’ inboxes, and helped them with a blocker.

4. Use lead magnets strategically on landing pages

Use lead magnets and offer free stuff on dedicated landing pages that include:

For example, here’s how HubSpot does it:

You then click on Get the Kit, and you are greeted with the following window:

And, since, at this point, you’re probably 3-4 pages deep into clicking to get here, you’re likely to add the email to get the kit, and HubSpot email marketing team is richer for one more address. Works like a charm!

However, the ordeal doesn’t stop here because HubSpot’s team knows what they’re doing. 

First, they send you off to a page where you can download the kit:

Then, they forward you an email where you can do the same:

Why is this important? Simply put, you get used to receiving emails from HubSpot, which lowers the chances of you unsubscribing from their marketing list in the future, especially if you’re lazy like me. 

For instance, I realized this was a viable strategy when I signed up for a free running program, which was emailed to me in PDF (just like HubSpot’s kit). I didn’t download it, I kept opening it via email and got used to the service that offered the lead magnet. To this day I see them in my inbox like doves in my garden. 🙂

5. Personalize your CTAs

Yes, you can use the good old ‘Sign up here’ button, it works and it’s reliable. But you can always make your CTA better and appealing to click.

Adding to the previous tip, what you can do is to personalize your CTA with the offer. Just like in the previous HubSpot example.

Source: imgflip

So, whatever you might be offering, offer it in the CTA. Giving away an eBook? Download your eBook here. Gifting a voucher? Get your coupon right here! Selling email templates? Send professional emails! And the list goes on.

For example, here’s how we did it in the Free Email Marketing Platforms article on the Mailtrap blog 😅:

Send Marketing Emails with Mailtrap

6. Launch a referral campaign

With referrals, you can turn your website visitors into your best affiliates.

Simply give them an incentive to refer your email newsletter to their friends by offering them a worthwhile prize whenever their referral subscribes to your newsletter using your personal link. For example, here’s Google’s referral program for Google Workspace:

For this, you can use marketing tools like ReferralCandy, UpViral, SparkLoop, and similar, which provide you with referral tracking, link generation, and other useful functionalities.

However, sending a referred contact a newsletter telling them about your product/service isn’t gonna cut it; you need to build some trust first. To do this, you can:

Pro tip: Some of the affordable yet incentivizing awards you can offer include access to private communities (e.g., Slack channel invites), free eBooks, Excel templates or sheets for business owners, exclusive content, etc.

7. Email capture at sign-up and checkouts

Pop-ups and embedded signup forms work well for websites where users don’t have to register or buy anything. However, if you have a website with account creation or shopping, you should add an email capture mechanism since people are already entering their info.

During the sign-in, when the new subscribers enter their basic contact information like name, surname, email, etc. provide them a little box they can check/uncheck for newsletters, like so:

Source: Noptin

Similarly, during check-outs, before they finalize the order, place a check/uncheck box below the ‘finalize order’ button:

Source: Noptin

Important: To comply with consent laws (e.g., GDPR in EU), make sure your opt-in checkboxes (and all other opt-in forms) are unchecked by default. This way, if the user wants to be on your list, they actively choose to subscribe, not end up on your list by accident because they missed a tiny checkbox. I’ll also talk about complying with rules and regulations a bit further down in the article.

Social media

Considering that more than half of the world uses social media, with the average daily usage being 2 hours and 21 minutes, leveraging these platforms to build an email list is a no-brainer.  

1. Display and share lead magnets

Remember the lead magnets I talked about in the previous chapter (tip #3)? Well, it’s time to implement them on your social media platforms:

Pro tip: Make sure the CTA is strong (e.g., Follow the link for your free guide), don’t just place the link there expecting it to get clicks on its own.

Now, here’s an example from LinkedIn, which I can bet you’ve seen already numerous times. It offers a solution/case study/presentation in an informative post and asks the readers to write their emails if they want to receive it in PDF in their email.

Source: LinkedIn

2. Combine different channels

When building an email list on social media, it’s important not to focus on one platform. Instead, you should spread your marketing efforts on multiple channels.

For example, if you have a Facebook page for your business, merge your email list building efforts with Instagram marketing as well, especially since it has an average engagement rate of 192 seconds.

You can also send your YouTube subscribers personalized video recommendations or even exclusive videos to email list subscribers. Similar to what creators offer via Patreon.

Of course, although it’s easy to, let’s not forget Reddit:

Source: Reddit

3. Provide customer service on social media

Having your customer support team answer queries on social media is an easy way to get email addresses (and build trust with your target audience as well) because:

Note that although this is not the most effective method of building an email list if you’re starting from scratch, it doesn’t cost a lot and doesn’t hurt, that’s for sure. Here’s how Canva does it, for example:

So, if you have a customer support team, give them access to your social media accounts and surprise them with an additional task in their backlog. 🥳

4. Organize contests and giveaways

On the other hand, if you’re offering services or products, one of the most effective ways to build a list and even get into eCommerce email marketing is to give away whatever you’re selling for free. 

Let’s take a look at this example and break it down:

Source: Sprout 

Both you and I have seen such a post a million times already. The poster asks for a like, share, follow, etc., the usual package, and by doing this, you enter a pool of participants. Let’s say that 3 people win a prize of $100, totalling $300. That might seem like a lot to give away, but the poster just got a bunch of followers and increased brand awareness in one easy move. Worth every penny.

And if you create a giveaway where you require only an email address for opt-in, more people will be happy to join in since they’re not forced to share a story or anything. Just be sure to let them know to share it with their friends or at least tag a friend or two for that extra reach.

Tip: There’s also a bunch of tools you can use nowadays to make hosting giveaways a breeze. Personally, I recommend Gleam.io for running contests or giveaways and Wask for picking winners in the comments. Also, in case you don’t have anything to give away, why not host online events like webinars for your audience?

5. Collaborate with influencers and other brands 

Speaking of webinars, you can host those, as well as other community-building events, or even collaborate on content marketing or creation with influential people in your niche/industry. This way, you don’t only get a chance to build an email list but also build credibility and expand your reach.

For example, in SEO, there’s link-building and outreach: I offer some links to get linked on a website I think would promote my business well and help my project rank. To do this, I reach out to influencers and big brands in my industry and ask them for a collaboration.

The important thing here is that when you make the collaboration happen, you can ask your audience to sign up for your newsletter to be able to attend the online event you have planned or to get access to exclusive content you’re making. Again, a win-win situation.

6. Run lead generation ads

Lead generation ads are basically ads that do not force you to buy anything. Instead, they offer some value in return for a subscription to the newsletter/email list in exchange for valuable content.

To paint you a clearer picture, here’s how HubSpot does it in one of their recent content-driven lead generation ads:

Seems like an ordinary ad you can see on Facebook/Instagram, right? And to some extent, that’s true; it’s exactly what it is. However, if you look closely, it doesn’t nudge you towards buying anything. You can just click on it or hit the Sign up button. And once you do, you’re redirected to the following page:

Now, this is your typical blog post page, just like this one, except it has three (3) CTAs you can click on to subscribe to HubSpot’s newsletter. One pop-up, one button CTA in the header, and one hyperlink. The more, the merrier.

Although this might seem like a lot, the page provides valuable content and keeps the reader truly engaged with useful digital marketing tips. And, as if the three CTAs weren’t enough, at the end, there is yet another one. Check it out:

Important: If you decide to run lead generation ads, make sure not to be like Grammarly used to be and overpromote. 

Source: Quora

In Grammarly’s case it worked since they had a huge budget and targeted a super wide audience. But in most cases, it’s better to focus on the value of the content you put in ads. Just remember: content is king. 👑

7. Send some DMs

Yes, you read that right: send some direct messages to your followers, or, as the new generation would put it, slide into their DMs. 

Now, don’t send a message to each and every one of your followers, that would be counter-intuitive and borderline creepy. What you can do is to contact followers who engage with your content. Whether they like or comment on your posts, send them a link with your lead magnet.

Source: Manychat

Of course, don’t just send the lead magnet link and expect the users to sign up. You need to be a bit smooth with it. So, say something like: “Hey there, we’ve noticed you on our page and would like to offer personalized email content, etc.” or something along the lines.

It’s a bit of manual labor, but it will pay off in the long term. Plus, you will get a chance to know your followers a lot better! And if you’re feeling lazy or got some extra bucks to spare, there are also powerful tools you can use to automate this process, such as Manychat or Mobile Monkey to name a couple.

Email list red flags

Now that you know how to make an email list, let’s talk about some red flags and things to avoid. 🚩

Never buy an email list

The biggest and the reddest of them all is buying an email list. It’s such a red flag that I’ve got a whole list of reasons of why you should never commit this cardinal email marketing sin:

To finish this chapter, I’d like to share a comment from a Reddit user I found while preparing this article—I think it fits the bill just right:

Source: Reddit

Never “get” an email list

Getting or scraping/data enrichment is a process that is typically used for cold emailing. However, it’s considered as bad as buying an email list, and it was even forbidden by LinkedIn.

Nonetheless, for explanatory purposes, the process itself goes something like this:

And here’s a shocker: Cold emailing contacts from scraped lists is forbidden by most email marketing platforms. This is because cold contacts typically don’t consent to receive emails, which is against most email compliance rules and regulations.

Email list building best practices

With a great email list comes great responsibility. Namely, your work doesn’t end once you’ve finished building an email list from scratch. Partly because it will keep growing (if you did it right) and partly because it needs nurturing so it keeps bringing you results.

Email hygiene 

Yes, even the list you build on your own from scratch, 100% organically, requires occasional email validation. This way, you can keep your list clean from disposable, invalid, or mistyped emails.

Some of the tools I personally recommend (and use) include ZeroBounce, NeverBounce, and Hunter.io. For your go-to guide or an email list hygiene checklist, feel free to use our dedicated article. 

Email segmentation

Whether you have 1,000, 50,000, or 100,000 contacts, sending them the same email isn’t gonna do the trick. So, you need to segment your list based on different demographics, purchasing behavior, state/area, etc.

Now, you don’t have to do this in Excel sheets, don’t worry. Personally, I use Mailtrap Contacts, 

Track the most important metrics

A big part of email hygiene that deserves its own chapter is tracking the most important metrics once you put your list to work and start sending marketing campaigns. By tracking performance metrics you can observe how your list is performing from different angles and then work on optimization.

Some of the most important metrics to track include:

For example, Mailtrap provides you with an in-depth breakdown of all of the above, which also includes helicopter view dashboards and drill-down reports. Check it out:

Complying with legal requirements

Throughout this article, I’ve mentioned GPDR, CCPA, the CAN-SPAM Act, and others. These email marketing laws protect user privacy and set clear boundaries for email marketers, and, as you remember from one of the previous chapters, impose quite hefty fees.

But that’s not all. Email providers like Google, Yahoo, and, as of recently, Outlook, impose their own requirements you need to meet in order to land in their inboxes and not go to spam. Some of these include:

Yes, I know this might seem like a lot of rules to swallow and go through at first, don’t worry — Mailtrap’s got your back!

Besides being able to reliably send transactional and marketing emails, Mailtrap can also help you with:

Send Marketing Emails with Mailtrap

Would you look at that? A wonderfully crafted and placed CTA! 🙂

Wrapping up

And that wraps up our email list guide!

Now you know how to create a high-quality list from scratch, why you shouldn’t buy one, and the best practices to follow so you can actually see the ROI thanks to your list. 

If you feel like learning further and exploring other email marketing concepts, why not check out our blog? We’ve a lot of other valuable articles waiting for you, such as:

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