10 tips for building a newsletter subscriber list
By: Fiona Livingston
Tags: Marketing, Newsletter Marketing, Communication Strategy, Marketing Strategies, Email Marketing Tips

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

How to build your email subscriber list

1. Email sign up opt-ins on your website. These should be sensitively placed on your site so they can ‘pop-up’ at a certain time spent on the site or when a specific action is taken.

2. If you have a local business such as a physical shop consider using a QR code on a sticker next to the cash desk or a sign where customers can scan the code and it will take them to a mobile-friendly sign up form on your website.

3. Download offers — you may want to offer a free download or discount in your Call to Actions around your sign-up prompt message. If you are offering a free download of let’s say a PDF or video clip make sure it is meaningful and helpful, there is nothing worse than signing up to an email list based on a free download and you find it is a 1-page document with 5 bullet points you could have found on a Google search! Always focus on meaningful content even if it takes longer to produce, your subscribers will thank you for it!

4. Email signature. This is a great way to utilise your existing network to make them aware of your email list. The bottom of emails tends to be neglected and forgotten as a way to promote new products and services. Buck the trend and reignite your email signature with your sign-up link!

5. Just because email isn’t dead that doesn’t mean that you can’t use social media to help grow your email list. You an app such as Linktree to create links in your Instagram bio and always make sure one of these links to your email sign up form. Also, craft feed posts or Stories encouraging people to sign up.

6. Email providers such as Mailchimp also allow you to create special landing pages to which you can direct potential subscribers. This usually works well for social media as it helps track where your subscribers are coming from.

7. Blog articles and SEO. Create regular blog articles about topics which matter to you and your audience and include key SEO words relating to your topic (so potential subscribers can find you) and always include a link to your email sign up form.

8. Once customers have signed up be sure to use some simple marketing automation on your email provider to send a welcome series of emails. For example on Mailchimp you can set up a welcome email chain where after 1 hour the subscriber will receive a welcome message from you detailing what they can expect to receive from you, maybe a discount code, an exclusive article, or an invite to a closed Facebook Group.

9. Encourage people to forward your newsletter to their friends. Spread the love!

10. Create a referral campaign where you offer great things to people who get someone else to subscribe, such as a bigger discount code.

Photo by Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash

Key Tips for email subscription list building

A key tip is to have a website which is SEO and keyword optimised so that potential customers can find you on an internet search and then sign up to your email list once they have encountered your website and like what they see.

Do some research on mailout providers such as Mailchimp, CampaignMonitor and find one which best suits your requirements both visually, price, support and functionality e.g. automation and landing pages.

Think about your content and frequency. There is no point building your subscriber list and then either never sending out an email or only sending hard sales emails (these get boring and tedious very quickly). Think about what makes you and your business different and how can you communicate this both visually and text-wise in your newsletter. Don’t just sell, sell, sell all the time, including some behind the scenes information, special offers, or insights into the business to help build loyalty and brand affinity. Create a rota for when you are going to send out your emails whether that’s once per week or once per month and plan for those dates so you aren’t caught unawares and rushing an email together at the last minute.

Final take away

The key take-away from this article is to grow your list organically and to aim to get subscribers who are genuinely interested in your products/service and believe in what you stand for and will interact with you, rather than having 10,000 people who aren’t engaged and your email ends up in a dusty corner of their email feed.

A few newsletter recommendations for inspiration

Paynter: This newsletter really takes you on a journey of their incredible small batch jackets giving you behind the scenes access to their processes, along with lovely visuals, gifs and montages.

Beth Gladstone: Content marketing goddess shares her personal insights on content marketing and industry tips.