Your email marketing campaign is only as good as your database of email addresses. Despite claims to the contrary, high-quality email lists with an engaged, interested audience cannot be purchased. Building an email list is not a one-off task, either. It is in constant flux as defunct email addresses are removed, people unsubscribe, new email addresses are added, and the list grows.

There are many strategies that marketers can employ to achieve a growing list of quality subscribers.

Shifting from Outbound Marketing to Inbound

People are inundated with email blasts. Often, the first reaction is to hit the delete button. In fact, 45% of spam receivers hit delete while a further 27% report unsolicited emails as spam.

Shifting strategies from outbound to inbound marketing allows you to actively engage the right audience as you build brand awareness and build genuine relationships with potential customers. Social media, SEO, and content creation are all inbound marketing strategies (demand generation strategies) which are further aided by lead generation.

Lead Generation Strategies

Lead generation is the part of the marketing funnel that helps capture customer data, including their email addresses. This allows marketers to create highly personalized campaigns to further engage an already interested audience.

Using demand and lead generation strategies allows marketers to collect valuable zero-party data i.e., information offered by the customers themselves. Using zero-party data and being transparent about its use builds trust with customers. It also helps marketers remain compliant with various data privacy laws around the world.

Collecting opt-in data isn’t as difficult as it sounds; it’s a natural follow-up to demand generation strategies.

Give Customers a Reason to Share Their Email Addresses

Gated content offerings are a popular way to collect email addresses and segment your audience by interests. According to Semrush, 17% of marketers and business owners claim that gated content is their top performing type of content.

Gated content needs to be carefully curated, high-value content that your target audience is looking for. Gated content typically comes in the form of whitepapers, original research publications, webinars, and online courses. Tools like calculators, presentation templates, workbooks, or free trials for programs are other forms of gated content to consider.

Make Sharing Easy

Make your emails easy to share by including a share button where clicking it takes reader straight to a compose email window to share it with friends and colleagues. An opt in button in the same email allows these friends and colleagues to subscribe to your emails with a single click and promotes organic growth. Social sharing buttons are also a great way to reach new subscribers. The more unique and interesting your content, the more shares you are likely to see.

Keep Forms Short

A long, complicated contact form is the quickest way to deter a prospective lead. Keep your forms short and use your nurture journey to gather more information as you go along.

Re-Engage Stale Contacts

If you have an old list of email addresses that you suspect are mostly stale leads, consider sending them an option to opt in for emails again. Alternatively, use a fresh approach and give them the opportunity to snooze emails for a while. This will allow you to re-engage old clients as well as scrub your list of disinterested parties and improve email deliverability as well.

Place CTAs Strategically

CTAs on your business’s home page, contact page, and even about page can encourage potential clients to sign up for your newsletter or a gated resource. Promote your gated content or offers on your marketing channels to drive viewership and engagement.

Craft your CTA text to show customers the value and benefits of signing up with you. Get creative and add a CTA to your employees’ email signatures to take people to an opt in landing page for a newsletter. Always A/B test copy and emails to see what works best.

Need help improving your email database? Get in touch with our marketing experts for more strategies on how you can build your email list with privacy compliant, zero-party data.