Your Email List Is Crumbling. Here’s How to Fix It

First, to address the elephant in the room: yes, email still works! With all the new communication channels and platforms available, every year a handful of “gurus” declare email marketing dead. Soon thereafter, actual marketers who are “in the trenches” doing the work chime in to report that they are still seeing results ranging from good to excellent with their email campaigns. This year is no different, and our clients are using email quite effectively.

That being the case, the quality of your email list is critical. In fact, for companies that have a strong content marketing program and a marketing automation tool (like HubSpot) for managing everything from workflows to analytics, a clean, updated list can be like money in the bank. No, not everyone on your list will become a customer or make another purchase. But, by looking at your success rate over time, you’ll develop a keen sense of what you can count on in terms of revenue from your list.

7 Ways to Update and Grow Your Email List

It is estimated that email lists degrade by nearly 23 percent per year. People change jobs, abandon old personal email accounts, etc. To fight that decay and grow this valuable asset, you need to take action. Below are some proven ways to clean up and expand your contact list.

1. Reconnect with an opt-in campaign that makes two promises. Your list has two kinds of people: those who want to continue hearing from you and those who never want to hear from you again. (That hurts, but it’s true.) Offer both groups what they want by promising engaging content for those who opt in and immediate removal from your list for those who opt out. Yes, this will decrease the size of your list, but people who remain on it will be much more likely to respond to future campaigns.
2. Encourage sharing. It might seem like people who find your communications interesting would just naturally share them with colleagues. However, often in their busy work day they just don’t think to do so. But, all it takes in many cases is a friendly reminder and buttons for social sharing or forwarding, and they’re happy to pass along your information or offer.
3. Segment your list strategically. Breaking your list up based on buyer personas, and email and website engagement allows you to tweak your messaging ever so slightly (or significantly, as the case may be) to appeal to that group. And messages that resonate with the recipient are far more likely to be shared and help you grow your list.
4. Pair feedback and sign-ups on your website. People love to offer their opinions on products and services that interest them. Combine the opportunity to do that with an invitation to join your newsletter list and you will likely see tremendous results.
5. Keep forms as short as possible. It’s the age-old dilemma: sales wants all the information you can gather on a prospect; consumers want to provide as little information as possible, at least initially. If you’re looking for long-term success rather than quick-hit wins, allow people to sign up with minimal information and then nurture these leads and collect more details as you go.
6. Provide fresh, compelling content on a regular basis. Someone who visits your website and sees that your last blog post was three months ago and the most recent press release was from two years back probably won’t see much value in giving you their information. Keep the thoughtful, useful material coming and they’ll be much more inclined to sign up.
7. Leverage partnerships. Using relationships that your business partners have established with their target audience to introduce your offerings (and vice versa) can be a win for all involved.

Ready to Build an Email List You Can Bank On?

Inbound marketing is all about relationships. Ensuring that your email list is free of clutter and consistently growing is a great way to establish and deepen those connections. Our teams in Colorado Springs, CO, and Springfield, MO, work with organizations nationwide to develop strong lists and capitalize on them using HubSpot to achieve their sales and marketing goals. We can do the same for you. Reach out today and let’s talk your objectives.