This article explores how important list-building is in B2B from a statistical perspective, how to build your list and leverage it, the tools you could use and metrics that you should measure.
The act of getting users to subscribe to your email list is called email list building.
The goal of list building is to get thousands of subscribers and in leveraging it for profit.
A good deal of planning, patience, and effort goes into building an email list.
Read on and embrace success for business in 2022.
Most firms start creating email lists on their websites.
The way to this is through web forms and landing pages, as well as through other subscription interfaces, such as newsletters, webinars, events, content upgrades, etc.
The usual techniques used on websites to build a list are integrated opt-in forms, dynamic pop-ups, and overlays to capture leads.
Aside from typical email forms, quick and efficient alternatives exist to expand email lists.
Here’s what we’ve covered in this blog:
- Implement integrated signup forms
- Create pop-ups and overlays
- Use gamification
- Develop squeeze pages
- Encourage people to sign up for notifications
- Leverage content upgrades
- Provide opt-in fields at checkout
- Promote loyalty programs
- Leverage referral programs
- Conduct Teleclasses, telesummits, and webinars
- Refer a friend
- Best Practices In List Building
- Metrics for Email Marketing
#1. Implement integrated signup forms
An embedded registration form is one of the oldest methods of gaining sign-ups.
Embedded forms are non-intrusive. Pop-ups are intrusive.
You can use static forms in high-traffic locations. They serve only to remind the visitor that they can sign up.
The technique is to use them in conjunction with other versatile mail-building formats.
#2. Create pop-ups and overlays
Pop-ups convert at a rate of a fraction less than four percent on average.
The top ten percent converts at roughly 2 percent.
While these figures are tempting, you should tread carefully while using them and religiously follow Google’s ad restrictions while doing so.
Google mentions the right way to do this.
Do not display a popup that hides the primary content either immediately when a customer arrives through search, or while navigating.
Use Welcome Pop-ups
Welcome pop-ups should be basic.
Complex forms with boring content convert badly.
Timing is crucial here, so choose a time that works for the website you’re using this pop-up on.
Use Google Analytics to determine the optimal moment to display a welcome pop-up on scroll.
Measure Time on Page in Google Analytics
If you’re doing this on your homepage, and visitors leave to go further into your website, serve it straight sooner.
Use Pop-ups with exit intent
According to Conversion Sciences, a well-crafted exit intent pop-up may reduce 10-15% of potentially lost visitors.
Using exit-intent technology, these pop-ups are shown to users who are about to leave a website.
Exit-intent pop-ups are designed to minimize exit or bounce rates by grabbing attention, compelling them to remain on the page, or submitting information.
Offers and discounts are reasonable, but eCommerce companies do much more depending on their expertise.
Understand where your consumer is in their buying journey and tailor your campaign to nudge them along.
#3. Use gamification techniques
Gamification is the technique of introducing interactive aspects of playing to a lead capture form.
Gamification rewards consumers with unique discounts or freebies in exchange for their email addresses. Readily accessible awards drive customers. This entices visitors who believe they are receiving something for free and sign up immediately.
Blu Dot, an online furniture retailer, has been giving away a lot. In addition to giving away $5,000 in furniture for their 20th anniversary, they also gave away a 1972 El Camino packed with their furnishings.
#4. Develop squeeze pages
Although you may not be aware of the term—pertaining to lead capture landing pages—a squeeze page is meant to extract information from the audience by barricading informative content that the prospect desires.
Squeeze pages have high departure rates, which is acceptable.
Their primary goal is to collect visitor data, so you don’t have to worry about anything else.
#5. Encourage people to sign up for notifications
Successful push notifications routinely achieve click-through rates that are up to two times higher than those achieved by emails.
That’s right – if you use them correctly, you’ll be getting double the amount of people to see your content compared to if you had sent your message to your audience in an email.
They are a powerful tool for increasing engagement with your audience, and you can use them on the web as well as through iOS and Android mobile apps (the better option, as we’ll explain later).
There are lots of 3rd party notification tools available for this.
You can use different push notifications on your site an combine with
popups.
Pre-sale notices
Pre-sale alerts are an excellent way to establish an eCommerce list that appeals to marketing psychology principles like urgency, scarcity, and exclusivity.
Pre-sale alerts remind busy shoppers who want to browse your deal but don’t have time to refresh your website. To avoid missing out on bargains, buyers will be more likely to give up their information.
Many individuals join up for the ‘first dibs’ sensation of exclusivity. Even if they don’t shop, being first to join anything is a vital asset in millennial psychology.
Collection alerts
Signing up for new collection updates is another method to offer customers unique access.
If you provide hot things, your visitors and customers may want to know about new arrivals first.
Back in stock alerts
Back-in-stock alerts may be used to collect data from customers who are ready to buy but can’t due to product shortages.
It is not only an effective list-building method, but it also provides marketers and product managers with a wealth of information about product demand levels.
By knowing which products are the most popular, businesses may design and offer things that are comparable to the most popular. Using this data may increase revenue and client retention.
#6. Leverage content upgrades
This is more commonly referred to as a lead magnet.
Bait content is used to snag customer information from prospects in this process.
This may range from exclusive member-only sales to gated textual material like manuals and catalogs in eCommerce, or value content from blogs at the top of the funnel.
So, assuming visitors are in the consideration/research phase of the buying cycle, this material is likely to be valuable.
#7. Provide opt-in fields at checkout
Most internet buyers anticipate checkouts to collect personal data. While making a purchase, we all feel more comfortable if we get a text or email order confirmation and updates on the order status.
Including an opportunity to join an email list is a non-intrusive technique to boost mailing list memberships.
Note: GDPR laws prohibit pre-checking the tick box. See how ASOS does it below.
#8. Promote loyalty programs
Customer loyalty and referral programs may also help you build your email list.
Rewards programs may both attract new customers and urge current members to upgrade, increasing lifetime value.
Check out the Merchant Pact’s Referral Program below.
What are Loyalty programs
Loyalty programs help create email lists and encourage repeat purchases.
Source: P2P Marketing
However, according to recent research from CFI Group and Radial, 38 percent of customers reject loyalty programs owing to perceived value.
According to SaasQuatch, the following strategies work for B2B loyalty programs.
Source: B2B Loyalty Programs: What rewards perform best – SaaSquatch
KPMG looked examined millennials’ views on brand loyalty and incentive programs and found:
- Make your loyalty program simple to join and give valuable advantages like membership – only deals, free gifts, events, content, and more. Also, after signing up, tailor the experience.
- Read: 17 Customer Loyalty Program Software Options for Your Business
#9. Leverage Referral Programs
After building a devoted client base, use the power of word-of-mouth marketing.
Encourage your fans and champions to recommend their friends to your goods or service. After all, statistics indicate that individuals trust personal recommendations more than brand messaging.
Allow consumers to invite friends with comparable interests to pre-sale events. So you don’t have to discount at first but may contact those suggested.
Referral programs need an affiliate manager and referral management software.
Decades (or even centuries) of affiliate advertising your stuff makes it worthwhile.
Read:
- Why Your B2B Company Needs a Loyalty Program | QCS
- 3 Ways to Implement a Successful B2B Affiliate Marketing Strategy
- 16 Affiliate Marketing Tools to Boost Sales and Drive Traffic to Your Offers
#10. Conduct Teleclasses, teleseminars, telesummits, and webinars
Teleclasses, teleseminars, telesummits, and webinars, similar to local speaking engagements but done virtually.
These are ways for you to provide value to your ideal clients, position yourself as an expert, and build enough reciprocity to compel them to sign up for your mailing list.
In case you’re wondering what they are, here’s a quick rundown of their characteristics.
Teleclasses
There’s nothing more to it than you and a special telephone line into which people can call at a pre-arranged time to hear what you have to say.
There are several options for getting people to just listen in, such as pausing for a moment and opening up the line for questions, which could be managed by you or an operator.
These are straightforward and adaptable – you can pre-record them and then simply ask for phone calls.
You could also provide additional materials such as worksheets that people can fill out as they go along.
You can record and transcribe the call, and then turn it into an information product… The possibilities are virtually limitless.
Read
Teleseminars
Compared to a teleclass, this is a little more time-consuming.
It’s similar to attending a live seminar, except it takes place over the phone or via the Internet.
It usually consists of a series of calls or sessions that take place over the course of a single day or over several days, almost like a conference with different sessions.
In addition to yourself, you could include guest speakers in your presentation.
It’s best to use this if you want to go into greater detail about a specific topic and provide your listeners with additional instruction.
This is most definitely something you would charge for, whereas teleclasses are frequently offered for free as a way for people to get to know you and your work.
Read
- How To Host a Teleseminar with Professor Callbridge
- How to Deliver a Successful Instant Teleseminar or Webinar
Telesummits
This is similar to a teleseminar, with the exception that there are typically multiple speakers.
It could be broadcast over a period of several days or weeks, with your listeners tuning in at specific intervals.
You have the option to record and transcribe the call once more. Despite the fact that this is a bit more advanced and requires more effort to organise, it is an excellent way to increase your credibility in your market because you will be among other experts.
It also has the additional benefit of allowing you to build your mailing list more quickly because each of your speakers will be promoting it to their respective audiences.
Read:
- 30 Virtual Event Ideas & Examples for 2022 | Cvent Blog
- 5 Steps to Hosting a Popular and Profitable Telesummit – Mirasee
- How to Plan Your First Telesummit
Webinars
These are typically PowerPoint-style presentations, with you and/or guest speakers narrating the content as the presenter and the audience. You can use this in conjunction with any of the formats listed above.
A webinar gives you the advantage of being able to visually explain your content to your audience, which is extremely beneficial.
In the same way that you can use teleclasses (i.e., free introductions), you can also compile several and run an online course where people tune in each week to hear about a new lesson module.
Obtaining their contact information
If you host your own online events, you will be able to collect the email addresses and contact information of your prospects when they register.
If, on the other hand, you are a guest speaker at one of these events, you will want to incorporate your free goodie into your presentation.
Avoid providing information about your freebie right at the end of the letter.
You should pause just before your last important teaching point and tell them that you just want to share with them how they can get some free resources that will help them before you continue your presentation.
Read:
- 6 of the best webinar marketing examples out there to follow and get inspired
- How to Create and Host Successful Webinars
#11. Use a Refer-a Friend Page
Refer a Friend should be used strategically when someone signs up on your website for your freebies.
You then direct them to a page on your website that says “tell a friend about us” or alternatively have it on the Thank You page.
On this page, you express your delight at the fact that they have signed up and become members of your community.
Inform them that you’ve sent them the link so that they can claim their freebie at their leisure.
You are confident that they will enjoy it and that it will make a significant difference to their problem or situation.
Then you approach them and ask if they would be willing to share these free resources with three of your friends who are also in a similar situation as you.
They say yes.
At this point, you describe your niche and target market in detail so that they have a clear understanding of who will benefit from your free goodie.
And if that’s the case, “would you be willing to enter their name and email address in the small box below?” you inquire.
I promise that they will not be added to any mailing lists. Simply sending them a quick note informing them that I have these free resources available and that you thought they might be interested is all that I will do. Here’s the link to where you can get them.
To express my gratitude, I will send you a free eBook.
In this section you can offer them an additional freebie, report, or resource that complements the one they just signed up for.
What makes this strategy effective?
You’ve just provided them with something they wanted, and as a result, they feel obligated to you.
Furthermore, people associate with those who are similar to themselves. They will be familiar with a large number of other people who are in the same target market and demographic as they are.
For as long as your freebie is of high quality, people will want to share it with their friends and you will receive positive feedback as a result of their actions.
Read
- 21 Kickass Referral Page Examples to Boost Conversions
- Top Referral Marketing Software Tools to Look at in 2022
Best practices in list building
The 4 exemplary practices suggested for building mailing lists are:
- Do not buy an email list
Buying an email list is not only a sure way to wind up in the spam bin, but it is also unlawful.
If you’re wondering how to build an email list for free, check out how to build an email list for free.
Read: B2B List Building – 8 Tips for Building a List of Hot Leads. – SalesBread - Send a welcome email
Nobody enjoys being a number.
Once you have a subscriber’s email address, keep it.
Also, not nurturing a lead renders earlier acquisition attempts ineffective.
Create a welcome series to welcome new users to your brand. For inspiration, check this out.
Read: 21 B2B Email Marketing Examples (Incl. Unique Templates)
- Nurture your list
Upon downloading your lead magnet, a prospect’s journey from prospective buyer to paying customer has only just begun—and it may never be completed entirely.
The majority of B2B leads do not convert into customers.
There are few available benchmarks for download-to-customer conversion rates. Salesforce discovered that less than 0.5 percent of webinar leads actually become customers.
Even if the conversion rates for other lead magnets are ten times higher, this is a bleak picture to paint.
There is, however, still hope. In order to compensate for lower conversion rates, email automation is a cost-effective way to nurture leads in bulk at a high volume.
Aside from that, the majority of B2B marketers don’t properly nurture lead-magnet downloaders. Alternatively, not at all.
Read this blog for developing nurturing sequences for B2B.
- Turbo propel your list building
A large subscriber base promotes trust, induces FOMO, and encourages new signups.
Create 100,000+ subscribers and 100K fans by using material like this. Check out the best email list builder tools in this blog
Watch Your Email Metrics
Given below are the terms you should be aware of for measuring the impact of your email marketing once you have built your list and are sending out nurture emails.
- Open Rates
The open rate is a percentage that indicates how many recipients actually opened your email. - Unique Open Rates
Each unique open is counted only once for each contact who receives and opens the message. - Complaint Rates
The complaint rate is the percentage of complaints received in response to your emails – this is most likely to occur if you have sent an unsolicited email. - Click-to-Open Rates
These are unique to each contact. A unique link clicks ratio is calculated by dividing the number of unique link clicks within your email by the number of unique opens of that email, and it indicates the effectiveness of your email content. - Click through Rates
The percentage of people who click on a link. It is the percentage of recipients who click on a link within your email, counting only the first clicks per unique contact, that is known as the click-through rate. - Platform Rates
When you look at the platform rate, you can see which desktop email clients (for example, Outlook, Lotus Notes), webmail clients (for example, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail), and mobile browsers (for example, Safari, Blackberry, and Android) subscribers are using to open your emails. - Rates of unsubscribers
Unsubscribe rates describe the percentage by which your subscriber list shrinks each time you send an email to your list of subscribers.
To conclude
Email marketing excels at personalizing consumer interactions.
Your B2B website will benefit from curated and customized email lists.
Remember to carefully choose and analyze your email capture landing page and approach.
Changing things around is an excellent way to test and learn.
These 11 tactics should help you establish a successful email list, measure what you do, and grow the list.