- To grow a robust email list, start with a user-friendly website, offer lead magnets, leverage your social media, use offline opportunities and create an ad campaign.
Having a robust email list is certainly attractive, as it means a larger possibility of nurturing contacts and converting them into clients. That said, while obtaining valid email addresses from your target audience is quite valuable to your business, it is equally as important to know what to do with those new leads.
If you are going to set out to capture leads, make sure you have a plan of action to keep those who have expressed interest in your business engaged. Neglecting to craft a follow-up campaign to marketing that is focused on capturing leads will result in wasted time and money.
Now that I’ve gotten that disclaimer out of the way, we can jump straight into the proven strategies to help you capture more email addresses.
Have a user-friendly website
Visitors aren’t going to sign up for anything that doesn’t provide them with something of value. Therefore, if you didn’t make the value clear from the get-go or if your website is cluttered with different messages that confuse visitors, your chances of capturing any email addresses are slim to none.
To capture more email targets, make sure to keep your website user-friendly, and consider adding a lightbox/pop-up form with precise information on what subscribers can expect to gain. Although pop-ups might appear intrusive, strategically placed pop-up forms are quite impactful.
A well-timed pop-up as a site visitor is exploring a home, or reading a blog with messaging geared toward their particular area of interest will result in sign-ups.
If you have amazing blog content, be sure to let visitors know they can get their preferred stories right to their mailbox simply by providing an email address. Don’t forget to ensure all forms are easy for visitors to fill out, or else they will likely hit their return button and decide against providing you with this key information.
In addition to a pop-up, be sure to have a carefully placed call-to-action directly on your home page.
Try offering a highly informative white paper for sellers that can be easily downloaded. If you provide invaluable insight up front, you can gain their trust in addition to the information you’re after.
Also, be sure to segment your calls-to-action to increase effectiveness.
For instance, buyers might be more interested in neighborhood-specific information to download, so offer this kind of information on pages those users might visit. These small steps can make all the difference when it comes to increasing newsletter subscribers.
Offer something of value, always
This goes back to the previous statement about creating something that is of value to your audience when offering a download.
Depending on your target audience, this information can come in the form of a guide to purchasing a first home, investment insights or detailed information on the market.
To take it a step further, host a free webinar for first-time homebuyers who might have questions about the process or for those relocating who might have questions on the area and local neighborhoods.
Require interested individuals to provide an email address to attend. Once the webinar is complete, you can then offer it as a download on your website to increase its reach and create an opportunity to secure more email addresses from those who wish to gain access to it.
You might also elect to offer “exclusive” content in your email newsletter.
If so, you should motivate potential subscribers to join by letting them know that they will receive information that they cannot receive elsewhere.
Such information might include the latest news on what’s going on in the real estate market or even upcoming homes for sale that have not yet hit the MLS.
People need to know they are getting something that others aren’t, so don’t be afraid to shout it from the rooftops.
Leverage social media
Show potential clients what they are missing by including a link to past newsletters on your social media pages. This will give your social media followers a sneak peek into the information they can expect to see if they join your email list.
Although newsletter leads might not be as far along in the buying or selling process as those reaching out directly, they can and should be nurtured until they are ready to buy or sell.
Providing potential leads with great content will help you gain their trust and make you their first call when they’re ready to get started.
Social media profiles also provide valuable real estate for a call-to-action geared toward newsletter subscriptions.
For example, Facebook allows business pages to include a call-to-action button. Take advantage of it to expand your email list.
You can also utilize social media to host a contest that can help you gain more email addresses. It’s as simple as requiring followers to submit their name and email address in order to enter.
However, with any contest on social media, it is important to know your market. If you are targeting millennials, make the prize something that makes sense to that audience.
Finally, it’s also OK to simply ask those in your social network to subscribe to your email list. If you provide good content on your social media pages, there’s no reason your already engaged audience won’t want to receive more insights from you.
Pursue offline email collection
Growing an email list doesn’t only have to occur online. Open houses, networking events and other in-person events are a great place to collect email addresses.
Doing so can be as easy as asking other individuals to sign in with this key information, providing a take-home marketing piece with instructions for subscribing to your newsletter or even just asking during a conversation.
Consider every encounter an opportunity to grow your newsletter following, and never be afraid to take advantage of it.
Create an ad campaign
A great way to grow your email list is to launch a dedicated paid campaign on social media, specifically designed to capture emails.
To boost your efforts, start by creating a targeted landing page that corresponds to your campaign. Be sure that the landing page has a prominent call to action, prompting visitors to provide their email address.
If you don’t want to create a landing page, Facebook offers ad campaigns that specifically lead your audience to a form that they can fill out directly on the social platform.
There is definitely an advantage to having an interested individual be able to fill out a form without having to leave Facebook. You can run a campaign enticing homeowners to find out how much their home is worth by simply providing an address and email address.
Alternatively, you can also promote a webinar directly through paid social media ads.
There are plenty of ways to expand your email list, and these are just a few to get you started. However, I’ll leave you with one final warning: the “gotta catch ‘em all” mentality won’t get you far without a solid retention strategy.
Make sure that if you capture them, you don’t lose them.
Laura Ure is the CEO of Keenability, a marketing agency specializing in lifestyle marketing that targets the affluent buyer. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
