Building Your Foundation: Email List Builder and Its Impact
Building email lists has a lot of benefits for your business; they serve as a direct and personalized channel for communication with your potential and current customers. They enable you to engage and retain your audience, allowing you to build long-term relationships and improve customer loyalty.
But before you make money from your email list, you must build it. Owning and maintaining your own email list gives you control over valuable customer data, which is something you miss out on when you use social media platforms. This ensures a degree of autonomy in your marketing efforts.
There are many other benefits to email lists we want to cover before we discuss what an email list builder is, and how you can use one. And if you’re wondering how to get email subscribers, we have a section covering that topic, too.
Before we wrap up this topic, we’re going to show you how you can nitro-boost your lead magnet game and grow your email lists!
What Is an Email List Builder?
An email list builder or email list creator is a tool or software you can use to create a list of email addresses for marketing purposes.
These tools include features like opt-in forms, pop-ups, landing pages, and lead magnets to capture the contact information of individuals who have shown interest in a company’s products or services.
Below are the key aspects of list builders:
- Email lead generation: Email list builders primarily help collect valid email addresses from various sources. This includes website sign-up forms, social media, and other lead-generation activities.
- Marketing automation: Automation is a crucial feature of list builders. It allows you to set up automated email sequences, trigger emails based on subscriber behavior — such as abandoned cart emails — and schedule email campaigns in advance.
- Email segmentation: Many email list-building tools offer methods to segment your email list into separate groups based on different criteria. For example, you can opt for demographic segmentation, behavioral segmentation, or psychographic segmentation.
- Analytics: Email list makers also offer analytical tools to monitor open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and other metrics.
- Software integration: Email list builders often integrate with other marketing tools and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to streamline your marketing efforts and data management.
Before you pick an email list building tool, analyze your specific needs, the expected size of your email list, and what features you need to achieve your marketing goals.
Before we explore the wide range of email list builders, let’s look at the popular methods used by marketers to capture email addresses for their lists.
12 Email List Building Methods
List building is a crucial aspect of email marketing. There are different types of mailing list builder tools offering one or many of the 16 email capturing methods below.
1. Popups
Popups are attention-grabbing windows that appear on a webpage, prompting visitors to subscribe to an email list. They can be triggered by various user actions, such as time spent on page or exit intent, and often offer incentives like discounts or free resources in exchange for email addresses.
2. Slide-in Boxes
Similar to popups, slide-in boxes emerge subtly from the corner of a webpage, offering a less intrusive way to capture email signups. They can be customized with eye-catching visuals and compelling calls to action to entice visitors.
3. Spin-to-Win Wheels
These interactive elements inject an element of fun into email list building by allowing visitors to spin a wheel for a chance to win prizes or discounts. To participate, users typically need to provide their email address, adding a playful touch to the signup process.
4. Email Surveys
Email surveys are a great way to gather valuable feedback from your audience and simultaneously grow your email list. By incentivizing survey completion with a discount or entry into a contest, you can encourage sign-ups while gaining valuable insights.
5. Signup Bars
Bars are thin banners usually found at the top or bottom of a webpage, providing a persistent call to action for email signups. They can be customized with concise messaging and attractive visuals to capture attention.
6. Welcome Mats
Welcome mats are full-screen overlays to greet visitors upon arrival to a webpage. They offer a prominent opportunity to capture email addresses and make a strong first impression.
7. Contests and Signups on Social Media
Leverage the power of social media by hosting contests and giveaways requiring an email address for entry.
This can quickly expand your reach and attract new subscribers who are already interested in your brand. They are popular with B2C brands looking to quickly grow their audience.
8. Landing Pages
Landing pages are dedicated webpages designed with a single focus: capturing email signups. They typically feature compelling headlines, persuasive copy, and visually appealing forms to maximize conversion rates.
9. Signup Forms
Embedded signup forms are integrated directly into the layout of a webpage, providing a convenient way for visitors to subscribe without leaving the page.
9. Referral Programs
Encourage your existing subscribers to spread the word by offering incentives for referring new subscribers. This can be a powerful way to leverage your current audience to grow your list exponentially.
10. Affiliate Programs
Partner with other businesses or influencers to promote your email list to their audience. This can expose your brand to a wider pool of potential subscribers and drive significant growth.
11. Quizzes
Quizzes are engaging interactive elements used to capture email addresses.
By requiring users to provide their email to receive their quiz results, you can grow your list while providing entertaining content.
12. Lead Magnets
Lead magnets can help you in building your email list. The premise is simple — they offer something valuable to potential subscribers in exchange for their contact information.
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Let’s now check out the most popular email list builders in the market today.
Choosing the Best Email List Builder
When deciding between list builder tools, consider your specific needs, budget, and the compatibility of the tool with your email marketing platform.
We picked the 5 most popular names in the email list builder space — read on for more details on their features.
OptinMonster
OptinMonster is a versatile contact list builder, offering a wide range of tools to capture email addresses; it is the biggest name in the email list building software space and has spawned many OptinMonster alternatives.
These include various types of popups such as lightbox, fullscreen, slide-in, floating bar, etc. The tool also has gamified wheels, countdown timers to create urgency, and inline forms that embed seamlessly within your content.
They also provide advanced features like exit-intent technology and A/B testing.
BDOW!
Formerly known as Sumo, BDOW! provides a suite of tools for website optimization, including list building. Their email capture methods include popups with various display rules, welcome mats, scroll boxes, click triggers, and smart bars that stick to the top or bottom of the page.
BDOW! also offers social sharing buttons and analytics to help you understand user behavior and further refine your list-building strategy.
ClickFunnels
While primarily known for building sales funnels, ClickFunnels also offers email-capture functionalities.
It allows you to create opt-in forms within your funnels, landing pages, and website pages. You can use popups, embedded forms, and even two-step opt-ins to collect email addresses. ClickFunnels integrates with major email marketing providers, making it easy to manage your leads and automate your email campaigns.
Unbounce
Unbounce specializes in creating high-converting landing pages, and email capture is a core component of the process.
They offer a drag-and-drop builder to create custom landing pages with embedded forms, popups, and sticky bars. Unbounce also provides A/B testing capabilities to optimize your pages and forms for better conversion rates.
Poptin
Poptin focuses on creating engaging popups and forms to capture leads and grow your email list. They offer a variety of popup types, including lightboxes, slide-ins, full-screen overlays, and gamified popups.
Poptin is similar to OptinMonster, offering advanced targeting options, exit-intent technology, and A/B testing.
The Best Free Email List Builder
Poptin is the best free email list builder for beginners because it provides an easy, no-cost way to start growing an email list.
Its free plan is generous enough for small businesses — you can target 1,000 visitors a month. Plus, users can sign up without a credit card.
Unlike many other tools limiting essential features behind a paywall, Poptin allows users to test and refine their email collection strategy without pressure. It’s a great choice for those who want to scale gradually without financial commitment.
How to Build an Email List Using Email List Builders
Start by choosing a builder matching your needs; consider factors like ease of use, customization, and integrations.
Next, craft compelling offers, like email coupons or free resources, to entice visitors to subscribe. Utilize the builder’s targeting features to present relevant offers to the right audience segments. Ensure your chosen builder integrates smoothly with your existing martech stack for a streamlined workflow.
Continuously analyze your campaigns’ performance using the provided analytics, and optimize your strategies based on the insights gained. And don’t forget to run a solid welcome email campaign for your new signups.
B2B Email List Building Secrets
Unlike B2C email marketing which often prioritizes volume and broad demographic targeting, B2B email list building requires a more strategic, relationship-focused approach. You can still use any of the above mentioned software to act as your B2B list builder.
B2B sales cycles are typically longer, involve multiple decision-makers, and require addressing specific business pain points rather than consumer desires. The average B2B transaction value is also significantly higher, making each qualified lead considerably more valuable.
These 10 tips will help you achieve superior results:
- Target decision-makers by researching company hierarchies on LinkedIn. Use tools like Hunter.io to verify professional email formats.
- Leverage industry-specific events and webinars to collect opt-in contacts who have demonstrated interest in your sector.
- Create high-value gated content, such as whitepapers and research reports.
- Implement strategic partnerships with complementary businesses.
- Utilize LinkedIn Sales Navigator to identify and connect with prospects matching your ideal customer profile before moving them to your email list.
- Segment your lists by industry, company size, and pain points.
- Regularly clean your lists by removing unengaged contacts to maintain deliverability rates and sender reputation.
- Use account-based marketing (ABM) approaches to target multiple stakeholders within high-value companies.
- Incorporate manual verification processes — such as calling companies — to validate key decision-maker contact information.
- Establish clear opt-in processes to comply with GDPR and CAN-SPAM or other relevant regulations. This ensures you build legally viable lists.
Benefits of Building an Email List
There are 6 key benefits to building an email list for your business.
- It’s affordable: Social media platforms are getting expensive, and running an ad campaign can cause a serious dent in your marketing budget. In comparison, email marketing costs are lower.
- You can send personalized ads: You can’t personalize web-based ads and Facebook posts the way you can mass-personalize emails.
- Customer data is valuable: If you grow an email list yourself, you will appreciate how valuable it is for your business. You won’t be at the mercy of a third-party platform!
- It’s better for customer retention: You can create customer segments and send content to keep your current customers engaged.
- You get insightful data: Your email list provides valuable data about your audience’s preferences, behaviors, and demographics.
- It helps you comply with regulations: Building and maintaining an email list ensures you are complying with email marketing regulations, such as CAN-SPAM or GDPR.
As you can see, email lists are more than just useful; they represent the single most valuable asset an email marketer has. Without a valid email address list, your efforts will be futile, so building one is an essential step in the right direction.
Before we dive into what an email list builder is, let’s first review a strict no-no when building an email list.
Never Use Shortcuts to Build Email Lists!
If you’re thinking, “Hey, there are so many sellers online, can’t I just buy email lists? It’s a headstart, and I can avoid the expense/effort of building my own email list.”
No judgment here — everyone loves a good shortcut. Not all shortcuts are good, though!
We’re going to list all the reasons why you should NEVER buy an email list.
1. Your Sender Reputation Will Take a Hit
Cold email open rates are almost always poor and can result in a lot of spam complaints. A combination of spam reports, unsubscribe requests, and unopened emails can catch the attention of mail services.
They will then assign you a poor sender score, bringing down your email sender reputation. This increases the likelihood of your emails getting caught by spam filters in the future.
2. Your List Will Have Low-Quality Customers
Communicating with a customer who may not be looking for your product or service at all, results in poor email engagement and poorer email marketing conversion rates.
If you send thousands of emails at once to uninterested people, it’s a waste of your marketing budget.
3. You Could Get Blacklisted
If some of your recipients report you to privacy regulation agencies, there might be legal repercussions. You should be aware the authorities enforcing GDPR Compliance in Europe and the CAN-SPAM Act in the US are diligent. Additionally, Yahoo and Gmail spam updates are turning the heat up on spammers.
4. Your Brand Gets Tarnished
In the long run, you will severely damage your brand image by sending irrelevant emails to people on a list you purchased online. You will lose the trust of potential buyers, and your company may never fully recover.
5. Your ESP Could Ban You
By indulging in bad email marketing practices, you also affect the reputation of the ESP you work with.
With enough complaints, you will be swiftly booted off the platform. For example, at Campaign Refinery, we do NOT allow cold emailing, and that’s not all — we only accept validated email lists. Strict rules bring us elite results!
Using an email list builder is a good way to go about building a list, but let’s look at how you can get users to sign up for your list via emails.
Growing Your Email Lists Organically
Building an email list is a critical aspect of email marketing, and there are several effective strategies to do it. Below is a guide explaining how to grow your email list.
- Create great content: Before you start collecting email addresses, make sure you have valuable email content to offer your audience. Ensure your content is something you would enjoy reading yourself!
- Choose a good email platform: Select a reputable email marketing platform to help build your list.
- Optimize your website for conversions: Place sign-up forms prominently on your website and don’t shy away from eye-catching CTA buttons and compelling copy. Use the double opt-in method.
- Write compelling email CTAs: Give your readers a strong reason to sign up with you.
- Incentivize signups: Encourage people to join your email list by offering exclusive discounts, free guides, or access to resources.
- Use pop-up forms sparingly: Pop-up forms can effectively capture email addresses, but they can also be annoying if overused. Use them strategically.
- Create high-value lead magnets: Develop high-quality lead magnets to encourage users to offer their email addresses.
- Optimize your email campaigns: Once you have subscribers, ensure your email campaigns are engaging and valuable.
- Analysis: Constantly study your email campaign metrics to see what works and what doesn’t.
Remember, building a high-quality email list takes time and ongoing effort. It’s important to focus on providing value to your subscribers, as this will result in a more engaged and responsive email list over time.
Campaign Refinery Helps Your Emails Reach Inboxes
Email list building services can help you capture leads — but what happens when you start sending emails? How do you ensure the maximum number of emals reach the inbox? Campaign Refinery is the solution you’re looking for.
At Campaign Refinery, besides accessing excellent features and tools, our clients also enjoy the benefits of excellent sender reputation. We offer users market-dominating deliverability rates and powerful tools.
Pairing an email list building service with Campaign Refinery is a sure-shot method of achieving superior email performance.
We offer our clients:
- A built-in email validation tool,
- A simple yet powerful email marketing automation builder,
- A credit system; it helps you target small groups of subscribers for better conversions,
- A library with a range of email campaign templates for marketing,
- Tools like email gamification and Evergreen Flash Sales to unlock better email engagement metrics.
Campaign Refinery is the best email platform to partner with while you build your online empire — apply here to become a customer!
