7 Common Email List Building Mistakes
The truth is that even professional email marketers make mistakes from time to time. What’s important is that you learn from them so you can be more effective down the line.
In this post, you’ll learn some of the common mistakes marketers make when building their email lists.
Building an email list is just one part of a solid lead generation strategy. We suggest that you check this post on the lead generation process if you wish to learn more.
With that out of the way, let’s jump right in.
Here are the 7 common email list building mistakes that marketers often make.
1. Marketers Try to Buy Email Subscribers
Instead of earning email leads organically, some marketers resort to buying their lists from vendors. And we get it. It takes time to build a sizeable list for email marketing. Buying emails seems like a faster solution.
You’ll find many freelancers on Fiverr who would offer you email leads for a price.
However:
It’s not a good long-term solution. The people behind the emails you buy will likely not have heard of you. And they are probably not interested in whatever you have to offer. The emails you’ll send them will be nothing more than spam to their recipients.
Nobody likes unsolicited emails.
2. Marketers Ask Too Many Questions
People will gladly sign up for your list in exchange for something they want. You promise to send an informative e-book, newsletter, or other special offers? Interested parties will hand over their information in a heartbeat.
But:
Don’t make them fill out long forms. And you definitely don’t ask for information that you yourself wouldn’t hand over to a stranger.
Go take their name and email address. Asking for anything more will only raise the user’s suspicion.
3. Marketers Don’t Invest in a Landing Page
A good landing page will encourage users to sign up.
But what is a good landing page to begin with?
It’s a dedicated page with one purpose in mind: To get people to take action. In our case, it’s to sign up for a webinar, a free tutorial, or any other asset or event your audience might find interest in.
And in exchange, they will give you their email address.
Neil Patel has a dedicated page for newsletter subscriptions
Some marketers add a small entry form on their homepage to ask for emails. But smarter ones will have an entire page dedicated to generating leads.
4. Marketers Are Not Using a Content Upgrade
What is a content upgrade?
These are tools that you add on top of the content you’re providing your audience. Imagine you have blog posts on how much replacing carpets cost in your city. You can also provide a calculator that will compute carpet replacements costs based on how big a room is.
WordPress users will find plugins that help create pop-up forms with integrated content upgrade features in this helpful Profit Blitz post.
5. Marketers Don’t Send Welcome Emails
Don’t stop when you get a user’s email address. Immediately follow up with a welcome email.
Your want to thank your lead for signing up and give a preview of what they can expect from here on out.
This also helps ease them into your email cycle. If they start receiving marketing copy, they may unsubscribe from your list immediately. But by sending a welcome email first, they would know what to expect moving forward.
Shopify has a compilation of the best welcome emails including this one from Huckberry.
6. Marketers Have Weak Call-to-Action Buttons
That line of text or button that tells customers what they should do next. You may not realize it but it does play an important role in your lead generation campaign.
The right combination of words can have people giving out their email addresses or ignoring you completely.
Instead of a generic “Sign Up” or “Click Here to Subscribe”, how about getting more specific. If your newsletters deliver valuable SEO advice, then how about using a call-to-action button like “Improve Your SERP Rankings Today” or something similar.
7. Marketers Make It About Themselves
Perhaps the biggest mistake there is in lead generation, marketers tend to make it all about themselves.
What you should be thinking of first is your audience. What are they getting in exchange for giving out their email?
Go ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I being too aggressive with my emails?
- Am I not delivering any valuable information?
- Are my freebies really making a difference?
- Should I be sending more or fewer emails?
- Am I giving my subscribers what I’ve promised?
- Are my emails too focused on the products I’m selling?
- What sort of information do my subscribers need?
Answering these questions could lead you to provide more powerful and effective emails. And in turn, it will give your potential customers better reasons to give you their emails.
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