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10 Simple Steps for Building Your eCommerce Mailing List

10 Simple Steps for Building Your eCommerce Mailing List

Do you know that businesses, both eCommerce or otherwise, can earn $44 on every dollar spent through email marketing?

While this statistic is ought to pique your interest, know that you reach this figure only if you have a solid email list. Without one, even the most personalized of email marketing campaigns will bear no fruit.

Convincing a warm lead to hand over their email address on your eCommerce portal so you can build your list is not as easy as it sounds. But, it is easier than having them make a purchase on your site on the very first interaction.

Now, there are a few steps you must follow to ethically source email addresses for your eCommerce business. These may include investing in third-party targeted email lists, offering freebies and discounts on your website, floating a survey, providing valuable gated content like research reports, case studies, or extending free product trials.

Continue reading to learn more about these tactics in detail.

10 Ways to build your eCommerce email list

If you run an eCommerce business, the primary way to scale and succeed is by spreading the word of your offering around. And, an email list is a tool that can help this effort.

So, here are 10 ways to build an email list for your eCommerce business.

1. Introduce an Email Sign-Up/Pop-Up on Your Landing Page

Today when lead intel is business currency, nobody, and we mean nobody, is interested in handing out their email address in exchange for squat. So, make it worth their while to hand over this vital piece of information by offering them value in return.

How? By introducing an email sign-up form on your eCommerce website that promises to exclusively inform prospects of new product launches, educational videos, free tutorials, discounts, and whatnot.

Take a look at how Beardbrand’s does it! Their email sign-up form promises valuable email updates right off the bat, which are not only product-oriented but also promise to share deals and discounts.

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2. Offer a Discount, But Not Too Often

Providing discounts in exchange for email addresses is often a slippery slope. You’d be surprised how quickly customers only want to shop with you because of the discounts you provide. Anyway, it’s not of great benefit to offer discounts to individuals whose email addresses you already have.

Therefore, avoid repeated discounts as that hurts revenue.

But, extend exclusive discounts to loyal customers who’ve been shopping with you for a long time and to new visitors who are still at the top of your sales funnel. You can provide this discount not only on your website but also on social media profiles.

Here’s a simple yet effective discount template to collect qualified email addresses.

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3. Referral Incentives Can Multiply Your eCommerce Email List

Referral incentives are a great way to collect not just one but several email ids in one go. How does it work? Simply float a referral incentive to your previous customers over personalized emails. Each time they forward your incentive to their friends, you earn more email addresses.

Make sure that your referral newsletter provides the option to invite not one but many people together – kind of how Airbnb does.

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4. Try Gamification for a Change

Do you know why even adults play video games? Because they award a sense of reward and satiate our competitive nature. So, why can’t you incorporate gaming into marketing? After all, gamification lets you introduce interactive elements that encourage engagement.

Some of the most common examples of gamification to collect email addresses are digital scratch cards, online contests, and quizzes. You offer a small freebie or nothing, which the lead has to win, and to claim their reward, they must provide you their email id. Why? Because that’s where you’ll send them their prize!

Does gamification work? Yes! Not only do contestants happily provide their email addresses, but a mind-blowing 1 out of 3 entrants want to receive further marketing communication from such brands.    

Here is a classic example of gamification to collect qualified eCommerce leads by RUGSUSA.

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5. Build Your Email List Through Live Chat

Another effective method to build an email list is via chat feedback. When users log into your eCommerce site, have a live-chat widget already placed for them to encourage questions or provide feedback. If they do, interact with your live chat to follow up if needed. You can also use a chatbot here.

Ideally, you should include such a live chat widget on every landing page of your website. Provided below is an example for the same.

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6. Invest in Social Media Ads

Try to keep your eCommerce site ad-free, but don’t let go of the opportunity of investing in sponsored ads on networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. These ads boost your brand visibility for leads who then click-through them to purchase your product.

Even if they don’t end up buying your offering, your eCommerce site can collect emails in due process by adding log-in pop-ups to let leads browse your site for more products.

7. Host Live Events on Multiple Channels  

Host exciting live events on relevant topics that surround your business, where you call experts and influencers and open the virtual floor for questioning.

For example, suppose you’re a company that offers online courses. You can host a free live event on your top certification’s introductory class and get people to sign up by providing their email addresses for attending it.

8. Giveaways Work Wonders for eCommerce Email Lists

Hosting giveaways cost very little but hold great value for your eCommerce brand. Through giveaways, not only do you end up collecting qualified email addresses but also offer leads to try out your product sample.

So, how do you arrange one? Simply announce a giveaway on social media or your eCommerce site. You can also leverage relevant influencers for the same. All one has to do to participate is leave their email address in the comments section or any interface you provide to earn a shot at being the lucky winner who receives your product for free.  

9. Offer Targeted Gated Content

Gated content refers to high-quality content that is difficult to come by online. Therefore, in exchange for letting users view or download it online, you ask for their email addresses. Resources within gated content can include anything from beginner’s guides to e-books to case studies to whitepapers.

Gated content not only helps with eCommerce email list building but can also help your brand establish itself as an expert in its field. Why? When you share thoroughly researched rare resources, you build a name for yourself.

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10. Include an Opt-In Form in the Footer

Often a visitor wants to quickly surf through your entire web page before engaging further or dropping off. This is why when they reach the bottom of your web page, encourage them to sign up with you by including an opt-in form in the footer section of the website.

Doing this relieves them of the annoyance of scrolling all the way up to sign-up with you, which seldom happens unless they are critically interested.

To further turn this email list-building technique into a tactic, instead of plainly writing something like “Sign Up for Our Newsletter,” combine it with a discount, as shown in the example below.

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Wrapping Up

When it comes to running an eCommerce business, leveraging email marketing is non-negotiable as it’s cost-effective and offers a premium scope for hyper-personalization and lead nurturing. But, to leverage this channel to the fullest, you need a robust mailing list.

So, use these ten techniques to build yourself one stat!

Guest Author: Rochelle Williams is a Senior Marketing Manager at Span Global Services, a renowned database company offering b2b marketing lists. She has a strong marketing and advertising industry background and a deep understanding of SEO, SEM, SMO, branding, and allied marketing strategies. Connect with her on Twitter.

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