15 Ways to Use Customer Acquisition to Grow Your Email Lists

When it comes to customer acquisition, email marketing reigns king and has for the past 10 years. There are a million ways to grow your email list and watch your customer acquisition soar. From social media to content marketing and everywhere in between, taking a holistic approach to your marketing strategy and pushing email sign-ups every step of the way will help your contact list expand.

We know that customer acquisition is important to every marketer, regardless of what industry you work in or what brand you represent. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of 15 ideas to help your email list grow.

Add Downloadable Items to Your Content

Everyone loves a good infographic, e-book, or beginner’s guide. You can grow your email list and boost customer acquisition by adding downloadable items like these to your most popular pieces of content. Use Google Analytics or some other tool to determine your top 10 pieces of existing content. Add in call to actions that offer a downloadable item and require the customer to enter their email address in order to gain access to that extra piece of content.

Ensure You’ve Upgraded your Entire Website

If your website isn’t already fully optimized for email sign-ups, it needs to be. Seeing growth in your customer acquisition requires your brand to have an email opt-in on every single page of your website. Use differing strategies, like click triggers, downloadable content and classic newsletter opt-in forms to keep customers engaged and ensure your content isn’t redundant.

Utilize your Network on LinkedIn

Out of all the social media platforms, LinkedIn offers a goldmine in terms of growing your email list. Start by reaching out to people you’re already connected with on the platform. Draft up a template email that explains why your newsletter may be helpful or relevant to the people you’re contacting, and send it off! Be sure to include language that expresses why you’ve chosen to contact this person and how your content will help them reach their business goals.

Add a CTA to Your Email Signature

This is a simple step that only takes 5 minutes but can bring a huge return for you. It’s as simple as editing your email signature to include a CTA that links to your newsletter opt-in page. Set it and forget about it while your email list grows passively.

Add Click Triggers

Remember earlier how we talked about adding an email opt-in trigger to every single page on your site? Well, one of the easiest ways to do that is through adding click triggers. A click trigger is a simple button or image that offers up a CTA and links through to a dedicated email-opt in landing page or generates a pop up with your email sign up form. The easiest way to do this is through asking a simple question like, “Want to learn how we increased our return on investment by 2x last year?”

Submit Content to Industry Newsletters

Often overlooked by marketers, industry email newsletters can be a huge source of customer acquisition. Do some basic research and determine 5-10 newsletter creators to target. Send out a friendly email with a few pitches for newsletter content. Be sure to add details explaining how your content can benefit the newsletter author and why you’ve chosen to reach out to them today.

Share Your Content With Niche Blogs and Websites

Even better than getting your content featured in an industry newsletter is having it published on a niche blog or website. After you spend some time figuring out the most influential blogs in your niche, draft a template pitch email and send off 4-8 pitches. Many blogs that accept submission limit the number of links you can include back to your own website, so be sure to use one of those links to send readers directly to your email opt-in page.

Conduct a Case Study

Case studies are not only a great way to show off your happy customers and prove your products or brand’s ROI, but they can also contribute to your customer acquisition strategy. Making your case studies downloadable will allow you to add a step that requires the potential customer to enter the email before gaining access to the entirety of your content.

Host a Giveaway

Everyone loves free stuff, and a great customer acquisition strategy involves hosting a giveaway. Make sure you choose prizes or digital property that is exciting to your target demographic. Offering multiple prize tiers or giving each applicant a small gift will help incentivize readers to sign up.

Create a Unique Landing Page for Your Email List

If you don’t already have one, you need to create a custom landing page for your email list. While the page should include some minimal copy, ensure the main focus is on your email opt-in form. Having a unique landing page just for this purpose allows you to easily direct customers to your email sign up through click triggers. Bonus points for using interactive content on this page!

Research Popular Blogs in Your Niche to Create A Content Calendar

It’s not enough to simply publish content if you’re not doing your research to ensure that content is relevant to your audience. Spend a few hours researching your industry’s top blogs and websites, and create a running list of content ideas. Use those topics to fill the pages of your content calendar. Regularly publishing unique content will drive visitors to your website where they will interact with your email opt-in.

Attend Networking Events and Leverage Business Cards

While most of the options on this list rely on the digital realm, this strategy takes you back out into the real world. Networking events are valuable for a lot of reasons, but an often overlooked perk is the ability to boost your customer acquisition. At your next event, make it a priority to collect as many business cards as possible and get those emails added to your list once you return to the office.

Run a Cross Promotion

Things work better when we all come together and work toward the same goal. Identify potential partners and reach out to establish a cross-promotion. By offering them access to your existing email list and client base you’ll create a positive business relationship and you should have an opportunity to grow your own email list by interacting with other complementary products or brands.

Set Up an Email Forwarding Campaign

For your next newsletter to your existing email list, try running an email forwarding campaign. Incentivise your readers to forward on your email newsletter to friends or colleagues by offering them some sort of digital award (like downloadable content) or by extending a discount offer to those who forward along your message. Make sure your newsletter has a CTA included that allows new readers to easily opt-in to your email list.

Boost Your Results With Facebook Ads

Finally, boost your results from all this work by running some Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads are great because they don’t require you to spend boatloads of money in order to see a substantial return.

Now that we’ve given you 15 ideas to grow your email list, you should be feeling inspired to get started on your next campaign today. What’s holding you back? Get started now and watch your customer acquisition and ROI soar.