How to Develop an Email Marketing List
Email marketing lists help businesses and organizations keep their clients, employees, vendors and suppliers updated on company news, product development and sales and promotions. Through a single email, businesses are connected with the people who matter most. An email marketing list can vary in size, depending on the company and industry, but regardless of the size, businesses take care in developing lists that reflect their target consumers.
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Instructions
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Determine how the business plans to use its email list, and identify the benefits customers will receive after signing up for your email marketing list. Come up with an incentive for people to subscribe to the email marketing list. If you have a service-oriented business, try offering an e-book with tips and ideas. If you sell products, offer free samples or a discount coupon.
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Create a budget for the company's email marketing program. Email marketing providers charge based on the size of the list and/or the number of emails a company sends. Some offer free email marketing services to companies with 500 or fewer subscribers and that send up to 3,000 emails a month. As of 2010, other providers offer email marketing services that cost up to $150 a month for businesses that send to up to 25,000 contacts.
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Select an email marketing provider. Determine if the email marketing provider's system allows you to collect names using sign-up boxes, sign-up forms and links. It's also important to have access to a reporting system, which allows you to track the performance of each campaign you mail. An ideal email marketing provider allows you to create custom templates for communications or use an existing template from the email marketing provider.
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Indicate where your business is located when you sign up with an email marketing provider to start sending emails to clients. The CAN-SPAM law requires that you tell individuals who receive your email communications where you are located. Ensure that you do this before you start collecting email addresses.
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Create a subscribe link for your email marketing list that you can include in your email signature and send to current clients and vendors to suggest they sign up for your list.
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Email your current contacts to announce the launch of your e-newsletter. Focus on the benefits of signing up for the list, and include a subscribe link.
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Create an e-newsletter sign-up box for your website to begin developing your email marketing lists. Include language about the box that indicates the purpose of the email newsletter, how it benefits the subscriber, how often it will be sent and privacy information that lets the subscriber know his email address won't be shared with a third party.
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Acquire email marketing list subscribers at trade shows, community events and networking events by giving them your business card with your website listed on it, as well as using a paper sign-up sheet.
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Tips & Warnings
Share your email newsletter with members of your social networks by posting a subscribe link in your status updates.
Research and test various email marketing providers. Companies like Constant Contact, My Emma, Vertical Response and Mad Mimi offer users a free trial to give their email marketing systems a test-drive. Take this time to review the features and benefits, and determine which company fits the needs of the business.
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Resources
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