It's been said before and it bears repeating: When it comes to those traditional three pillars of direct-response marketing, "The gold is in your list." So it pays to treat it like the treasure it is.

In Part 1 of this series, I explored ways to attract new prospects to your list. Still, the reality for many marketers and business owners is that the majority of their email-list subscribers are customers, not prospects. They are people with whom we have an existing (and hopefully, positive) business relationship—all the more reason to protect your treasure.

Yet that Achilles heel of email customer lists remains: It seems impossible to get the email addresses for 100% of your customers.

With few exceptions (say you sell only online and an email address is required on every sale), some customers are just never going to hand over their closely guarded email address (or the specific address you want).

Others now prefer to communicate with you via social media (largely Facebook and Twitter). Still more are happy to stay old school—they want phone and direct-mail communication: Send them their catalogs and coupons, and they're content.

Even though 100% coverage of customer email addresses might be unrealistic, we can certainly shoot for the high double digits—upwards of 60%.

And the good news is that acquiring the email addresses of customers—an audience that already knows and is engaged with you—is a lot easier than obtaining email addresses from prospects, who may be neither interested nor engaged.

Here are four customer email-address acquisition tactics you should put in place (if they're not already) to immediately grow your customer email list and, with it, your customer relationships.

1. Give to receive

There's no faster way to gather email addresses than requiring them for access to online content and information, especially when email is needed to send people registration confirmations or notices of availability.

Offer your customers something exclusive; give them access to video, audio, interactivity, tools, widgets, or even written material that prospects don't get.

Be prepared to give in order to receive. This tactic can work particularly well with those customers who were once email subscribers but left your list.

2. Leave no "offline stone" unturned

Sure it's easiest if people buy or subscribe online because we capture the email address right from the start. But let's face it—almost all of us have an offline dimension to our business, or legacy business channels (such as catalogs) that were alive and well before the Internet bloomed.

At every turn use those offline touch points to ask for the email address—and explain what's in it for your customers to give it up.

Enter your email address to continue reading

Your Three-Step Plan for Continual Email-List Growth and Engagement (Part 2 of 3)

Don't worry...it's free!

Already a member? Sign in now.

Sign in with your preferred account, below.

Did you like this article?
Know someone who would enjoy it too? Share with your friends, free of charge, no sign up required! Simply share this link, and they will get instant access…
  • Copy Link

  • Email

  • Twitter

  • Facebook

  • Pinterest

  • Linkedin


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Karen Talavera

Karen Talavera is the founder of Synchronicity Marketing, a company specializing in digital marketing training, coaching, and education.