4 Tips to Build an Email List for Your E-Commerce Business

As an e-commerce site owner, you rely on traffic to your store in order to run a profitable business. Even if you’ve already optimized your site for search engines and advertised on social media, you can drive that traffic all the more with an email list. Having a customer’s – or potential customer’s – email address allows you another avenue for sharing updates about new products, promotions, and ongoing sales but more importantly, it helps you to build a relationship that will inspire this cusotmer to visit your e-commerce site … and buy! Here are 4 tips to help you build an email list for your e-commerce business.

Tip 1: Put an email signup box on your site or blog. All it takes is a little bit of code to gently push your shoppers to give you their email. Tempt would-be subscribers with a few words about what they’ll get from you; for example, “Sign up for our newsletter to receive first-look alerts and special offers!” If you blog, place the email box where your freshest entries will appear (and regularly update the site with high-quality content to keep readership high).

Tip 2: Dangle the bait of a discount code. Few shoppers can resist the temptation of a coupon and a discount code is a great way to get your shoppers to share their email address with you.  Use copy like “Receive 10% off your first purchase by signing up for our e-mail list” on a pop-up window to encourage shoppers who are already browsing your site to give you their information in exchange for a discount. Keep in mind that even after shoppers receive a code in return for providing their email address, they may not use it right away. This gives you the opportunity to nurture the relationship via email.

Note: Don’t forget about using social media to generate customer lists – and traffic – too! Remind shoppers and followers via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest of the benefits of joining your email list, and provide links to where they can sign up. And, as always, social media provides lots of other opportunities to engage with customers and up those sales numbers.

Tip 3: Offer specials and contests via Facebook. Use your Facebook audience to its full advantage by engaging your followers with incentives to join your email list by holding random drawings or contests. Use catchy language and quality photography to grab users’ attention, and you could build your email list and Facebook following simultaneously!

Tip 4: To drive traffic to your email list landing page, it pays to advertise. As mentioned above, social media is an easy way to get your followers interested in joining your email list. In addition, Facebook ads allow you to drive traffic to your e-commerce site, Facebook page or even a single post by targeting specific audience groups. For example, if you sell wool ski hats, you could target your ad to users who are interested in crafts, fans of outdoor sports, and have “liked” popular ski resorts on Facebook. This customization gives you more bang for your buck – or clicks, as the case may be.

If you follow this tip, you’ll want to be certain your landing page grabs the visitor’s attention. For the ski hat example, perhaps you’d have high-quality photos of your merchandise and a few words describing exactly what the benefits to joining the email list are, such as “Sign up for exclusive discounts and seasonal specials.” Reassure visitors to the landing page that you’ll never sell or share their email or personal information.

The Bottom Line
Don’t let your email list fall by the wayside. Collecting information for prospective and established customers, and providing them with news and offers they can use, is a great way to keep engagement high and sales soaring.