5 Reasons You Should Be Building an Email List for Your Business

You’ve probably heard about email lists and might even have one of your own, but do you actually know what they are? An email list is just what it sounds like—a group of emails where you can send updates and important information to your customers and other interested parties.

Email lists are vital to your business’s success, so here are five reasons why you should be building an email list right now.

1️⃣ - Email Lists are the New Lead Generation Tool

It seems like everywhere you turn in business today, someone is talking about email marketing.

Why is that?

Well, it’s because building an email list is one of (if not THE) the best ways to get new customers to your business.

The challenge for many business owners is figuring out how to actually go about building a list and start sending messages.

2️⃣ - Email Lists are Valuable Marketing Assets

No matter what you sell or how you market, email lists are valuable assets.

If you’re still wondering whether to build one, consider these points: If you don’t have a list already, building one is a great marketing strategy and it’s easier than ever before.

When your list has grown large enough, you can use it to send out special offers and discounts; it’s also easy to cross-promote products within your own business!

3️⃣ - Email Lists are Great for Customer Engagement

Every business is constantly trying to improve how they engage with their customers, and email lists are a great way to do that. By building a list of email addresses from your website or store, you’re creating a direct line of communication between your company and your customers. This is important because it allows you to get instant feedback about what customers are interested in, and it allows you to give information on products before they release (this has been shown to increase sales).

4️⃣ - Email Lists Enable Personalized Communications

If you want to reach your audience on a deeper level, email is essential.

Although there are many social media platforms out there that enable businesses to connect with customers, there’s still nothing quite like an email when it comes to creating a customized and personal touch. In fact, 70% of consumers prefer companies to contact them via email versus other forms of communication.

That’s because they feel more connected and they don’t have to worry about missing any important messages in their inboxes.

5️⃣ - Email Lists Can Increase Lifetime Value

Collecting email addresses helps you increase customer lifetime value (CLV). According to Statistic Brain, email marketing ROI is $40.24 for every dollar spent, which is greater than Facebook and Twitter. And according to eMarketer, email newsletters are viewed on average 55% more than social media updates.

It’s easy to see why it’s such a valuable marketing asset!

How to Create Your Email List in AWeber

You’ve probably heard about the importance of email marketing, and you might even be using AWeber to help you stay on top of it all. However, if you’re not utilizing your email list in the best way possible, you could be missing out on potential customers and growth opportunities.

To help you get the most from your email subscribers, we’ve put together this guide on how to create your email list in AWeber and find your ideal clients online.

Why do you need an email list?

If you want to establish a trustworthy, long-term relationship with your customers, having an email list is key. An email list can be useful for sharing new products and offers with your customers, allowing you to reward them for their loyalty. However, before setting up your own email marketing campaign, you need an effective email service provider (ESP).

In today’s post, we’ll cover why an ESP like AWeber is useful and how it can boost your e-commerce business.

Sign up for an account

One of the easiest ways to start building your email list is through a sign-up form on your website. Signing up for an AWeber account is free and easy. Simply go to their website and create an account. It will ask you some questions about what you want to do with your email list.

After that, you'll get a few options for creating your first mailing list! I'll be using the Create a Welcome Campaign option today, so feel free to select whichever one fits best with your goals!

What’s this double opt-in thing?

Double opt-in is a process for ensuring your email subscribers are ready and willing to hear from you.

Here’s how it works:

1) When someone first signs up for your list, they receive an email prompting them to confirm their subscription (no surprise there).

2) If they don’t confirm within that window of time, no worries—they simply don’t get included on your list at all. 3) But if they do confirm, then yay!

What happens after they join my list?

When someone joins your email list, make sure you do what you can to convert them into lifelong subscribers. Build up a relationship by sharing useful content, and giving them something of value so they feel like their time on your website was worthwhile.

If someone subscribes for an eBook, for example, send it to them as soon as possible—people are more likely to cancel their subscription if they don’t get what they expected from joining.

How do I add people to my list?

Setting up your email list with AWeber is easy. Once you create your account, go to List Overview and then hit Subscribe Now in order to add people manually.

As for a Zapier subscription, copy and paste your unique Zapier link into an email or social media post—this will automatically add anyone who clicks on it to your list.

Can I send them emails right away?

Once you sign up for an email service like AWeber, MailChimp, or Constant Contact, you’ll want to start building your email list. But should you send a welcome email right away?

Not necessarily.

Many experts recommend waiting at least three days after someone subscribes before sending them an email. The reasoning is that people often subscribe to many lists and might not even notice if one goes unread.

How to Create a Private Email Address for your Autoresponder

If you use an autoresponder service like Aweber to send email messages to your audience, then you’ve probably received dozens or even hundreds of messages from people who want to know how to set up their own autoresponder using your sign-up form as the return address. While it’s not uncommon for people to want to do this, many are not sure how they would go about doing it, so they ask questions like the one above.

Generate an Email to Forward To

If you have an AWeber account and want to create a private email address just for use with your autoresponder, click Address in your AWeber dashboard, enter all of the info requested, then click Create New Mailbox.

Your new AWeber email address will now show up on that page. Just copy it, and paste it in as your return address in the autoresponder!

Set up AWeber

Once you’ve created your autoresponder and/or webinar platform, visit AWeber’s website. Click on My Account, which is located in the upper right corner of their homepage. This will direct you to another page where you will log in with your email address and password.

If you don’t already have an account with them, then click on Sign Up For Free. This takes you to a third page, where you can choose between two options: one is free and they offer paid services as well. Choose free!

Test it out!

Go ahead and create an email address for yourself; we’re going to use it in our next step, which is configuring our email autoresponder.

You’ll need access to both Hotmail and Gmail if you plan on having customers from different platforms. Hotmail accounts will have @hotmail as their return address, while Gmail users will see your new email address under their reply-to info.

AWeber Tutorial: Create A Virtual Business Address and use it with AWeber

If you’re wondering how to set up your business address, you might be considering just using your home address and having packages sent there until you have a reason to open an actual office (and maybe not even then).

However, by doing this, you’re missing out on some key benefits of having an actual, physical address from which to run your business.

This AWeber tutorial will teach you how to set up a virtual business address and use it with AWeber so that those who need to send something to your business can do so, even if they don’t know where your location is located.

What is a Virtual Business Address?

Basically, a virtual business address is an email address you can use on your website to make it look like you are located in another state or country.

The main purpose of using a virtual business address is so that your customers will feel comfortable buying from you since they think that you are close by. You may have heard about people who create fake addresses for their businesses, but really those people have a virtual business address.

It’s legal and safe as long as you don’t claim to be in another state or country without having any ties there.

Generate your own personal business address in less than 5 minutes

You might be wondering, How do I get my own business address? or, How do I create a virtual business address? The answer is simple. You generate one for free!

This short tutorial will walk you through how to easily register your business on Google Places and then use that information to send out professional emails from your own domain name.

You don’t need any special software or sign-up fees either, just your computer (or tablet or mobile device) and an Internet connection – all in under 5 minutes. So follow along as we show you how to start sending professional-looking emails from your very own, custom business address... for free!

1) the First step is to go to Google Places and log in with your existing Gmail account.

2) Click Get Info/Edit Business Profile.

3) Fill out as much info about your business here including hours of operation, complete phone number, and website URL.

4) Now locate where it says Mailing address and edit what’s already there, substituting something more memorable like PO Box 122 for whatever Google Places is showing by default.

5) And just like that you have created a real-looking mailing address for your business that can be used when signing up for services like web hosting and email marketing tools etc.

6) There are plenty of other features here too. Click Add Photos/Videos to include pictures of your products or storefront if applicable. Just click Claim This Location if you want a map marker pointing customers to your door, plus tons more options available across different tabs at the top of the page once inside getting Info/Edit Business Profile screen.

7) That’s it!

The Benefits of Using A Virtual Business Address

There are a lot of benefits that come from having a virtual business address. For example, there's no lease to sign or property taxes to pay! Another benefit is privacy.

It's nice to have your own private mailbox when you're starting out because you don't want friends or relatives snooping through your personal mail. Additionally, if you're not ready for clients to know where you live, setting up a virtual address can help keep things under wraps for as long as you need them to be.

Three Different Options for Getting a Virtual Business Address:

You have three options when it comes to getting an official business address.

First, you could rent a P.O. Box at your local post office. The cost of renting one is usually around $30 per month, depending on what type of box you decide to get (larger boxes tend to cost more than smaller ones).

Second, you could set up a private mailbox at Mailboxes Etc., which costs about $300 in total--$200 for opening an account plus $100 per year in maintenance fees.

Finally, you could check into an organization called Vistaprint® LocalTM, which allows businesses to create their own unique street addresses. Creating An Address Through Vistaprint® LocalTM: Vistaprint® LocalTM has pre-designed address templates available for free download on their website.