Look, everyone’s got an email list these days.
The pizza place down the street has one. That guy who sells homemade candles at the farmer’s market? Yep, he’s got one too.
But here’s what nobody talks about: most of those lists are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
You see, the problem isn’t exactly that businesses don’t know they need an email list. They know. They’ve heard it a million times.
The problem is they’re going about it all wrong by treating it like some kind of numbers game where whoever collects the most email addresses wins a prize.
Spoiler alert: there’s no prize. Just a bunch of people who ignore every email and wonder why they signed up in the first place.
So let’s fix that and let’s talk about building an email list that actually does something for the business…like bringing in customers and making money.
Wild concept, right?
Give People a Real Reason to Care
Nobody’s sitting around thinking, “Boy, I really hope someone asks me to subscribe to their newsletter today.”
That’s just not how people work!
If a business wants someone’s email address, they’ve gotta earn it. And “stay updated on our latest news” isn’t gonna cut it.
Nobody cares about the latest news unless they’re already a superfan, and superfans are already subscribed.
What works is offering something people actually want. Maybe it’s 15% off their first order. Maybe it’s a ridiculously helpful guide that solves a problem they’ve been wrestling with. Could be a checklist, a video tutorial, or early access to something cool.
The bakery could offer their secret recipe for those cinnamon rolls everyone raves about. The HVAC company might share a guide on cutting energy bills without freezing all winter. A boutique could give early access to new arrivals before they hit the website.
Whatever it is, just make it good enough that people would almost feel silly not grabbing it.
Don’t Make People Work for It
Have you ever tried to sign up for something online and felt like you were filling out a mortgage application?
Yeah, that’s a problem.
The signup form needs to be obvious and easy. Put it on the homepage where people can actually see it. Stick it in the navigation. Maybe use a pop-up…but not one of those obnoxious ones that jumps out before someone’s even had time to figure out what the website sells!
And keep it simple. Name and email? Perfect. That’s all that’s needed to start.
Asking for their life story, social security number, and blood type before they’ve gotten a single email, on the other hand? That’s how to make sure they click away and never come back.
Your Social Media Followers Don’t Actually Belong to You
This one stings a little, but it’s true. A business might have 10,000 followers on Instagram, but they don’t own that audience.
Instagram does. Facebook does. TikTok does.
One day the algorithm loves the content. The next day? Crickets. Suddenly posts that used to reach thousands are barely hitting hundreds.
Email’s different. Those subscribers? They’re actually the business’s. No algorithm standing in the way. No platform deciding who gets to see what.
So smart businesses figure out how to move people from social media over to their email list. Run a giveaway where entering means signing up. Drop a link to that awesome freebie in the bio. Talk about exclusive deals that only email subscribers get.
Seriously, Don’t Buy an Email List
Just… don’t. It’s tempting, sure. Pay a few hundred bucks and just like that you have an instant list of 10,000 people.
Well, that sounds great until you realize that those people have no idea who the business is and definitely didn’t ask to hear from them.
So what happens? They ignore the emails. Or worse, they mark them as spam.
And once that starts happening, email providers are going to start blocking the messages entirely. Even the people who actually want to hear from the business might not get the emails anymore.
It’s like trying to make friends by crashing someone’s party uninvited. Not gonna end well.
Instead, grow the list slowly with people who genuinely want to be there. A few hundred engaged subscribers who actually open emails and buy stuff? That beats 10,000 dead-weight addresses any day of the week!
Send Emails People Actually Want to Read
Getting people on the list is only half the battle.
Keeping them there? That’s where a lot of businesses drop the ball.
The secret is sending stuff that’s actually worth opening. Share tips that help people solve problems. Tell stories about customers who got great results. Give sneak peeks at what’s coming next. Offer deals that aren’t available anywhere else.
And here’s the kicker: not every email needs to be a sales pitch. In fact, most of them probably shouldn’t be!
Mix things up. Send something educational. Share something funny. Give people a behind-the-scenes look at the business.
People stick around when they enjoy hearing from a business. They unsubscribe when every email feels like a used car salesman chasing them around the lot.
Pay Attention to What’s Actually Working
Building an email list isn’t one of those “set it and forget it” situations. The businesses that do it well are paying attention to the numbers and adjusting based on what’s actually happening.
Are people opening the emails? That’s the open rate.
Are they clicking on links? That’s the click-through rate.
Are they buying stuff? That’s the conversion rate.
If hardly anyone’s opening the emails, maybe the subject lines are boring. If people open but don’t click, the content might not be hitting the mark. Or if they’re clicking but not buying, something’s off with the offer or the checkout process.
The good news here is that Townsquare Interactive’s platform makes tracking all this pretty straightforward. Business owners can specifically see how their campaigns are performing and figure out what needs tweaking…and all without needing to become data analysts or marketing geniuses.
Now Actually Turn Those Subscribers Into Customers
At the end of the day, the whole point of having an email list is growing the business.
That means turning subscribers into paying customers and then getting them to come back again and again.
The goal is staying on people’s radar so when they need what the business offers, they think of it first.
Not second. Not third.
First.