Building and Managing your email lists

The number one point to drive home when building your email list is never place a subscriber on your list unless you have their permission.  Be skeptical of any email address unless your company collected it through an approved method.

Don't Buy Lists  -- The number one thing you should not do is buy a list from another company that claims they have permission to send to gazillions of people.  People who claim to have very large opt-in lists, such as millions of subscribers, will cause more headaches for you than it will acquire in new customers.  Instead, build your own lists through approved methods as discussed below.

Build Your Own Lists  -- Below are some methods of collecting email addresses.

• Use Opt-In Forms -- This is the most common way to get people on your email list.  Don't rely only on your homepage to collect leads, rather, prominently place your opt-in form across many pages of your site.  It is important that the form be simple and prominent.  The contact us page is also an important page to place this form.
   
• Trade Shows -- Trade shows are a great way to acquire sales leads, contacts, or subscribers for your email list.  When a prospect at a trade show hands you their business card, don't assume they want to opt-in to your newsletter.  Rather, kindly ask them and if they prefer not to receive email.  If they don't, then note it on the back of their card and avoid opting them into your list.
   
• Shopping Cart -- Chances are you collect your customers email address on your shopping cart form.  This is a great place to provide a checkbox to allow people to opt-in to your newsletter.  It is recommended that the default be unchecked so that the customer must check the box to opt-in rather than uncheck it if they aren't interested.
   
• Refer A Friend/Forward to a Friend -- It is common to include a refer/forward to a friend option in your email marketing campaigns.  Some email marketing software products will then allow these people to opt-in and become subscribers.  This can be an effective way to get your current subscribers to help you grow your list.
   
• Other less common ways -- There are many other less common yet creative ways to capture subscribers.  If you invoice your customers, why not add a check box and email address field on the invoice form.  Encourage employees to put a link to the opt-in form within their email signature.  Have your sales people ask prospective customers if they would like to join the list.  If you have a postal list of customers, include an option on post cards and other literature.

Maintaining the list/ keeping it clean -- Once you have built an email list and begin marketing to the list, it is vital that you keep the list clean and prune it once and a while.  If you don't, major ISPs may blacklist you because of your "dirty" list.  For example, if you attempt to send messages to AOL and certain percentage is bad addresses, they will blacklist your IP address.  Be sure your email marketing software maintains a list of bounced addresses which can be purged from the list after continual bounces.