Best Practices for Growing Your Small Business Email List

A small but engaged email list is a great place to start when you’re first entering the world of email marketing. Taking things to the next level involves nurturing and expanding that email list into a powerful marketing asset, one which can help drive consistent business growth while fostering a deeper connection with your existing customers.

The task of growing your email list can be attacked from many angles, but a few prevailing tools and tactics conveniently toe the line between accessible and effective.

New to email marketing? Check out our beginner’s guide on building an email list for some basic concepts, key terms to know, and the tools you’ll need before you can move on to growing your email list and employing more sophisticated email marketing tactics.

How to Grow Your Email List

There’s more than one way to grow your email list from a few dozen to several hundred subscribers, and there are pros and cons to each approach. That said, a fully developed business identity that is recognizable and trustworthy will give you the best chance at success, no matter which tactics you try.

That business identity includes a branded domain name through which you can set up a custom business email that will let subscribers know your email isn’t spam.

Organic growth vs paid growth

Email list growth generally falls into two broad categories: organic growth and paid growth. In most cases, combining both approaches will yield the strongest results.

Here are the basic facts, as well as the pros and cons, of either approach:

Understanding what part each approach plays in the world of email marketing and email list growth is crucial before you can curate a customized growth plan for your small business.

Pro tip: start with organic growth by learning to produce relevant and valuable content. Once you’ve learned what draws your audience in, hit the gas pedal by investing some cash to boost your reach.

Six Simple Ways to Grow Your Email List Organically

Once you’ve registered your business, secured your custom business domain and email, and established a business website and social media profiles to give your brand a full business identity, it’s time to set your sights on growth. To keep things as digestible as possible, it pays to take it one bite at a time. Here are six growth tactics to sink your teeth into.

Start an informative newsletter

The more value you provide, without asking for a dime, the more subscribers you’ll attract.

A regular newsletter is a great vehicle for offering valuable information and guidance without pressuring website visitors to do anything more than subscribe to receive it. Which, if you’re writing great, informative content, will be a no-brainer for folks who find your website through your other channels, or through a Google search.

Writing an informative newsletter that grows your email list takes:

1. Aligning the topics you provide information on to your business’s offerings
2. Having expertise or unique experience to share
3. Creating a conversation around the topics you write about

If you need inspiration, look to established e-newsletters like The 3-2-1 Newsletter and The Hustle’s business and technology articles.

Offer a lead magnet

A lead magnet is an email marketing tactic where you provide a potential subscriber with something for free in exchange for them signing up to your newsletter or email list. The best lead magnets will be valuable because they solve a problem the visitor is facing in that moment.

Some examples of lead magnets might include:

• A first 10 pages draft critique from a fiction writing newsletter
• A free build plan for a mid-century modern desk on a woodworking blog
• A one-week, high-protein meal plan focused on muscle growth
• Trial access for 30 days to your premium budget-tracking software
• A Top 10 Business Tax Deductions guide

Lead magnets often cost little more than a bit of sweat equity and time spent applying the skills that make you valuable in the first place. They’re a great way to dip your toes into a more active and engaged growth approach.

Host a social media giveaway

Social media giveaways remain a tried-and-true way to drum up attention online, and most internet users still love free stuff. Hosting a giveaway on platforms like TikTok or Instagram, with entry requiring only an email signup, can give your subscriber list a sharp boost.

As a secondary benefit, offering one of your own products or services as the prize lets you show off exactly what customers get when they choose to spend money with you or follow your business.

Add a link to your social profiles

Business social media profiles are a great, free-to-low-cost tool. It only makes sense to make them work overtime for you. One way to do this is by including a link to your various business profiles in your bio. Leaving a link directly to your website is great, but utilizing a tool like Linktree can take this to the next level.

Most social media platforms will allow you to add a link to your main profile. You can find out how to add a link by going to your profile settings.

Include a QR code on your receipts

Your connection with customers doesn’t need to end at checkout. Enter: the humble QR code. A QR code is a visual link that customers can scan and takes them directly where you want them to go.

This simple set-it-and-forget-it tool can act as an additional agent for your business, working to deepen relationships and drive return business. That said, you don’t have to pay for it. Adobe’s free QR code generator, along with several other similar free generators, can create a custom QR code to include on your physical receipts, flyers, and packaging.

Customize this QR code to take users directly to your newsletter or lead magnet, and you’re planting seeds that can passively grow your email list.

Have an email signup sheet at in-person events

If you’re participating in local networking events, hosting pop-ups, or showing out at trade shows, you still have an opportunity to translate those in-person connections into long-term online ones. Think of your booth or desk at an in-person event the same way you look at your website, and add a signup sheet to get in contact with visitors later on.

Make sure to include some language on your signup form asking for consent to send regular emails to those providing their names and contact information.

Building a Community Around Your Business

Your email list is far more than a list of names, and it goes beyond a marketing tool. Your business’s email list serves as the foundation of your business’s community. Those who consent to receive emails from you are giving you permission to show up in their inboxes, and it’s imperative that you treat this consent with respect and make your outreach worth the click it takes to open your email.

Curate content that is useful, builds trust, and reinforces your credibility as a brand. If you nail this, you’ll keep your audience engaged for years to come.