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How to Start an Email List

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I’m doing an experiment this week. I’ve had an idea I’ve been sitting on for a few years, and I never put it into practice. “What if no one wants it?” I told myself.

Then I thought, “Screw it – let’s try it out.” I set up a quick landing page, Facebook ad campaign (I’ll include more info on this someday), and let ‘er rip.

After only a few days, I’ve got a respectable email list going. Product validated!

But how did I get my email list going? Yesterday, I mentioned the importance of emailing your customers to improve your sales. Today, I’m going to explain in a little more detail waht you need to do to begin email marketing.

Get Your Software Set Up

To get an email list, you need a program to send email. you can’t just use your Gmail or Yahoo Mail account; you need a special email service to message your customers.

Though there are plenty of email services to choose from, I’m a fan of Mailchimp for small (>500) lists simply because it’s free and simple to use. Any bigger than that, and you’ll need a paid solution. (I’ll give a breakdown of which solutions have worked best for my customers based on their list size in an upcoming post.)

Install a List Signup Form

Once you have your email service provider, it’s time to create a signup form to use on your site. Again, there are a few easy ways to do this, but Sumome is probably one of the easiest (and takes, like, 47 seconds).

Add Your Customer List to Your Email Service Provider

Finally, you’ll need to add your customer list (the list of people who have already proven they’ll pay for your product) to your email list in your service provider. Usually, this is as simple as the following:

  • Downloading your customer list in your customer relationship management (CRM) software
  • Uploading your list in your email service provider

Bam. Two steps.

Once that’s up, you’re ready to start emailing your customers.

But there’s more to activating your customers than simply throwing out emails.

  • What kinds of messages will your audience enjoy?
  • How frequently should you send messages (and how much is TOO much)?
  • What should your subject headlines be to prevent getting caught by spam filters?

…And plenty more, of course.

Check back again to learn how frequently you should email your list – and how to avoid a stupid mistake I’ve seen doomed businesses make again and again.

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