Our take on Mashable’s “5 Tactics to Grow Your Email List”

Mashable recently shared an article about “5 Tactics to Grow Your Email List” from Mike Holtz from ClickZ. We loved the five tactics and hope you can use them to grow your business or organization’s email contact list. Holtz did note that it is important to aim for ” your email list growth, in a safe, permission-based way.”

Tactics include:

1. Make It Easy to Opt In on Your Website

Be sure that your organization’s website homepage or landing page has a clearly marked way for individuals to opt in for your emails or newsletters. An eye-catching opt in form is better than a “Sign up for our Newsletter” button that takes individuals away from your homepage to a new screen.

2. Don’t Stop at Just One

Consider placing additional opt in forms around your website. Some individuals might be drawn to a form placed at the top of a website while others head to the footer for helpful information. Multiple opt in form locations gives more opportunities for point of entry.

3. Collect Emails at Your Stores

A simple contact sheet at checkout gives customers an additional option to opt in and stay in the loop with your organization.

4. Make It Mobile

“Don’t ask users to fill out lots of form fields. Keep the form short and simple. You can collect more information later in your welcome series using progressive profiling.”

Smartphone users will often skip an online form on their phone if it it too lengthy or not optimized for small mobile screens. Keep smartphone users in mind when designing a mobile version of your opt in form.

5. Remember Your Social Networks

“Consider using social login, also known as social sign-in. This uses existing login information from social networks such as Facebook or Twitter to sign in to a website without having to create a separate login account specifically for your website.”

Some users would rather log in with an existing account, such as Facebook or Twitter, rather than create another username and password they have to remember. Make things simple and streamlined by offering social login to opt in to your email list.