The most common way of capturing email addresses to build an email list is to use a form on a website.

However  you don’t need a website to build a list, and you certainly shouldn’t be limiting your email collection to your website form.

Any business can build an email address list to stay in touch with their customers, and because email is less intrusive than a phone call more people are willing give their email address.

Why Do You Want it?

When asking for an email address always make it clear to them why you want it, and what you will you are going to do with it. This is especially true for email addresses that are obtained offline as the subscribers may not  be so internet savvy

Online  Methods For Capturing Email Addresses

Website visitors should be given a reason or incentive to part with their email address.   The most common methods  are:

• To Offer a free download (ebook, report etc)
• Free Competition
• Free Newsletter
• Free Software /tool

Offline  Methods For Capturing Email Addresses

This is probably the most overlooked and underutilized area both for online businesses, and traditional brick and mortar ones.

Many Traditional brick and mortar businesses aren’t Internet savvy and currently don’t get their customers via the Internet. They thus never think of trying to use Internet methods to communicate  with them.

By contrast online businesses rely solely on their website form to build their contact list and never try to communicate with their visitors/subscribers by any other method.

There are in fact many ways to get an email address offline:

• Ask for it when you talk to your customers on the phone. This strategy is particularly useful for consultants, restaurants, cinemas etc. In short any business that currently asks for a  return phone number can ask for an email address.
• Ask for it when making a sale. Again especially useful for businesses that ask for an address (making deliveries).
• Use competitions and notify winners via email.
• Ask/encourage your existing subscribers to forward your email to a friend.

Effective  Email Use

Spam laws state that the email recipient should always be given an option to unsubscribe from your list with every email. Therefore every email that you send should encourage them to stay and not  to leave.

Therefore  only send an email that contains genuinely useful information and don’t send email too often. It is also a good idea to offer your email subscribers ethical bribes to stay subscribed by  including them in a special/inner circle.

This could mean that they receive special discounts, advance notifications etc.

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