Compile a Commercial E-Mail List

By Marsha Collier from Social Media Commerce For Dummies

Building a solid commercial e-mail list takes time, but your efforts in social media pay off. E-mail lists purchased or rented from brokers may not be reliable, even when they claim the list is targeted and that all the addresses are opt-in.

Do you really think that if someone had a highly performing e-mail list they would be selling or renting it? Would you share addresses of your customers who had opted-in to your e-mails in good faith? No way.

You also have no idea of how many times e-mail list addresses have been e-mailed or how many recipients have reported previous e-mails as spam. Spam traps are commonly set up to recognize e-mails sent to an address that is no longer valid but still receives consistent e-mail traffic.

When you send e-mails to dead addresses on a list, your company’s reputation is at risk. ISPs summarily block e-mail accounts that are identified as spamming; can you afford to risk nondeliverability of your company e-mails?

Combine your offline marketing skills with these new media ideas:

Start a loyalty program and offer discounts to repeat customers.
Print a QR code on your receipts that leads to a sign-up discounts page.
At a physical business location, have an old-fashioned sign-up list or request sign ups from customers as they check out.
Run a sweepstakes on your website to gain Facebook likes as well as e-mail addresses.
Promote an irresistible offer in social media and place it front and center on your website – just for e-mail subscribers.
Sponsor a Facebook post and combine helpful content with a valuable offer that requires a clickthrough to your website and an e-mail correspondence.
Piggyback by advertising a special in an e-mail from a related noncompetitor; have a call to action on the offer’s landing page on your site.
Attend a local chamber of commerce meeting, exchange cards, and ask permission to make contact via e-mail.