Email list building is one of the most valuable assets a B2B organisation can have.
It helps increase revenue and minimise customer churn, enabling you to build strong, lasting relationships with your clients while driving impressive conversions.
In this guide, we share 14 innovative and actionable strategies for building an email list that boosts sales in new and existing markets.
Let’s start:
High-quality content is the foundation of any successful email list building strategy.
Creating valuable, engaging, and shareable B2B marketing content is one of the most effective ways to attract email subscribers.
Your content, whether blog posts, videos, white papers, or case studies, should resonate with your target audience.
Prospects become familiar with your brand through demandism tactics and are more inclined to book a demo or sign up for your mailing list.
At Cognism, we’ve stopped gating our content. Instead, we use demand generation to build relationships and create brand loyalty.
One way we’ve done this is by making our CMO Alice de Courcy’s book, ‘Diary of a First-time CMO,’ available on our website for anyone to read.
Not only does it drive demand, but it also encourages new users to try our product and sign up for our newsletter for more valuable content.
Want to give it a read? Click to access Volume 1 and 2 👇
Embedded signup forms make it easy for your website visitors to share their emails with you. But their effectiveness depends on how you implement them.
Your email signup forms should be easy to find and quick to complete. Most sign-up forms are found in the website’s footer, sidebar, or after content.
Strategically placing these forms on your website and ensuring they’re intuitive to use is essential for B2B email list building.
The length of the opt-in form matters too. While having more information about your prospects is great, it’s equally important not to overwhelm your visitors.
B2B buyers are especially busy professionals who might not have the luxury of spending several minutes filling out forms.
Therefore, stick to collecting basic details like name and email address. You can always enrich B2B records over time.
To make a solid email list, ensure that your form includes a clear and prominent call-to-action, inviting visitors to “Join 2,000+ other subscribers” or “Sign up now.”
But, most of all, ensure your forms are mobile-friendly, as a significant portion of traffic comes from smartphones.
A prominently displayed and user-friendly signup form minimises friction, making it easier for visitors to engage with your brand and take the desired action.
Slack’s homepage features a sleek, visually appealing signup form paired with a strong CTA (“Get Started”). The form is strategically positioned above the fold, requiring minimal effort from users to get started.
If you’re wondering how to build an email list from scratch, a demo request form is your answer.
For B2B SaaS companies, a demo request form is a goldmine for building an email list. Visitors requesting a demo are typically high-intent leads, making them valuable additions to your email marketing database.
A demo request form targets users further along the buying process, allowing them to see your solution in action.
At Cognism, we have embedded demos on demand like this one 👇
Once users see how easy it is to build lists with Cognism, they will likely book a more in-depth demo.
When used correctly, pop-ups are an excellent way to capture email addresses. They grab attention and encourage visitors to take immediate action.
Sometimes, website visitors don’t go to the pages where you embed sign-up forms. Use exit-intent pop-ups to prevent them from leaving your site without signing up.
However, you must strike a balance—avoid overwhelming your audience with too many pop-ups. Don’t add more than one per page.
Exit-intent software solutions like Optinmonster, HubSpot, and Claspo can help you create exit-intent pop-ups.
With this strategy, you can build an email list with engaged and receptive contacts, enhancing the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.
Pop-ups grab attention without requiring users to search for a sign-up form or offer.
OptinMonster’s exit-intent pop-ups capture leads about to leave the website by offering a discount.
“I don’t like freebies,” said no one ever!
That’s why contests or giveaways will always draw people’s attention.
Offering giveaways, contests, or freebies is a proven email marketing list building strategy.
The more enticing your offer, the more likely users will subscribe.
To build a marketing email list for lead generation, add email submission as an entry requirement and capture prospect emails.
Besides, business decision-makers appreciate a bit of fun, too. B2B decision-makers are human, after all.
So gamification through contests and giveaways is an excellent way to make the sign-up process engaging and rewarding for them.
Freebies and giveaways provide immediate value and encourage users to share their contact information.
This was the primary strategy that helped AppSumo grow its email signups from less than 50,000 to over 147,973 within the first ten months.
The key is to always opt for audience-specific rewards to build your lead list of only potential future buyers.
For instance, you might consider offering contest winners free annual access to your product. Just ensure it’s something they genuinely desire.
B2B buyers value referrals, especially when they come from trusted peers. So, take advantage of your existing contacts to expand your reach through a referral program.
Design a dedicated referral landing page where participants can quickly enter details, including email addresses, of those they’d like to refer.
You can also create unique referral codes to keep track of your referrals. When a person scans your client’s QR code and enters their details, that person will be automatically counted as a referral by that specific client.
Once everything is set, start sending referral requests to your loyal clients. However, remember to keep the process easy for them; too many steps can discourage participation.
Word-of-mouth referrals are one of the most trusted forms of B2B marketing and a great way to build an engaged email list. They leverage personal connections to build credibility and influence purchasing decisions.
Here’s how Graphicolor does it:
Building an email list from scratch can be challenging. The easiest way to do so is with email list building services and tools. (Not by buying and email marketing list 👀)
Sales intelligence platforms like Cognism let you build targeted contact lists with leads’ emails and mobile numbers. This global B2B data follows stringent privacy protocols and complies with the GDPR and CCPA.
Additionally, you can use intent data and sales triggers embedded in Cognism’s platform to build email lists of prospects more likely to respond to your outreach.
Here’s what you get with Cognism:
*Subject to a generous fair usage policy.
List building tools and services save time and ensure you always have the right contact data to reach key decision-makers.
Cognism helped Protolabs to find niche audiences and have a consistent email deliverability rate of 95-98%.
A call-to-action (CTA) is crucial to any email marketing list building strategy.
Without clear instructions, visitors may leave your site without subscribing, which you want to avoid when building your email list.
A clear and actionable CTA ensures users know exactly what to do next and encourages immediate action.
HubSpot’s blog posts often include CTAs like “Download the Free Guide” or “Get Started with HubSpot” that align with the content topic and target specific user needs.
They strategically place these CTAs within the content and at the end of posts to ensure visibility.
A quick win in lead generation email list building is utilising live chat and chatbots.
They offer immediate, personalised interaction with website visitors and are excellent tools for engaging them and collecting email addresses in real-time.
Through automated or real-time conversations, businesses can guide users toward newsletter sign-ups or special offers, converting them into valuable subscribers.
You can integrate this feature into your website with tools like Botsify, Chatra, ManyChat, and ChatBot.
But remember, timing is crucial when you ask for email addresses via chat. Visitors might hesitate or decline if you request them too early in the conversation. It’s essential to build rapport and deliver value before making the request.
Real-time support increases trust and reduces drop-off rates.
Salesloft’s chatbot engages users by asking qualifying questions and scheduling meetings for sales reps.
QR codes bridge the gap between offline and online marketing, offering a seamless way to build an email list without a website.
This method is especially effective for engaging audiences at in-person events.
QR codes provide a fast and easy way for users to access online content.
Starbucks uses QR codes on their promotional materials to drive app downloads and sign-ups for their rewards program.
But how do you build an email list for free?
Newsletters are key.
They’re a fantastic way to engage subscribers and keep them informed about your brand, but you must ensure consistency and value when utilising them for list building.
Consistent communication helps build trust and keeps your brand top of mind.
Cognism’s newsletter, The Loop, keeps its audience hooked with B2B marketing insights and trends from industry leaders.
It links back to the B2B marketing podcast of the same name, which is another clever way to build email lists.
🎧Listen to The Loop podcast on Captivate.fm
Webinars provide an interactive platform for sharing knowledge and building your email list. It’s also a great form of lead generation.
Interactive formats like webinars foster deeper connections with prospects. Moreover, webinars are an effective list-building strategy that helps you establish authority in your industry.
LinkedIn hosts webinars on topics like marketing and recruitment strategy, offering attendees actionable insights and free templates.
Paid ads and organic search optimisation drive targeted traffic to your lead capture pages.
By combining the two, you’ll experience consistent growth with email marketing list building.
Ads provide immediate results, while SEO builds long-term, sustainable traffic.
Cognism runs paid ads and utilises money keywords to attract website traffic.
Cognism is the ultimate solution for building a fast, reliable, high-quality email list. With its advanced features, you can:
By integrating Cognism into your email list-building strategy, you’ll achieve faster growth in new markets ( especially Europe!) and higher engagement rates!
Take your email list building to the next level, sign up for a demo 👇