Why and How to Collect Customer Emails

If you’re not collecting your clients’ and customers’ emails, you should be.

Even if you have 10,000 followers on Instagram and 20,000 friends on Facebook, your email list is your most important asset when it comes to reaching your clientele.

Why? Because social media apps and programs essentially own your content, if they shut down tomorrow, you would lose all those customers’ and potential customers’ information in a nanosecond. By keeping a master email list, you own an extremely valuable piece of marketing information.

With an email list you can:

• Send promotional emails
• Notify customers of sales and specials
• Reach out to your core audience with valuable information
• Create value and connection to maintain customer loyalty
• Incentivize customers to share your information
• Keep your business and brand at the forefront

Try doing all of that with an Instagram reel!
(And nothing against Instagram reels, but it’s not an email list).

So, how do you collect these emails?

First of all, you need an email service. And I don’t mean Gmail. As much as I LOVE Gmail, and use it every day, you will need a more formal email service, or you will face a crazy amount of bounce-backs and spam alerts.

There are literally dozens, probably hundreds, of email service providers available, many of them free. And with a price tag like that, you have absolutely nothing to lose in trying to grow your list.

As you do gain more subscribers, you may have to upgrade your services, but it’s a small price to pay for having a dedicated list of customers to market to and connect with at the click of a button.

Here are a few of my favorite email providers (some free, some not):

• ConvertKit
• Active Campaign
• MailChimp
• Contant Contact
• Benchmark
• SendBlaster
• BEE Pro

Once you have a reliable service in place, it’s time to collect those emails!

If you have an actual brick-and-mortar location (congratulations), you should have a sign-up sheet at the register. If you have a sign-in process (like, for instance at a gym), you should be automatically collecting those emails when your customers register, login, or sign waivers.

If you need a reason to collect those emails and let’s face it, you do…it’s not like you can tell your customer you plan on spamming them with 1,000 sales emails a week (don’t do that)…then be sure to tell your clients about the valuable information and special sales they will receive by being a part of your email newsletter.

For anyone with a website (and yes, you need one…Facebook doesn’t count), you should be asking for those emails on every page of your website. I don’t mean a million annoying pop-ups, but each page of your website should have at least one form in the footer to collect emails. It may seem like overkill, but sometimes it takes seeing it over and over to get a client to commit to giving you their personal information. It’s asking a lot, so give them the option, and then do NOT abuse the privilege.

Here are a few examples from my site:

Notice how some of those examples are straight-forward and just ask for an email, while others make an offer. Offers are a great way to entice customers AND offer them something they need. It’s all about creating actual value and connection!

Another excellent method of collecting emails is to offer exclusive content, like a webinar or educational series. Hosting a class will not only provide useful information to your audience but will also cement you as a leader in your industry.

Bottom line: you need an email list! For marketing, for growth, for relationships, for connection! Your business is made for people and how you communicate with them is key to how successful you and your business will be.

So how do you connect with and grow your email list?