This guest post was written by Danielle Theisen. You can learn more about Danielle on her LinkedIn page.

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Growing your email marketing list may seem like a daunting task. Not only do you have people regularly unsubscribing (which is normal), but you also find that it seems as if your overall email deliverability drops without notice.

According to HubSpot, “your email marketing database degrades by about 22.5% every year.” This degradation of your list can happen for multiple reasons:

• Your subscribers start using a new email address
• Subscribers change jobs
• New operating system updates make it easier for your subscribers to unsubscribe right from their inbox

Whatever the reasons for people unsubscribing from your list, or not opening your emails, it’s important to focus on the continual growth of your email marketing list. Not only does this replenish those who dropped your communications, but this also allows you to continue to reach new audiences and potential customers. Here are a few tips for growing your email marketing list:

1. Use a pop up.

One of the easiest ways to grow your email marketing list is to utilize a pop up. Using this technique promotes a call-to-action to get visitors’ attention. The key to getting your site visitors to convert on this pop up or pop over is to use an appropriate incentive.

Pottery Barn incentivizes their site visitors with a 15% off offer when they enter the website.

If you’re not in the retail space, offer a highly-valuable piece of content instead of a percent off offer. Social Media Examiner offers an industry report to capture email addresses.

Don’t be afraid to test different kinds of pop ups. For some websites, having a pop up when a visitor enters the site is distracting, but triggering the pop up on intent to exit creates the most conversions.

2. Promote a giveaway or sweepstakes.

The number one tactic I like to use for growing an email marketing list is to promote a giveaway or sweepstakes. Since the giveaway item is typically of high value, I create my sign-up form to gather a little more information about the subscriber. I love this method because I’m able to capture more information about the subscriber including first name and state they live in, which will allow for personalized and targeted email sends in the future.

3. Don’t forget about social media!

Email marketing and social media can work together! Leverage your social media audiences to promote email subscriber sign ups. Those who ‘like’ or ‘follow’ your brand on social media are already familiar with your brand, use social media to push them to email marketing, a more personal communication channel. You can also use social media to reach new audiences and draw potential leads to a sign-up form to learn more about your brand.

4. Work to keep the subscribers you have.

To keep the email subscribers you already have and maintain a healthy email subscriber base, there are a few steps you should follow. Retaining subscribers decreases your unsubscribe rate and in turn, you’ll see growth to your overall email marketing list.

For starters, implement a preference center. A preference center will ensure that your subscribers receive communication from your company about topics that are relevant to them and at a frequency they are comfortable with, causing less people to unsubscribe.

When you’ve noticed part of your email list going dormant, initiate a win-back or reactivation campaign. Send an email with a compelling subject line (to encourage opens) and offer in the body of the email (to encourage click-through and conversions). Sending an email like this is a lot more cost-effective than spending money on other methods to acquire new email addresses. Want a few ideas at some great win-back campaigns? Check out these 10 compelling emails.

Keeping a healthy email list is no easy task. Be proactive in continuing to add to your list and managing the subscribers you already have and you will see subscriber growth. Have a favorite tactic for growing your email marketing list? Share them in the comments below!

Need help with email marketing? Contact Milwaukee email marketing agency, Accelity Marketing.