How do I build a large opt-in email list of qualified B2B prospects?

As business-to-business marketers cut costs by shifting marketing budgets from direct mail and printed newsletters to email and e-newsletters, your business will find a wealth of new opportunities to be in front of the right people at the right time. But, if you want to grow your online list and build the amount of influence you have among customers and prospects, you’ll need to concentrate now on building a strong opt-in email list.

Rented Email Lists

Many companies use rented email lists when they want to reach specific audiences. If they do, they can reach prospects who’ve already opted in with other publishers and advertisers. But rented lists are expensive. It can cost hundreds of dollars for every thousand names rented, and you must rent them again, every time you use them. Over time, it’s very hard to see a profit using rented lists.

Sure, it’s easy to buy access to thousands of email addresses. But you have to be careful to be accurate and on target.

The CAN-SPAM Act does not forbid sending mass email messages to people who didn’t ask for them first. But there is a real danger that you’ll turn recipients off when you do it. Some may report you for spam. Worse, people who receive cold email messages also buy less from those marketers.

Build Your Own List of Followers

While renting or buying a new list may seem like a great option, you’ll get a bigger return on your time and investment if you build your own list of followers. That means no big initial rental fee. It also means fewer spam complaints, and a better response rate when you send information.

With your own audience, you can email them whenever it’s appropriate, without incurring a real cost per message. Once you’ve built a powerful following using email, it’s relatively easy to reach your whole market in an afternoon at the keyboard, and at virtually no additional cost. You can rely less on expensive print and direct mail.

But, when you collect names, it’s best to start out by screening your prospects. That means asking them to opt-in to your communications twice. Double opt-ins cut spam complaints and bad email addresses. With a large opt-in list of your own, you cut your marketing costs and lift leads and revenue.

Build a Large, Profitable Opt-in List

So how do you build a large, profitable opt-in list? This isn’t brain surgery. But you do need to plan. Here’s where to start:

Idea One: Set aside some of your online budget just for building your opt-in email list. Most B2B marketers drive traffic to their home page or landing pages to register for a webinar or a white paper. Much of that traffic, though, are people already on their lists. Unless you set aside some of your online time and budget, all you’ll do is keep talking with the people who are already listening to you.

If you aren’t investing 20 percent or more of your online budget in building your email lists now, you aren’t spending enough. And remember, you want to make sure you’re targeting qualified people who do not yet subscribe to your list.

There are quite a few ways you can drive traffic online and build your lists, including pay-per-click advertising, postcards, banner ads, ads in other e-newsletters, co-registration, online video, and viral marketing. Other possibilities include trade press ads, articles, affiliate marketing, and promoting your offer on social networking sites.

Idea Two: Set a budget in advance for how much you’ll spend to acquire each subscriber. How much you are willing to pay for a new prospect or subscriber may help you decide which ways to use to drive traffic. And measure the cost of each subscriber against the value of that name to your business.

Here’s an example of how you can calculate a subscriber’s value. Divide your annual revenue from your list by the number of subscribers, and you get the yearly value of each name. Let’s say you have 20,000 subscribers, and make an average of $600,000 a year from them. Each subscriber is worth around $30 a year.

If you’re unsure how much to spend to add subscribers, a campaign should ideally make the money back you spend in three to six months. So, at $30 a year per name, spending up to $15 for the average subscriber is reasonable.

One way to gain new subscribers is to drive traffic to sign-up landing pages. Now, let’s say you convert 50 percent of all visitors into subscribers. Now you know: two visitors to your sign-up landing page turn into one new subscriber.

Since each click could run $7, you’re talking about two clicks to acquire each name, or $14 per new subscriber. So you’re still under your maximum budget of $15.

Why not use lifetime customer value (LCV)? In theory, it’s a far better way of calculating. The problem is that you need enough online sales history to figure out with confidence the real LCV. So, for now, you have to make do with yearly revenue per subscriber as a stand-in.

Idea Three: Publish a free e-newsletter on a specialized topic that will attract people in your prospect target market. A free emailed newsletter is the best way to win over prospects and customers, build a powerful list of followers, and stay in touch with the people most interested in what you do.

Two benefits to consider when you’re thinking about an e-zine. First, you have an open-ended offer which you can promote whenever and wherever you like. So, it’s an easy way to build your list. And second, your newsletter helps build your relationships and branding, so when people on your list are ready to buy they’ll remember you.

Idea Four: On your sign-up pages, you must give people a reason to register. Merely having a sign-up box on your home page is not enough. People get too many e-newsletters. You need a real bribe. So you have to make it worth their while, such as providing a special, free report that they download in PDF format.

For example, let’s say your company sells supply chain management (SCM) software. Your e-zine could be called “The Strategic SCM Partner.” You can offer as a bonus when people sign up a short report titled “7 Steps to Improving Supply Chain Management in Your Enterprise.”

Next, drive traffic to a landing page just for this promotion. Marketers call this a name squeeze page since it squeezes out new names, by getting them to accept a free offer. So include a free on free offer, as a bonus for people signing up. Not only do you get a “yes” from them, they download something that helps educate them, too.

Idea Five: It happens. People visit your site but do not act. You worked hard to drive traffic to your sign-up page or landing page. But some will leave your site and never return. So, you have to “capture” their name before they go.

One way to recapture them is through a pop-up window that appears when they leave. The headline on the pop-up could say: WAIT! Then the text: Don’t leave without your FREE “7 Steps to Improving Supply Chain Management in Your Enterprise” Special Report.

The text on the pop-up asks people to enter their email address to get your free report. If you don’t capture these people now, you have lost time and money.