Email marketing is undoubtedly one of the most cost-effective lead generation tools for B2B businesses in 2022. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing generates an average ROI of $1 : $45. One of the toughest things marketers struggle with though is generating or growing their B2B email marketing list. Having managed small lists in niches (1,000 – 3,000) and very large lists in mass-market companies (>250,000) we’ve picked up some tricks to growing B2B email marketing lists. Below, we’ll outline 19 different ways to grow or start a B2B email marketing list in 2022.

1. Your existing clients

You likely have a CRM, Excel file or stack of purchase orders somewhere that is full of your existing clients, and their email addresses. This is the best place to start and where you’ll get the most bang for your buck. These individuals know of your company/industry, and in most cases that are happy to be receiving value-added content via email.

2. Pop-ups on your website

Just because someone came onto your website and didn’t purchase something, doesn’t mean they are a dead lead. They may just be looking for information right now, but are a potential lead in the future. One of the easiest soft closes for them is to ask them to sign up for your email list via a pop-up on your website. This way, you’re able to send them value-added content and increase your frequency of touch; so when they are ready to purchase, they come to you!

Pop-up Hubspot uses when you attempt to exit their blog.

3. Games/quizzes on your website

Marketers are getting trickier and trickier by the day. One trending way of gathering emails for your marketing list is by providing website visitors a game or quiz they can complete right on your website. The catch is they need to provide their email in order to receive their results.

Examples of a quiz prompted on exit from SEO Guru, Neil Patel’s website.

4. Sign up field on your website

This is a basic one. If you’re publishing great content, or are a fast-growing company, people will likely want to stay up to date. So, give them the option to by providing a link to sign up for your newsletter list right on your website. It is recommended that this is on every page, so utilize the top navigation or the footer.

5. Whitepapers, case studies, and hidden content

This one has been out there for a while but is still super effective. Commonly, websites will give you access to whitepapers, case studies or other hidden content when you give them your email. They say they will email you a link or the actual piece of content in order to protect it, but they really just want your email. Recently, marketers have been upping the ante and giving away full digital or hard copy books! You can also run Content Marketing & Content Syndication campaigns with Acceligize, using email marketing.

More examples from Hubspot.

6. Ask users to subscribe at the end of a piece of content

People are most likely to do something for you, once you’ve done something for them. So, if they’ve read your entire piece of content, and you’ve added value, that is the perfect time to ask them to sign up for your email list. Further, they’ll likely be interested in future articles and updates, so you’ll be doing them a favour.

Example from a blog post on Drift’s website.

7. Webinar signups

If you have previously run or are thinking of running a webinar for your clients and/or prospects, don’t think that the only selling opportunity is during the webinar. Ensure you add your attendee list to your B2B email marketing campaigns to get the maximum value out of it! You can also use a B2B Marketing company such as Acceligize, to help you improve your webinar attendance rate and tap in new audiences & webinar singups.

8. Buy a data list

Likely the easiest option is to just buy a cold email list from a vendor. There are a ton of email database vendors out there, so we won’t get into those. You can then take this list, target specific roles against specific campaigns, and if done properly, create a constant flow of leads. A data & lead generation company like Acceligize which provides Data Targeting Solutions, can provide you a quality bespoke list.

9. Your live chat

Before someone can start a live chat with you, ask that they provide you with an email address. This helps to follow up if they get disconnected but also provides you with an email to use in your marketing efforts.

Another example from Drift.

9. Tradeshows/events

If you’re attending or hosting any tradeshows or events, we recommend you utilize that time to grow your email list. During the show/event you can, have a station where people can sign up for your email list, gather emails via a game, scan badges with the promise to donate $1 to charity – the possibilities are endless. Even better, after the show/event it’s common for the organizer to send out a list of all attendees and their emails.

10. Subscribe option in email signature

Create as many touchpoints as possible! One of the easiest, but commonly overlooked touchpoints is your company’s email signatures. Add a link in your signatures where individuals can easily sign up for your email list.

11. Contest/giveaways

Generally, contests/giveaways are usually thought to be effective for B2C companies but there are a ton of ways you can leverage them for B2B companies. Stripe as an example, gives away Stripe branded t-shirts and Mailchimp gives away figurines of their mascot. You can easily utilize these or other creative initiatives to gather email addresses during a giveaway or contest.

12. Contact forms

Don’t forget to add the people that have already reached out to you via the contact form on your website to your B2B email marketing list! This is commonly overlooked but can be an effective way to repurpose email addresses.

13. Newsletter sharing

Content sharing is becoming more and more popular as companies look to leverage related client bases. However, an emerging trend is sharing newsletter sign up slots. The concept here is that company A puts a piece of company B’s content in their newsletter and then directly under it, a link to sign up for company B’s newsletter. A lead generation company like Acceligize which uses email marketing & co-branded emails can help you achieve this, as well help you with content marketing.

Overall

People say email marketing is dead or dying, but we think the numbers speak for themselves. If you’re a B2B company, you need to start building an email marketing list and pushing out high-value content immediately! B2B Email marketing and building a quality list are instrumental for success in 2022.

Ready to use email marketing as your tool for B2B Content Syndication & Lead Generation? Get in touch with Acceligize to get started today and reach over 75 Million audiences from our database across 190 countries.