Commentary

Email List Growth Important Marketing Need

by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, January 27, 2015

According to a new Ascend2 study, 61% of sales and business professionals around the world report that their email lists are growing slowly, while 67% say that list growth is “very important” to the overall success of their marketing program, with another 29% indicating this to be “somewhat important.” 48% of the respondents to the survey said that increasing their email list size is one of their most important objectives, ranking as the third-leading priority.

Change in Email List Size
*Change*	*% of Respondents*
Growing rapidly	15%
Growing slowly	61
Not changing	16
Shrinking slowly	6
Shrinking rapidly	3
Source: Ascend2, January 2015

The report suggests that the slow growth of the lists may be why respondents are only cautiously confident in the success of their email marketing programs. Respondents were 4 times more likely to say their email strategies are “somewhat successful” (56%) as they were to call them “very successful” (14%) in meeting their most important objectives.

The most effective email list growth tactics in the study are website access and content downloads cited by 43% and 42% of respondents, respectively. The perceived effectiveness of these tactics may not only reflect today’s near-ubiquity of a digital presence, but may also be a function of their ease, noted in a review by Marketing Charts.

Requiring registration to gain access to private or restricted areas within a website, or to download premium content, are the most effective tactics used for email list growth purposes.

Most Effective Email List Growth Tactics (% of Respondents)
*List Tactic*	*% of Respondents*
Website access	43%
Content downloads	42
Upcoming events	30
Social media sharing	29
Purchase process	22
Paid search campaigns	20
Email forward to friend	14
Call center/in-store email capture	13
Source: Ascend2, January 2015

The use of social media sharing and paid search campaigns are considered the most difficult tactics to execute for email list growth purposes.

Most Difficult Tactics to Execute For Growing Email List (Percent of Respondents)
*Tactic*	*% of Respondents*
Social media sharing	40%
Paid search campaigns	39
Email forward to friend	31
Content downloads	22
Call center/in-store email capture	21
Purchase process	21
Website access	16
Upcoming events	12
Source: Ascend2, January 2015

Creating valuable and relevant content and list growth expertise are the most commonly-cited hindrances, though email list accuracy and strategy effectiveness are also prominent concerns. Conversion rates (57%) lead generation (51%) and list growth (48%) are the highly-ranked strategic priorities.

Please visit here to access the complete summary report.

email, marketing, research

2 comments about "Email List Growth Important Marketing Need".

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Dave Hendricks from LiveIntent, January 27, 2015 at 5:59 p.m.
Most of these methods are completely ineffective, hence the 61% who complain their lists are growing too slowly. They are growing slowly precisely *because* they are using these methods.
Programmatic Ads in email marketing messages are the most effective method to grow a list of active email openers, clickers and converters.
Failure to use programmatic email advertising technology is the equivalent of trying to drive people to your online store using the phone book.
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Arnold Barclay from Social Media Management, January 29, 2015 at 8:14 a.m.

Nice Article about growth marketing. Every businessman need a great social media sharing tool to promote their business. i.e Published post to all social media networks via social media management tool