How to Build an Email List: Tips and Tools (2024)

Learn how to build an email list from scratch to boost your marketing efforts and grow your ecommerce business.

Email is one of the most effective channels in any digital marketing strategy, with an average landing page conversion rate of 10.76%, according to a 2023 study from GetResponse. Of course, to unlock the potential of email marketing, you first need to build an email list from scratch. 

The power of email marketing is nothing new to product marketer Desirae Odjick, who works on Shopify’s marketing automation tools like Shopify Email and Shopify Forms. Keep reading to get tips from Desirae on how to build an email list that will help you reach new customers and grow your small business. 

How to build an email list

1. Create your email signup form
2. Feature an email signup incentive
3. Set up an automated welcome email
4. Promote your email list
5. Send valuable content
6. Consider email segmentation
7. Test and iterate

“You put a lot of effort into getting people to your website,” Desirae says. “If 100 people show up on your site and two to five of them buy something, that’s a really good conversion rate. But that also means 95 or more website visitors are leaving without doing anything. That’s why you offer the opportunity to join your email list. If you can get three to five people who weren’t ready to buy to instead give you their email addresses, that’s three of five people you’re now able to reach.” 

Here are the seven steps you can take to collect email addresses and kick off email campaigns.

1. Create your email signup form

In order to collect contact information from potential customers, you need to have an easily accessible email sign-up form. If you use Shopify as your ecommerce website builder, the simplest and most cost effective way to start getting email signups is with Shopify Forms. It’s a free first-party app that allows you to create branded website pop-ups and inline opt-in forms for collecting email addresses from your website visitors—and more. 

“You can actually collect any customer data you need by creating custom fields,” Desirae says. “So you can ask things like ‘What’s your birthday?’ or ‘What’s your favorite color?’ and that information will be added to your email list.”

To get started with your first email marketing signup forms, first download the free Shopify Forms app. Then head to your Shopify admin, navigate to Apps > Forms, and click “Create form.” Follow the prompts to customize and save your pop-up forms. You can then add any of your signup forms to your website or create landing pages where your opt-in forms can capture email addresses.

2. Feature an email signup incentive

“There should always be some kind of offer for signing up for your email list,” Desirae says. “Discounts are one option, but there are other ways to show the value of joining your email list.” 

For example, brands often use their email marketing signup forms to offer exclusive content relevant to their target audience’s needs or interests. It’s also common to promote limited-edition “drops” via email so subscribers will be the first to know about product releases. “You could offer a free guide, you could offer exclusive access, you could offer expert tips and tricks,” Desirae says. 

Whatever your incentive is, make its value clear when setting up your signup form. Later on, you can experiment by testing different incentives to see which one generates the most new subscribers.

3. Set up an automated welcome email

After creating your opt in forms, the next thing you should do is set up a welcome email automation. “These are some of the most-opened emails,” Desirae says. “People just took action, they’re expecting to see your email, they’re more likely to open it.”

Shopify Email offers two different welcome email series automations—plus other automations like thank-you and abandoned-cart emails. But the welcome series is one Desirae recommends every merchant start with: “Make sure that when someone decides to take that step and gives you their email address, you’re ready to welcome them,” Desirae says. 

4. Promote your email list

Visibility is a key part of how to build an email list. Now that you have your email sign-up form and a welcome automation to greet new subscribers, it’s time to promote your email list beyond the pop-up form on your storefront. 

Desirae recommends creating a dedicated landing page that you can link out to from your social media channels: “It’s one of the easiest, lowest-investment ways for someone to take the next step from the other places that they’re finding out about you.” 

In addition to landing pages, share the link on your social media accounts (like from your Instagram bio), provide a QR code customers can scan at in-person events or your brick-and-mortar store, and drop the link before a product release or other big news. Make sure your target audience knows the best way to stay up-to-date on your brand is by subscribing to your email list. 

“Even if you only get a couple of sign-ups, that’s a couple more people you don’t have to pay for ads to reach,” Desirae says. “Once they’re on your list, you can build a relationship with them and eventually sell to them.”

5. Send valuable content

Once you have email subscribers, you need to keep them engaged with high-quality content and personalized emails. “Don’t just rely on automations,” Desirae says. “Make sure that you’re reaching out to people.”

If you use Shopify Email, Desirae recommends looking through the provided templates for inspiration. “The big thing that I know merchants struggle with is, ‘What do I send?’” Desirae says. “All the templates are built for ecommerce, so they’re all emails that businesses like yours have sent.” 

As a small business owner, you know better than anyone else what kind of content your audience wants to see. Make sure that your email list building strategy includes content that speaks directly to your target audience.

You might use your email campaigns or newsletters to:

• Promote a new or restocked product or collection

• Share examples of how real customers use your product

• Share behind-the-scenes or making-of stories

• Send emails relevant to seasonal changes, holidays, and events

• Share product education

• Interview team members, customers, or brand ambassadors

• Give a peek into your brick and mortar store

6. Consider email segmentation

As your email list grows, start thinking about email segmentation. Desirae suggests starting by creating a segment of your most engaged subscribers: “Focus on the people who are most likely to take action from your email,” Desirae says. “If someone hasn’t opened your email in three to six months, this isn’t going to be the magic one they do open.”

If you create an email list segment omitting anyone who hasn’t opened an email in the past three to six months, you’ll get better data regarding which types of emails your subscribers engage with. As your list grows, your segments can become more granular.

“You can create segments based on basically any customer data that you have in Shopify,” Desirae says. This includes the exact product purchased and when it was purchased. “Think about what would make sense for your segments based on what you’re selling and what your audience cares about.”

Desirae shares a real example of a beauty business that sells both premade shampoo and the ingredients to make your own shampoo: “If they launch a new bottle of premade shampoo, they will get the best results by only emailing the people who bought premade shampoo before and excluding the people who bought raw ingredients because it’s just not what they’re shopping for.” 

7. Test and iterate

As your email list grows, it's time to iterate on your list building strategies. Experiment with different content types, customer segments, offers, and promotions in your email marketing efforts. For example, Desirae recommends focusing on a specific audience segment to see if you can get better click-through rates. If you want to get even more granular, you can use email A/B testing to compare subject lines and content blocks. The important thing is to continuously test and iterate. 

Learn more: 10 Email Marketing Metrics You Should Be Tracking in 2024

Best email marketing software for managing your email list

• Shopify Email
• MailChimp
• Zapier

As you grow your email list from a few new subscribers to a few thousand email subscribers, it’s important to invest in tools and platforms to help you manage, organize, and leverage your data. Here are a few popular email marketing software options to get you started:

Shopify Email

If you have a Shopify store, start your email marketing journey with Shopify Email. Your first 10,000 emails each month are free to send, and the app has access to your store’s data. “Any segment that you have set up in Shopify, you can add to the ‘To’ field in Shopify Email,” Desirae says. “You can create a segment based on any data you have in Shopify.”

Shopify Email has plenty of predesigned email templates to choose from, including automated email series and one-time email marketing campaigns.

MailChimp

MailChimp’s offerings start with a free plan that offers basic email template creation, as well as email marketing and scheduling automation options. With a paid subscription, you’ll have access to more premium email templates, as well as advanced tools to give you insight into the performance of your email list and email campaigns.

Zapier

One of the most challenging aspects of building and leveraging an email list is figuring out how to integrate all of the different platforms and technologies you’re using to run your online business. Zapier allows you to create automated workflows that close the gaps between your tools without the need for a software developer. With Zapier’s workflows, you can automatically pull new email subscribers from social media, landing pages, survey tools, or live event registration—and funnel all of those new subscribers into your email list database. This automation eliminates the manual labor of organizing your lists.

How to build an email list FAQ

How do I create an email list?

To create an email list, build an email sign-up form using a powerful tool like Shopify Forms and share it on your website and dedicated landing pages. Your opt-in form should ask each subscriber for their email address and first name, but you can also ask for additional information like birthdays or business names, if that’s relevant to your email marketing strategy.

Can you build an email list for free?

Yes, if you have a Shopify store, you can build an email list for free using Shopify Forms and Shopify Email and easily share opt-in forms on your own landing pages and ecommerce website.

How do you grow an email list?

You can grow your email list by running a contest that requires participants to sign up for your email list, offering exclusive discounts to new subscribers, offering new subscribers a lead magnet like a free ebook or other type of download, starting a referral program, or announcing news like product drops to subscribers first.