It’s not easy growing an email list, considering you’re not the only one trying to do so. To make matters worse your database pretty much deteriorates by 22.5% annually. This makes updating your current one an integral part of your email marketing campaign.

Besides having remarkable content, there are plenty of ways you can attract a fresh audience that engages with your emails like its Black Friday every day. And here is how.

1.       Don’t underestimate the power of the lightbox

A lightbox is a powerful tool for a website. However, you have to be smart about it. Rather than just having it popup every second and annoying the visitor, rather get it to appear when they show exit intent. This means when they decide to either exit the site or move to another page.

2.       Make an incentive that’s hard to resist

Your audience knows just how valuable their time is and aren’t going to give it up just because you mentioned how awesome your emails are. So offering an irresistible incentive should be a top priority for you. This may include discounts, free limited trials, eBooks and white papers, but whatever it is, make sure it’s relevant to the target audience.

3.       Diversify your incentives to capture various segments

One offer isn’t good enough; you need multiple incentives across your site. This is because your audience isn’t driven by the same needs. While some desire content, others want a free trial and the rest could do with a 20% discount.

4.       You need the power of influence

Today’s world is ruled by influencers, who are your popular bloggers, Tweeters and Instagrammers. They’re regarded as influencers because of their large following of fans who retweet, like, love and share their content. By getting involved with one who is aligned to your brand, you gain access to a pool of potential subscribers who the influencer can sway to your signup form.

5.       Make it clear that you’re what the audience needs

As we’ve mentioned before, your potential audience’s time is a commodity they know you want. Potential subscribers want to know what’s in it for them before giving you their email address. Your value proposition should be clear the moment you ask them to sign up. So if you already have, let’s say, 40, 000 subscribers for example, leverage the size of your database by boasting about it. Or use the positive feedback you’ve received from your subscribers.

6.       Rent a database

Honestly speaking substantially growing a list won’t happen in a day or even month. It takes time, but if you don’t have that option or want to compliment your campaign with a more effective strategy, rather rent an opt-in database. This is different from buying a list, which under no circumstance you should do (we’ll give you reasons why next week).

Database rental allows you to tap into a third party service’s existing and segmented list that contains your target audience. This leaves you with the easy work of creating the content and incentives that you’ll want the list to see when they land on your site to sign up.

Keeping your email list healthy requires constant nurturing through the creation of forms, incentives and so on. Best believe that if you use the tips above, the only way for your email list is up. Just ensure you’re targeting the right audience and have what they want when it comes down to subscribing.