5 Tips to Build Your Venue’s Email List

As social media continues to be a focal point and pastime for nearly all generations today, the thought of an email campaign may fall to the back of your mind. However, email marketing is something that should be at the forefront of your hospitality marketing efforts.

Email campaigns are the best way to connect with your customers, as they are more likely to take action on an email than through other social media platforms. With that said, it is important to properly build and maintain your email lists so you know you are reaching who you want.

Here are our top 5 tips on building a great email list.

1. Provide straightforward email subscription options

A simple set it and forget it way of obtaining quality email addresses is to offer and encourage email subscriptions to all of your online traffic. Placing a button on your homepage can do just the trick to adding high-quality emails to your campaign target lists. Prospects that have come to your website and sign up subscription emails have already shown their interest in what you have to offer and will be even more likely to take action at a later date — you can’t get more quality than that!

2. Acquire emails through your check-out process

I’m sure we’ve all participated in online shopping one way or another (a little too much for me personally, but that’s beside the point). Businesses gather information from customers during the checkout process, including their email address. This is a great spot to put a checkbox and ask the customer if they would like to sign up for subscription emails or the opportunity to receive special offers throughout the year. This second tip, like the first, will be a way to collect quality leads since you will be adding the emails of someone that has already purchased from you.

3. Build your list with referral programs

Prospects and repeat customers that are already in your email list will have a great idea of who they know that would be interested in what you have to offer. Offering a referral program in your emails can save you both time and money by eliminating the need to search and pay for lists of possible prospects.

However, you will need to create a win-win situation when asking someone to participate in a referral program. An example would be offering a discount for each referral that a current customer sends your way. Always make sure your steps for the referral process are clear and concise. Having a successful referral program is a great way to continually grow a high-quality email list.

4. Leverage social media platforms

Going beyond sharing daily activities using a Call to Action (CTA) in your posts is a great way almost effortlessly add prospects to your email list. As I mentioned earlier, just about everyone is on some form of social media and scrolls throughout the day. Take advantage of this fact and create great educational content specific to your industry while also offering the opportunity to join your newsletter subscription to stay up to day on industry trends as well as content specific to your business.

5. Perform regular maintenance on your lists

When you think about building your email list, your mind generally goes towards any efforts that add to its size. But if you skip out on managing and maintaining your lists, you are likely to see a drop in your deliverability performance. As a marketing professional, I can tell you that is not what we want! Scheduling list updates once a quarter can help ensure that your team is getting the most out of your email campaigns. It will also give you guidance on when you should start focusing your attention on gathering more prospects for your business.

A quality list ensures a greater return on investment

To further emphasize the importance of email marketing, even with today’s obsession with social media channels, I want to ask you one thing: When you wake up in the morning and grab your phone off the bedside table, what is one of the first things you open up? I’m willing to bet your answer is your personal and work email applications.

This fact alone is a fantastic reason why you should never neglect your email marketing. Sending emails is the best way to ensure that you are getting the correct information to your prospects rather than relying on word of mouth through other social platforms. And because of the continuous importance of email marketing, building and maintaining your email lists should remain a top priority within your outreach efforts as well.