The Power of an Email List

Dec 6, 2022

Whether you are an individual or a business, you should be building an email list. And you should have begun building it yesterday. Plain and simple.

Having an email list is a superpower that grows stronger over time.

While the social media giants increasingly tweak their algorithms that limit your reach to your hard earned followers, email remains a direct 1:1 communication channel as long as your audience members stay subscribed.

And they will — as long as you continue to send them timely and useful emails.

This guide will dive into the many reasons that an email list is an absolute superpower and why it should be a primary focus of your marketing efforts.

But first, what is an email list?

An email list is a database of email addresses that you have collected from people who have given you explicit permission to contact them via email. It is a collection of customers or potential customers who have raised their hands and said, “I want to hear from you.”

You own your email list. No one can take it away from you. Not even Google or Zuck.

Caption created with Midjourney

8 Benefits of Building an Email List

1. You own your email list

We touched on this a bit above but it’s so important that we will say it again. Your list is yours forever!

Platforms like Facebook allow you to grow your following only to later begin limiting your reach while dangling the “if you advertise you can reach 100% of your audience” carrot in front of you. That’s gross.

Your email list is free to be moved from platform to platform as you see fit.

As long as your customers don’t unsubscribe, you are able to continue sending them emails without fear of the message being lost in the wind.

2. Email is personal

Email is a great way to build deeper relationships with your customers. It allows you to send more personal messages and share content that you know your audience will love.

Services like Loops allow you to personalize emails with merge tags, meaning that while you might be sending the same email to 1,000 different customers, they are each able to be addressed by name. This makes the entire communication feel more personal.

Merge tag use in an email via Chris Frantz from Loops

3. Email subscribers are valuable ($$$)

Email list subscribers are incredibly valuable because they have given you explicit permission to contact them. This allows you to market and sell your products and services to your email list when you see fit with offers that specific segments of your audience may be interested in.

According to research from OptinMonster, email marketing has a jarring 4400% ROI.

Yes, that means that for every $1 you invest in email marketing you can expect a potential return of $44.

4. Everyone has email

Well, almost everyone.

According to Statista, there are expected to be 4.6 billion email users in the world by 2025. That’s over 50% of the world population and far more than any social network can claim.

There’s an almost guaranteed chance that all of your customers will have access to (and regularly check) email. The same cannot be said for them scrolling through a social media feed.

5. Emails can be targeted

Do you have a limited time offer for freemium members of your SaaS to upgrade to a paid account?

You’d hate for your already-paying customers to receive this notification (causing confusion, asking for the discount themselves, etc).

Email allows you to avoid this by segmenting your audience into buckets that allow you to pick and choose who receives what messages.

6. Email engagement > social media engagement

The average open rate for email is nearly 22%.

The average engagement rate for social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) is a measly 0.58%.

7. Analyze your campaigns

Email marketing campaigns have the amazing ability to track the success of your campaigns.

You are able to track how often your emails are opened (although this metric is less reliable than in the past), how often links/deals are clicked, and even which customers are most engaged with the content you are sending them.

8. Email can be conversational

Email has the benefit of being both promotional and conversational. As long as you are sending your email marketing campaigns from an inbox you regularly check, you open the door to customers being able to reply and start a conversation.

Maybe they have a question regarding the promotion you just sent them or maybe they want to compliment the product or service you’ve provided them… whatever it may be, email makes this possible!

People are used to emailing friends and family. Hitting reply to chat with your favorite product or service doesn’t need to be any different.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you are running a SaaS business or a nail salon, building an email list is a powerful tool that will only give your marketing efforts a boost.

You should now have a better understanding of the importance of building your email list so that you can reap the benefits and get a leg up on your competition.

Ready to send better email?

Ready to send better email?

Loops is a better way to send product, marketing, and transactional email for your SaaS company.

Loops is a better way to send product, marketing, and transactional email for your SaaS company.