WebProNews

Some interesting research conducted by ExactTarget, Ball State University and the Email Marketers Club was released this week, looking at the list growth tactics for identifying the most effective and fastest growing approaches to building email lists.

Perhaps the most intriguing finding from the research is that the fastest growing list growth tactic is subscribing via text messages. The report indicates that the  best way to grow email subscriber lists is to collect customers’ email addresses during times of high engagement - at the point of sale, during online shopping and in-store via text messaging.  These onsite list growth tactics rated as much as 60% higher than offline methods such as list rental and mass advertising, according to the report.

"There is no silver bullet, and no one tactic that will provide meaningful list growth," says Tamara Gielen, founder of The Email Marketers Club.  "Successful list growth strategies employ multiple tactics to drive new subscriptions and compel subscribers to register because of the value of the communication itself."

Nuggets of wisdom from Gielen can also be found on Twitter:

The research looked at the past performance as well as future plans from 351 email marketers around the world. Some highlights include: 

- Onsite registration is the best performing list growth tactic, followed by capturing information through inbound call centers, at the point of sale and through social sharing.

- The worst performing list growth tactics include outbound call center attempts to collect email information, list rental, email append and offline advertising.

- B-to-B marketers are more successful in driving new subscriptions with incentivized registration, while B-to-C marketers find non-incentivized subscriptions most effective.

- Mobile capture, or allowing customers to subscribe to emails via mobile phones, will increase faster than any other list growth tactic in 2009 - more than 500 percent.

- Enabling subscribers to share email content with their social networks is expected to increase more than 348 percent in 2009.

- One-third of all email marketers rarely or never evaluate the performance of their list growth sources.

"The best performing list growth tactics are built on gathering subscriber data rather than hunting for it," says Morgan Stewart, ExactTarget’s director of research and strategy.  "Whether you are a B-to-B or a B-to-C marketer, the best way to grow your subscriber list is to collect information during customer-initiated interactions."

Your email list is one of your most valuable assets. The audience is targeted and loyal. For more tips on getting the most out of your email list, read my article here.