Earning the trust and building a relationship with your prospect is perhaps one of the most important reasons why you need to build a list. Very few people will work with you the first time they interact with you. It takes time to know if they can trust you and if your services/ products are worth their money.

An email list is a direct communication channel with your customers. Other social media channels use algorithms to determine who will see your message. This means that you have no control over how many customers see your message.

Email marketing is more effective than other communication channels such as social media and paid advertising. Paid advertising can be very costly, and it isn't easy to track the results. 

Every time someone visits your website, you have a chance to convert them into a lead. Recent data shows that the average conversion rate of an ecommerce website stands at 2.86%. 

Before starting a list-building campaign, you need to understand your target audience and what they want. This will enable you to create valuable and compelling content for them to give you their email address.

A lead magnet is a free resource that you give away to your prospects in exchange for their email address. It's usually a PDF, guide, or video that is valuable enough for your audience to resist.

An email service provider is a dedicated service that you use to build and manage your email marketing efforts.

Email service providers are necessary for marketing and anti-spam laws in your country. 

They provide an easy way for your subscribers to unsubscribe from an email list. Sending bulk emails to many people without an email service provider will also get you flagged as a spammer.

The next step in your list building process is to create opt-in forms and landing pages to start capturing email addresses.

A form is a small webpage that asks for your visitor's name and email address in exchange for some value, such as a lead magnet or free content.