Building an email list is one of the things that an online business owner often overlooks.

It can be a very intimidating task because it requires a lot of tech steps, which is why a lot of people put it off until the very last minute.

But the thing is that you don’t need any fancy tools to start building a list. And no, your social media followers and likes do not count; these are VANITY METRICS that don’t really add as much value to your business as much as having a list can.

Still need more convincing about email lists?

Here are some VERY IMPORTANT REASONS why you might consider building an email list today, whether you are a virtual assistant or not:

1) It Gives Your More Control of Your Reach

Remember that outage that affected Facebook and the entire world? Well, think about it this way…

What if your entire business relied solely on the platform? And what if you had a major launch to your service or product that day but the outage happened? How will you reach out to your audience?

In addition, relying on Facebook algorithms would often mean that your posts are less likely to be seen by your thousands of followers… unless you decide to run paid ads to increase your reach.

2) You Have Better Access to Your People

A lot of business owners do polls and surveys through their social media profiles but when you do not have the $$$ to power those posts, they most likely will end in crickets.

Sending out emails to your people lets you do surveys and polls very easily, and you get more engagement that way, too. Additionally, you can make this an automated process by asking the person a (set of) question(s) the moment they join your list.

PLUS if you have different offers, you can segment your list depending on their interests and behavior to your offers. For example, you can send out sales emails to people who are interested in X but not in Y and only if they have not yet purchased Product A. Pretty cool, huh?

3) It Allows You to Build Relationships

Marketing is all about building relationships. If you want to make sales from whatever offer you have, you need to make sure that your reader trusts you.

When you are sending emails to your list, you get a chance to nurture that relationship and get them into your world a little bit more. You send them tips and tricks, guides, tutorials and you start becoming the authority in your industry.

4) It Helps Grow Your Community

Isn’t it awesome if you are able to gather a group of raving fans? What about loyal customers who will take out their credit card with every new offer you bring out to the world?

Having a community not just gets you a group of customers who trust you and are willing to pay for your products and services, but you also give it a chance to spread the word organically. If they love what you’ve put together and share it to others, then you have free advertising right there!

5) They Keep You Motivated

I love it when people sign up for my free email course on how to become a virtual assistant because they often reply to my daily emails and share with me their own stories and struggles. Many times I feel like such an imposter but emails like these remind me that I actually have the knowledge to share with the world.

Who doesn’t want to hear it when someone emails you, asking you for more of what you know?

6) It Allows You to Make Additional Income

If you run a service-based business, your email list is the best way to create a waitlist of some sort that will allow your potential customers to line up until you are open to take on more projects. And when you have a slot opening up, you can always send an email to your list to let them know that.

Or, if you decide to go on a more passive income route, you can warm your list and prepare them for the launch of your latest digital product whether they’re templates, checklists, courses, and so on.

Want to start building your list?

Now that you know how important it is to build your own email list, it’s high time that you start your very own!

Not sure where to start or just want plain step-by-step instructions? Sign up for the workshop below!