Silverpop.com, an email marketing company, released a survey they conducted on how to grow an email list. Entitled 2006 Email List Growth Survey, the report looked at the strategies that companies successful in email marketing use in growing their opt-in subscribers.

Here are the findings of the study:

1. Experience pays off. Companies who have been managing and maintaining 1 million or more lists tend to have been in the business of email marketing longer, or about 5 years. (Not a surprise considering they’ve had more time to grow their list and get their names out there).

2. Evaluate and assess. The survey found that 60% of companies with lists of 1 million or more regularly evaluate and analyze their list source.

3. Relationship building tool. Majority of successful email marketers use email as a relationship-building tool, not as a means to acquire new customers.

4. Location, location, location. Those who are successful in growing their email lists are those who put their optin box on EVERY page, not just homepage. This, for me, is the most useful finding of the study. We all know that not all visitors come in via the homepage, yet many just put their subscription list on the frontpage (PowerHomeBiz.com included). 53% of those who have email lists of 500,000-1 million have an optin box on their every page! The principle is simple: the more you ask, the more you receive.

5. Give incentives to register. Be clear on what those who register can receive when they give you their permission to contact them. It can be news/notification, contests, giveaways, how to/best practices, etc. Companies who do not offer any value proposition tend to have smaller lists.

6. Tactics to grow lists. Below is the list of strategies companies included in Silverpop’s survey will use to grow their email lists:

• Offline advertising/direct marketing = 64%
• Trade shows = 54%
• Search/Online marketing = 51%
• Viral marketing = 49%
• Cross promotions = 46%
• Call center = 38%
• Co-marketing = 29%
• In store/Point of sale = 29%
• Non branded list rental = 21%
• Co registration = 19%
• Appends = 11%

7. Most successful strategies. The planned strategies, however, are not always the most succesful. Those strategies with limited success are: viral marketing, cross promotions, co-marketing, co registration and appends.

The most successful tactics are:

• Online marketing/search
• Offline marketing/Direct marketing
• Trade shows

You can read the full study at Silverpop.com (you may be required to register first before the study will be emailed to you)