11 Effective Strategies to Grow Your Accounting Email List

Accounting professionals know that building relationships with current and potential clients is vital to growing their businesses. 

Having an engaged email list is an essential part of building relationships. 

"Your email list is your most valuable asset as an accountant. Treat it with care and attention, and it will pay dividends for your business." - Jane Burrows, CPA.

This article will cover 11 strategies for effectively growing your targeted accounting email list.

Build Lead Capture Forms Into Your Website

An obvious first step is to make it easy for people to sign up for your email list directly from your website.

Add prominent lead capture forms throughout your site using a call to action like "Get our monthly tax tips." 

Optimize the forms for mobile by making them visible and accessible to fill out on small screens. Track where your signups are coming from to see which pages are most effective.

Examples of Lead Capture Form Placement

• Popup forms appear when someone closes a page without converting

• Sidebar forms on interior pages

• Embedded forms at the bottom of long-form blog posts

• Chatbot forms to capture leads with inquiries

Here’s an example of Singlegrain’s popup forms:

Popup forms also have disadvantages, such as affecting the customer experience by blocking the main content visitors want to see.

The best alternative to popup forms is chatbot forms.

Visitors fill out these forms after they click and ask a question in your chat.

You can use tools like Xalead’s chatbot lead capture solution to create optimized conversation-based opt-in forms without coding.

Such forms have a higher conversion rate than popup forms because they are purpose-driven and don’t interrupt the customer experience like popup forms.

A visitor interested in learning about your business must click on the chatbot, ask a question, and enter their details. 

Chatbot forms are easy to create with Xaleads’ drag-and-drop editor. Learn more about our chatbot solution for accounting businesses. 

These forms comply with email marketing regulations because they use a double opt-in process requiring people to confirm their signup.

Create Relevant Giveaways

Giving away complimentary templates, checklists, or guides for everyday accounting tasks can improve lead form conversion rates. 

This is in line with what John said about email list building;

"Building an email list is not just about numbers; it's about nurturing relationships and providing value to your visitors." - John Macthony, Marketing Consultant.

The value, in this case, is the giveaway.

Prominently promote the giveaway on your site and in an email campaign encouraging opt-ins.

Collect names and emails on lead forms before downloading. Overdeliver on quality and quantity so recipients are impressed. Examples include client onboarding packs, tax organizer worksheets, and Excel budget planners.

People are unlikely to sign up without understanding the clear benefits.

Promote an enticing lead magnet, such as a guide, checklist, template, or calculator, to incentivize prospects to exchange their email addresses.

Make sure the incentive delivers real value beyond what's easily Google-able. 

Comprehensive tax audit checklists, client onboarding templates, and industry benchmark reports work well. The higher the perceived value, the better the conversion rates will be.

"Don't underestimate the power of giveaways and incentives. They can be the key to attracting quality leads to your email list." - Sarah Lee, Financial Planner

Provide Valuable Content on Social Media

Leverage platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to share accounting/tax-related content, tips, and industry news. 

Post consistently while carefully monitoring engagement and hashtags relevant to your niche. Respond to comments and questions to build authority as a knowledgeable resource.

Include calls to action in your social posts, driving people to sign up for your email list to get "even more" exclusive content. 

Provide a clear benefit they'll receive by signing up, such as a checklist or guide—track clicks to measure the effectiveness of different CTAs and content types for lead generation.

Create Educational Video Content

Producing video tutorials, webinars, and other online courses related to accounting is a powerful way to establish yourself as an industry expert and build your email subscriber base.

Upload videos to your website and YouTube channel with calls to action to "sign up below to get updates on upcoming webinars."

Track metrics like view duration and comments to gauge engagement.

Promote new videos on social media with snapshots and links to your sign-up form. Include transcripts so content is accessible and can be optimized for SEO.

Video Topic Ideas

• Quarterly Tax Update Webinar

• Business Tax Deduction Workshop

• QuickBooks Online Tutorial for Accountants

• Understanding the New Tax Laws

Guest Post on Industry Blogs

Reaching out to contribute high-quality guest posts on established accounting and tax blogs/websites is an effective content marketing strategy.

In exchange for an article, ask the site to include a brief bio linking back to your website and opt-in form.

Topics should be evergreen, solution-oriented, and at least 800 words to provide real value to readers. You should reference relevant tools, templates, or services you offer. Include 2-3 internal links back to your most important pages.

Check that commenting is enabled so you can continue engaging with readers.

Industry Blog Databases

• AccountingToday.com

• JournalofAccountancy.com

• KleinCollins.com

• TaxProToday.com

Host Targeted Webinars

Webinars are a live interactive format that can efficiently attract many qualified prospects.

Promote webinar registrations on your site, email campaigns, and social media 2-4 weeks in advance. Leverage titles that pique curiosity, such as "3 Tax Deductions Your Clients Are Missing."

On the registration page, collect lead information like name, company, job title, and email.

Follow up with recordings, next steps, and other content exclusively for attendees.

Track metrics to assess the most popular topics.

In a conversation with Emily, she explained, "Webinars are a fantastic way to showcase your expertise and build trust with potential clients. Ensure you promote them heavily to maximize attendance." Emily Taylor, Business Coach.

Emily’s coaching business is built on a tremendous number of webinars she does weekly to educate and convert leads.

Repurpose Content

Once an initial piece of long-form content, like a blog post or ebook, is created, look for other mediums that can be adapted to maximize its marketing potential. Some ideas:

• Summarize as a social media thread

• Extract visually appealing infographics

• Turn into a Slideshare presentation

• Produce lesson-length video tutorials

• Curate as an email course series

Each new format presents another opportunity to promote your opt-in form and grow your subscriber base with very little incremental work needed.

Collaborate With Accounting Industry Influencers

Reaching out to popular CPAs, enrolled agents, and firm owners on social media to collaborate on a co-written article, podcast interview, or online course can introduce your brand to a broader audience.

Offer to provide the technical writing work in exchange for promotion to their significant followings.

Include prominent bios linking back to each other's profiles and websites. Gauge interest levels and set clear expectations to ensure a positive experience.

Target Local Accounting Firms

Rather than competing with other bookkeepers and CPAs, partnering up can bring in more clients collectively. 

"Local partnerships can be a game-changer for accountants looking to expand their client base. Don't overlook the power of networking in your community." - Rachel Adams, Accounting Firm Owner.

Develop partnerships to cross-promote each other's services to your respective audiences. 

Examples:

• Offer discounted rates for clients' additional service needs

• Guest post on their blog promoting your specialty

• Joint seminars/webinars tackling different angles of a topic

This mutually beneficial strategy allows you to plug into preexisting networks for accelerated lead generation directly.

Run Facebook/Google Ad Campaigns

While organic strategies require patience, paid social ads offer a more direct route to building a warm pipeline of prospects. 

You can target location-based ads to accountants in your region or demographic-targeted ads to SMB owners and CFOs.

Start by optimizing compelling ad copy and high-converting landing pages before scaling budgets. 

Track conversions like email opt-ins versus raw clicks to measure true ROI. Then, based on lessons from initial tests, fine-tune targeting and creativity.

Write for Industry Publications

Getting your bylined thought leadership in front of countless accounting professionals through significant print and online magazines boosts credibility while providing backlinks to your website and online profiles.

"Writing for industry publications showcases your knowledge and positions you as a thought leader in your field, attracting attention from both clients and peers." - Steve Roberts, Tax Journalist.

Pitch uniquely actionable, solutions-focused articles addressing real challenges readers face. 

Leverage expertise from years of hands-on client work to develop tangible how-to tips.

Maintain journalist outreach to build rapport with key editors.

Targeted Publications

• Journal of Accountancy

• Accounting Today

• Forbes Tax/Finance sections

• AccountingWEBColumns

Provide Commentary as an Expert

Recognizing an authority willing to weigh in on topical issues keeps your name circulating.

You can proactively suggest expert commentary to relevant online publications and podcasts by monitoring industry news.

Respond to journalist inquiries seeking informed perspectives on new regulations, updated software/tools, common compliance mistakes, emerging best practices, and more.

Always include your bio and a link optimized for target keywords.