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So make sure that every e-mail that is forwarded features a way for the receiver to subscribe. Make the subscribe instructions clear and have them lead directly to a simple sign-up form on which e-mail address is the only “required” data field. DailyCandy.com, a fashion site, uses a simple, fun, and effective call to action that asks: “Did a friend send you this? From now on, be the first to find out. Sign up for DailyCandy. It’s fun, it’s pretty, and it’s free.” It’s a clear wording, a strong promotion and makes sense for their audience and their content.

*Using Cross Promotion Opportunities—To maximize your marketing possibilities, always mention your other newsletters in each mailing. Every e-mail and every subscribe form should cross promote all other e-mail newsletters you publish. This gives each reader options. If, for example, someone receives your e-mail newsletter about the latest shoe fashions, forwarded from a friend, they may like it enough to sign up for your e-mails, which will put information about your shoe line in front of them every week. However, if given the opportunity to read about great ways to accessorize as well, they might also sign up for your other newsletter on great accessorizing tips. This builds your list and deepens your relationships with subscribers.

Asking for E-mails in Non-Marketing E-mails—Take advantage of every e-mail communication that your company has with a customer or prospect to encourage them to sign up for your newsletter. Many companies don’t do this and frankly, they’re missing out on a huge opportunity to build their lists easily and effectively.

Use every other e-mail that you send in the normal course of business. Anytime you send an e-mail you should include information about your e-mail newsletters. This includes customer service auto-replies, order confirmations, shipping notifications, and account management messages. If someone makes a purchase from you, they are expecting to get notifications by e-mail that their order was received or that it has been shipped. You can easily include a few well-placed and relevant marketing messages for your newsletters and other e-mail offers.

Also, think about how many individual e-mails you and your employees send out each day to partners, customers, vendors, and prospects? Depending on the size of your company, it could be hundreds, if not thousands. Each person receiving one of these e-mails is already someone who has reason to be communicating with you, so they should be receiving your newsletter.

Create a templated block of copy that promotes your newsletter and provides subscription instructions. Then have each employee in your company insert this information at the bottom of their signature file. That’s it.

One final tip: A good way to build your list is to actually run ads that encourage people to sign up for your newsletter. It’s no different that how any magazine or newspaper advertises for folks to subscribe to their publication. This can be a wise move since the initial investment of marketing dollars can increase your ability to communicate more cost-efficiently by e-mail and gain many more opportunities to sell them.

This is an easier case to make with online advertising, since, in addition to still being more affordable than other media, it speaks only to people who are online—your prime targets to receive and read e-mail.

Along this same idea, be sure to promote your newsletter in all offline forms of advertising, whether its print, direct mail, even broadcast. If you’re spending money on promoting your company, be sure that it encourages sign up to your e-mail program. In the long run, you’ll be converting prospects to a much more affordable method of marketing.

Matt Blumberg and Michael Mayor are the driving forces behind Return Path, an e-mail performance company. Collaborating with them on this project are their colleagues, e-mail strategists Stephanie A. Miller and Tami Monahan Forman. This article was excerpted from their new book, “Sign Me Up! A Marketer’s Guide to Creating E-mail Newsletters That Build Relationships and Boost Sales (iUniverse Inc., 2005) © 2005 Return Path, Inc. All rights reserved.