If you want to learn how to grow your email list fast, this article has got you covered.
Building an email list should be a top priority for your online success. An email list is everything to your online business. One may lose organic traffic from search engines and even social media followers but an email list stays with you forever.
It can be termed as the best alternative to search engines to drive traffic to a website.
Bottom line is that an email list is one of the most important asset for your blog.
In this article, I will show you 5 Super Useful Strategies that will help you to grow your email list fast. Plus, you'll also get 8 Bonus Tips to optimize your list building techniques to bring in more leads.
Let's get started.
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Why Businesses Should Build Email List?
Having an email list is one of the best alternate source of traffic to your online business apart from the traffic that comes from the search engines.
You can always remain in contact with your email subscribers. According to various studies, email marketing provides far more conversions than any other platform.
Once you get the email address of your prospect, it becomes a valuable transaction for your business. When a prospect opts-in to your email list, you get permission to send them emails to market your products or services.
You can also send them regular newsletters and drive traffic to your site without totally depending on the search engines.
Collecting email and keep it growing should be a continuous process because no matter how big your email list is, it continues to degrade with time.
According to Hubspot, your email marketing databases naturally degrade by about 22.5% every year. So it’s important to have a strategy to make up for these lost contacts.
That’s why it’s essential to grow your email list continuously.
If you are not aware of how to quickly build an email list, stay tuned as you will get some excellent tips to convert your website visitors into email subscribers as fast as possible.
If you are still wondering whether building an email list could be considered a marketing strategy, take a look at the following stats.
- According to HubSpot, 80% of business professionals believe email marketing has helped them increase sales and customer retention.
- According to VentureBeat, email marketing systems are achieving $38 in ROI for every $1 spent. And 84 percent of marketers believe that email is important or critically important for customer loyalty.
- According to Entrepreneur, between 70 and 96 percent of your website visitors will never return once they leave after that initial browsing session.
So, if you are into affiliate marketing promoting best affiliate programs or have an online business, you must try different ways to convert your site visitors into email subscribers.
5 Strategies to Get More Email Subscribers
Let's get started with our most useful strategies below.
1. Craft An Attractive Lead Magnet
Site visitors are often reluctant to share their information like name and email addresses online. They need a reason to subscribe to your list.
Some of your readers may like your content and subscribe. But the majority of them will never share their email address unless something valuable is offered to them.
So, how to convert your visitors into subscribers? Offer them a lead magnet. A lead magnet is one of the most effective ways to lure your site visitors into subscribing to your mailing list by offering them something valuable.
But what should be a lead magnet and how to craft a perfect lead magnet?
A lead magnet can be anything - an eBook, a guide, a report, a checklist, or a cheat sheet in downloadable PDF form. It could be anything that your readers may consider as valuable.
A Lead Magnet has one specific goal - to maximize the number of targeted leads you are getting for an offer.
Following is an example of a lead magnet offered by OptinMonster to gain email subscribers.
2. Make Your Email Opt-in Form As Easy As Possible
The most common form of email form either asks for only the email address or requires the first name and email address both.
Some also use forms that ask for more than the first name and email address, such as an address, phone number, gender, age, etc.
In marketing circles, there is always a debate about whether to ask for the first name or not on the subscription form.
Having the first name on your list helps with personalization later on. You can use subscriber data such as the First Name within your email content to make it feel tailor-made for an individual. Such content boosts open rates and drives revenue as much as 760%.
However, there is a compelling reason behind just asking for the email address in your subscription form. People don’t like to share much personal information online. By removing the name field from the subscription form, you’ll grow your email list faster. Thus, if you are striving to grow your email list quickly, make your email form simpler.
3. Ask For Email Without Disturbing Your Visitors
It is a fact that list building often annoys your site visitors. On many websites, you may have seen that as soon as a visitor lands on a site, they are greeted with a pop-up form (also called a lightbox) asking for their email address. It not only affects the user experience but in majority of cases, users will leave the site without reading the content.
So, how to ask for email without disturbing your site visitors?
There are many methods that you can use to ask for emails without disturbing your visitors. Have a look.
- If your readers find your article informative, they may want to subscribe to your email list. Thus, a pop-up subscription form can be displayed when your reader reaches the end of your content. By this time, they are more inclined to sign up to your mailing list.
- You could display a pop-up subscription form when a user signals an intention to exit by moving the mouse cursor to close the browser tab. This is called Exit-intent. It is a new technology used by some popular lead generation tools like OptinMonster to display a pop-up form when a user is about to leave a site.
- Display a sticky ribbon (top bar) at the top of your website screen. It always remains within a user’s sight all the time unless the user chooses to close it. It is a very non-intrusive form of collecting emails from your site visitors. HelloBar and OptinMonster offer this type of service.
- People don’t like to read long content. If your articles are very long, you can offer your readers to download it in the form of PDF in exchange for their emails. You can convert your article into a PDF using popular eBook creation software and include a link to your PDF inside your content. You can use tools like Thrive Leads to display the pop-up subscription form when users click on the downloadable PDF link.
- Add a subscription form in your sidebar. The top of your sidebar is the best position to display the form. It can lead to a 26% increase in subscribers.
- Add a subscription form at the footer of your blog. It is another non-intrusive form of asking your readers for their emails.
You will learn more about the methods discussed here in the Bonus Tips covered later in this article.
4. Use Social Proof In Your Subscription Form
People feel a bit hesitant when giving over their email address online. They fear that their inbox would be overloaded with promotional emails.
One of the best ways to overcome this situation is to use social proof in your subscription form.
According to Wikipedia, social proof is a "psychological and social phenomenon wherein people copy others' actions in an attempt to undertake behavior in a given situation.
It helps them determine the appropriate mode of behavior, and is driven by the assumption that the surrounding people possess more knowledge about the current situation”.
You can add social proof in different forms such as
- User number. For example, Join 30000 other subscribers...
- Written or video testimonials
- Mention the brands you’ve worked with and add their logos in the form.
- Highlight customer reviews
You don’t have to add all these at a time in your form. Try each one of the above social proof individually to see which one works best for you.
Social proof will get you more conversion as your readers will see that they’re not the only one subscribing to your email list.
5. Add Web Push Notification On Your Site
Web push notifications have proven to be an effective way to convert website visitors into customers and loyal followers.
They are website alerts sent to subscribers via a desktop or mobile web browser.
It works both on desktop as well as mobile devices. It allows you to reach your readers across devices with the latest updates, offers, and discounts.
One remarkable feature of web push notification is that when your readers opt for it, you can send them messages even when they are not on the website that is sending the message.
Push notifications are sent to your readers only when they sign up for it. Without their permission, you won’t be able to send them any push messages.
These push notifications are non-intrusive. They just slide in at the top right-hand corner of a desktop screen. On mobile, it will appear as a banner.
Source: GoodBarber
Do you know that shopping cart abandonment costs companies billions of dollars every year? Businesses can use push notification to their visitors who have added items in the cart but didn’t complete the purchase.
If they had signed up for the push notification, you could easily send them reminders to revisit your site to complete the order.
When to use push notifications?
- Notify your audience when you have published new content
- Remind your visitor to complete the purchase for items added in the cart
- Notify your audience of an ongoing sale
Avoid common mistakes while sending push notifications such as
- Sending too many notifications
- Not automating notifications
- Not tracking the right metrics
- Send messages at odd hours
- Send notifications without defining the end goal or CTA
Check out some of these case studies to see how well push notifications works:
- SportsCafe achieved 32% increase in page views, 10000 users driven to the site in their first 100 days with web push notifications and 120% increase in time-spent from ‘web push visitors’ compared to regular visitors - Source
- United eXtra Electronics grew their eCommerce sales by 100% with web push notifications. They also achieved 12% click-through rate along with 4x increase in re-engagement - Source
Web push notifications can be an effective tool to engage your visitors. It will also help in boosting your site traffic and potentially your revenue.
Getting people to come back to your site is one of the hardest parts of running a website. Publishing engaging content is not enough. It would help if you found a way to stay in touch with your site visitors.
And the perfect way is email marketing. Many people believe that email marketing is dead and doesn’t work anymore. They’re wrong.
Did you know that email open rates continue to hover around 25 percent across all industries? That’s incredible. Even better, click-through rates can top 7 percent in certain industries.
When you maintain a healthy email list full of people who want to hear from you, your open rates will grow significantly.
Email is here to stay, so learn how to use it to its fullest and reach a wider audience.
If you’re looking to start generating great results with email marketing, you need to make an effort to build a great list. My suggestion is to choose some of the methods mentioned above in this article.
As promised in the beginning of this article, here are some BONUS TIPS that can help you get more email subscribers in lesser time.
8 Bonus Tips To Grow Email List Faster
In this section, I am revealing my 8 BONUS TIPS that can help you build your email list faster.
To get started with building your email list you may consider using professional email marketing service like Brevo. Using professional email services like Brevo ensures that your emails don't end up in the user's spam folder.
Another advantage is that these professional email service provides you with the right tools like sending automated email series, pre-made subscription forms & newsletters, A/B testing and other features to build your email list faster.
You can join Brevo for free (no credit card required).
Brevo offers a free plan where you can collect unlimited subscribers in your email list and send 9000 emails every month for free. It is currently one of the best free email marketing services in the industry.
If you want to know more about the free plan, check out my review on Brevo.
1. Use Lead Magnets To Collect Emails
A lead magnet is an irresistible offer in the form of a eBook, Checklist, Guide, or anything like that, that you can offer to your site visitors for free in exchange for their emails.
Thus, a visitor has to give their email address in order to get the freebie.
The lead magnet could be anything - an eBook in the form of PDF, an email course, or a video series.
Actually what is happening here is that you are offering something valuable to your visitors and you get their email address in return.
Now, you must be wondering what type of lead magnet should you create? Let's check out the following tips to create a lead magnet.
Here is an example of lead magnet from SmartBlogger. They are offering a free PDF to their visitors.
Here is another one from Growthmarketingpro offering a free 5-day email course on SEO.
You can easily create lead magnet as shown above with the help of popular lead magnet creators and offer them with tools like Thrive Leads.
2. Add Floating Bar Signup Forms
A floating bar sign up forms sits at the top or bottom of your web page. It stays with your users even if they scroll up or down your page.
It is sticky, non-intrusive and easily noticeable that is why it is highly effective in growing your email list.
You can create beautiful floating bars on your website using Thrive Leads. The floating bar or ribbon shown in the image given below is created using Thrive Leads. For more details, check out the Thrive Leads feature.
3. Create Exit-Intent Popups
Exit-Intent is a smart technology that has the ability to detect user behavior on your site.
An exit-intent popups is a type of website overlay that is displayed at the exact moment your site visitors are about to exit your site with the purpose of convincing them not to leave.
Exit-Intent is built by OptinMonster but you can also use the same feature with Thrive Leads.
Thus, you can easily create exit-intent popups using OptinMonster or Thrive Leads.
4. Add Opt-in (Sign Up) Form
You can add different types of opt-in (sign up) form inside your blog content or sidebar to collect email subscribers.
Popular lead generation tools lets you create different types of opt-in forms - In content, Lightbox, Post Footer, Ribbon, Screen filler, Scroll Mat, Slide in and Widget.
Let's see how these different forms works in collecting emails from your visitors.
- In content. Automatically insert an opt-in form anywhere inside your blog content using a simple short code.
- Lightbox. An unblockable overlay (a.k.a. popup) that is displayed above your content and is very attention-grabbing.
- Post Footer. Automatically insert an opt-in form at the bottom of your posts using a simple short code.
- Ribbon. Add a ribbon type form which shows at the top of the screen and remains "sticky" as the visitor scrolls down the page.
- Screen filler. The "unignorable" opt-in form and the perfect way to make sure you get your visitor's full attention on your offer.
- Scroll Mat. A unique type of screen-filling offer that appears from the top of the page and pushes the content down.
- Slide in. Less intrusive than a popup, but almost equally attention grabbing, this form slides into view from the corner.
- Widget. Add an opt-in form to your sidebar or any other widget area on your site, with just a few clicks.
5. Use Social Proof To Attract More Subscribers
Do you know why big brand companies uses social proof on their sites? Because social proof can increase your conversion rate.
According to Wikipedia, social proof “…is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.”
By using social proof in your email opt-in form, you are showcasing to your site visitors that subscribing to your email list is a common behavior other readers are taking.
By adding social proof numbers as shown in the image given below, you are telling your visitors that already 30000 plus other people like them have already signed up for the email list.
This forces them to subscribe so they don’t miss out on information other readers might be getting.
6. Offer Content Upgrades
You can offer your website visitors bonus content when they sign up to your email list. This is called Content Upgrade.
When to use content upgrade on your blog?
- People often find it boring to read long articles. So, your visitors would gladly sign up to your email list if you can offer a PDF downloadable version of your article as a content upgrade.
- You can also offer checklist or cheat sheet of your blog content as a content upgrade in return for their email address.
Check out 30 content upgrade ideas that you can use on your blog.
7. Use Contact Forms
Almost every blog has a contact us page which allows their visitors to contact you easily by entering their names and email addresses.
Having a contact us page serves two purposes.
- To reduce spam and keep your site secure
- To grow your email list quickly
So, if you are not already using a contact us page, create it now. And add a contact form plugin like WPForms to build a simple form.
These contact forms offers great opportunity to build your email list. Users enter their email address and a tiny checkbox allows them to subscribe without entering it again.
You can easily connect your forms with top email marketing services like ConvertKit or Moosend and start building your email list.
8. Convert Blog Commenters Into Email Subscribers
As blog owners we try our best to get visitors to engage with our sites. Blog comments are one such thing that can build biggest engagements possible but are often overlooked.
When a visitor leaves a comment on your blog posts have already expressed interest in your brand. So, there is something extra that we can do instead of sending them a regular 'your comment is awaiting moderation' message.
With Thrive Comments Post-Comment Actions, you can offer a thank you gift to your visitors who leaves a comment, in return for their email addresses.
If you are using Thrive Leads, you can easily set up a thrivebox offering something special to your first time commenters such as a free eBook or a checklist or a cheatsheet or a free PDF guide.
Once you set up a ThriveBox, head back to Thrive Comments and select the 'Opt-In Form' Post-Comment Action.
From the drop down list, select the ThriveBox you just created and that's it. You're all done.
Know more about Thrive Comments here.
Wrapping Up
In this blog post - How to grow email list fast, I have tried to explain some of the best tips that can help you bring loads of email subscribers to your online business.
Thrive Leads in combination with Brevo can help you grow your email list tremendously fast.
I would recommend you to start using Thrive Leads for collecting emails from your website visitors and use Brevo to send them regular newsletters, offers or automated email series.
So, now you know how to grow your email list fast. Apply these strategies and quickly build your email list.
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