Are you looking for easy ways to grow your email list? Many beginners just install a sidebar optin form on their website and wait for users to subscribe. This results in slow growth. There is so much more you can do to grow your email list much faster. In this article, we will show you some of tested and proven ways to grow your email list that are actually easy to implement.
Getting Started
First thing you need is to make sure that you are using a professional email marketing service.
Using the best email marketing company ensures that your emails don’t end up in the spam folder. It also provides you with the industry standard tools to build and grow your email list.
We recommend using Constant Contact. It is one of the largest and most popular email service provider in the world.
Next, you will need OptinMonster. It is the best lead generation software in the world. It helps you convert abandoning website visitors into email subscribers.
Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the most effective ways to grow your email list.
1. Use Multiple Sign up Forms
As we mentioned earlier many beginners start with just a simple signup form in their sidebar.
If you want to grow your email list quickly, then you need to use multiple sign up forms to give users more opportunity to join your email list.
We recommend combining your sidebar sign up form with a floating footer bar or a lightbox popup to make your signup forms more noticeable
2. Use an Exit Intent Popup
Exit-Intent® is an advanced technology built by OptinMonster that tracks your user’s mouse behavior and show them with a targeted form at the precise moment they are about to leave your website. Think of it as Onsite Retargeting.
You can use this technology in combination with full screen welcome gates, lightbox popups, or other optin types to convert abandoning visitors into subscribers.
We use an exit intent popup on WPBeginner, and it has helped increase our subscribers by 600%.
Michael Stelzner from Social Media Examiner used it to add over 250,000 new email subscribers.
3. Offer Content Upgrades
Content upgrade is a marketing technique where you offer users a chance to get exclusive bonus content by signing up to your email list.
This additional premium content offered for completing an action is also known as content bribe.
Human psychology plays an important role in the effectiveness of content upgrades. The psychology principle known as Zeigarnik Effect states that people are most likely to complete a task if they initiate it themselves.
Because the user initiates (click to download the content upgrade), they are more likely to complete the task (subscribe to your list).
See our step by step guide on how to add content upgrades in WordPress to grow your email list.
4. Add Full or Partially Gated Content in WordPress
Gated content is content on your website that can’t be accessed until the visitor enters their email address. You can use it to hide some of your content or hide the entire blog post until the user enters their email address.
Here’s a step by step guide on how to add content locking in WordPress.
5. Create Multiple Lead Magnet Pages
Lead magnet (also known as opt-in bribe) is an incentive you offer to potential buyers in exchange for their contact information such as name, email, phone number, etc.
Your blog posts with locked content, content upgrades, and premium content all fall into the lead magnet category.
Lead magnets need to offer additional value to your users. This could be an ebook, a resources newsletter, checklists, workbooks, etc. See these 9 highly effective lead magnet ideas for inspiration.
6. Add Sign up Call to Action on Your Facebook Page
Facebook has introduced call to action buttons for business pages. These buttons are prominently displayed on top of your cover image and are visible without scrolling.
Here is how to add a sign up button as call to action on your Facebook page.
You need to visit your Facebook page, and you will notice a blue ‘Add a button’ button.
This will bring up a popup with multiple choices. You need to click on ‘Get in touch with us’ tab and then select ‘Sign up’.
Next, you need to provide a link to your website where users will be taken when they click signup.
Don’t forget to click on add button to save your changes.
6. Use Twitter Lead Generation Cards
Twitter Ads offers another social platform that you can use to boost your lead generation efforts.
In fact, Twitter even allows you to run lead generation directly from Twitter. This way users can sign up for your email list without leaving Twitter.
You can also drive traffic to your website and use email sign up as a conversion. You can create special offers for Twitter users and tweet the links to your followers.
7. Use YouTube Call to Action Cards
YouTube is one of the largest social media platforms, and the second most popular search engine in the world. If you are using YouTube videos as part of your marketing strategy, then you can utilize your YouTube channel to grow your email list.
YouTube action cards allow you to add interactive information cards to your videos. You can use them to add call to actions and link them to lead magnets on your website.
Here is how to add YouTube action cards to your videos.
8. Use After Post and In-Line Optin Forms
After post optin forms appear when a user has already scrolled down an entire article. This means that they are already interested in your content and are much more likely to sign up.
You can also use in-line optin forms with in your blog posts and long reads. The middle of a long read is the point where users are most engaged with the content. Reminding them to sign up at that point, works like a charm.
9. Add Polite Slide-in Scroll Box Forms
As we mentioned earlier that users simply ignore most static signup forms. The goal is to divert user’s attention to your offer and sign up form.
Slide-in scroll box forms do that beautifully. They stay out of the way so that users can look at the content while diverting user attention to the sign up form with slide in animation.
10. Prominent Headers with Call to Action
Header is the area of your website most prominently visible to users when they arrive. This makes it the most effective spot to place your call to action.
You will need a WordPress theme that comes with large or full screen header. You can also use a page builder plugin like Beaver Builder to create custom pages with your own layout.
11. Use Social Proof to Encourage More Sign ups
Social proof is a psychological effect used to describe a social behavior where people feel more comfortable following other people. Marketers use social proof as a tactic for easing the minds of worried customers and increasing conversions.
There are many ways you can use social proof to get more subscribers. You can use testimonials on your landing pages, add reviews, show number of registered users, etc.
Many popular websites show the number of subscribers in their sign up forms to encourage new sign ups.
12. A/B Test Your Optin Forms
Many beginners continue to rely on guess work to understand what works on their website. You need to understand how your audience react to different call to actions, optin placements, colors, design, and copy.
With A/B testing, you can find out which optins work better on your website. You can use these A/B testing tips to continuously test and improve your optins.
We hope this article helped you find the best ways to grow your email list. You may also want to see our list of 10 WordPress plugins that will quickly help you get more traffic.
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I have always wanted to get clear ideas on how to get more subscribers, but i now believe this will help alot! Thank you so much