A critical part of marketing an online business is growing your email list. Email marketing provides the biggest return of any marketing channel: 4,400% ROI or $44 for every $1 spent.

If you struggle to grow your email list, you aren’t alone. 66% of businesses want to improve their email lists in size and quality.

In this article, we’ll go over the most effective ways to grow your email list. These are proven tactics that work for digital marketers in every industry or niche.

21 Ways to Grow Your Email List

These days, website visitors won’t opt into your email list just because you ask them. They need a reason to subscribe. This usually means you have to give them something in return. Whenever you employ the following strategies, ask yourself “How am I providing value?”

With that in mind, here are 21 ways to grow your email list.

1. Produce Regular Blog Content

Blog posts don’t just help your Google rankings (although that’s a significant reason to publish). They give your readers a reason to subscribe to your list.

Create high quality, consistent content that addresses your customers’ pain points. Place lead generation forms throughout your blog posts to encourage them to sign up. Send your subscribers an email every time you publish.

2. Guest Blog on Other Sites

One of the best ways to grow your audience is to leverage someone else’s. Offer to guest blog on another site whose audience overlaps with your own. Include a call-to-action in the post to opt-in to your email list (perhaps in exchange for a piece of content).

3. Create Remarkable Email Content

Your email list decays by 22.5% every year. If you don’t take action to keep your existing subscribers engaged, none of your list building work will matter.

A key to keeping your subscribers is to create unique and valuable email content. Send them content that makes their lives better in some way. This way they’ll look forward to your emails.

4. Segment Your Email Content

One important way to create remarkable email content is to segment it based on customer type and behavior. This way people only see the content that matters to them and your list won’t decay.

For instance, prospective customers need content that helps them make buying decisions, but past customers might need content that helps them get the most value out of your product or service. Different segments, different needs.

5. Encourage Subscribers to Share

Add links or buttons to your messages that let your subscribers share your emails on social media and forward them to their friends. You’ll also want to include a “subscribe” link for non-subscribers to opt-in if they like your content.

6. Add Opt-in Links to Your Email Signature

Like many businesses, you probably send a lot of emails every day. Each new person you speak with is a potential email subscriber. Include a link in your email signature that leads to an opt-in page. Instruct your team to do the same.

7. Add Social Proof to Your Landing Pages and Forms

Social proof makes people feel more comfortable opting in to your list because it reassures them that others have taken the plunge and been rewarded. Publish your best reviews on your landing pages and near your forms to entice would-be subscribers to take the next step.

8. Create Content with a Partner

Work with someone else in your niche or industry to create a highly valuable piece of content. Place the content behind an opt-in form, then promote it to your audiences. You’ll each grow your list by leveraging the other person’s audience.

9. Collect Emails at Live Events or Trade Shows

Do you make appearances at live events? Place a phone, tablet, or sign up sheet nearby for other people to submit their contact information. Also try enticing them to sign up by promising to give a prize away to one of your new subscribers.

10. Collect email addresses in your store

If you have a physical location where you interact with customers, ask them to opt into your newsletter when they check out. Many will say no, but this doesn’t cost you anything.

11. Run Some Facebook Ads

If you have a budget, Facebook ads are a great way to expand your email list by connecting with people who aren’t already aware of your brand.

Run a Facebook ad campaign that targets people who are interested in topics that relate to your business. Exclude Facebook users from your ad campaign who are already on your list so you only pay to reach new people. Link your ads to a landing page so it gives out something valuable in exchange for their email address.

12. Include QR Codes in Your Print Marketing

If you distribute any print materials, include QR codes for your readers to scan with their phones. These codes should take them to a landing page where they can opt in to your email list. (Here are some detailed explanations.)

13. Add a Call-to-Action on Your Facebook Page

Facebook gives you a spot to include a call-to-action button at the top of your page just below your cover image. Set this button to link to a landing page page that asks the user to submit their email address in exchange for a special piece of content.

14. Linked to Gated Offers on Social Media

Publish posts on your social media profile to pages that offer special resources (contests, coupons, etc.) in exchange for the user’s email address. Make sure to use lots of relevant hashtags to reach the widest audience.

15. Host an Online Webinar

Webinars are great ways to attract subscribers because they deliver a lot of value. Prepare a webinar around the topic that matters to your audience and then create a landing page to capture registrants. Hangouts On Air makes this simple.

16. Give Your Visitors Lots of Opportunities to Subscribe

Your website visitors can’t opt into your email list unless they know about it. Create opportunities to capture more scribers by placing forms all over your website. Here are some important places to place opt-in forms:

• Your sidebar
• The end of blog posts
• The middle of blog posts
• As a pop-up overlay or slide-out
• In an exit-intent pop-up
• On your contact page
• On your knowledge base / help documents
• In your footer

17. Create Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are highly valuable pieces of content users can access in exchange for their email address. These can be guides, ebooks, whitepapers, worksheets, quizzes, checklist, or anything else your customers would find useful. Place forms in strategic locations on your website to give them opportunities to access premium content.

18. Create Content Upgrade

Content upgrades are special pieces of bonus content that “upgrade” a traditional blog post. In order to get the most value out of the post, readers have to submit their email address to access the extra piece of content. This content should extend the lessons taught in the blog post. Here’s a great list of ideas.

This is a type of lead magnet that is usually more effective than a general ebook you promote all over your website. SEO guru Brian Dean exploded his opt-ins by 785% with content upgrades. Authority Hacker collected more than 11,000 emails with one content upgrade.

19. Create a Free Online Tool or Resource

Create a functional tool or resource that users can only access by submitting their email address. For instance you might create a calculator, map, or course.

20. Host a Giveaway

Giveaways are great ways to capture email subscribers and grow your list because people don’t mind giving out their email address for a chance to win something for free. Give something away that your audience finds especially valuable.

A word of warning regarding giveaways: They have a tendency to attract low-interest subscribers who don’t care about your brand, but only want the chance to win the prize. if you notice that a lot of your new subscribers don’t interact with other email content, consider purging your list occasionally.

21. Optimize Your Lead Capture Forms

If you already use lead capture forms throughout your website, optimize and test their effectiveness. Here are some resources that will help:

• Form Layout: 10 Tips to Structure Your Forms
• User-Friendly Forms: Why Yours Aren’t as Easy as You Think
• What to Do About Your High Form Abandonment Rate
• Here’s When to Worry About Your Form Conversion Rates
• Stop Making These Form Design Mistakes If You Want Conversions

Going Forward

We’ve given you a big list of ways to grow your email list, but that doesn’t mean you have to use them all. Experiment with the techniques that work for your customers and your business. Measure your results and then focus on the ones that add the most value.

Make sure to nurture your new subscribers overtime with exceptional content and promotions to push them further into your sales funnel.