10 Ways to grow your email list

Want to grow your email list, reach more people and turn those browsers into shoppers? There are tons of great ways to do it, and now’s the perfect time to get started. Check out these strategies to boost your subscriber count for your creative Shopify business. If you’re short on time, focus on the top 3. If you have more resources, take a look at the full list of 10 ideas.

Top 3 list growth ideas

1. Instagram contest
Run a fun giveaway on Instagram where people enter by signing up for your email list (NOT liking and commenting on a post… those days are over. It’s time to leverage your audience over on IG and get them on your email list instead). The best prize is a gift voucher for your store. Make it good, like £100-£200.

2. Upgrade Your sign-up forms
Make your sign-up forms more eye-catching. Try out new designs or offers to see what gets the most sign-ups. Aim for 6-10% of your site visitors to join your list. This is the least sexy of all the options, but I promise, if you do this regularly you’ll see results. I’ve taken client forms from 1-2% up to 8%+ by continuously making tweaks and A/B testing different form styles, layouts and targeting.

3. Add a Squeeze Page to your website sale page
Set up a full-page pop-up on your sale page that requires visitors to sign up to see what’s in the sale/outlet section. This trick can get you tons of new subscribers fast. Make it a perk for being on your list!

7 More Ways to Grow Your Email List

1. Offer a freebie
Give away something valuable, like a free guide or a discount, in exchange for email sign-ups. People love free stuff! They also love a discount on their first purchase. 99% of product businesses will over some sort of £ off or % off a customer’s first order for signing up, but you could also have “freebie” or “lead magnets” running alongside that, which is generally a PDF which could be a style guide, a free activity download for a kids brand, etc. Get creative and think outside the box.

2. Run a referral program
Encourage your current subscribers to refer their friends by offering rewards. It’s a great way to grow your list with minimal effort. These kinds of programs need a lot of energy behind them, they are not set and forget. Get on socials and promote them all year round.

3. Host a webinar/masterclass
Invite people to sign up for a free webinar or online workshop. Collect emails during registration and provide great content to keep them engaged. This is a lot harder for product businesses but saying that, I used to run tons of creative online workshops for my e-commerce business. I would send out a material pack ahead of the workshop. I think this could work well as a live styling session or aromatherapy/skincare brands teaching something to their audience.

4. Create a blog
Offer exclusive content on your site that visitors can access only if they sign up for your email list. It’s a win-win!

5. Use exit-intent pop-ups
Show a pop-up when someone’s about to leave your site (also called fly outs), offering a discount or freebie in exchange for their email. This is a super simple one to set up on Klaviyo and it comes as standard with my Klaviyo Build projects.

6. Run Social Media Ads
This is an indirect side affect of using targeted ads on Facebook or Instagram to get people onto your website. I do not recommend running lead gen ads but you’ll notice your email list grows naturally with optimised sign up forms and the traffic you’re driving with conversion ads. Highlight your sign-up offer in your ads to catch people’s attention.

7. Add embed forms to your blog/landing pages
Place sign-up forms in your blog posts and at the bottom of any product-focused landing pages you build. If people enjoy your content, they’re likely to subscribe for more updates. I’m going to add to this one, creating an embed form on a standalone page that you can share weekly on Instagram stories.

Need a hand setting any of this up?

Book a Q4Email Strategy Day, and I can help you implement some of these, which means your list will grow and you won’t have to stress about the nuts and bolts of some of these ideas.