The ultimate guide to

GrowingA BetterEmail List

18 easy-to-implement strategies for quality list growth

Table of Contents

02 Table of Contents

03 Introduction

04 3 Proven Ways to Turn Great Content Into A Skyrocketing Email List

08 4 Reasons You Should Use Heat Maps To Help You Get More Signups

11 5 Changes To Your Signup Form That Will Get More Subscribers

14 6 More Winning List-Growth Ideas Before You Go

16 The Emma Elevator Pitch

The ultimate guide to

Growing A Better Email List

The ultimate guide to growing a better email list18 easy-to-implement strategies for quality list growth

The equation is simple enough for someone with

the worst math allergy to understand:

Email list growth = business growth.

And at the risk of triggering a math sneeze, the

numbers back it up – The ROI of email is 4300%

(Source: Direct Marketing Association), and it converts at

a rate 3x higher than social media (Source: eMarketer).

But you can’t get those email marketing results

if you don’t have a bunch of people on the other

end ready to receive your mailings. It’s why a

healthy, growing list of the right people is the

first step toward getting more sales, donations

or support.

The industry standard is that the average email

list churns by about 30% every year. With help

from our good friends and list growth experts

SumoMe and Digioh, this guide will give you

tactics to not only overcome that churn, but also

send your list soaring.

And it all starts with taking advantage of great

content.

03 Introduction The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST

3 Proven Ways To Turn Great Content Into A Skyrocketing Email List

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST04 3 Proven Ways To Turn Great Content Into A Skyrocketing Email List

If you’re producing incredible content, getting an email address is only

as hard as asking for it – and one of the best ways to ask is through a

gateway page.

Well-designed gateways are among our favorite ways to get new

subscribers because they spell out the incentives (high-value content

that your reader wants), provide the visitor with a single choice, and

provide an instant reward to both parties — the marginal cost to both

parties is near zero. It’s economics, and it’s beautiful.

To make a gateway effective, first look at your most-trafficked pages.

Chances are this will be your homepage or another high-level page

like a content landing page. Whatever it is, find ways to turn that page

into a gateway that provides each visitor the chance to give you their

email address and for you to deliver great content in return.

It might seem risky, but it’s not as risky as trying to grow your site and

business without email subscribers. You may want to try adding both

a gateway on your homepage and on your most valuable content if

you’re driving enough traffic across the site and not seeing visitors

move between pages. Experiment and see what happens!

If you’re looking for inspiration on content gateways, here are the gate-

ways to three awesome pieces of marketing content, plus one of our own.

Check ‘em out.

Optimizely, Building your company’s data DNA

KISSmetrics, How to measure and fix your leaky marketing funnel

Kapost, Masters of the eBook

Emma, 18 must-know stats for modern email marketers

1. Content gateways

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST

Southern lifestyle magazine Garden & Gun doubled

their email list by using exclusive content as a magnet

to entice readers to join.

05 3 Proven Ways To Turn Great Content Into A Skyrocketing Email List

Garden & Gun

Because you’re writing great content, people will want to discuss

it. And to discuss it, they’ll often need to enter an email address to

bypass spam security. With a reader who already cares enough about

your content to comment on it and is already entering their email into a

form, this is a perfect time to capture a new subscriber!

If you’re using Wordpress, there are plenty of plugins that will help

you add a subscription option to your comments section. One good

example is Newsletter Sign-Up. To protect against spam bots, be sure

to combine any comments-based signup functionality with an email

verification tool like DM Confirm Email (Wordpress).

Yoast  – a mad-genius Wordpress developer with a mind for growth

– also published the code he used to build his own subscription opt-in

into his comments field. If you’re the DIY kind of personality and not

terribly uncomfortable with code, check it out.

2. The Comments section

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST06 3 Proven Ways To Turn Great Content Into A Skyrocketing Email List

Awww, snap! You knew we had to talk about these! Lightboxes, aka pop-ups,

are a touchy subject for a lot of marketers. Some feel they degrade the brand,

others feel they degrade the user experience, and others feel they’re just ugly.

Still, when it comes to adding subscribers to your email list, lightboxes work

– like, really, really work – so don’t discount their value before trying them.

If your goal is to make it easy for someone to sign up for your email list, light-

boxes make it easy to say yes. One simple strategy is to offer your most popu-

lar article as an incentive to sign up. Many lightbox plugins exist for websites,

and some, like List Builder, take less than 3 minutes to set up.

To help prove how valuable lightboxes are, Ott Niggulis wrote an incredible

piece, In Defense of the Email Popup, that you should read. We’re going to

paraphrase a few tidbits of data from the article to help make it more clear:

Pop-ups don’t affect bounce rates and do increase subscription rates – Sure,

they’re annoying, but not so much that they drive people away.

Styles: Behavior-based vs. Time-on-site vs. Etc. – All sorts of pop-ups are effec-

tive and many sites use more than one. In terms of timing, SumoMe results say

that asking someone to opt-in after 5 seconds is most effective, but you need

to test what works for your site.

Using opt-out language like “No thanks, I prefer to pay full price for my cloth-

ing” works better than more polite language like “No thanks” – 6.00% to 4.81%,

respectively, in conversion rate terms.

Asking revisitors to subscribe again after 1 minute away and 1 month away have

the same effect – According to AppSumo’s data, you should be asking people

to subscribe every chance you get.

3. Lightboxes

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST07 3 Proven Ways To Turn Great Content Into A Skyrocketing Email List

Make sure that your pop-up is contrasted with the content – Most good pop-up

plugins darken the content around the signup form to make your call to action

(“Sign up!”) exceptionally clear. Like this:

For this reason, we recommend combining a 5-second timed opt-in with a

25-50% scroll depth opt-in in order to capture the maximum number of sub-

scribers possible. It’s annoying, but not so much that people stop reading, think

“This guy’s a total jerk!”, and leave the page.

One final note on lightboxes, as effective as they may be, we wouldn’t suggest

abandoning your on-page signup form. (You know the one, all alone on your

sidebar without a soul in the world paying it any attention? More on these in a

minute.) On-page signup forms are often ignored, but there’s no harm in leav-

ing your readers another opportunity to subscribe.

One way to make your on-page form more effective is to use a heat map.

Luv Aj

Savvy marketers should also look into different types of lightbox opt-ins:

incentivized, personalized (for instance, different opt-in copy for visitors from

different high-traffic referrer sites), scroll depth, discount tabs, shopping cart

abandonment, etc. The possibilities are endless and highly effective.

One style of lightbox that’s worth mentioning in particular is the scroll depth

pop-up. With a scroll depth pop-up, your signup form only appears after some-

one has read X% of a page. It’s less intrusive and allows your reader to gauge

your content’s quality before you ask them to sign up, but it’s also slightly less

effective on its own.

Fashion retailer Luv Aj used a lightbox offering a 10% discount on their

homepage to more than triple their email list in a year.

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST08 4 Reasons You Should Use Heat Maps To Help You Get More Signups

4 Reasons You Should Use Heat Maps To Help You Get More Signups

1. Figure out where people are clicking

on the page

If your on-page signup form isn’t performing as well as you would like, then odds

are good there are either too many distractions on the page or your signup area

isn’t where visitors are looking.

So ask yourself: Is your email opt-in the hottest area of your page? And if not,

what are the top areas being clicked? The easiest way to find out is to use a

heat map.

Here’s what a heat map looks like:

If your signup form is NOT in the hottest area, then think about how you can

rearrange things on the page to put it there.

A heat map is a visual overlay on your website that shows

you “hot” areas – where most of your clicks happen – and

“cold areas – where no one clicks.

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST09 4 Reasons You Should Use Heat Maps To Help You Get More Signups

Here’s an example of how it can work. Bob Lotich, a personal finance blogger

at ChristianPF.com, used heat maps to double his email subscribers. After

analyzing the heat map of his homepage, he realized a video was receiving

thousands of clicks, but only a handful of those visitors were subscribing to his

email list. In other words, the video was taking away from his opt-ins.

Bob said: “With the heat map, I discovered a silly mistake I had made with

the video on my homepage, and I would have never known about it other-

wise. People were clicking the video graphic like crazy, so I quickly had my

developer add a pop-up box so that when they clicked on the graphic they

opted-in to my email list to see the video. The change doubled the number

of email subscribers I get from my homepage.”

Before you jump into heat maps, call a quick timeout and ask yourself:

What is the one thing I want my visitor to do?

Why just one thing? The more choices visitors have or actions you want

them to do, the less likely they are to do any of them. Instead, funnel them

to one goal, and watch your conversion rates skyrocket. For a complete

guide on how to think through the process, set up a heat map and analyze

the results, check out SumoMe’s What We Learned From 1,000,000 Heat

Map Clicks. They also have a free heat map app you can download.

If getting more subscribers is your goal, then everything you do as a result

of the heat map can be focused by asking, “Does this help us get more

email subscribers?”

For example, at OkDork.com, the main focus is to get email subscribers.

Noah Kagan created a homepage gate to funnel visitors to his main objec-

tive. No banners, no extra pages, and no sliders. Just good clean copy and

tasty tacos.

2. Identify where you can add

content gateways

3. Have a single goal for each

landing page

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST10 4 Reasons You Should Use Heat Maps To Help You Get More Signups

Once you’ve set up your heat map, there are a few questions you can ask to

help analyze the data.

Where are people clicking?

Is it a certain link or image? Is it content that you can add a lightbox

to?

Is that where I want people clicking? And if not, what can I eliminate

to get people focusing where I want?

Where can I move my signup form to catch more eyes and clicks?

Start small with changes you can do immediately, like eliminating distractions

and clutter or moving the signup from the sidebar to the center of the page

to make it easier to see.

Heat maps are a quick and easy way to identify the small tweaks that will

boost your conversion rates, but there are also some things you can do to

the form itself to grow your list.

4. See where you can make quick

changes to get more signups

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST11 5 Changes To Your Signup Form That Will Get More Subscribers

5 Changes To Your Signup Form That Will Get More Subscribers

Every page on your site is full of opportunities to engage

your visitors and convince them to join your list. But the

problem is that most visitors don’t spend a whole lot of time

on a site. 55% of visitors spend 15 seconds or less on your

site (source: Chartbeat), so it’s super important to do what-

ever you can to bring your signup form to their attention.

As a marketer, you’ve no doubt learned that video rules.

Your visitors will stick around longer if they’re watching a

video. So if you have a video on your page, try putting your

opt-in right under it where people are looking. Or if you’re

game, use a lightbox to ask people to join before watching

(Emma’s integration with Wistia Turnstile makes it super

easy). By adding your signup to a video that already has the

visitor’s attention, you can increase the chances that they’ll

sign up for your list.

1. Incorporate video

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST12 5 Changes To Your Signup Form That Will Get More Subscribers

No matter where you put your signup form, it’s important to add

eye-catching elements to it. Remember, you only have a short window of

opportunity to catch the visitor’s attention, so make it count! Try adding an

animated gif to your form to draw the visitor’s attention.

Or maybe adjust the look and feel of your opt-in to make it look more like

a live chat box that asks the user a question like “Hey, I’m Anne, want to

learn more about this product?” Swap in different questions until you find

one your visitors respond to.

Keep the call to action in the visitor’s line of sight as long as possible. One

of the easiest ways to do this is to use the Digioh Lightbox to add the form

to a sticky header or footer and keep it on screen at all times.

Amazon uses a similar method to keep the “Add to Cart” button on screen.

By keeping the button on screen at all times, the visitor can add the product

to their cart at any time without having to scroll all the way back to the top of

the page. This makes it far more likely that the visitor will make a purchase.

2. Add interactive forms

3. Keep the call-to-action in view

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST13 5 Changes To Your Signup Form That Will Get More Subscribers

Make your call to action (CTA) as specific as you can. A generic “contact

us” message isn’t going to yield the same results as a more specific CTA.

For example, let’s say you own a spa that offers massages and pedicures.

On the pedicure page, you could have a CTA that says something like

“Book a pedicure.” On the massage page, you would want something like

“Enjoy a relaxing massage.” You get the idea.

If the CTA is directly related to the content you’re offering, you’ll get

better results. And if you track what signup button subscribers use to join

your list, you can target your email content accordingly and watch your

engagement go through the roof.

Optimizing your signup form for mobile audiences is crucial to growing

your list. The screen is smaller, and entering text takes longer, so don’t

ignore those facts when creating your signup form. Instead of putting a

bunch of fields on your form, limit it to one or two fields and add a big CTA

button to join. That way, your visitors can join your list with the tap of a

button instead of having to type out a lot of info on their phone.

4. Be specific!

5. Treat mobile differently

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST14 6 More Winning List-Growth Ideas Before You Go

6 More Winning List-Growth Ideas Before You Go

1. Promote the signup link on social

regularly

By definition, your social audience has

already shown some interest in your orga-

nization, right? So odds are good that some

of them would like to take the relationship

to the next level by joining your email list.

Don’t play hard to get! Make it easy for

them by posting the link to your signup form

across your social channels on a regular

basis.

2. Share emails on your social channels

after you send

There’s no better way to show the value of

joining your list than to share your emails on

your social networks after you’ve already

sent to your subscribers. Giving your social

followers a peek at your emails gives them

an idea of the kind of great content they’ll

receive once they sign up.

3. Create urgency by posting the

signup link a couple days before you

send an email

A great way to quickly add to your list is to

tease the content of an upcoming email on

your social channels along with the link to

your signup form. People love to be in the

know, so your social followers will want to

sign up for fear of missing out on a great

deal or some exclusive news.

4. Include the signup form link in all

email signatures

Think of all the emails you and your col-

leagues send every day. By adding the link

to your signup form to your organization’s

standard email signature, you make each

email an opportunity for someone new to

join your list.

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST15 6 More Winning List-Growth Ideas Before You Go

5. Collect email addresses at all

events

Events are a great place to collect email

addresses from people interested in your or-

ganization. A good ol’ fashioned pen and pad

will do the trick. Or, you can use Guestbook,

our iPad app, to take all of the messy hand-

writing guesswork out of it and automatically

add folks to your list.

6. Mobilize your inner circle

Your current email subscribers are some

of your best ambassadors. Ask them to

share your emails or post the link to your

signup form on their social channels to

gain more exposure.

Michelle tripled her list in a year by collecting email addresses at the

events she shoots and on the resulting online galleries.

Spotlight: Photographer Michelle Koechle

AND THAT’S IT! Use some of these strategies and

watch your email list multiply faster than a whole

bunch of marketing Gremlins in a swimming pool.

Don’t worry, they’re totally harmless.

The ultimate guide to GROWING A BETTER EMAIL LIST16 The Emma Elevator Pitch

Emma helps marketers everywhere send smart, stylish email newsletters,

promotions and automated campaigns. But if you asked any one of us

what Emma’s all about, we’d say something like this:

The Emma Elevator Pitch

We think there’s a better way to provide

marketers with the tools they need to be

successful

And we love clarity, like easy-to-understand

reports and insights that connect the dots

for you

So we built Emma’s software with a focus on

ease and simplicity,

Because advanced marketing doesn’t have

to be complex,

And we backed it with a team of helpful

people who are passionate about really great

marketing.

And neither should finding a real person to

talk to about your marketing challenges.

We believe in a good fit, so our software and

services scale to teams and lists of all sizes,

So let’s talk.

Also, what floor do you need?