Worried about How to build an email list for free and from scratch? You don’t need to worry as I’m going to share some of the proven ways that helped me and will surely help you in collecting new emails very quickly!
But one important question arises, why email marketing? and why should we build an email list? Let me explain this to you.
Digital marketing is growing very quickly, as people taking their offline business online, especially after the pandemic situation all over the world.
Business owners want to grow and build their online presence so that they can promote their business to generate more profits and sales.
Email marketing plays a crucial role here as if any user visits your website, that means they are interested in your services/products. Research says that the average ROI for email marketing is $42 for every dollar spent.
So if somehow you get a targeted audience email, then you can promote your services to them, and the chances of conversion will be high as they are already interested in your services.
But nowadays, It’s quite tricky and not that easy to collect emails from any user, as people get hundreds of promotional and spammy emails every day, so they don’t give you their email easily.
So what you can do to build an email list in this situation?
Well, I have some tricky and proven email list-building strategies that you can apply to your blogs or websites to collect emails from your visitors.
Also, if you want to build an email list for affiliate marketing and generate affiliate sales from it, then you can use these list-building strategies to collect emails from your website visitors.
Since 2021, I have collected 15,000+ emails for my business as well as helped other bloggers to collect emails from their websites/blogs.
And collected 6,530+ emails from my business: BloggingRaptor, RaptorKit, and other social media accounts.
First before collecting any emails, you need a trusted and best email marketing platform, to collect & store emails, and send & analyze your email campaigns easily.
Best Email Marketing Platform
When it comes to choosing the best email marketing platform, Omnisend is my top pick. I’ve tried several platforms, but Omnisend stands out for a few key reasons that make it a great fit for anyone looking to build and grow their email list, especially if you’re on a budget.
To send and manage emails in bulk we need an email marketing platform, I always recommend what I’m using or have used in the past, and I’, using Omnisend for my email campaigns.
First, Omnisend offers a free plan that’s more than enough for those starting. You get access to automation, segmentation, and even SMS marketing, which is a big deal if you want to diversify your communication channels.
I found the interface to be incredibly user-friendly, even if you’re new to email marketing, making the learning curve much easier. It took me just a couple of hours to get things up and running without feeling overwhelmed.
Another reason I recommend Omnisend is the level of personalization it offers. You can create highly targeted emails that resonate with your audience, which is essential when you’re trying to engage and grow your email list. The free plan allows you to send up to 500 emails per month, making it a perfect tool for beginners.
If you’re serious about building your email list and want to take your email marketing to the next level without spending anything initially, I highly recommend giving Omnisend a try. You can sign up for free here and see the benefits for yourself!
Remember, a good email marketing platform can make all the difference when growing your audience, and Omnisend does an excellent job without making it complicated or costly.
Also, Omnisend running a special offer of flat 30% off, if you pay 3 months upfront.
Now let’s discuss the main topic for which you have visited this post
Different Ways to Build an Email List for Free
Create a Newsletter Page
I won’t talk about this way in detail as this is one of the most used traditional ways and is very effective.
You can check out the newsletter page of my blog here: Newsletter
What you can do is create a newsletter page using any good email collector plugin or email marketing software.
As I have said I’m using Omnisend to collect and send emails to my newsletter subscribers, you can do that too. With an email marketing tool, you can easily collect and send emails to your subscribers.
Providing Freebies to Email Subscribers
This method is highly effective if you want to build an email list for free and quickly. People are naturally drawn to anything offered for free!
A great approach is to include a simple line on your newsletter or landing page where you want to capture emails.
Have a look at my Blogging Raptor’s old newsletter page’s headline:
Subscribe to my newsletter to get exclusive content for free, and a free surprise gift is waiting for you!
On that blog’s newsletter page, I had set up an automation where users who enter their email and confirm their subscription, receive the Pro version of the Neve WordPress theme, along with a license key.
You won’t believe it, but from April 27, 2022 [the day I set up], to June 26, 2022 [the day I closed this offer] this offer helped me collect 421 emails!
Isn’t that great? Obviously Yes, it’s around 60 days and I got 421 verified emails for my future promotions.
You don’t need to provide premium products for free, well if you can then there’s no issue.
But if you can’t share premium products then you can create free ebooks, courses, podcasts, or any other digital product that will also work.
Hosting or Running Giveaways
Let’s talk about freebies again.
You can host giveaway contests on your website or social media platforms like YouTube or Instagram.
On my blog, Blogging Raptor, I use plugins like Rafflepress to manage all of my giveaways. You can also try Gleam.io, it’s an excellent tool for capturing emails and other valuable details for your business.
You can host giveaway contests on your website or social media platforms like YouTube or Instagram.
It even has an entry feature that allows you to promote your social media. Feel free to check out one of my giveaways for an example!
As you can see in the above image the users need to verify their email to join this giveaway, and they can increase their winning chances by completing other tasks to gain more entries.
This giveaway ran for one week, during which I collected 57 emails. Below it, you can see another giveaway where I gathered 37 emails.
In total, I received 94 emails, with 11 being repeat entries, meaning 11 users participated in both giveaways.
Still, I managed to gain 83 unique emails from just two giveaways, and it cost me nothing since I was giving away products that I wasn’t using.
Giveaways are an easy and fast way to grow your email list, but you need to keep in mind that you only promote products and share the giveaway contest with the audience related to your niche, else your email list won’t be helpful.
Adding Opt-in Pop-up Forms
Another effective way to grow your email list is by adding opt-in pop-up forms to your blog posts or across your entire website.
You’ve probably noticed these pop-ups on various websites or blogs, where after reading a post or simply scrolling for 5-8 seconds, a form appears, like the one shown below.
These are opt-in forms where the users are asked to fill those forms by providing their name and email.
It can be an offer form discount form or even a newsletter form that you can add to your website, and share your latest offers, deals, or newsletter to those users.
You can use email marketing tools like Omnisend, that allow pop-up builder features and add them to your blog or website.
It works nicely you can also collect emails and grow your email list or promote the latest deals and offers.
Adding or Placing Static Email Widgets
This is quite a good way to collect the emails of your website visitors.
Whenever a reader visits your blog and reads articles written by you then they will also want some more good content from your side, so you can place a static email collecting form on your website.
Places where you can place your static email form widgets at the:
- Header
- Footer
- Starting your blog posts or pages
- End of your blog posts or pages
- Sidebars
- Smart bars
- Between your posts and pages
Or any other place you can add. So if a user likes your content and he/she saw your widget then the chances of adding their email are high.
Promoting Future Deals
This is an excellent method to grow your email list. When users are ready to make a purchase or are looking for deals, they often search for discounts or special offers.
You can create pop-up forms, as mentioned in the 4th method, or add a static widget as we discussed in the 5th method, to promote your offers directly.
For example, if a user visits your site and is interested in purchasing a product, you can place a static widget or pop-up form on that specific page to inform them about upcoming discounts or special offers.
In the form or widget, you could say something like, “Want a 10% discount on XYZ Product? Enter your email now to receive a discount code, valid for the first 50 users only. Hurry!”
Since everyone loves discounts, the chances of collecting the visitor’s email are high. Plus, you can promote future deals to them as well.
Sharing Premium Content with Email Subscribers
This method of collecting email leads is highly effective.
Simply add a headline to your newsletter form like, “Get Exclusive Premium Content I Only Share With Email Subscribers – For Free!”
People love free content, and offering premium material at no cost greatly increases your chances of capturing leads.
You can also send exclusive products or personal tips in the form of articles to your email subscribers on a monthly or weekly basis.
Referral & Earn Reward Programs
This approach is particularly effective if you have premium products to offer.
You can encourage visitors to sign up for your newsletter by promising them a free premium version of XYZ products if they refer 2 or 3 friends to subscribe.
This method can rapidly grow your email list, as all users need to do is share the sign-up link with their friends.
The advantage of this strategy is a significant increase in email leads. However, a potential downside is that referred friends might not be genuinely interested in your content, which could lead to less valuable leads.
If your content is widely relevant, though, this method can be a highly effective way to build your email list at no cost.
Create a Free Tool or Application
One of my favorite and most effective methods for building an email list is to offer a free tool or application that requires users to sign up before accessing it.
To streamline the process, you can integrate a Google sign-in option into your tool.
I’m using this approach with my Android app, RaptorKit, which provides various SEO and digital marketing tools. Users need to sign up to access these features.
Check out the RaptorKit App here
One is a free keyword research tool in which users can get data like monthly search volume, CPC (Cost Per Click) & Paid difficulty of a keyword for free of cost.
I’ve integrated Google sign-in into my app so that users must log in with their Gmail account the first time they use the tool. This way, I collect their email addresses upon login.
As of now, while writing this article, I’ve gathered around 1,750+ emails through this tool, and all of them are Gmail addresses relevant to my niche, so whenever I update my app or launch any new tool related to it. I can promote it with my email list.
You can apply the same strategy by creating a free tool related to your niche. This way, you’ll collect valuable email addresses whenever users sign up.
Providing Free Trial Plans
If you provide premium services on your website then this method can be beneficial for you.
You’ve probably noticed many websites offering free trials on a monthly or weekly basis, where users need to register to access premium services for a few days.
This approach is highly effective because you not only collect the user’s email address but also give them a chance to experience your service. If they enjoy it, they might be inclined to purchase your premium plans.
Even if they don’t convert right away, you can follow up with an email to request a review and share information about your plans and offers.
This method allows you to gather email leads and receive feedback on your services, all at no additional cost.
Conducting Online Surveys
Conducting an online survey is a great way to collect email leads while also gaining insights into what people like or dislike about your services.
You can create simple surveys related to your offerings and ask for feedback. Just be sure to include an email field so participants can provide their contact information.
I understand that not everyone will provide their email, but many will.
Either way, it’s a win-win for you. If they enter their email, you gain a lead, and if they don’t, you still receive valuable feedback from the survey about your services.
Running Free Webinars or Live Sessions
If you have expert knowledge or personal experience in your field, you can host webinars or live sessions and promote them to your website visitors.
Even if you’re not an expert yourself, you can invite someone with strong knowledge in that area to join your webinar or live session. This way, you still provide valuable content to your audience.
Ask your website, visitors, to provide their email addresses to receive the link for joining the webinar.
This approach allows you to gather more leads related to your services and grow your email list effectively.
Collab With Influencers
Influencers, especially those on Instagram, can be a powerful way to generate email leads.
People tend to engage heavily with social media influencers, and with a conversion rate of over 20%, audiences trust their recommendations.
You can collaborate with influencers and even invite them to your webinars or live sessions, as mentioned in the 12th method. Provide the influencer with a registration link, which they can share in their social media bio, encouraging their audience to sign up for the event.
This strategy is highly effective and can help you generate more leads and grow your email list.
Use Your Social Media
As mentioned earlier, you can leverage your own social media accounts to collect emails from your followers.
Simply choose a method from the strategies we’ve discussed and promote it on your social platforms. You can include links in your bio, stories, and post or video descriptions. If you have over 10k followers, you can also use the swipe-up feature.
However, with the recent update, you can now add links to your Instagram stories even with “0 followers.”
So be sure to use your social media to drive email sign-ups and grow your list!
Using Web Push Notification Services
Web push notification services are a highly effective way to generate leads.
While you may not collect emails directly from visitors, the goal is still to share your content or services with a wider audience, right?
By integrating web push notifications into your site, you can prompt new visitors to subscribe to browser notifications. This allows you to keep them updated whenever you post new content.
I recently added OneSignal’s web push notification to my blog on 1st September 2024 and promoted it through my Telegram group.
As of today, September 10th, 2024, I’ve gained 74 monthly active subscribers in just 9 days, as shown in the image above.
Web push notifications can be a valuable tool for you as well. Over time, you can even invite your push notification subscribers to join your email newsletter for access to exclusive, premium content.
Now that we’ve covered 15 ways to grow your email list, let’s move on to the final method.
Take User’s Feedback
Gathering user feedback is another effective way to collect emails.
You can combine this approach with the methods we’ve discussed and ask users for their feedback.
While it may seem similar to an online survey, the key difference is that in this method, users are required to provide their email addresses. They must fill in the email field to successfully submit their feedback.
I understand this method might not sound particularly exciting or promising, but since we’re discussing various ways to grow your email list, it’s worth considering.
It can still be effective, which is why I included it. Ultimately, it’s up to you how you implement these strategies to expand your email list.
Conclusion
Growing an email list doesn’t need to cost a lot or be too tricky. By using the free methods we’ve talked about, you can start building your list without spending any money.
Whether it’s using social media effectively or offering something valuable to your visitors, there are many ways to attract subscribers.
When it comes to managing your email list, picking the right platform is important. For beginners or anyone looking to save money, Omnisend is a fantastic choice.
Their free plan has everything you need to get started, like automation and personalization tools, to help you connect with your audience and grow your list.
Alright, these are the various methods through which you can build an email list for free. I have shared these methods as many of them have worked & worked perfectly for me.
Many of them I haven’t tried till now, but I have shared them as other people are getting good results from it.
And the main thing is how you execute these methods for yourself. Hope this article was somehow helpful to you and if yes then don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter to receive new post updates.
To sum up, use the free strategies and tools available to you, and keep your focus on providing value. With a bit of effort and consistency, you’ll see your email list grow. Start using these tips and tools, and you’ll be on your way to a successful email marketing journey.
