How to Get More Email Subscribers: 25 Quick & Easy Hacks

W ant to learn how to get more email subscribers?

You’re in luck! Because in this post, not only will I show you how to get more email subscribers – but I will also reveal a few really cool tips I learned over the years to help you grow your email list to 10,000 subscribers (and beyond).

But let’s start with this 10k – as it’s a number that I think is genuinely attainable by any blog.

But let’s get into it!

Key Takeaways on How To Get More Email Subscribers

Just in case you’re short on time – here’s a quick rundown of tips and tricks you can use to get new subscribers!

• Attract the Right Traffic to Your Blog: Focus on keywords and topics that resonate with your target audience to drive relevant traffic.
• Run a Viral Giveaway: Use the RafflePress plugin to run engaging giveaways that encourage sharing and drive traffic to your blog.
• Offer a Lead Magnet: Provide valuable incentives like ebooks, checklists, or offer a special discount to entice visitors to subscribe.
• Grow Your Email List With a Well-Timed Popup: Use effective popups like those by OptinMonster with targeting options to capture visitor attention.
• Use Exit-Intent to Convert Abandoning Visitors: Employ exit-intent popups to capture subscribers as visitors leave your site.
• Explain the Benefits of Subscribing: Clearly articulate the value subscribers will receive to encourage sign-ups.
• Create a Landing Page: Design beautiful, dedicated landing pages using a tool like SeedProd to highlight the benefits of joining your email list.
• Add a Link to Your Main Menu: Drive traffic to your landing page by adding a prominent link in your website’s main menu.
• Link From Your Social Media Bios: Direct social media followers to your newsletter landing page for easy subscription.
• Lock Away Your Best Content: Offer exclusive content to incentivize email sign-ups and leverage popular blog posts.
• Increase the Perceived Value: Highlight the value of your offer to entice more subscribers effectively.
• Use Social Proof: Showcase testimonials or subscriber counts to build credibility and trust.
• Reduce the Number of Fields in Your Email Signup Form: Simplify your signup form to improve conversion rates.
• Try a Fullscreen Welcome Mat: Try out fullscreen opt-in takeovers to capture visitor attention and boost sign-ups.
• Offer Options for Different Segments: Segment your audience and tailor messaging to improve subscription rates.
• Add YouTube CTAs to Your Videos: Encourage viewers to subscribe to your email list through video CTAs.
• Create a Fun Quiz: Engage visitors with quizzes and require email sign-ups to get the results.
• Create Content Upgrades for Popular Posts: Offer specific lead magnets tailored to individual blog posts to increase conversions.
• Don’t Forget Mobile Users: Ensure opt-in forms and popups are optimized for mobile devices to capture mobile traffic.
• Redirect WordPress Commenters: Redirect first-time commenters to a thank you page, inviting them to subscribe.
• Add an Email Signup Button to Your Facebook Page: Direct Facebook followers to your email list by adding a signup button.
• Use Facebook Ads to Promote Your Newsletter: Use Facebook ads to reach a wider audience and promote your email list.
• Personalize Your Message by Referral Source: Customize marketing messages based on where visitors came from to increase relevance.
• Split Test to See What Email Marketing Techniques Work Best: Experiment with different strategies and elements to optimize email sign-up rates.
• Only Use What Works for You: Identify and focus on tactics that yield the best results for your specific audience and goals.

1. Attract the Right Traffic to Your Blog

No matter what your email marketing goal is:

• Sell your own products,
• Promote affiliate products,
• Drive repeat traffic,
• Etc.

It’s hard to accomplish that goal without driving the right traffic.

What do I mean by the “right traffic”?

You might have a popular blog post that gets lots of traffic, but if those site visitors don’t sign up for your email list, they may not be interested in everything you offer.

When you’re brainstorming blog post ideas, you want to make sure your topics are focused on what your target audience wants to read.

So, be sure to focus on the right keywords when you’re starting out to attract the right traffic and get readers to subscribe to your list.

For more information, check out our guide on SEO for bloggers.

2. Run a Viral Giveaway Email Marketing Campaign

Once you’ve attracted the right traffic to your blog, you might still be wondering: “How do I get people to subscribe to my blog?”

A viral blog giveaway or contest works amazingly well for list-building, and it can even drive more traffic. Here’s how to do it.

• Install the RafflePress plugin (there’s a free version, too)
• Announce an attractive price for the giveaway.
• Incentivize subscribers to share the giveaway to earn entries. 
• This word-of-mouth advertising can help get more traffic, FASTER, which basically leads more people to sign up.

For more detailed instructions, see this guide to running a successful giveaway on your blog.

3. Offer a Lead Magnet for New Subscribers

People are more likely to give you their email addresses if they’ll get something in return.

That’s why offering a lead magnet is such an effective way to grow your email list. A lead magnet, also called an “opt in bribe”, is a free gift you offer your website visitors in exchange for signing up for your email list.

An ebook is a quick and easy lead magnet to create, because you can easily create one by repurposing your existing blog content using a tool like Print Friendly. Then you can easily send your new email subscribers the PDF in your welcome email.

Other types of lead magnets you can offer include:

• Checklists
• Videos
• Webinars
• Product Discounts for eCommerce
• White Papers
• Free Trial/Consultation
• Case Studies
• And Much More

For more details, see our guide on how to create a lead magnet to help build your email list subscribers.

4. Grow Your Email List With a Well-Timed Popup

Like it or hate it… you can’t deny the fact that popups work for driving more email signups.

Popups have been used to increase conversion rates by 2100% when used the right way.

Popups work because they capture the attention of your visitors. With the right targeting options, you can only display your popups when your users are likely to subscribe to your list, instead of annoying them.

OptinMonster is a great funnel builder for WordPress and the best popup solution that comes with a lot of targeting options, such as referrer detection, page-level targeting, and more. When you target your popups based on what your visitors are interested in, you’ll see your email list growth explode.

You can use OptinMonster with the most popular email marketing services, including:

• Constant Contact,
• Mailchimp,
• AWeber,
• Sendinblue (now Brevo),
• and more!

Check out our roundup of inspiring email popup examples for inspiration!

5. Use Exit-Intent to Convert Abandoning Visitors

If you don’t like typical popups because of its intrusive nature, you can give exit-intent popups a try. The best thing is that users only receive a pop up as they are about to leave your site.

Exit-intent popups are a great way to turn abandoning visitors into newsletter subscribers. In fact, this SMART behavioral technology can convert an additional 2 – 4% of your users into email subscribers.

6. Explain the Benefits of Subscribing

Most people visiting your blog will have no idea what your mailing list is about. They don’t know why they might want to give you, a total stranger, their personal email address.

Spell it out for them very clearly whenever you can – what they’ll get in exchange for their email address.

Mention how often you’ll be emailing them and what kind of content you’ll send in your email marketing campaigns.

Here’s a great example:

It’s clear that subscribers will get freebies like printable downloads, recipes, and more.

This is more enticing than saying “sign up for my newsletter”!

And this is not only a great way to get more email signups… It can also help your open rates and prevent people from hitting the unsubscribe button.

When you’ve told subscribers exactly what to expect, they won’t be confused or disappointed when they receive your emails.

7. Create a Landing Page

Just because you have an opt-in form for your mailing list doesn’t mean that people will automatically subscribe to it. Don’t just stick a form in your sidebar and hope that people will give you their details – sell it!

One of the best ways to do this is to create a landing page to talk about the benefits of joining your email list.

A landing page is different from the other pages on your site because it’s focused on 1 specific goal. Because there’s nothing else on a landing page to distract visitors, they’re more likely to subscribe to your email list.

You can easily create landing pages with SeedProd. It’s the best drag and drop landing page builder for WordPress.

SeedProd offers over 300+ stunning landing page templates so you can get started quickly.

Plus, it also has pre-made landing page blocks you can use to customize your page and boost your email conversions, like:

• Optin Forms
• Contact Forms
• Giveaways
• Countdown Timers
• Headlines/Headers
• Buttons
• And Much More…

Check out some landing page best practices here and then create your own!

8. Collect Email Addresses in Your Main Menu

Once you’ve created a landing page talking about the benefits of joining your email list, you’ve got to drive traffic to it so people can sign up.

One of the best, proven ways to do this is by adding a link to your blog’s main menu.

For a great example, just look at the top of this page 😉.

See this tutorial on how to add a button in your WordPress header menu for step-by-step instructions.

9. Link From Your Social Media Bios

If you’re on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you’re likely already linking back to your blog in your bio.

This is a great opportunity to link to your newsletter landing page instead of just your homepage. If they’re following you on social media, there’s a good chance they’ll be interested in becoming a newsletter subscriber as well.

You can also create a custom ‘Link in Bio’ landing page and add a link to it in your social media bios. A link in bio page includes all of your most important links. You can link to your blog, newsletter landing page, YouTube channel, and anything else you want to promote.

10. Lock Away Your Best Content as a Way to Grow Your Email List

Do you know what the most popular post on your blog is?

If you have a popular post on your blog that’s long, detailed, ultra-useful, and getting lots of traffic, then you’ve got a great opportunity to increase email subscribers.

In fact, TradingStrategyGuides.com used this strategy to get almost 7,500 readers to join his list!

Here’s how content locking works:

11. Increase the Perceived Value

One quick trick to grow your email subscriber list is to increase the perceived value of your offer.

You worked hard to put together your content, so make sure that your visitors understand its value.

Here’s a great example:

Take a look at QuickSprout’s optin form as an example where it says “Free Course: Double Your Traffic in 30 days + Secret Bonus (Valued at $300)”.

Specifying the dollar value of your opt-in bribe is a great way to increase the perceived value of your offer.

12. Use Social Proof

Social proof is an important factor that influences your users’ actions. When people see that others have taken an action, they’re more likely to follow along, too. Social proof is often used in marketing strategies and campaigns to drive conversions.

One really cool way to get more email subscribers with social proof is to use a social proof notification app like TrustPulse.

You can display a little popup notification any time someone signs up for your list, convincing your other visitors to do the same!

You can also show social proof by showcasing testimonials on your site or displaying the number of existing subscribers on your email list.

13. Reduce the Number of Fields in Your Email Signup Form

It’s been proven time and time again: the more form fields you ask people to fill out, the less likely they are to submit your form.

Removing unnecessary fields has proven to drive in 11% more email signups!

At the most, you can ask for an email address and name. But I wouldn’t ask for anything else, or your conversion rate could take a big hit. And I would even argue that asking for a name isn’t necessary.

You want to make it as easy as possible to get subscribers on your list. So, simply asking them to enter their email address is the best way to grow!

14. Try a Fullscreen Welcome Mat

You know those blogs that have the fullscreen opt-in takeovers that appear right when you land on the page?

Those fullscreen takeovers, also known as welcome mat optins, let you capture your visitors’ attention with a targeted message which appears the minute they land on your site.

Those things work. I’ve heard of people who have them converting at 10% of all homepage traffic. You can get one of these added to your blog and test yourself if it converts better for you.

Here’s an example from Sportique – this one converted 4.92% of all visitors to the page.

15. Offer Options for Different Segments

One thing you can do in my favorite email newsletter provider Constant Contact is to create different segments.

This is a perfect idea if you’re targeting multiple audiences. This way, you can tailor your messaging just for one part of your audience, making them more likely to want an email subscription.

16. Add YouTube CTAs to Your Videos

Do you want to know how to get more email subscribers from YouTube? If you’re already creating videos on YouTube, then it’s pretty easy to add a call to action (CTA) to the end of your videos to join your email subscription list.

Here’s how to add end cards to your YouTube videos.

17. Create a Fun Quiz

Everyone loves a good quiz! That’s what makes them perfect to get more email subscribers.

Just add a relevant quiz to your site, and only send the results if they sign up via email.

Here’s an example from a popular food blog called Foodie Crush:

Users can get recipe recommendations based on the quiz answers they select. To see their quiz results, they have to provide their email address and sign up for the newsletter.

Here’s a roundup of quiz plugins for WordPress to get you started.

18. Encourage Email Subs via Content Upgrades for Popular Posts

Want an even more powerful tactic to get more email subscribers than a lead magnet?

Content upgrades are the next level of lead generation, and they work amazingly well.

A content upgrade is a lead magnet that’s specific to one blog post. For example, if you have a tutorial blog post that’s very popular, you could offer a step-by-step checklist as a content upgrade.

The content upgrade offer often highlights text inside the content area of your blog. The link opens up a signup form.

Because content upgrades are such specific offers, users are more likely to subscribe to the list for them than for a generic lead magnet that you place in the sidebar.

19. Don’t Forget Mobile Users

This is an obvious one, but it’s worth mentioning.

We’ll often create our content marketing and email content on a computer. And so it can be easy to overlook how it looks on mobile!

After all, over 60% of global website traffic comes from mobile.

That’s why it’s so important to make sure your optin forms and popups work for mobile users.

Otherwise, you’re missing out on traffic and email subscribers.

20. Redirect WordPress Commenters into Email List Subscribers

One of the coolest things you can do on your blog to get more email subscribers is to redirect comments to a thank you page using a simple plugin.

As soon as someone leaves a comment for the first time, they’ll get redirected to a special page that thanks them for their interaction and invites them to join your newsletter list.

21. Add an Email Signup Button to Your Facebook Page

If you have a Facebook page for your blog or business, this is a really quick and easy trick to get more email signups from Facebook.

Check out these instructions to find out how to do it.

22. Use Facebook Ads to Promote Your Newsletter

Dabbling in advertising can produce some really cool results. You don’t have to spend much.

Try out Facebook ads to give your landing pages a bit of a boost. There is nothing wrong with promoting your email list in this way.

23. Personalize Your Message by Referral Source

Personalization has a huge impact on how your audience perceives your message.

For example, if someone came from a recent guest article of yours, say on ProBlogger, they could get a message like “Hey ProBlogger reader! Get a huge discount on the XYZ plugin by subscribing to the list”.

A personalized message is an amazing and easy way to attract more email subscribers by grabbing your visitors’ attention.

24. Split Test to See What Email Marketing Techniques Work Best

A split test or A/B test is a method of testing multiple versions of your blog (or individual elements of a blog) against each other to see which works best.

You can split-test your landing pages, opt-in forms, and more to see which version works best. I’d use and recommend a plugin like MonsterInsights to see what’s working – as it lets you access Google Analytics directly from your WordPress dashboard.

Just make sure you’re giving them enough time to show meaningful results.

Things as simple as colors can have a huge impact on how well your optin form converts. For example, I’ve noticed big changes in signups when switching my sidebar button from green to red.

25. Only Use What Works for You

Sometimes I have “borrowed” ideas from other marketers and bloggers after hearing how well it works for them, only to find that it completely tanks for me.

It’s a good lesson! What works for one email list doesn’t always work for another. And, yet again, this is why you need to split test different ideas and make sure what you THINK is the source of your success is actually the true source.

Enjoy Your Email List Growth Today!

Growing an email list is one of the most important aspects of a successful blog.

It’s your mailing list that allows you to promote your content, sell products, and launch new projects without relying on Google traffic, ads, etc.

Now that you know how to get more email subscribers, soon, you’ll be on your way to growing your subscriber list to 10,000!

So, what strategies have worked for you? Leave a comment and let me know if I’ve missed anything.

If you enjoyed this article, check out these guides on getting more backlinks and ranking higher on search engines, how to start a blog, and how to install WordPress.