How can you grow your email list without buying contacts?

The common approach is a simple transaction: give me your email address for access to something beneficial. I want subscribers to view the email address as a key ???that unlocks various gated content on a website or blog. Subscribers don't even need a password; just to enter their email address and get a one-time link and to get in. If they ever decide to unsubscribe, they will lose the key (access to all the benefits).

Despite offering something of value as a best practice, it's crucial to notice that what you offer should be directly related to what you're promoting or selling. For instance, if you offer an iPhone as a random lottery game or you provide something that's not directly related, you'll have a ton of volume but of people outside of your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), which means that you're getting people who will never buy something from you. So, creating value directly connected to what your ICP wants and will thank you for is really the answer to having a profitable list.

Uploading previous lists, including purchased lists, as a “custom audience” can also target specific social media users. This strategy does not affect email reputation and deliverability. It could bring back old subscribers and get new ones.

One of the best ways to use social media as a list-building channel is because you can already filter by a series of thresholds like your brand tone of voice, the content you're publishing and the offer to subscribe, which should be related to what your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) really wants. Besides, you can even use your present list or followers to create a similar audience approach and invest in some promo ads to reach similar people.

The best way to make this work is by creating something scarce. For instance, you can only subscribe to this newsletter with an invite. That makes you want more to subscribe AND also makes the people with invites more important and noticeable among their peers. Because now they have the gate keys literally at their fingertips, and they can give that to whom they want to reward somehow.

This approach is best deployed by well-known newsletters like “The Morning Brew” and some other newsletters. There are tools like Viral-Loops and SparkLoop (purchased by ConvertKit) that support the referral program. Another approach is when subscribing to a newsletter, you get offers to subscribe to other newsletters (usually in one click).

The best way to convert website subscribers is by using a professional form builder and pop-ups (even though they are disliked, they are effective).

This is literally an "it depends" kind of answer because it depends on the brand, website design, content, etc. However, here are some always actual highly converting mantras: 1. Having an exit-intent pop-up that only triggers when we're moving to close the window. 2. Placing highly appealing and actionable CTAs between the content that drove that audience in. 3. Placing a simple form at the footer and in a "hello-bar" right at the top of your website. You can always have a second or third step to gather more info if needed. 4. Have small quizzes, calculators and interactive tools that can indirectly ask for a newsletter subscription before giving results.

Partnerships and influencer-like campaigns work best when you have a long-term commitment and both audiences see that it's not a one-time gimmick to make you subscribe to each other. When you consistently have someone who's talking about your brand and product or service in a very positive way and not necessarily always pitching your subscription link, it creates a trustworthy reputation, and people will look forward to knowing more.

To get more newsletter subscribers, try getting endorsements or buying ads in newsletters your target audience already subscribes to.

A new way to grow your list is with a ChatGPT plugin. Examples: DevHunt -an alternative to ProductHunt- is adding hundreds per day because ChatGPT users find their plugin on the plugin store. All they had to do was bring their search api to the plugin system. Shownotes - a tool to summarise YouTube and transcribe audio- added 6k subscribers within just a few weeks. Try either of these if you have ChatGPT plugin access and see for yourself.