How to Grow an Email List from Scratch

Has "grow my email list" been on your to-do list forever? If you're starting fresh with your email list, you're in the right place! This post covers how to grow an email list from scratch in an approachable, step-by-step way.

Introduction to Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most powerful components of marketing. If you're a business who desires to serve your community in a personal, simple way, email marketing is the route for you.

Best Email Marketing Tool

There are so many tools and platforms out there when it comes to email marketing, and as a marketing strategist, I've worked with many of them. However, the one that remains my all-time favorite is Flodesk.

Flodesk is user-friendly, stunning, and powerful. The cost is affordable, as they don't believe in charging you more as your list grows—something uncommon but appreciated in this space. If you want to learn more, this blog post shares why I believe Flodesk is the best email marketing tool.

ROI of Email Marketing

Before starting anything new in your marketing, it's important to analyze the ROI, or return on investment. Will your time drive more leads or sales in your business?

According to this post, in 2024 email generates $42 for every $1 spent. Not too shabby! Also, 99% of email users check their email at least once a day. There's no algorithm to fight, and your message can go straight from your keyboard to your ideal client's inbox.

How to Grow an Email List Steps

Convinced email marketing is worth your time? I'm happy to hear it! Here are some steps to help you grow an email list in no time.

1. Create a freebie or lead magnet.

In order to get people on your email list, you need to offer some sort of incentive. This should be something valuable that your ideal client actually wants. A big mistake many businesses make is only having a "newsletter sign up" opt-in form on their website, and to be blunt, no one wants to sign up for your newsletter.

Most people won't hand out their email to just anyone. There has to be a reason for the exchange, which is why it's so important to offer a valuable lead magnet. This is what the subscriber receives in exchange for providing their name and email. In the next section, I'll go over some lead magnet ideas to get your wheels turning!

2. Promote the lead magnet with your audience.

Once you've created a lead magnet, it's time to promote it! The key here is to share your lead magnet consistently—not one time and then never again.

There are many different ways to promote your lead magnet. Add a pop-up, inline form, or announcement bar to your website. Create content around your lead magnet for social media, and make the call-to-action to download it. Write blog posts incorporating your lead magnet, and add opt-in forms to each post. For example, my free guide "5 Reasons Why Your Brick and Mortar Needs an Email List" is the perfect one to add to this post! See how you can add an email opt-in form within your blog post, as I did below.

3. Serve your email list consistently.

Once people get onto your email list, you don't want to stop there. Serve your email list consistently with ideally weekly emails, but biweekly and monthly emails are a good start.

Share a combination of personal, story-based content, educational, and selling content. My favorite emails to send incorporate all 3—typically starting with a personal story, incorporating a learning moment or educational takeaway, and ending with a call-to-action for one of my paid offers.

If you don't serve your email list consistently, you won't reap the rewards of email marketing. The goal is to stay top-of-mind, remind them of who you are and how you serve, and deepen the relationship, thus boosting your sales.

4. Rinse, refine, and repeat.

As you can see, email marketing is not a one-and-done strategy. Consistently improve your existing lead magnets or create new ones. Consistently promote them. Consistently serve your audience via your emails. And watch your business boom!

My Favorite Lead Magnet Ideas

Need some inspiration on lead magnet ideas to create? This blog post has 7 different lead magnet ideas for you, but I'll cover my 3 favorites here.

Quiz

I strongly believe a quiz is the most powerful lead magnet out there, but it also requires the most work. Quizzes are unique because they provide subscribers with a custom experience, they're engaging and fun to take, AND they give you valuable insight about your audience.

If you want to learn how to create your own quiz lead magnet in your business, I invite you to check out my group program Quiz Builder Bootcamp. Inside the bootcamp, I'll teach you step-by-step how to create, set up, and launch your own quiz lead magnet that your audience can't wait to take. Click here to learn more about the program!

Checklist

Checklists are the most simple lead magnets. If you're short on time and want to start growing your email list today, a checklist is a good start.

Think about what processes you have in your business or what you teach your clients in a step-by-step manner. For me, I could have an Instagram profile checklist, including all the features to optimize. A web designer may have a checklist to help you decide whether or not your website is ready to launch.

Free Training

Lastly, a free training or webinar is an effective lead magnet option, especially if you're selling coaching or an online course. Free trainings build trust with your audience, because they'll see your face and hear your voice, making it a more personal experience.

A free training also gives your audience the chance to learn from you and experience your teaching style—a very important component if you coach or sell a course. Be mindful that your free training provides a LOT of value and isn't just fluff or a sales pitch. If you go about a free training in the wrong way, it could do more harm than good.

Conclusion

Ready to grow an email list from scratch? Email marketing will be one of the BEST investments of your time that you can make.

If you're ready to dive in, the best way to do so is by starting a 30-day free trial with Flodesk, the email marketing platform I love and recommend. Click here to start your free trial and get 50% off your first year of Flodesk!