There is one undeniable factor when you are comparing something organic vs. something non-organic. The organic product typically has more quality substance to it.

For example, a burger made with beef from the local farm is likely going to have better quality than a Big Mac from the McDonald’s down the street. The same idea is valid in email marketing. Quality substance matters. In particular, what matters is the quality substance of your email subscriber list. It may be easier to purchase a subscriber database or use some other non-organic form of list growth. But this can be very dangerous for your email marketing campaigns and can easily start landing you in your subscribers’ spam folders.

Since organic growth seems to be the better choice, WhatCounts has decided to compile a list of easy tips for organically increasing email subscribers. This will do more than just increase subscriber lists. It will ensure that those subscribers are quality leads – meaning they actually care about hearing from you and your brand.

1. pop-ups. seriously, they work

Contrary to the associated stigma, pop-ups are a great way for organically increasing email subscribers. There are a few things to keep in mind though. Don’t be too invasive. No one wants a pop up that takes up the entire screen. Make the pop-up beautiful, and find the sweet spot for the amount of time before the pop-up appears on your pages. Instead of having it appear immediately, catch their attention first, and then hook them with the pop-up. The highest rate of sign-ups have occurred when a pop-up appears after a few seconds, five being optimal.

2. on-site optional sign-up

If your website visitor rejects the pop-up, a great fallback is having an opt-in option directly on your site. There are a few things that help it stand out, too. Make the sign-up highly visible – preferably in the header. You should also place it on most of the pages on your site. If you are incentivizing sign-ups, then make sure your offer is front and center. Lastly, don’t ask for too much information up front. Just get their email address, and then drive a secondary form to get more information for targeting. People are very non-committal, especially to things that are taking their attention, so be sure to keep that in mind when building sign-up forms.

3. social opt-in

There is always a debate on which communication form is better, but it is good to combine efforts in order to give your brand an omni-channel presence for organically increasing email subscribers. So, having social media pages that encourage sign-ups can drive more subscribers. After all, they already interact with you by following you on social media. Might as well encourage them to engage even more.

4. transactional emails

Transactional emails, such as order and shipping confirmations, average a 45% open rate. This gives you a great place to have a sign-up option. Customers are most engaged with your brand right after they purchase. They just chose to trust you. That gives you a perfect opportunity to increase their trust by encouraging them to sign up. You can also incentive it by saying, “sign-up now and receive a discount on your next purchase!” This will grow your list and your revenue.

5. loyalty programs

Organically increasing email subscribers can easily happen through loyalty reward programs. This can also help you define an entirely new segment to send special emails to – your VIPs. Let users know the benefits they can receive through being a rewards member, and the sign-up will naturally follow. Studies show that up to 87% of customers prefer brands with rewards programs. If you fill your lists with users from loyalty programs, you can already trust they will be more engaged than regular users.

6. exclusive deals and content

If you are a content heavy brand, take advantage of it. If you make site visitors aware of the ease and benefits of being a subscriber early on, then they are more likely to convert. The whole idea is to make users feel that they are missing out on the really good stuff through not committing. Then, the sign-up happens organically. The same idea goes for exclusive deals. If customers are made aware of the benefits of paying attention to you through email sign-ups, then they will want to pay attention and this should further your efforts in organically increasing email subscribers.

get started today

The 6 tips listed above are easy practices to start implementing so you can organically increase your list. Remember that organic list growth means quality substance. You want quality substance to increase your engagement and conversions. Filling your subscriber lists with users that care is always the best option.

But of course we couldn’t cover everything in one blog post. So if you want more in-depth tips and explanations that will help organically grow email subscribers regardless of your industry, click here. The link includes an entire whitepaper solely dedicated to assist in your organic list growth. If you have any questions or need assistance in implementing these techniques, please reach out, and start growing today.