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How To Grow Your Email List With 3 Creative Lead Generators

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If you are a blogger or business owner, you've probably heard this before: you need to be growing your email list. Most entrepreneurs say the #1 thing they wish they started doing sooner, is growing their list for email marketing.

For about a year, I grew my email list using a basic subscription box in my blog's sidebar and an opt-in box on the homepage. Overtime, I added content upgrades to the bottom of my posts (after reading a post, it's the clickable link where people can enter their email to download a worksheet or checklist that adds even more value to a blog post). But the truth is, my list grew slow and steady, until it became totally stagnant. 

*This post contains affiliate links

Then I found Interact! They offer a quiz making service to grow your email list. If you've ever gone down a Buzzfeed quiz rabbit hole, you know just how valuable this can be to your brand.

It's been over three years now and it's been a game changer! In the first month, I grew my list by 25%. In three years, with absolutely no promotion of the quiz on my end (it just sits on my start here page), it's grown my list by 60%! 

>>> Start making quizzes here! Use code LEAPYEAR for 29% <<<

3 Creative Lead Generators For Growing Your Email List:

*You can use Interact for all of these options:

1) Personality Quiz

This is the one I've been using. Basically you create “personality” quizzes and people enter their email address to get their results. In my case, my quiz is “What Type Of Millennial Are You?” – but you can do this for anything (you know we've all taken those quizzes on what our Pizza toppings say about us  ? ). People love to learn about themselves or figure out what things can mean.

>>> Start making quizzes here! Use code LEAPYEAR for 29<<<

2) Giveaway Opt In

Pretty simple, you create a giveaway and ask for people's email addresses in order to enter the giveaway. It comes complete with a countdown.

3) Assessments

Test your audience's knowledge on a specific topic! This is helpful if you have a niche specific product or blog. You can start the conversation between you and your target audience or direct them to areas of your site to find their answers. This is also helpful if are selling something and want to use it as a sales funnel.

Or you can do a scored quiz just for fun! Things like “How well do you know the 90s?” And different scores get different results! You can have a lot of fun with assessments and scored quizzes when you flex a little creativity! 

Check out the personality quiz I set up:

The ways to use these options to grow your email list are endless! You can use them on Instagram in a swipe up, Pinterest, in Facebook ads and sooo many other ways to grow your email list! It's been a total game changer for my brand's growth.

>>> Start making quizzes here! Use code LEAPYEAR for 29% through 2/29/2020<<<

They also provide you with a step by step post for setting up your first quiz. TBH the most difficult part about getting started is just choosing what your topic will be and what the results are! My intern and I spent days trying to figure this out (we were really nervous people would think our quiz was dumb or be judged haha).

The only downside for Interact is that they aren't integrated with Mailerlite yet (and you all know I think Mailerlite is the best email marketing provider for bloggers & small business owners!)

How do you grow your list?

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Originally published on 4/2/18; Updated on 2/3/2020

138 thoughts on “How To Grow Your Email List With 3 Creative Lead Generators”

  1. Brooke @ wreckingroutine

    Love the variety of ways you can grow your list. A little something for everyone, and to keep people coming back for more.

  2. Sarah Jean

    I’ve been hearing more and more people use quizzes to get people to sign-up and that is such a brilliant idea!

  3. JamieSplendry

    Great ideas, I need to look into these. I’ve neglected my list quite a bit and need to get it on track to grow!

  4. Sarah Lyall

    I am new to blogging and getting followers, this post was super helpful. I am going to check out making quizzes. I love the Buzzfeed ones too!

  6. Jamie

    Love the idea of a quiz, feel like that would be easy to integrate into a post or on social media!
    I have always had growing my email list on my to-do list, but have yet to really focus on it!

  7. Kirsten Ortez

    This idea of creating a quiz is a lot different than I’ve seen other bloggers do! I really like that! I’m still working on creating opt-ins – it’s a ton of work!

  10. Yolanda McAdam

    Great tips Rachel! Growing your email should definitely be your #1 priority. I’ve never actually tried a quiz (for myself or my clients) and will definitely give it a go 🙂

  11. Elizabeth Johnson

    This. Is. Awesome! I have been trying to think of new ways to grow my mailing list and this is really great! I just use the pop up, side bar, bottom of the post and separate tab forms right now. I just started doing a free workout printable for subscribers. The list is very slowly growing, however, I have not had a newsletter till this past March. I am hoping it will grow significantly this year!

  13. Audrey Knizek

    I’m just starting to read up on how to grow my mailing list. What a fun idea to create a quiz! Right now I only have the side bar sign up and a popup on my homepage. They’re not working at all. I will definitely look into mailerlite! 🙂

  14. Lisa

    I’m just starting to work on figuring out the whole email list thing. This is something I haven’t heard about yet, so I’m going to give it a try! Thanks for sharing it!

  20. Anne Markey

    you have given me some great ideas! now i just have to figure out which is best for my audience. Cant hurt to try!

  22. Patty Gordon (Resting Mom Face

    It’s amazing how many ways there are to exchange an email address to something fun or helpful. Thanks for the inspiration!

  23. Patricia Conte

    Great ideas! Saving this for my blog, and the business I work for part-time! Thanks for sharing. Pinning!

  25. jessica

    i fought starting an email list for the longest time but began one a little over a year ago. it’s been a slow and stagnant climb so i really appreciate the tips…thank you and yay for the puppy!!

  32. Collectively Bee

    I’ve been actively trying to grow my list and this is a great resource for that! I’ll definitely have to check it out!

  33. Babies to Bookworms

    I need to a start working on my list! I love the quiz idea and now I will be thinking about a topic all day!

  38. Kristine Circenis

    This post is coming to me at a perfect time! I’m trying to grow my email list after using Mailerlite (per your recommendation) to set it up. Thanks for all of your help, Rachel!

  43. Meaghan Gonzalez

    This is SO helpful!! I have been clueless when it comes to my email list and what to do with it exactly. Thank you for sharing what you’ve learned, I will definitely be using this info.

    Meaghan xx

  44. Jessica Bradshaw

    How fun! I love all of these ideas. Growing my email list is definitely on my to do list.

  47. Elizabeth Duquette-Hollands (M

    I’m steadily growing my list…but this sounds like something I will look into further.

  48. Erica

    Lots of great ideas. I’d be open to trying a quiz. Right now I’ve been building my list by giving away different freebie downloads.

  51. Just Doing My Best

    These are great ideas. I’ve never seent the quizzes before. I love the idea.

  54. Stephanie Wilson (Lattes Lilac

    I love the idea of adding a quiz to my blog. Thank you for this great idea!

  56. Shani Ogden

    I have done a HORRIBLE job of growing my email list. I really need to up my game, but I’ve just had a hard time getting into the rhythm.

  59. Victoria Stacey

    I have a couple ideas for lead gen downloads, so these are perfect ideas! Thanks 🙂

  61. Snow to Seas

    Really informative post! I’ve never heard of using quizzes to grow an email list, but it sounds like an absolutely AWESOME idea. I want to give it a try 🙂

  63. Amanda Jonsson

    I’ve never heard of using quizzes to generate emails for your list before, but it’s a really unique idea! Because, we all take those silly quizzes! Thanks for this : )

  65. Cameron

    I should definitely look into this! Since I’m just starting out, I have the general forms in my sidebar and at the bottom of a post, and just started doing freebie printables when people subscribe. It’s definitely growing, but I want it to keep doing so. This might be just the thing!

    1. Rachel Ritlop

      Yup! that’s the strategy I used to start! Eventually it kind of fell stagnant, but I think if I switch up my opt-ins that will help! I know people hate it, but my pop up has been my highest converter by a long shot!

  67. fairyprincessjord

    These are great tips for generating more engagement and gaining more subscribers. I don’t have the time for an email list right now (I barely get my posts up) but I know it’s super important when you’re blogging professionally (or if you want to).

  69. Marie Ernst

    I love the idea for giveaway. I have done it a couple of times in the past and it always increased my amount of subscribers!

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