By Sean Tinney July 8, 2025
If you happen to’re severe about rising your corporation, constructing an engaged e mail listing is likely one of the smartest investments you may make. Not like social media or paid adverts that come and go, e mail provides you a direct line to your viewers letting you construct relationships, drive gross sales, and keep top-of-mind with potential clients.
However earlier than you may faucet into these advantages, you want individuals to ship emails to. That’s why amassing the appropriate e mail addresses is step one in turning informal guests into loyal followers.
On this information, we dive into 22 of the perfect list-building ways..
The best way to get an e mail listing for advertising?
At AWeber, we get one query loads when speaking to new e mail entrepreneurs: “Can I purchase an inventory of emails?”
The reply: 👉 Don’t do it. 👈
The considered constructing a brand-new e mail subscriber base could seem daunting, however the worst factor you are able to do is purchase an e mail listing. Listed here are the highest motive why this isn’t a good suggestion:
It’s unlawful to promote e mail lists in lots of jurisdictions
It hurts deliverability – bought contacts didn’t consent and can mark emails as spam
It damages sender repute – ISPs observe spam complaints and should block your emails
It violates rules – GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and different legal guidelines require express consent
As an alternative, deal with natural listing constructing methods that entice genuinely subscribers.
The excellent news is that we’ve bought 22 confirmed concepts for constructing an e mail listing from scratch.
All the ideas beneath will provide help to attain a focused viewers so you may construct an inventory of subscribers who’re genuinely curious about opening and studying your emails!
Accumulate e mail addresses out of your present community
Your current connections are the simplest place to start out constructing your e mail listing. Right here’s how one can leverage them successfully:
1. Ask pals, household, and colleagues
One of many best list-building methods to execute is to ask present connections to subscribe to your updates or e-newsletter. Leveraging your community is a good way to steadily enhance your subscriber base, and is commonly the perfect place to realize traction at first.
Greatest practices for reaching out:
Message individuals you’ve gotten real relationships with
Use WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”) – clarify the worth they’ll obtain
Be genuine and share your story
Ask for referrals even when they’re not
Clarify what your e mail listing is about and why individuals ought to be a part of
Even when your connections aren’t , they could know somebody who’s. Inform them you’re beginning an e mail listing or e-newsletter. Clarify the advantages and ask them in the event that they know somebody who can be curious about your content material.
2. Ask clients and prospects
When current and potential clients work together with you:
Set expectations about e mail frequency and content material
Ask them to affix your e mail listing throughout cellphone calls
Clarify the worth they’ll obtain
Supply incentives like free ebooks or reductions
Professional tip: Making “the large ask” 5 instances each day throughout work weeks can generate 25 new e mail addresses weekly – that’s 100 addresses per thirty days.
3. Ask for referrals and shares
Attain out to your present e mail subscribers and encourage them to share your e-newsletter, updates, or promotions with individuals they know.
Together with social sharing buttons in emails
Including forward-to-a-friend sections in newsletters
Together with clear CTAs that hyperlink to your signup web page
Leveraging word-of-mouth advertising (some of the highly effective types of promoting)
People who find themselves already in your listing and getting worth out of your messages most likely know others who would profit out of your content material.
Optimize your web site for amassing e mail addresses
Your web site is commonly the primary touchpoint with potential subscribers. Right here’s how one can maximize its list-building potential:
4. Add signup kinds to each web page
It’s finest to have a signup kind on nearly each web page of your web site and weblog so guests can shortly and painlessly join your emails.
Why this works: Visitors from Google, social media, and different sources hardly ever lands in your homepage. Guests sometimes arrive at particular articles or pages, so having e mail signup kinds in every single place will increase conversion alternatives.
Implementation ideas:
Embody kinds on weblog posts, product pages, and repair pages
Place kinds above the fold when attainable
Use constant placement throughout all pages
5. Take a look at e mail signup kind placement
Take a look at the effectiveness of signup kinds in your web site to seek out out which areas produce the perfect outcomes.
Optimum areas for signup kinds:
Backside of weblog posts
Web site sidebars
Midway by way of long-form content material
Prime or backside navigation menu
Header or footer sections
Put your kind in an easy-to-find, constant spot on each web page of your website. Usually, the signup kind or hyperlink must be above the fold (the part of your website that’s seen with out scrolling).
6. Maintain e mail signup kinds brief and easy
Analysis reveals that kind size instantly impacts conversion charges. Longer kinds create friction for individuals to signup.
Asking for an excessive amount of element from new subscribers can forestall them from subscribing to your e mail listing. You possibly can most likely increase signups by simplifying the shape. Accumulate extra detailed information in a while by way of e mail polls and gated content material downloads.
Greatest practices:
Ask just for important info (first identify and e mail)
Embody a quick listing of subscriber advantages
Keep away from requesting cellphone numbers or detailed private info
Accumulate extra information later by way of e mail polls and gated content material
7. Use strategic pop-up kinds
Pop-up kinds are a easy but efficient strategy to acquire extra emails for advertising.
Nonetheless, earlier than you incorporate popups in your website, it’s vital to contemplate how they could have an effect on your guests. Annoying popups will shortly enhance your bounce charges and reduce the time guests spend in your website.
5 methods to keep away from annoying guests with pop-up kinds
Use a “sticky” popup that unobtrusively stays on the underside of the web page as a person scrolls
Implement slide-in kinds on the facet of the display screen
Set timing delays (seem after person spends time on web page)
Set off on particular actions (reaching backside of web page)
Use exit-intent know-how to show solely when customers are leaving
8. Add post-purchase e mail opt-in incentives
Add an computerized incentive or CTA in your thanks web page to encourage individuals to subscribe to your e mail listing. Not each buyer will change into a repeat buyer. However you may work in the direction of constructing buyer loyalty by publishing useful e mail content material.
Present individuals the advantages of sharing their e mail addresses by providing a right away incentive to subscribe.
By leveraging the purpose of buy to gather e mail addresses, you may convey clients nearer to creating repeat purchases.
9. Get extra e mail addresses with net push notifications
Net push notifications are small pop-up messages that may
Promote services or products
Accumulate e mail addresses for advertising
Re-engage web site guests
Drive site visitors again to your website
Be clear and upfront with guests about what they’ll obtain by subscribing to your net push notifications, together with the frequency and kind of notifications they’ll count on.
As a enterprise proprietor, you most likely already make investments time in growing an engaged social media viewers. Take advantage of your social media advertising efforts through the use of platforms like YouTube, Instagram, X, and Fb to develop your e mail advertising listing.
By encouraging your social media followers to join your e mail listing, you faucet into an viewers that’s already curious about what you need to say.
10. Accumulate e mail addresses on social media utilizing link-in-bio web page
Many social platforms solely permit one clickable hyperlink in your bio or profile. That’s the place link-in-bio touchdown pages come in useful.
Hyperlink-in-bio instruments allow you to create mini-landing pages designed particularly for social media profiles and bios. Benefit from these menu-style touchdown pages to spice up your e mail conversions!
11. Add signup hyperlinks on YouTube
Flip your YouTube viewers into e mail subscribers by sharing a hyperlink to your signup kind or touchdown web page. You possibly can embody a hyperlink to your kind in your movies and throughout your channel in locations resembling:
Video descriptions
In your movies
In your YouTube channel web page
Throughout your video by personally encouraging viewers to subscribe
12. Encourage Fb followers
Do you know that you could seize e mail addresses instantly from Fb?
Combine your e mail software program with Fb in order that anybody visiting your web page on the social networking website can simply share their e mail tackle to obtain your updates, e-newsletter, or promotions.
Right here’s the step-by-step Fb integration directions for AWeber customers.
13. Use strategic pinned Tweets
Pinning a tweet to the highest of your “X” profile feed that claims “join our e-newsletter” may need a small impact on boosting subscribers.
Make pinned tweets simpler by:
Sharing latest e-newsletter content material as previews
Together with impactful quotes or distinctive information
Including compelling photos, GIFs, or movies
Utilizing clear, easy copywriting
There are numerous methods to develop your e mail listing with X (Twitter), and pinned tweets are one of many best methods for gaining extra subscribers.
14. Spend money on social media promoting
Social media adverts can quickly develop your e mail listing by way of:
Retargeting web site guests
Exact viewers focusing on
A/B testing completely different advert codecs
Lead technology campaigns
Don’t be afraid to experiment with adverts copy and codecs to seek out what method works finest. You possibly can even A/B take a look at adverts with completely different photos, movies, GIFs, and duplicate.
Extra e mail assortment strategies
Past your web site and social media, there are much more methods to draw potential subscribers.
These methods vary from in-person interactions to leveraging the ability of dwell occasions and inspiring referrals in your corporation correspondence.
15. Embody signup hyperlinks in e mail signature
How many individuals do you personally e mail each day? Your private and enterprise contacts won’t be in your e mail advertising listing but, however that doesn’t imply you may’t encourage them to enroll!
Embody a quick call-to-action and hyperlink to your signup kind or touchdown web page in your e mail signal offs or signatures. This can be a easy strategy to get your e-newsletter observed, even when it doesn’t result in a ton of latest subscribers instantly.
Don’t neglect to replace different e mail signatures, resembling your customer support emails — and have your group members add a hyperlink to their signatures, too!
16. Create lead technology content material to gather extra emails
You possibly can considerably increase your e mail subscriber listing by providing unique free content material, resembling an e-book or final information, as an incentive for individuals to join your listing.
The sort of lead technology content material, additionally referred to as a “lead magnet,” is a wonderful approach so as to add extra emails to your subscriber listing.
It doesn’t matter what your e-newsletter is about, you might be an knowledgeable in your subject.
Use your experience to create useful lead technology content material that’s related to the content material of your e-newsletter, product, or companies, resembling:
Final guides and ebooks
Free templates and checklists
Unique podcast downloads
Trade studies and whitepapers
Free programs or video sequence
Lead magnets like those talked about above are an ideal incentive for prospects who is likely to be on the fence about becoming a member of your listing.
17. Create a touchdown web page (“squeeze web page”) to spice up e mail subscriptions
A touchdown web page devoted to enlisting new subscribers (typically referred to as a “squeeze web page”) helps promote your lists so you may acquire extra e mail addresses.
On the touchdown web page, provide one thing useful (like lead gen content material, a reduction, or a free trial) in trade for his or her e mail tackle, and watch your listing develop.
Share your touchdown web page hyperlink on social media and in your paid promoting to drive extra subscriber signups.
18. Supply particular reductions to new subscribers
Entice new signups with a welcome low cost in your services or products.
Everybody loves a very good deal!
19. Run a contest
Contests are an ideal advertising technique for drumming up pleasure and attracting new subscribers.
There are a selection of instruments out there that may provide help to simply host a contest, resembling Gleam.io or ViralSweep.
For a profitable contest, observe these 4 ideas:
Require e mail signup for entry to the competition.
Supply useful prizes (present certificates, money, merchandise)
Set brief entry intervals to create urgency
Promote your contest in your web site and social media.
20. Visitor put up on related blogs
Visitor posting is a good way to achieve potential subscribers that you just in any other case would possibly miss.
By contributing to different websites, you not solely attain new individuals but in addition usually have the chance to share a hyperlink to your signup kind or touchdown web page. A few of your new readers would possibly even change into a few of your finest clients!
Advantages of visitor posting:
Attain new audiences
Construct authority and credibility
Embody hyperlinks to signup kinds
Generate high-quality subscribers
21. Accumulate e mail addresses at in-person occasions
Commerce reveals, conferences, and even native meetups provide a first-rate alternative to gather e mail addresses.
Occasion methods:
Take part in native meetups
Deliver signup sheets or tablets
Supply raffles or incentives
Community at commerce reveals and conferences
22. Host a webinar or livestream subscriptions
Sharing your experience by way of a dwell occasion not solely offers worth to your viewers but in addition provides you an opportunity to advertise your e mail listing.
Supply an unique useful resource or low cost to individuals who enroll in the course of the occasion.
Dwell occasion advantages:
Show experience
Present instant worth
Promote e mail listing throughout presentation
Why GDPR & CAN-SPAM compliance matter when amassing e mail addresses
Amassing e mail addresses isn’t nearly discovering new subscribers; it’s additionally about doing it the appropriate approach.
Each the European Union’s Basic Knowledge Safety Regulation (GDPR) and the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act have guidelines about how one can acquire and use e mail addresses.
Following these guidelines not solely protects you and your subscribers but in addition builds belief that will help you acquire extra e mail addresses in your e mail advertising campaigns.
Key takeaways
Constructing an e mail listing requires a multi-channel method combining:
Web site optimization with strategic kind placement
Social media leverage to transform followers
Content material advertising by way of useful lead magnets
Networking each on-line and offline
Authorized compliance to construct belief and shield your corporation
Keep in mind: The purpose isn’t simply to gather e mail addresses—it’s to construct an inventory of engaged subscribers who genuinely need to hear from you.
Begin constructing your e mail listing as we speak
Able to implement these methods? Give attention to 2-3 strategies that align along with your present advertising efforts and step by step develop your method. Consistency and worth supply are key to long-term e mail advertising success.
Begin rising your e mail listing as we speak! Get all of the instruments and sources you’ll want to construct your e mail listing with AWeber.
Get began proper now with a free AWeber account!
