How to Use Free Downloads to Grow Your Email List

If you’re thinking about how to use free downloads to grow your email list, this is your how-to guide. When you try to market your business in 2020, email marketing is probably one of the first things that comes to mind. This method is great, but it has one eternal problem. It requires you to have a prior connection with the people you want to reach. If you’re like most small business owners, you are constantly asking yourself how you can add more people to your email list. It turns out that the easiest way is a tactic you’ve probably seen in action before. Below, we explore how you can use free downloads to grow your email list. 

Come up with a resource your target audience wants.

First, you need to brainstorm and find something that holds significant value for the people you want to attract. Nowadays, people are being bombarded by emails. In 2019, the global average for emails sent and received per day was a whopping 246. Because of this, people are hesitant to give their emails out to companies who might crowd their inboxes without providing value. This is why you need to focus on providing a resource that’s appealing enough to overcome this barrier.

If you are a wedding photographer, this might be a free guide that includes information about what styles to wear for engagement photos, what to expect when coordinating different vendors, and recommendations or discounts for local dress shops and caterers. If you’re an accounting firm with a focus on small businesses, perhaps you can write a whitepaper that focuses on tax season changes and updates due to COVID-19. Many businesses offer subscriptions to their newsletters. However, this isn’t always the most appealing option since it doesn’t provide a clear, specific value. Whatever you choose, make sure that it is timely, relevant, and desirable to your target audience.

Add the resource to your website and social media.

Your freebie won’t do you any good if it’s not visible and accessible! Choose a prominent place on your website for the download link and its accompanying form. Most often, this is done as a pop-up on a relevant page that explains the freebie offer and requires visitors to enter their email address before they can access it. You can also insert this form at the bottom of your blog posts or even in your footer since pop-ups are falling out of favor with many users. Either way, make sure you have some kind of bot deterrence in place to make sure you don’t get a bunch of bogus entries! If you need help with the technical implementation, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Another way to provide free downloads to grow your email list is via social media. Just ask them to comment or message you their email, then send them the free resource. You may get fewer bites this way if you haven’t yet grown your credibility and presence, but it’s always worth a try!

Enjoy and analyze your success.

After you’ve implemented this plan on how to use free downloads to grow your email list, sit back and watch what happens. Track data over time so you can perfect your efforts. Are you getting more submissions from social or from your site? Try A/B testing to determine whether different emails or bonuses get more responses. Data is your friend. Over time, you will understand more about your audience and process. Before you know it, you’ll be a pro at offering freebies and growing your contact list. You can expand your efforts to include more resources and a wider audience.

With all this in mind, you’re ready to get started! Here’s to you, and to an ever-growing email list.

P.S.: Plenty of contacts, but no sales from your email marketing? Check out this post.