9 Email Capture Tricks Shown to Increase Signups 300%

Most digital marketers consider email marketing to be the most effective means of online outreach. That’s why it’s important that you have an email list that, like your business, is always growing.

When it comes to email marketing, many digital strategists struggle at the acquisition phase. While they’re sold on the concept, they just can’t get people to sign up to their email distribution lists.

So what’s the solution to that problem? A lead magnet and big bad of email capture tricks.

A lead magnet is a carrot dangled in front of people who are part of your target market. It’s an offer that they can’t refuse because for two reasons: 1) It’s something that they want anyway; and 2) It doesn’t cost any money.

What it does cost, however, is an email address. People who want your carrot will have to accept it via email.

Once they’ve provided you with their email address, they automatically become part of your distribution list.

Here are several great lead magnets you can use to grow your email list.

1. Use A Video Course As An Email Capture Trick

Countless digital marketers advise greenhorns to offer a “report” or a “tutorial” as a lead magnet. That may be fine and dandy, but often those reports are offered in written format.

The fact is that some people don’t like to read.

Also, keep in mind that if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million words. So, instead of putting your report or tutorial in written format, offer it in video.

People also tend to remember more about what they watch in a video as opposed to skimming a long article. Viewers avoid “skimming” a video because they’re afraid that they might miss something.

Keep in mind, though, that creating a professional video production is not an inexpensive or brief task. You’ll have to make an investment, in terms of both time and money. But you should consider that investment in building your email list.

Keep in mind, though, that the video course should be absolutely relevant and offer something in high demand from people in your target market. Otherwise, it will be a wasted effort.

2. A Great Download Or A Tool

A favorite lead magnet of people in your own space (digital marketing) is to offer a list of the best tools of the trade.

For example, you might stumble across some brilliant marketer’s website and notice a pop-up that reads something like: “Want to know which tools are the best for SEO? Click here to learn more!”

Once the visitor clicks there, he or she is brought to a page that brags a little more about the comprehensive list of the best tools used by all the greatest SEO professionals. Then, the page offers that list for the simple price of an email address.

After the transaction is complete, the visitor receives an email that includes a link to the PDF file that has the list. It’s really that simple.

The principle here isn’t exclusive to marketing, though. For example, a strategist in the fashion space might offer a list of outfits best suited to any occasion.

But tools also work really well. For example, an infographic embed code generator like this could score you thousands of emails a month if you generate enough traffic to it.

3. A Case Study (One Of The Top Email Capture Tricks)

How do you know a particular strategy is effective? One way to be fairly certain of its success is because it worked for somebody else.

That’s why case studies are awesome. They provide a “proof in the pudding” example about how a particular business initiative worked well.

Case studies are also great lead magnets. That’s especially true if you’re in the B2B space and create case studies from some of the clients that you’ve worked with in the past.

For example, if you’re a digital marketer you might tempt people who visit your site with a case study entitled: “How We Increased Web Traffic for One SaaS Company by More Than 500%!” That’s a study that will appeal to business owners looking for strategists who can help them boost their website traffic.

Also note that you’re accomplishing two things with this lead magnet. You’re not only giving people a reason to become a part of your email list, you’re also offering proof that you’re an effective online marketer.

4. A Free Initial Consultation (If You Are Well Known)

How many times have you seen a TV ad from a trial lawyer who said that he offered a “free initial consultation”?

Is there any reason why you can’t market your business similarly?

If you’re offering a service, it’s likely that there’s isn’t. But even better than that: you can use the “free initial consultation” offer to capture a person’s email address.

After all, how are you supposed to contact anybody without an email address? That’s why it will make perfect sense to anyone who expects a free initial consultation to provide his or her email address to you.

Just be sure to live up to your promise. In other words, don’t promise a free initial consultation in exchange for an email address and then fail to deliver. That will hurt your brand more than help it.

Also, this only works well if you are a true expert in your field. People need to know you and feel like it will be worth their time.

5. Webinars Work Really Well

Webinars are a particularly popular means of online outreach right now. More and more entrepreneurs are using them to grow their audience and boost their brand.

They’re also great lead magnets.

One reason that they’re a good way to grow your email list is that they can create the impression of scarcity. Many marketers run a banner ad promoting a webinar with a call to action button that reads “Claim My Spot” or some similar verbiage.

Do you see what they did there? The “Claim My Spot” button implies scarcity. It gives the impression that there are a limited number of slots available.

And, as any good marketer knows, when people sense scarcity, they tend to pounce.

So the trick here is to offer a webinar that’s not only of interest to people in your target market, but also gives the impression (real or implied) that there’s limited virtual seating.

Then, when people click your call to action button, they have to provide an email address.

6. Free Trial

This one is a lead magnet similar to the “free initial consultation” method mentioned earlier. It’s particularly effective if you’re in the SaaS space.

You basically give people access to your service for free for a limited time in exchange for an email address.

For example, if you’re offering a service that tracks key influencers on social media, you could offer a “try before you buy” option. Then, just ask for the email address of people who’d like to try your service for free.

Then, you’ve got another addition to your email list. Even better: that person is almost certainly part of your target market otherwise he or she would never have wanted to even try your service.

7. Free Chapter of a Published Book (Or the Entire Thing)

If you’re someone who’s already got an enough prestige to have your own book listed on Amazon, then you can use a chapter from that book as a lead magnet.

It’s this simple: take a single chapter and create a PDF file from it. Then, put it on a URL and don’t advertise that URL to anybody except people who sign up to your email list.

And feel free to make it the best chapter in your book. If people really like what they read, they’ll buy the book and you get two benefits for the price of one.

Some people take this a step further and give away an entire book for free. That is what Jeff Bullas did.

That is also what Jason has done over at Audience Bloom.

Here is a popup example.

And here is a call out in the sidebar.

8. The “Challenge”

If you’d like to grow your email list, consider challenging people.

Here’s how it works: people come across your website and you hit them with ad copy that reads something like “Take The 30-Day Challenge! Follow these steps every day for the next month and see how much your web traffic increases!”

When people click the call to action button to learn more about the challenge, you’ll advertise a step-by-step guide that will show people how to boost the number of visitors to the website over the next month.

But how do they get the guide? You guessed it. They have to provide an email address.

Another great feature about challenges: you can use them to increase engagement and visibility on social media. Advise people to tweet about their success using a specific hashtag.

Alternatively, you can set up a place on your site where challenge participants can leave comments about how they’re doing.

A quiz can also work really well. We have had excellent success with QZZR.

9. Hacks

People are always looking for a better way to build the mousetrap. Why not help them out by offering a list of hacks relevant to their interests?

For example, if you’re in the digital marketing space, you might present your visitors with a pop-up that reads: “10 Incredibly Easy Ways to Get More Traffic That Require No Money.” When people click the link, they go through the familiar process of providing an email address where the URL to the list of hacks will be delivered.

The great thing about offering a list of hacks as a lead magnet is that there are hacks available for almost any target market.

Are you in the fashion space? Consider a list of inexpensive fashion hacks.

Are you selling kitchenware? Offer a list of recipe hacks.

Whatever your business, create a list of hacks relevant to people in your target market and they’ll happily exchange an email address for it.

Take the Time to Test and do it Right

Even with all the advances in technology, email marketing remains one of the best ways to boost your brand. Make sure you’re always growing your email list by using quality lead magnets that incentivize people to provide you with their contact info.

Keep in mind, it is better to do this on the page level. If you can create magnets that really related to the content people are reading, that will result in the most growth.