Boost Subscriber Sign-ups with These Tactics

The best way to pay for email subscribers is sideways.

Email lists are a powerful tool for businesses, and newsletters, themselves, can be profitable businesses. They allow you to stay in touch with your customers, build relationships, promote products, and develop an audience. But how do you pay for email subscribers?

If you have the money to spend on list-building, that's great, but you need to be smart about where you put your dollars and find your people. While it's technically legal in the U.S. to buy email lists, you can still run afoul of international and local regulations controlling email marketing.

Don't buy third-party lists directly. Instead, use these tactics to boost your numbers.

How To Get 10,000 Email Subscribers With Paid Tools and Tactics

The focus of this article may be on paid tools, but these methods all start with free, readily available tools and best practices. You can take them to the next level with paid platforms.

Refine Your Email Sign-up Process

Make it easy and attractive for people to subscribe by optimizing your opt-in process. Collect emails with a form that you display prominently on your website, social accounts, or wherever else your brand lives online.

Less is more. Create a simple sign-up form that doesn't require too much effort from the user. The fewer fields there are, the less daunting the process will seem, and the more likely people will be to complete it. Because people have so much information stored online, they may not even need to manually enter their information.

Get Fancy with Paid Lead-generation Tools

Want to spend some dollars? Improve your forms with lead-generation platforms, many of which require you to purchase a paid plan. Leverage more effective pop-up forms or add gamification elements, such as quizzes or contests which allow you to engage your audience while simultaneously collecting their contact information.

Options to investigate:

• Outgrow. Emphasizing interactive content, Outgrow lets you develop quizzes, forms, and website elements to personalize the customer journey (such as chatbots and product recommendations). Starts at $22/month ($14/month paid annually).

• Jotform. Jotform specializes in all kinds of forms. It's a great tool for businesses that want a comprehensive tool to handle a range of affairs that still includes lead-generation features. There’s a limited free plan, and paid plans start at $34/month.

• Thrive Suite. Only for WordPress users, Thrive Suite adds a number of functions to WP sites. You can purchase the full plan or only the specific tool you think is the most useful. $149 quarterly, or $299/year.

Offer Incentives and Quality Content

There's no substitute for quality. You need to create the kind of content that encourages people to join your list. If you want to add extra incentives, you can offer perks such as discounts and exclusive downloads. Or you can go the paid route with a platform such as VYPER, which allows you to run giveaways and contests.

Leverage Social Media Platforms

As you develop your audience, make social and email work together like the besties they were meant to be. Convert your social followers into email subscribers. You should also make your content easy to share on platforms.

Take your social strategy further with paid tactics. You can use social ads to spread brand awareness and contact influencers in your field. General social networking is free, but if you want to capitalize on an influencer's social capital, you'll likely have to pay. Talk to people whose accounts you already follow, or use influencer marketing tools to find accounts in your niche and price range.

Encourage Referrals

This strategy starts as a free invitation for readers to forward your newsletter. Ask existing subscribers if they know anyone who might be interested in what you have to offer and encourage them to share your newsletter with their friends and family.

Then, level up your referral strategy with a paid beehiiv plan. We have a best-in-class built-in referral program that you can use to grow your subscriber base exponentially.

Don't Buy an Email List — Rent

Renting space in another email newsletter can be a great way to get exposure to their clientele.

Target a specific audience that is already interested in content like yours without irritating them with unsolicited material.

How Do I Get Email Subscribers to Purchase?

You can use the beehiiv ad network as an advertiser as well as a creator. Promote a special offer, or simply let people know that you exist.

If you want to use another brand's platform to convince their subscribers to purchase your own content, demonstrate your value and your relevance. Talk to this email-savvy influencer about collaborations (free or paid) that benefit you both. Guest author an article that shows why you're a good fit, or convince them to add you to their list of recommended publications.

How Can I Buy an Email List Safely?

Still unconvinced that you should build rather than buy your list? Sigh. All right. If you insist on ignoring everything I've said so far, and still want to purchase an email list directly, you force me to borrow tactics from my mother.

As a teenager, I popped a pimple or two. (Don't judge. Anyone who claims they've never done it was blessed with either perfect skin or superhuman self-control.) My mother told me not to — it could lead to infection or scarring. You don't want to scar your reputation or infect your list with problematic addresses. (You doubted this weird metaphor, but see how it's still on track?) She still gave me a little advice on ways to minimize the potential damage.

Be clean. Only buy from a trusted, reputable source. And be gentle. Only send one email to the list, asking them to opt-in to receive future communications from your brand.

But I repeat: Don't buy email lists (or pop pimples).

How Much Should I Pay for an Email List?

At the end of the day, it's up to you how much money you want to spend on getting new email subscribers. Just remember that while paid methods can be effective in boosting numbers quickly, free methods should always be part of any strategy since they don't require upfront costs and can help build a loyal following over time.

Buy Sideways

Building an email list is an active process. Invest your funds in helpful tools rather than trying to shortcut the journey. You can splurge on sophisticated lead-generation tools, develop your referral program, or rent ad or article space in another publication. There are plenty of healthy ways to spend the money burning holes in your pockets.

To pick yours, start by taking stock of your publication's current status. What would be most immediately helpful? What has the most potential for long-term and sustainable growth? You may decide that your funds are best spent on a one-time, initial boost such as a collaboration with an influencer. Or perhaps you want to make your sign-up process more exciting. Is it time to take the next step with your subscribers? Turn them into a source of growth with beehiiv's Scale plan!

Whatever you choose, remember this: leave those zits alone.

Why Trust Me

I’m a digital marketer who specializes in website content and email marketing. I regularly research and write on topics related to the best strategies to grow your brand as a creator or business.