Want to grow your email list but not sure where to start?

Or are you unsure why your email list is not growing as fast as you would like it to?

After adding thousands of people to my email list and from the experience of helping my coaching clients, I’ve found three common reasons why your email list may not be growing.

The most common reason I’ve seen is that your lead magnet is not hitting the mark.

I often see lead magnets that are way too complex and therefore aren’t desirable to ideal clients.

The content sounds either confusing or overwhelming, and as a result, no one clicks on it to download it.

If no one is downloading your lead magnet, it’s probably time to get feedback or step back and simplify what you’re offering.

The second most common reason your email list isn’t growing fast enough is that you aren’t visible enough to your audience.

Promoting your business takes continuous and consistent effort; however, you can also use marketing tools and systems to make this process easier.

I’ve included some recommendations for tools and systems below that I also use in my business. The links below are affiliate links, which means I earn a little extra income (at no extra cost to you!) if you subscribe or purchase these systems or tools. Thank you in advance for your support!

And finally, the reason that your email list may not be growing is that your audience reach isn’t broad enough.

It may require you to partner and collaborate with other business owners to increase your reach.

Additionally, you could consider investing in paid marketing activities to boost your reach.

If you feel like any of those reasons above may be holding you back from growing your email list and generating qualified leads, then here are ten ways to grow your email list:

1. Create a relevant and uncomplicated lead magnet (freebie)

One of the most effective ways to grow your email list is by giving away a free lead magnet in return for someone’s email address.

This approach is effective because it works like a magnet to attract the right people to your business, who will become qualified leads.

Your lead magnet could be in the form of a PDF checklist or guide. You could also consider a video series, a health check, or even a quiz.

Depending on your type of service business, it could also be more relevant to use a free trial or a voucher as a lead magnet.

Whatever format you decide, it just needs to be considered valuable to your ideal clients and be simple enough for someone to consume quickly and easily.

There are a few success factors when it comes to a lead magnet. I recommend:

• Keeping it simple and make the content easy to consume and implement
• Crafting an eye-catching headline that will get more people to click
• Designing a landing page or form that is free of distractions
• Including a description of your target market in the headline

RELATED: What is a lead magnet? (And how to create one that works)

2. Add a pop-up form to your website

While some people feel that pop-up forms on websites are annoying… the fact is, they work!

If you’re using a tool like Convertkit for email marketing, it’s quite simple to link a website pop-up to it and add more leads to your email list.

I recommend adding a pop-up form to your website that appears after a 45-second delay.

Also, add an ‘exit intent’ pop-up form which displays when someone is about to leave your site.

RELATED: 30 Marketing tools all service-based businesses should know about

3. Promote your lead magnet on social media

It can be easy to forget to promote your lead magnet.

So, be sure to use a social media auto-scheduler to consistently post links to the freebies you have.

Try mixing up your posts to have a few different graphics or images you can share.

Also, test this one out with a few different captions to see what’s the most effective.

Finally, also be sure to add relevant links within your social media profiles so that your lead magnet freebie is easy to find.

If you want to grow your service business but are unsure where to start, I’ve put together a free 72-point Ultimate Marketing Checklist to help you get unstuck. Simply click the button below to download.

4. Add content upgrades to your blogs

Content upgrades are like lead magnets in that they are a PDF downloadable or similar that contains valuable information relevant to your blog post.

For example, if you had a blog post about creating a social media content plan, then you may have a free 30-day content calendar or some social media caption prompts that you could add as a freebie via a link in your blog.

Again, your subscribers would need to provide an email address in return for the content you’re providing as a value-add to the blog content.

RELATED: How to create an effective content marketing strategy

5. Run a competition

A competition that requires someone to subscribe to your email list is another effective way to grow your email list.

Consider sourcing a prize that would be highly valued to your audience to attract more entries.

You could also partner up with a complimentary business owner and run the competition together.

That way, your competition reaches two audiences (theirs and yours), and you can split the cost of a larger prize that would attract more entries.

You also need to have the competition mechanics that they sign up for both of your email lists.

6. Go live on your Facebook page or Instagram stories

Your audience loves to see and hear from you, so be sure to add regular social media lives to your promotional schedule.

At the end of the live video, promote your lead magnet or email list and ask people to subscribe to your email list.

You can increase the number of people who see this live video by promoting the time and date prior and afterwards via social media and email.

You could also run paid ads on this live video post to reach a wider audience online.

7. Run a free challenge

This option may take a little more time to set up and implement. However, you can add quite a few people to your email list with a free challenge.

Consider what your clients are struggling with now and what they would like your help with.

Next, break it down into smaller steps that someone could focus on completing over a few days or a week.

For example, you could run a 3-day challenge or a 5-day challenge that helps your clients solve a small problem by completing just a little bit each day.

Keep in mind that you want your challenge to be achievable so that your leads won’t get overwhelmed (otherwise, they are likely to drop out or not show up).

If you want to grow your service business but you’re not sure where to start, I’ve put together a free 72-point Ultimate Marketing Checklist to help you get unstuck. Simply click the button below to download.

8. Host a webinar or in-person event

Asking people to register for a webinar or event is another excellent way to grow your email list.

If you’re new in business, you could set up a simple form via your email autoresponder to collect names and email addresses.

Or you could opt for a webinar or event management and registration tool like Zoom Webinar or Demio for webinars or Eventbrite if it’s an in-person event.

RELATED: How to promote an event for your service-based business

9. Run paid advertising on Facebook / Instagram

Paid advertising (to your lead magnet) is one of the fastest ways to grow your email list.

So, if you can’t wait for your organic marketing strategies to work, then consider setting up some paid ads.

If you haven’t run paid ads before, then you’ll need to spend some time researching your audience so that you can get your targeting right.

And testing your ads to ensure that you know they work before scaling them and investing more money.

Success with Facebook and Instagram ads comes down to having a solid marketing strategy and testing what works so that you see a good return on your investment.

10. Refer to your lead magnet during podcast interviews

If you’re invited to be interviewed on a podcast, then it’s an excellent opportunity to get your name out there to a new audience.

And not only that but also to promote your lead magnet and collect more email addresses from potential leads.

When you’re pitching for podcasts, you may have a couple of topics that you specialise in, so it’s also a good idea to have some relevant lead magnets that go along with them.

Also, set up an easy to remember website URL address so that it’s easy for people to type in and find the freebie on your site.

So, there you have ten ways to grow your email list and generate more leads for your service business.

I recommend starting with the ideas at the top of this list and working your way down to implement the easier and faster strategies first.

It will also enable you to test out your marketing activities organically to see what works before investing more of your time and money.

Tired of trying to figure out what you’re missing when it comes to finding clients and making sales in your service business?

Break through the barriers that are holding you back with the support of an MBA-qualified Marketing Coach and Business Mentor who will tailor a 1:1 program specifically for you.

BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH is a 3 or 6-month 1:1 Coaching Program for service-based business owners who want to develop the strategy, systems, and structure they need to find clients and make sales, so they can stop feeling stuck and start gaining massive momentum in their business.

Did you find this blog post helpful? Please don’t forget to PIN to Pinterest or share on Facebook.