--- author : 'Harshit Bhatia' app : - name: INK - articleId: "e3600f76-2d9a-9912-3578-29f78792f33e" - version: 2.5.4 - metadesc: "It's%20actually%20pretty%20simple%3A%20strategically%20funnel%20your%20blog's%20traffic%20using%20the%20Landing%20Page%20Funnel%20(LPF)%20Technique.%20The%202-step%20LPF%20technique%20is%20very%20simple.%20First%2C%20you%20identify%20landing%20pages%20that%20convert%20well%20on%20your%20site.%20" - metatitle: "List%20Building%3A%20How%20to%20Build%20an%20Email%20List%20-%20Backlinko" - outlinenotes: "" - kwData: 4c697374204275696c64696e673a39323a39312e373034373836393730353433333a31343638 - ignored: - kwLocation: date : 2020-11-11T14:48:23.485Z keywords : - 'List Building' title : | 'List Building: How to Build an Email List' --- List Building: How to Build an Email List ========================================= **1\. Use Content Upgrade Popups** Look: Love ’em or hate ’em, **popups work**. For example, a while back I decided to try using a popup. Here’s what the popup looks like: Sumo That popup form may look simple, but it converts at an impressive 3.42%. And it took my subscriber numbers from **35/day to 75/day**. In fact, that simple-looking popup added over 3600 new subscribers to my email list in 3 months. Sumo Although I’m happy with those results, I’m excited to tell you that I’ve discovered a way to make popups even **more** powerful. How? By adding [The Content Upgrade](https://backlinko.com/increase-conversions) to the mix. Never heard of the The Content Upgrade? No worries. This post will show you [how I used The Content Upgrade to increase conversions by 785%](https://backlinko.com/increase-conversions). content upgrade post (If you want to learn how to build an email list, The Content Upgrade should be high on your list of things to master). As you saw in that post, page-specific offers convert WAY better than something generic (like “free updates”). For example: In [my Google Ranking Factors post](https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors), I give away a checklist that makes the information from that post much more actionable: content upgrade example And then it hit me: Why would I offer someone something VERY specific with The Content Upgrade… …and then turn around and make a generic offer in my popup? That doesn’t make any sense. So I decided to create a page-specific popup that pitched my Google Ranking Factors checklist. Page-specific popup The result? A **65% increase** in conversions vs. the generic offer. Imagine how many A/B tests you’d have to run to increase conversions by 65% (hint: **a lot**). Why would waste time testing button colors when you can do something like this that’s **almost guaranteed** to generate results right away? Speaking of a strategy that gets results right away… [TWEET THIS LIST BUILDING TECHNIQUE](https://backlinko.com/list-building#) ## **2\. Hack Qualaroo To Build Your Email List Fast** Here’s one of the most creative list building strategies I’ve ever seen: You may already be familiar with [Qualaroo](https://qualaroo.com/), a survey tool that asks live questions to visitors on your website. Qualaroo Example While Qualaroo is great at surveying your site’s visitors, you may not know that you can ALSO hack this tool to build your email list. In fact, The University of Alberta recently used this same hack to boost subscribers [by more than 500%](https://blog.kissmetrics.com/a-little-nudge/). Here’s how they did it…and how you can do the same thing on your site. The University was looking to increase conversions on their email updates page, which you can see here: email_signup_page Instead of using Qualaroo to poll their visitors, they had the tool encourage people to sign up to their email newsletter: Alberta Qualaroo In fact, they set it up so you can literally subscribe directly through the Qualaroo form! Qualaroo Email Did it work? In a word: YES! This Qualaroo form pushed their signups from a sad 1-2/day… …**to a respectable 12-15/day** without making any other changes to that page. ## **3\. Optimize This Often-Ignored Page and Increase Your List By Up To 25%** I’ve got good news and bad news… First, the bad news: If you make people double opt-in to join your list, [up to 25%](https://www.startupnation.com/community/forums/topic/12496/Case-study-Double-vs-Single-Opt-in-email-signups) of your subscribers may be falling through the cracks. confirmation message Why? Sometimes your “Confirm your subscription” email gets caught in their spam filter. Sometimes they change their mind. Sometimes the dog poops on the rug and they forget to confirm. **Now for some good news:** You can significantly boost your subscriber numbers **by getting more of your opt-ins to actually confirm their email**. How can you do that? Optimize your confirmation page. I’m happy to say that my confirmation page loses VERY few people. Here’s what it looks like: almost done page Let’s break down the 3 reasons this page works better than most confirmation pages. **First, I re-iterate the benefits of subscribing.** I quickly remind you why it’s worth going through the trouble of confirming your email. The second line on the page is: benefit line Most people say something like, “in order to subscribe to our newsletter, you need to confirm your email”. What’s more likely to motivate you to double opt-in? Free updates, strategies and tips…or subscribing to a newsletter? Thought so. **Second, I include a strong call to action** that asks them to confirm right away. confirm CTA This is HUGE. If someone doesn’t confirm right away they’re MUCH less likely to ever do it. In fact, [Ramit Sethi](https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/) actually has a countdown timer on his confirmation page. Awesome. Ramit Confirmation Page **Third, I visually walk you through the exact steps** you need to take in order to confirm your email. visual steps Even if you’ve already signed up to a million email lists, the visual cues reinforces what you’re supposed to do. (It also shows that you’re a helpful person) [TWEET THIS LIST BUILDING TECHNIQUE](https://backlinko.com/list-building#) ## **4\. Limit The Number of Options** Which sounds better to you? Making millions from the stock market… …or being lazy and eating Cheetos on your couch? I know, it’s a silly question. Timothy Sykes Although each Bounce Exchange popup has a unique design, they have one thing in common: **They make you feel like an idiot for not opting in.** For example, here’s a Bounce Exchange popup from [MensHealth.com](https://www.menshealth.com/) (note the “No thanks, I’m not looking to lose weight” option): Bounce Exchange Example You might be asking yourself: “Why would they give someone a stupid option like that?” The simple answer to that question: scientific research shows that two options convert MUCH better than one option. In a recent study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, Professor Daniel Mochon of Tulane University uncovered a phenomenon known as “[Single Option Aversion](https://www.jcr-admin.org/files/pressPDFs/060813213811_Mochon_Article.pdf)“: Single Option Aversion Here’s what went down: Mochon asked 3 groups of research subjects to imagine that they were in the market for a new DVD player. Mochon gave one group of people information about JUST a Sony DVD player. Here’s what that information looked like: Single Option Example He gave a second group information **only** about a Philips DVD player (that looked similar to the above example). And a third group received information on both the Sony AND Philips DVD player: Both Options What happened? When presented with JUST the Sony or Philips DVD player information, approximately 10% of subjects said they’d be ready to buy right away. **Here’s the interesting part:** **33% of subjects** presented with both Philip and Sony DVD player options said that were ready to make a decision right then and there. That’s **3x more** than people that only saw one option. conversion increase **Bottom line:** Including a second option (even a silly one) will convert more people into email subscribers. [TWEET THIS LIST BUILDING TECHNIQUE](https://backlinko.com/list-building#) ## **5\. Use This Simple Trick to Solve The “Social Proof Paradox”** There’s one piece of conversion advice that drives me nuts. “If you want more people to subscribe to your email list, use social proof. Show people how many subscribers you already have.” That sounds great in theory… But what if you only have 17 people on your email list? How is that going to boost social proof? It’s what I call the **“Social Proof Paradox”.** You need social proof to get subscribers. But you need subscribers to get social proof. It’s a classic chicken or the egg problem. So what’s the solution? **Testimonials**. Here’s an example from one of my newsletter sign up pages: Backlinko Newsletter page testimonial Here’s another example: Another testimonial See that? You **don’t** need a 30,000-person email list to demonstrate social proof. A single testimonial is enough. (In fact, I’ve found that a single glowing testimonial is often more powerful than “I already have 89,541 subscribers”) [TWEET THIS LIST BUILDING TECHNIQUE](https://backlinko.com/list-building#) ## **6\. Use BuiltWith.com To Steal Your Competitor’s Best Conversion Tools** What’s the fastest way to find the best conversion tools for YOUR business? That’s easy: Use the same tools that your competitors use everyday. But how? Well you could try to learn how to build an email list completely on your own… …or you could look at a competitor site’s source code and try to piece things together yourself. Source Code (Good luck with that) Or you can use this little-known tool called [Built With](https://builtwith.com/) that shows you the EXACT tools your competition uses to build their email list. How does it work? First, enter the homepage URL of one of your competitors into the tool: Built With – Search The tool will show you competitive information, like links and traffic sources: Built With – Competitive information But you want to focus on the “Analytics and Tracking” section: Built With – Analytics & Tracking section That box will show you every tool that your competitor’s site uses…including tools that they use for split testing, [email marketing](https://backlinko.com/email-marketing-guide) and more. Pretty awesome, right? [TWEET THIS LIST BUILDING TECHNIQUE](https://backlinko.com/list-building#) ## **7\. Use The LPF Technique to Turn More Blog Traffic Into Subscribers** Quick question: What’s the **#1 page** you want someone to visit to when they come to your blog? If your answer is, “one of my best blog posts”, you’re missing out on HUNDREDS of potential subscribers. So…what’s the _right_ answer? You want your visitors to go to pages **designed to collect emails**. In other words, landing pages. As you may have read in my recent post, [How to Create a Page That Converts at 21.7% (Step-By-Step Case Study)](https://backlinko.com/social-squeeze-page), I recently created a Social Squeeze Page on my blog that converts at (you guessed it) 21.7%. Here’s what the page looks like: social squeeze page Problem is: How do you get your site’s visitors to land on your best-converting landing pages? It’s actually pretty simple: strategically funnel your blog’s traffic using the **Landing Page Funnel (LPF) Technique**. The 2-step LPF technique is very simple. 1. **First**, you identify landing pages that convert well on your site. 2. **Second**, you design your site to funnel people to those high-converting pages. Here’s an example of how I use the LPF technique at Backlinko: As I mentioned, my Social Squeeze Page is the best-converting page on Backlinko. So that’s one high-converting page. But I also have a [newsletter sign up page](https://backlinko.com/newsletter/) that converts at around 10%. newsletter sign up page So for me, my Social Squeeze Page and my Newsletter page are my top 2 best-performing pages. Step #1=done. Next, I added links around my site that point to those two pages. Like in my site’s top navigation: navigation link And a text-based link under the “Popular Articles” section of my sidebar: Sidebar Links [Michael Hyatt](https://michaelhyatt.com/) uses the LPF Technique in his blog… Michael deftly includes a “Subscribe” link at of his blog’s navigation. subscribe button It just so happens that this “Subscribe” link takes people to an attractive squeeze page that no doubt converts extremely well: ebook sign up form Very smart. [TWEET THIS LIST BUILDING TECHNIQUE](https://backlinko.com/list-building#) ## **8\. Turn Your LinkedIn Group Into a List Building Fire Hose** A few weeks ago I stumbled on a brilliant list building strategy using the untapped power of LinkedIn. Here’s what happened… There’s this group on LinkedIn called the Sports Industry Network: linkedin group example Like most LinkedIn groups, the Sports Industry Network sends you a “Welcome to the Group” email after you join. Here’s the email that they sent to me: LinkedIn Group Welcome As you can see, the group asks you to “confirm your membership” to access to exclusive content. And where does that link in the email lead to? You guessed it: A well-designed landing page. Landing Page Brilliant. If you run a LinkedIn group, you can easily do the same thing by going to **Manage–>Temples–>Welcome Message:** linkedin group welcome message And add a link to your squeeze page in the welcome message that goes out to new members. [TWEET THIS LIST BUILDING TECHNIQUE](https://backlinko.com/list-building#) ## **9\. Use These 8 Words to Dramatically Increase The Value Of Your Giveaway** I’m pretty sure you’re with me on this one: “Featured Download” sounds MUCH more appealing than “Sign up for our newsletter”. That’s probably why [the HubSpot blog](https://blog.hubspot.com/) uses that _exact_ pitch on their site (and has over 225,ooo subscribers to show for it). If you read the the HubSpot blog, you may have noticed a banner that slides in from the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Here’s an example: featured_download And when you click the “Download Now” button, you’re taken to a landing page: hubspot_squeeze_page What makes this approach so effective? The simple answer: traditional pitches like, “Sign up to my list and get a free ebook” don’t get the job done today. But when you describe your opt-in bribe (like a free ebook) with **value terms**, it adds rocket fuel to your offer’s perceived value. Direct mail marketers have used these words for _decades_ to increase the perceived value of their offers… …and you can do the same. Here are value terms you can use to make your giveaway more enticing: * “Featured” * “Exclusive” * “Advanced” * “Download” * “Secrets” * “Access” * “Special Offer” * “Limited Time” In fact, I use several value terms on my newsletter squeeze page: