How to grow your email list: forms, popups, lead magnets and double opt-in

Every other email guide assumes you already have people to email. This one is about getting them. A list grows when three things line up: people see a way to sign up, they have a reason to do it, and what they get afterwards matches what you promised.

This guide covers where to ask, what to offer, how to use popups without annoying visitors and how to keep the list clean as it grows.

Start with a reason to sign up

“Subscribe to our newsletter” is not a reason. Visitors need to know what they get and how often. Pick one offer that fits your audience:

• A first-order discount for stores. 10% off or free shipping is enough for most products.
• A free guide, checklist or template for creators, coaches and B2B. Short and specific beats long and general: “The 12-point pre-launch checklist” beats “Our ultimate marketing ebook”.
• Early access or members-only content: new drops, restocks, a weekly roundup no one else gets.
• A useful newsletter described in one line: “One recipe every Sunday, ready in 30 minutes.”

Whatever you offer, say how often you will email. “One email a week, unsubscribe any time” removes a lot of hesitation.

Put forms where people already are

A single form in the footer is easy to miss. Add a sign-up form wherever people show interest:

• The footer of every page, as a baseline.
• The end of blog posts, where readers have just finished something they liked.
• A dedicated landing page for paid ads, social bios and links in your email signature.
• Product or pricing pages, with an offer that fits the page (“Get 10% off your first order”).
• Checkout, if you run a store. Shoppers who tick the marketing box are often your best subscribers.

Keep forms short. Ask for an email address, and a first name if you will actually use it. Every extra field costs sign-ups. Ask for a birthday only if you plan to send a birthday email.

Use popups, politely

Popups work because they put the offer in front of people who would never scroll to the footer. They also annoy people when they appear at the wrong moment. Timing is most of the difference.

A few rules that hold up well:

• Don’t show it the instant the page loads. Give people 5 to 15 seconds to see what the page is about.
• Show it once. A visitor who closed your popup already answered.
• Make it easy to close, especially on phones, and never cover the whole screen on mobile.
• Match the offer to the page. A discount popup on a blog post about your craft can feel out of place; a free guide fits better.

Exit-intent popups only work on desktop, because phones have no mouse to leave the window. Use a delay for mobile visitors.

Lead magnets that actually get used

A lead magnet is only as good as the first email that delivers it. Good ones share a few traits:

• They solve one small, specific problem in a few minutes.
• They lead naturally to what you sell. A checklist for planning a garden fits a seed shop; a generic “productivity guide” doesn’t.
• They arrive instantly. Send the download or code in the first email, at the top, not as a link to another sign-up page.

Then follow up with a short welcome series so new subscribers get to know you while they are still interested.

Double opt-in: slower growth, better list

With double opt-in, new subscribers get a confirmation email and only join your list when they click the link. You will lose some sign-ups, usually people who never check that inbox or who mistyped their address. That is mostly the point.

Turn it on when:

• You run paid traffic or giveaways, which attract fake and throwaway addresses.
• Your audience is international. In parts of Europe and Canada, confirmed consent is the safest record to have.
• You have seen bots sign up, filling your list with random addresses.

Make the confirmation step painless: tell people on the thank-you message to check their inbox, keep the confirmation email short with one clear button, and send the promised reward only after they confirm.

What not to do

• Don’t buy or rent lists. Those people never asked to hear from you. They complain, they bounce, and they can push your emails into spam for everyone. See the deliverability checklist.
• Don’t add people without consent. A business card or a past invoice isn’t permission to send marketing email.
• Don’t promise what you won’t send. If the form says weekly, send weekly.

Measure what works

Check which forms and popups bring in subscribers, and which of those subscribers go on to open, click and buy. A popup that adds 300 people a month who never open is worth less than a footer form that adds 50 buyers. In SendCoop, you can segment contacts by Lead source (such as the UTM campaign they arrived from) to compare.

Set it up in SendCoop

1. Create a list and decide whether it uses double opt-in. See Turn on double opt-in.
2. Create a form from the forms catalog and connect it to the list. See Create a sign-up form.
3. Embed it on your site, or turn it into a popup with a delay, first-visit, click or exit-intent trigger. See Show a form as a popup.
4. Add a welcome email or series on the same list to deliver what you promised.

Forms and popups are on every plan, including Free, which covers your first 500 contacts.