5+1 Popup Ideas To Rapidly Grow Your Email List

Does it seem impossible to have buyers sign up to your email list? 

Is your email list’s growth stagnant and your opt-in rates almost reach for the bottom of the email marketing abyss?

Well, today the gods of eCommerce blessed you by having you land on our blog post.

Below, we’re going to point out 6 ways you can leverage popups to gain your visitors' emails and rapidly grow your email list.

Let’s dive straight into it.

First-time Purchase Discount

When it comes to eCommerce, one of the most powerful incentives is making discounts. 

People can’t have enough of feeling they made a sweet deal. They want to spend less, without compromising the product of their choice. (We can’t really blame them!).

That’s where the First-time Purchase Discount comes in. Essentially, it’s a small, yet meaningful, discount for customers to make their first purchase. 

It’s a great way to make customers eager to give your products a whirl, and of course, eager to share their personal emails with you. Win-win situation achieved.

Test both welcome and exit-intent popups to determine what’s working best for your brand.

Tip: If your products’ prices are relatively low, go for a discount of up to 15%. If your products are more of a high ticket, opt for “$ coupons” or free shipping.

Bestsellers Offer

To make your popup even more captivating, try out offering a discount on hand-picked, bestselling products.

Why choose bestsellers sale as a lead magnet? Because these are products people seem to care most about.

So, by placing a small discount on them, buyers will be more willing to subscribe to your list and make their first purchase saving a few bucks.

Tip: Don’t just stick to one bestseller. Rotate them to identify the ones that have the higher opt-in rate.

Cross-sell Offers

Can popups work for both growing your email list and boosting the average order value of your store? Heck yeah!

And Cross-sell Offers is the avenue to ride. In a nutshell, cross-sell offers are when a customer is ready or has completed a purchase, to offer a discount on a complementary product.

That way your buyer gets greater value from your store, saving money and getting more.

How does that work with popups? Let’s say a visitor has added a product to their wishlist or to their cart and proceeds to exit your store without making a purchase. 

Your popup will show up, offering a discount to complete the order, buying a relevant product at a discount. In other words, two birds with one stone.

Tip: Be very strict in what you consider a complementary product. A phone and a phone case are complementary. A t-shirt and shorts are complementary. Headphones and a nightlight are not.

Flash Sale

If making discounts is not included in your strategy, there’s no need to sweat it. There are other compelling hooks you can use to incentivize your visitors and grow your email list.

One of them is the all-mighty FOMO. Or if you’re not familiar with the acronym, the Fear Of Missing Out.

When presented with an alluring deal that’s floating away, humans just can’t help themselves but want to make the most out of it.

A great way to leverage this innate flaw is to implement Flash Sales. The buyers will have a limited time to claim the deal and shop the products at a lower price, skyrocketing their FOMO.

For this magnet to be even more effective, put a timer on your popup, showing how much time’s left to claim the deal. (Caution! FOMO levels rising). 

Tip: Test different Flash Sales durations, starting from 15 minutes and going up to 2 hours.

Exclusive Drops

Continuing our journey in the FOMO universe, another way to capitalize on humans’ drive to never miss on a juicy deal is to offer Exclusive Drops to your email subscribers.

When products are considered VIP or exclusive, they get some invisible, gold dust that elevates them to a premium tier.

That’s exactly what people are craving for nowadays. To be unique, to stand out, to not be regular.

Pick some of your products and make them available only through your email list. If you’re eager to go a step further, create new products, exclusively for your subscribers.

Tip: Don’t just make promises for “Exclusive Drops”. Showcase the VIP products that are currently available.

Bonus type - Gamified Popups

Are popups just static images to provide an offer? That depends on you, your eCommerce store developer, and how interesting you want your popups to be.

Gamified Popups are the cure to dull, don’t-care-reading popups. They resonate with the inner child in every adult, making popups fun to engage with. 

Some of the most successful gamified popups are:

• Spin the Wheel or Wheel of Fortune - Discounts spinning around the wheel and your visitor should press ‘stop’ to land on a discount.
• Pick a Gift - 3 or 5 gift boxes containing surprise offers. Your visitor picks and claims one of them.
• Scratch Card - Visitors scratch off a coupon to unravel the discount code.

Bonus Tip: Keep reading here for 5 actionable Popup tips to increase your opt-in rates.

See Your Email List Grow Rapidly

As a merchant, you’re not supposed to know any of these mechanisms. Your job is to find, craft, and sell high-quality products that make people's lives a little bit more joyful.

So, instead of burning the midnight oil trying to figure out how to get your email list out of the death valley, just send us a message. Our team of experienced eCommerce experts will help you implement popups and soar your new leads.