Email list building is a strategy game. You’ve got to have multiple strategies that you’re using, testing which one's works, and then using what works the best for you and your business. In this tutorial, I’m going to give you 9 free email list-building strategies that you can start using to see what works for you.

Gamification is when you design something that allows your website visitor to interact with your website in a way that is like playing a game. When they interact they get some kind of reward. Some examples of gamification for email list building are spin-to-win or wheel of fortune-type apps, surveys, quizzes, virtual scratch-off tickets, tests, etc.

People love to tell others about things they love. So, if someone loves being on your list because of what you offer then they’ll probably tell others about being on your email list. A great way to really encourage your current subscribers to do this is to give them rewards for referring others to your list. You can do this by paying them or giving them points to redeem things they would normally have to pay for.

There are several apps that will allow you to do this. Do a Google search, see what options are the best for your business, and start your own referral program for your online business.

A content upgrade is offered in a piece of content you have on your blog. You can offer an upgrade to it to entice the reader to get on your email list.

Here’s an example: You have a great piece of content about building an email list. You could have an opt-in form where the reader could enter their email address and get the video tutorial version of it.

There are many different types of content upgrades you can offer, and I recommend doing one on every piece of content you post. The more opt-in forms you have the more leads you can get!

Having a big contest is a great way to build your email list. What is something your target audience would love to win? Once you have that in mind and you can actually provide it to their setup content where those who opt-in to your email list can win it. There are so many ways you can do this, but I recommend looking at apps and tools that will allow you to run contests and then develop your idea from what those apps and tools will allow you to do.

We all love to save money and studies have proven we have no problem giving up our email address to get a discount. But to go one step further you could add a discount code on your checkout page and have the viewer opt-in to your email list for it. Not only will this build your email list, but if someone is on your checkout pages, they are a red-hot lead who may be teetering on buying. This could be the thing that pushes them over the edge and makes them buy! Also, by getting them on your email list at this point if they abandon their cart you can pull them back in, and a lead that has made it this far is more likely to actually come back and buy!

If someone is about to leave your website and they’ve taken no action you’re probably going to lose them forever. With an exit intent pop-up with an excellent free offer, you could get them on your list and market to them in various ways. Most people think they’ll remember to come back to a website, but 99.9% of the time they don’t. Your job is to create an offer that’s so amazing that they can’t help but give up their email.

Having a lead capture page and/or opt-in form that offers presell notifications is a great way to build a list of hot targeted buyers. They know you have things for sale and they want to be notified when they can buy them. That’s them telling you to sell them something.

Depending on what you sell will depend on how you create these but using scarcity to get them to opt in is a great tactic to use with this tactic. If they feel they will miss out not only will they want to jump on your list, but when you email them they will be a lot more likely to open your emails!

If you own an e-commerce store, then there are multiple strategies that you can use with lead capture forms on your site in various areas of your site. In the above tip, I talked about presell notifications and you should use that too, but you can also use tactics like cart abandonment strategies, collection updates (if you sell collections of things), back-in-stock notifications, and many more. It’s vital that your e-commerce store take advantage of all the lead capture form strategies you possibly can.

A great way to build your email list is to give people a “free account” on your website. This account will give them access to freebies, discounts, and anything else you want to give them to help market your business. When they signup for their free account you can add them to your email list. This has a very high perceived value and will be a great incentive to get people on your list.

As you can see from the strategies I’ve given you here, you’ve got to have an email list-building strategy made up of many strategies. I do recommend you start small. At least have a strong male lead capture page for your business and drive traffic to it. Then add more strategies as time goes on, keep up with your strategies and see what is and isn’t working, and of course use more of what is working. But it all starts with your first main strategy!