Living in the digital era, when more and more people become victims of a data breach, modern users are afraid of sharing their email addresses. In fact, 733 million email addresses were stolen in 2019.
Building email lists is getting harder. Thus, businesses start looking for new list building strategies.
Since people spend a considerable amount of time on social media, integrating social media with email marketing is a great way to get emails from engaged followers and fans.
As a photo-sharing app, Instagram isn't the most obvious social media platform for growing your email list. However, there are many reasons to grow your email list with Instagram.
Table of Contents
Why Grow Your Email List with Instagram?
If you're doubting whether Instagram is the right platform for list building, here are three main reasons for brands to grow an email list with Instagram:
- The audience is large and active: In 2018, Instagram reached one billion monthly active users. Today, it's one of the fastest-growing platforms with the most engaged user base, and the number of users is constantly growing. This means your audience is definitely active on the platform.
- Users want to communicate with brands in-app: An average Instagram user spends 53 minutes on the platform each day. As a result, people prefer using this channel to keep in touch with brands and 90% of Instagrammers follow at least one business in-app.
- Instagram has many features to collect emails: Today, over 25 million businesses use Instagram for business promotion, so it's no wonder that the platform rolls out business-friendly features to help businesses achieve their goals. Clickable links, lead generation ads, and contact buttons are just several features to grow your email list from Instagram with ease.
Simply put, Instagram is just a perfect place to grow your email list. So, wouldn't it be great if you could grow your email list with Instagram?
Keep on reading to find out seven ways on how to grow your email list with Instagram.
7 Ways on How to Grow Your Email List with Instagram
If email marketing is a part of your digital marketing strategy and you use Instagram for business growth, it's important to turn your engaged followers into email subscribers as they are more likely to join your email list.
Moreover, Instagrammers are ready to communicate with brands in-app, so it's your perfect chance to grow your email list. The more ways to grow your email list with Instagram you know, the better.
Here are several ways to get emails from Instagram.
#1. Tell about your Email List in the Bio
Your Instagram bio is the first thing people see when they visit your Instagram account. Since modern people have a short lifespan of 8 seconds, it's important to make the most out of your bio section and convert your visitors and followers into email subscribers.
The solution? Tell about your email list in the bio. Moreover, you have 150 characters and one website link to convince your followers to join your email list.
Obviously, not all businesses are ready to dedicate the whole bio section to mail list building. Luckily, there's no need to write all the benefits of being on your email list to attract more subscribers.
One of the easiest ways to encourage your Instagram visitors to join your email list without writing a call to action is to add an URL that speaks for itself:
But if you want to add a homepage link in your bio section instead of a landing page, it's important to guide your visitors to take the desired action and write a clear call to action, just like in the example below:
To draw attention to your mail list promotion, you can include emoji as 65% of people are visual learners and when scanning information online, they are more likely to pay attention to visual elements.
#2. Show the Benefits of Being On Your List
Modern customers are more reluctant to share their personal information with brands, so it takes time and effort to convince your Instagram followers to join your mailing list. To get emails from Instagrammers, it's important to show the benefits of being on your list.
Posting Instagram posts, it's a good idea to tell your followers about your email list and explain why they should join it. Here are several benefits you can offer:
- Premium access to content & brand information
- Exclusive discounts and offers
- Giveaways for subscribers
- Free shipping and returns
For example, you can give your email subscribers early access to product launches or sales. Check out how Kai Collective used its Instagram caption to show the benefits of being on their mailing list:
Or you can give away brand freebies among your email subscribers each month and tell about your prizes on Instagram, just like Bruichladdich Distillery did it:
Obviously, the number of email subscribers depends on a great variety of factors. But even if you get 30 new email subscribers each month, there's no need to get math assistance to understand that giving away your brand freebie each month is a great and affordable investment for all businesses that want to grow their email lists.
#3. Ask Followers to Join Your Email List
Want to turn your followers into email subscribers? Tell them about it!
The best way to grow your email list with Instagram and increase the conversation rate is to simply ask your followers to join your email list. With strong call to actions in captions, bio, or stories, not only do you tell your followers what actions they should take and motivate them to do it, but you also explain how to do it.
For example, one company encourages followers to sign up for their email list and add a landing page in the bio to give followers an easy way to do it.
#4. Team Up with Instagram Influencers
With the growing number of paid ads that bombard customers from all sides, it's no wonder that 70% of people dislike ads and social media users trust influencer endorsements more than brand content.
To reach a wider audience and grow your email list fast, it's a good idea to find niche influencers with a solid and engaged following. There are influencer search tools that let you apply filters to find influencers who have the right target audiences. These people can help to spread the word about your mailing list.
Here's an example of this strategy in action:
When looking for a perfect influencer for your list building campaign, keep in mind that most of them get dozens of direct messages on Instagram. To stand out from your competitors who hope for the attention of the same influencer, it's a great idea to reach out to them via email.
To raise brand awareness and increase trust, it's a good idea to add signature in Gmail and social icons so that influencers can learn more about your marketing representative and company through visiting your website or social media channels:
#5. Run an Instagram Giveaway
Did you know that you can build an email list with Instagram giveaways? In fact, it's one of the fastest ways to grow your email list with Instagram!
It's psychologically proven that people love free stuff, so Instagram giveaways are extremely popular among users. To grow your email list, it's important to add 'join our email list' as one of the participation requirements. Look at the example below:
Organizing an Instagram giveaway isn't enough to get more emails from Instagram. It's also important to invest time and effort into giveaway promotion so that you can attract more participants.
After all, the more likes and comments your giveaway has, the more potential participants you can attract as an Instagram algorithm prioritizes content with a higher engagement rate.
#6. Promote Lead Magnets
It's no secret that modern users are worried about sharing their personal email addresses online. However, all people are focused on themselves, so they are more likely to share personal information if you can give something valuable in return.
For most marketers who build email lists, the term 'lead magnet' isn't new. In plain English, it is simply a special offer from a business to be given away in exchange for customers' email addresses.
Having a tempting lead magnet, you can attract more email subscribers. But it's also important to spread the word about your lead magnets. To get emails from Instagram, promote lead magnets in your posts, like in the example below:
Here are several examples of lead magnets for list building:
- Brand freebies and free samples
- Explainer and how-to videos
- Case studies and reports
- Product recommendation quizzes
- Digital downloads
- Coupons and discounts
- Webinars and online courses
#7. Include Clickable Story Links
Have you ever thought about using Instagram Stories for list building?
At first blush, building an email list with disappearing content isn't the best idea. With a short lifespan of 24 hours, you don't have much time to reach a wide audience and it can be a waste of time to produce content that vanishes fast.
But the numbers speak for themselves: 500 million people create or watch Instagram stories daily and 33% of the most-viewed stories come from brands.
Simply put, Instagram Stories create a sense of urgency that encourages people to take the desired action faster. Moreover, there are many story features that help to grow your email list with Instagram easily. For example, you can tell about your email list and include a clickable story link so that interested viewers can share their email addresses without leaving your app.
Here's an example of this strategy in action from Bali Body:
Note: To include clickable links in Stories, your account should be verified or you should have 10k+ followers on Instagram. However, you can always team up with Instagram influencers who have access to this feature even if you can't add links in your Stories.
Conclusion
Instagram has evolved from a photo-sharing app into a powerful marketing tool. With a variety of business-friendly features, there are many proven ways to grow your email list with Instagram. From CTA in-feed posts to Instagram Story features, every business owner can find a solution that fits their needs and wants. What is more, Instagrammers are happy to interact with brands, so you're more likely to convert your followers into email subscribers.
But if you want to bring your business to the next level and grow your mailing list, consider using SendX as it's a great tool to capture emails which helps to grow your email list and then communicate with your contacts via email marketing. Remember that modern users still choose an email as the preferred form of communication with brands.
Email marketing isn't going anywhere, so it's high time to make the most out of it. Ready to jump on the bandwagon and grow your business?
FAQs
1. Why should I grow my email list with Instagram?
There are three main reasons for brands to grow an email list with Instagram.
- The audience is large and active.
- Users want to communicate with brands in-app.
- Instagram has many features to collect emails.
2. What features does Instagram have to collect emails?
Instagram rolls out business-friendly features to help businesses achieve their goals. Clickable links, lead generation ads, and contact buttons are some of the features to grow your email list from Instagram with ease.
3. How can I ask my Instagram followers to join my email list?
A great way to ask your Instagram followers to join your email list is with strong CTAs in captions, bio, or stories. Not only do you tell your followers what actions they should take and motivate them to do it, but you also explain how to do it.
