My email list in the travel niche makes me about $10k per month.
If I lost ALL other traffic to my website, I would still have a viable business based solely on email.
And maybe one day that will be the case…
Maybe one day I’ll be living the permanent beach life, knowing that all I have to do is send one email per day and my work is done.
Who knows.
What I do know is that I’m growing the list at a rate of at least 1,000 new email subscribers each week.
Read on, and I’ll show you exactly how…
I have about 100,000 subscibers on my email list and I manage them with Kit.
They send me a nice email summary each week…
It looks like this…
Of course, when you get new email subscribers, some of them will unsubscribe straight away.
If you tempted them in with a free gift, that’s to be expected.
Some people just want the freebie, not regular emails, and that’s okay.
In travel, the churn can be pretty high as people may subscribe when they’re planning a trip, then unsubscribe if they don’t plan to do it again.
So really, it’s the net subscribers we need to consider as the KPI here.
Last week, after the unsubscribes, I netted over 1,100 new subscribers.
How I get email subscribers
The secret to getting a lot of new email subscribers, is to use several different methods at once.
They all add up.
You want to be offering multiple different freebies to people, and for them to be seeing those offers across various platforms.
Most people won’t subscribe the first time they have the opportunity to, so repetition is key here.
Take a look at this chart from my Kit dashboard…
Each shade of blue is a different signup form.
Some forms get a handful of subs per day, others get a couple of hundred on a good day.
Here are the 5 tactics I use…
1. Facebook ads
I run Facebook ads to give away a free pdf. People have to leave their email address to get it.
These cost me about 32 cents per signup.
According to Facebook, ‘similar peer ad sets’ are costing ‘$3.38’ per signup, so I must be doing something right.
It took a bit of trial and error to get the cost this low, but now it’s running I can just leave it.
I would love to spend more on this, but when I up the spend, the cost per signup shoots up too.
So we have to balance speed of growth against cost.
Growing the list this way is a long game, if you want to do it affordably.
2. ManyChat
If you saw my NSL email newsletter last week, you’ll have seen how I set up ManyChat to DM everyone who comments on my Facebook and Instagram posts.
However, I don’t just DM everyone out of the blue!
I also ask people to comment certain words if they want me to DM them something.
For example, last week I booked a trip, so I made a quick reel of me taking about the trip, and asked people to comment if they wanted more info.
This can create a quick burst of email subs each time that lasts for a couple of days each time.
In this case, the value of the subs from the reel was more than what it cost me to book the trip (it’s only a cheap weekend away), so I’m basically travelling for free – woohoo!
3. Kit Creator Network
Whenever someone signs up to my email, Kit shows them a popup that says “would you also like to get emails from these creators?”
You can either arrange with your friends to recommend each other.
Or, you can recommend anyone in your niche and when they see that they’ll probably recommend you back.
I probably get about 10 new subscribers per day from the Kit Creator Network and it’s 100% passive. I love it!
How many you get is very niche dependent, I know people who get way more!
If you’d like to try this, you can find your matches with 3 quick questions here.
4. Forms on website
Having signup forms on my blog is how I started growing my email list.
They’re super easy to implement and once it’s done, it’s passive.
The conversion rate on each of my forms varies from 0.4% to 44%.
The 0.4% is the generic – “signup to get emails from me” message.
The 44%? That’s a free pdf giveaway that perfectly solves the problem that the person is experiencing when they land on that page.
I found that the closer your freebie aligns to your content the better.
So make lots of different ones, and put the forms in the right places.
5. Word of mouth
I try to make each email so good that people tell their friends about it in passing.
That’s also what I try to do with these emails, so please do tell a friend if you find them useful!
I also make public appearances like speaking at travel shows, handing out awards or appearing on podcasts when I can, to help build my brand awareness.
I hope you enjoyed these tips on growing your email list.
If you’re growing your Facebook page, that’s another reason to grow your email list, as the content that performs well on Facebook is exactly the same as what performs well on email.
And if you’re into SEO, I have something special for you…
Want to WIN a VIP ticket to The Masterminders SEO event?
I’ll be attending this UK event and would love to see you there.
If you’d like to win yourself a VIP ticket worth £595, you can enter here.
Bedtime reading…
I’ve started reading this book – it’s a fat one!
It’s packed with up-to-date advice from the world’s best SEOs.
I wrote chapter 10 and I’m honoured to be included amongst some huge names like Matt Diggity, Kyle Roof and James Dooley.
If there’s anything in particular you’d like me to cover in next week’s email, I’m always open to suggestions, so please do reply.
NSL
P.S. This email currently has 19,000 lovely people on the list. Extra massive thanks to the 45% of you who open it each week!
If you’re interested in sponsoring this newsletter to promote your business, I have some slots in April. Full details here.