796: Try These 5 Strategies If You Want Your Email List to Grow FAST

0:01This episode is supported by What Should I Do With My Money? From Morgan Stanley. Okay, can we just talk about how money is legitimately one of the hardest topics to bring up. Like even when you think you have your stuff together, there's always this really weird awkwardness around it. That's why I am obsessed with this podcast. It actually makes money conversations feel approachable. I recently listened to an episode about affording multiple big life things at once, like a wedding, a house, an IVF, if they were all happening at the same time. And honestly, it hit home. So many people are wondering, can we actually have it all without sacrificing our sanity or our savings?

0:42What I love is that they bring in real experts who help break down these massive costs into actual doable steps. It's like having a money mentor in your ear who gets it. Search for What Should I Do With My Money in your podcast player. We'll also include a link in the show notes. Many thanks to What Should I Do With My Money and Morgan Stanley for their support. So we're constantly looking at like, what is the data showing us? And then how can we test and use different things? One thing that I thought was really interesting is that you can integrate pop-ups with other tools and grow your list substantially.

1:19I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a $300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven figure online business that feels even better than it looks, all from my house in small town Minnesota with my family. Here, we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work, and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality, and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain.

1:56Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we tackle practical, no-fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired, and empowered. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Over the years, my business has evolved and changed in so many ways. It's changed with me as I've grown and transformed as my priorities have shifted. But there's one thing that has not changed. Year after year after year, it is my prioritization of my email list.

2:39Now, I know that building an email list might not sound like the most glamorous piece of running a business, but I will argue that it has to be your number one priority. In fact, I truly believe that the success and the health of my business and yours consistently hinges on an email list. It's how I connect with my audience. It's how I serve them. And it is how I consistently drive sales in my business. My email list is the number one way I drive sales in my business. And it's virtually algorithm proof. Now in today's episode that originally aired back at the end of 2022, I share five proven strategies to grow an email list, including a tactic that had gained us 9 ,000 subscribers in just over two months.

3:22But I wanted to do something special today. I wanted to re-air this episode because there's a chance that you might've missed it the first time. And what I found is that these exact strategies are still holding massively true for us. And the cool thing is, is that our results are only going up. We've gotten over 12 ,000 new subscribers in the last 30 days leveraging these exact strategies. So the cool thing is, is that the results compound the more that you do them. The more that you do this, the more your results will grow. So if you are someone who is serious about growing your email list and you want to learn more, if you're ready to level up and get your email list started or get it growing, head to growanemaillist.com.

4:06Now today's episode is going to walk you through my strategies, but I also want to invite you into my free email list building class. It's called From Zero Subscribers to an Engaged Email List that lasts. And there you're going to learn how to get your email list started, what to send to your subscribers and understand how email marketing can work for you no matter what type of business you're in. If you are someone who wants to visually see some of the things that I'm going to share about in today's episode and learn how you can get access to trainings that literally walk you through step-by-step of how to implement these exact strategies, then save your seat for this free masterclass.

4:40Head to growanemaillist.com and save your seat. It is absolutely free and And it is the perfect companion for today's episode. Whether you are just starting out or looking to refine your email marketing approach, today's episode is going to give you actionable insights that will totally transform your email marketing game and give you the strategies to help you grow your list consistently. Are you ready to dive back in? Let's do this. More to do is less time and an infinite number of tools to keep track of. Gold diggers, do you ever feel like doing business has never felt harder? Well, the good news is you don't need a miracle to hit your goals.

5:21You just need HubSpot. Their all-in-one customer platform can make growing your business so much easier. Imagine this high quality leads, fast closing deals, wildly happy customers, and more benchmark breaking quarters. It's not a miracle. It's HubSpot. Visit HubSpot.com to get started today. That's HubSpot.com. So as I was researching all of this, I realized that this year we've added over 120 ,000 new subscribers to my email list just this year. That number is insane. And I truly believe that the health of my business is in the list. And so seeing that number is really encouraging to me. And it shows that we're consistently offering value in exchange for someone's email address.

6:06When you think about it and you think about how an email list works, it is this active reciprocity. You are giving someone something of value. They are giving you their email address in exchange, and you are growing that relationship through the correspondence. Email is a much more intimate way to connect. And you can kind of control the experience in a way that you can't on social media, especially with the algorithms. So let's talk about what's working really well right now in the land of email list building. So number one, I'm so excited to talk about this, are quizzes. So we recently launched a brand new quiz and I'm so excited about it.

6:44It is the who are you really quiz. And if you've read my book, how are you really, then this will make you smile. But I wanted to create a new quiz that was kind of adjacent to the book, but that really helped connect people with their gifts. When I was recently in Mexico with some people, we were talking about the Enneagram and about half of the people that were in Mexico with us had never done the Enneagram. And we were just talking about how certain tools can really help you, one, just feel confident in who you are, but also can equip you to kind of understand the people around you and have more grace and empathy for them as well as for yourself.

7:25And so we were sitting at the breakfast table one day and we had everyone taking the Enneagram test and then we were talking about it. And so when I created this, who are you really quiz, I wanted to bring people back home to themselves and to know that like the way they are makes them amazing. It is their superpower. And if they have the right resources and tools, it can only impact their life and their results and the way that they feel. If you want to take this, who are you really quiz, or just see how a quiz works from an email list building standpoint, please do. People are literally really shocked at the results and how accurate they are.

8:01I have people like screenshot and say, I knew I liked you. You're like, Oh my gosh, this is wild. So if you go to whoareyoureallyquiz.com, that's whoareyoureallyquiz.com. You can take the quiz and you can kind of see how this all works. So I had a previous quiz. It was kind of my signature quiz. It was called the secret sauce quiz. I love that quiz. It's an amazing quiz. If you want to see that one, it's secretsaucequiz.com. and we made this one back in 2017. When I looked up that number, I couldn't believe that we made it that many years ago and it is still generating results for us. So here's some data surrounding the secret sauce quiz.

8:39So we had 2.75 million views of the quiz, 2.75 million. We had 200 ,000 people start the quiz and over 100 ,000 people complete it. And that means if they complete it, we got their email address at the end to send them the results from that single quiz. 100 ,000 opt-ins. That's insane. So about 50 % of people who start the quiz complete it and opt-in. And that's a really high percentage when I look at that. So when we decided we're going to make a new quiz, we want to freshen things up. This is a really fun way to get to know our audience and also connect them to resources and tools and podcast episodes that can help them, we created the Who Are You Really quiz.

9:23And we had a few goals with it. And what's so cool is, is that with a quiz, the ultimate goal is to capture an email address. Yes. But you are also able to glean insight on your audience through the quiz itself. And so again, if you want to take it, you can kind of see how this all works while I explain it. But it's WhoAreYouReallyQuiz.com. So there were four main objectives in creating this quiz. First, connect people to my book. So we wanted people who are curious about what it's like to come home to yourself or get to know yourself or live your truth to be connected to my book as a resource.

10:01How are you really is like the companion to the who are you really quiz. Number two objective, we wanted to gain insight into our audience and what they need help with. Something that's been really interesting for me this year is that while I've notoriously been in the business space, my book and the intention behind my book was to really expand my reach. Like I love entrepreneurship. I love it so much. I can talk about it all day and night. But what I love even more than that is just enriched lives. Like I want my work to enrich people's lives, whether they're an entrepreneur or not. And so the quiz is allowing us to gain insight into our audience to see what percentage of our audience are already entrepreneurs?

10:42What percentage want to become entrepreneurs? What percentage are not even interested in entrepreneurship and allow me to serve at a higher level? And I love that. Objective number three was to tie them to additional results based on their responses. So really paying attention to if they say they are this, what do we connect them to that will actually help them? And that was a really huge piece of it. And then number four, of course, the final objective was to grow our email list. And we wanted to be really intentional with what that can look like, how we will grow it, and then how we can serve people based on what the quiz has told us about them.

11:19So as you can see, quizzes are an awesome way to grow your email list. And for us, it's something that we've been focused on. And I really do want to stress that we've had my secret sauce since 2017. So that quiz has been generating us leads and results for the last 5 years. So it is something that you want to invest in that actually gives people a really great jumping off point, serves them well, and gets them onto your list with giving you insight on how you can show up for them better. So I just think it's a really cool, multifaceted way to focus on growing your list, but also to start the relationship off with serving.

11:56I'm super excited about our Who Are You Really quiz. And I'm going to share a little bit more about some of the results for getting with that using another strategy. So the second big way that we've been growing our email list is through launches. And this is a huge one. And I think people forget this a lot because a lot of times when we're focused on list building, we're thinking about it from a standpoint of like consistently getting new subscribers. And that's awesome. If you can figure out different ways to daily add new subscribers to your list, that would be incredible. But if you are at this place where you just feel stuck, or you haven't been able to get that next 100 subscribers or whatever, think about doing a launch.

12:36This is a really huge way to get a big amount of list growth in a short amount of time. For me specifically, webinars and challenges are huge when it comes to list growth. Doing this concentrated push where you are pushing towards a resource or an offer that gets people to opt in can help grow your list and grow it quickly and also help you see too, which offers that you have are resonating the most. One thing that people forget is how valuable a new lead is, even if you don't have something to sell. I've told this story many times on the podcast before, but before Drew became a stay-at-home dad, he had his own health coaching business.

13:17And I had learned how important list building was to the point where before he even had a business name, we had started growing his email list because I wanted him to have a list that he could launch to when he was finally ready to have an offer. And so if you are someone who you're like, I don't know why I've grown email list. I don't have anything to sell. I would say, especially if you don't have anything to sell, you want to create some sort of free offer, some free value and promote it like you would a real launch. This is an incredible way to get your footing and to understand the world of launching, to see what resonates with your audience, to start to feel comfortable promoting.

13:52And it can be a huge way that you can grow your email list again, so that you will have this list that you can launch your next offer to. So I had my team pull some digits just because I was also curious. So in the spring of this year, before my book came out, we did a live launch of my list to launch email list building program. And just in a one week window, we added 3 ,500 new contacts that were hold audience. So a lot of times when I go into my launches, I focus on people that have already been on my list. Why? Because I've already been consistently serving them a value. I likely have some sort of insight into what they need or what they're struggling with or what they're working on.

14:31But on top of serving my warm audience, we also added 3 ,500 new contacts just in that one week timeframe for the launch. So these are brand new subscribers. We also say that it's cold traffic. These are people who may have never heard of me before, never heard of my offer, but they are interested and it is the right time for them to subscribe to my email list and get the value that I'm offering them, which is usually in the form of either a webinar or a free challenge. And even if they don't purchase during the launch, I now get the opportunity to show up and serve them. And hopefully the next time around that I launch it, it is the right time and offer for them.

15:08And if you remember at the beginning of this episode, I was talking about how the first time that I launched my email list building program, it wasn't the greatest launch, but something that I was so confident in and why I was so excited about the results, even though they were slightly lackluster, was because I understood the value of these subscribers. And I committed... I think a lot of times when people have a failed launch or something that doesn't perform how they want, they want to scrap it, they want to try something brand new. I committed to talking about the topic of email list building over the next year.

15:40And guess what happened? The second time I launched that course, it was one of our best launches ever. In fact, I think to date, it is one of our best launches ever. And so I want to encourage you if you've done something and you're like, Oh, it didn't get the results I was hoping for, but you really believe in the thing and you believe in the offer and you believe in what you put out there. Do not give up. In fact, go the opposite way and commit to talking about that thing for free until you are ready to relaunch and let people understand the what and the why behind the topic. So then they can eventually invest in the how, which is going to be your offer.

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17:20Let's be real. As business owners, we know a reliable connection isn't optional. I've had my fair share of slow and lagging internet and let me tell you, nothing kills your groove faster. It is the ultimate productivity killer. You can't process payments, you can't talk to clients, and your team feels stuck waiting on you. Back when I started my business, I learned pretty quickly that things only run as smoothly as your connection does. And that's why I love what Spectrum Business is doing. They get it. They know that reliable systems keep your business running, your clients happy, and your stress levels low.

17:54Spectrum Business offers internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, and mobile services built for your budget. And here's the best part. You can get free business internet forever when you add four mobile lines. No contracts, no added fees, just dependable service that keeps your business moving forward. Visit spectrum.com forward slash free for life to learn how you can get business internet free forever. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. I want to also share another example of how launching can help you grow your list. And the cool thing is, is it doesn't even have to be launching one of your own products.

18:32So this again can work for you, even if you don't currently have an offer yet. So in the fall, I partnered with one of my best friends, Amy Porterfield for her fall digital course Academy launch. I love partnering with different leaders who have created incredible resources and courses. And so in the two week launch window of me partnering with Amy, I grew my list by almost 7 ,000 new subscribers. So again, I just want to reiterate, if you are somebody listening to this, you're not exactly sure what your offer is. You don't have an offer yet. There are ways that you can grow your email list, even without that paid offer that will pay you dividends down the road.

19:11There are so many different ways that launches can bring someone onto your list. And then I want for you to keep in mind the long game. This is how I am always playing when it comes to email lists. The goal isn't to have somebody go straight from a new subscriber directly to a sale. You want them to stay on your list and continue to be served by you. Again, with the example that I had where a year later then that launch reaped the rewards because I was consistent at talking about and explaining the offer and why it was something that would help them. number three is paid traffic so this was super compelling to me and this is something that i want to talk about because a lot of times when we talk about list building we talk about it from that organic standpoint and there are so many benefits and so much possibility behind organically growing your list but i also want to be transparent that paying for paid traffic can be a way to exponentially grow your list and in my opinion it can be one of the best ways to be investing in your business.

20:10Nearly 50 % of our ads that we pay for and that we are running currently and consistently are being run towards things that are strictly to grow our email list. They're not being run to make a sale. So 44 % to be exact is the number of what our ads are in terms of the split. So 44 % of our ads are being run directly just to grow our email list. And I could even argue that it's way higher because we're also running ads to my webinars as well, which are great lead generators, but those are more attached to the sale of the course. And there are so many reasons why I want to talk about the power of paid traffic, specifically when it comes to growing your email list.

20:49First off, it is a way cheaper lead. So when you are running an ad to get someone to sign up and get their email address, and you're offering value, you are going to pay pennies to the dollar instead of trying to run an ad to get someone to buy something. That is going to be a very expensive ad spend and likely not yield a lot of results. And the cool thing is, is that when you are using your ad dollars to grow your email list, you get to bring someone into your world, maybe bring them into an email funnel. You get to know the person and you get to serve them before you ever go to sell to them.

21:24And let me tell you, for so many people listening to this podcast, they're like, I hate selling. If that's you, then you want to spend your ad dollars on growing your email list so that you can start the relationship off with serving before you ever go to sell. And as I share some of this data with you, I'm literally sharing the numbers. I do want to note, obviously, I have a very large following and I have worked for many, many years over a decade to build a relationship with my audience. So my results might not be totally typical, but they are definitely achievable. And I want to just share these numbers because I think a lot of times when we share some of the inner workings of how things are going or what we're doing, we are painting the possibility for other people.

22:06We are sharing what is possible. So I just wanted to preface, I get it. I have a big following. I've worked at this for a long time, but I want for you to know that this is possible. So right now, as I record this, we currently have 11 freebie campaigns running. These are solely ads running to grow my email list. So essentially I have an ad. It has some sort of free offer, whether it's a download, a worksheet, a template, a guide. I have 11 of those running consistently. I also have ads running to my evergreen webinars, which are my automated webinars that then guide people into my courses, but we're not even counting those right now.

22:43So right now the cheapest campaign is our brand new quiz, which I just talked about the who are you really quiz and we're paying about $1.05 per new subscriber to my list. So each lead is about$1.05. And that's really cheap, in my opinion, to get a new email subscriber. And what's cool is, is there a speak in the internet marketing world that for every subscriber you have on your list, that is about an extra a dollar in revenue per month. And so if you think about it, it's almost a wash for that first month. And then every month after that, if we're really looking at that data, which I'm going to be honest, I don't know exactly where that data came from, but I've seen it to be true in my business.

23:24Then everything after that is profit. Our second lead generator that is performing really well is our gold digger planner. It's this really beautiful downloadable freebie. We're paying $1.22 for that. So you can see we're able to get some really great leads at a very low ad spend. So in the last seven days alone, so in the last week, we've generated just under 2000 new subscribers just from freebies. And the average across all of those different campaigns, we have 11 of them. The average cost per lead is$2.22. So again, I recognize how powerful a new subscriber first my list so much so that I'm willing to spend money on the front end, knowing that it will likely pay off on the backend.

24:08For the month of November alone of this year, we generated close to 10 ,000 leads through paid traffic. So with the number one focus being list building, I'm investing in that way, but we are seeing massive results. So if you're thinking about this and you're like, okay, what's the adverse side of this? So on the other side, we have a high cost per lead. And it's honestly not even that high. I know people that spend$30,$60,$90 to get a lead. I was watching Shark Tank the other day. And so many people that come on Shark Tank, they have these massive sales numbers. And then the sharks ask them like, what is your cost per lead?

24:42Or what is your cost per sale? And it's like really high. So for us, we are very conservative when it comes to our ad spend. We want to make sure that we're connecting every dollar going in to some sort of dollar coming out. So for us, Our highest cost per lead, which is still arguably very low, is our zero to 250 challenge. It's$4.70 per lead, which again is very low, but it's high for us. However, I am so willing to spend$5 to get someone to sign up for that free challenge because I know that that challenge that I've invited you into is going to serve them so well that they're going to be ready and excited to take that next step.

25:21So we are able to create that back-end revenue off of that front-end lead because that challenge is so baller. It is such an amazing way to start off a relationship. It is strictly out of service. And so again, we're playing the long game here. I will give$5 all day, every day to get someone to take that challenge because one, it's going to finally help them start and grow their email list. But two, it's going to get them ready to understand what that next step is. And I have that next step waiting for them. So when we think about budgeting in terms of our ad spend, you don't have to have hundreds of thousands of dollars to throw at ads.