3 mailing list mistakes - that stop people signing up to your newsletter
& how to STOP making those mistakes and get more subscribers on your mailing list
So you want to grow your email list? You’ve got a lead magnet - tick, but your newsletter sign ups have stagnated and you don’t know why. Chances are you’re making AT LEAST one of the mistakes I talk about in this post.
I get to see behind the scenes of a lot of websites, and mailing lists when I’m working on funnel build projects with clients. A large part of getting a sales funnel working for you is feeding that funnel - ie. getting subscribers on your mailing list. And not just subscribers - the RIGHT subscribers, people who are engaged and reading your emails.
BUT I see the same mistakes being made time and time again by business owners at all stages.
Mistakes that actively block people from signing up to their mailing lists - exactly what we don’t want.
Before we dive in - I want you to know, this isn’t rocket science. This doesn’t involve complex coding or deeply analysing your email metrics. This is all stuff you can implement TODAY to stop making these mistakes.
MISTAKE NUMBER 1: You’re not clear on what your mailing list is for
Right now you think of your emails as ‘newsletters’ (we’ll get onto why there’s a problem with that later). You drag your feet with writing them because you’re not sure what to include, and if I asked you “what value do your emails deliver” - you wouldn’t know how to answer.
Let’s start with why people should even join your list in the first place. We’ve all been burned by signing up to mailing lists that send you no-end of junk and email you every hour. 20 emails later you’re done right? And that makes us wary. We’re only ready to sign up to a mailing list, or even a freebee when we trust that person or business isn’t going to spam us.
So tell me, why should people sign up to your mailing list? Do your emails have a theme? A name? A proposition?
For example, my emails are called ‘Ask Josephine’ - my agony-aunt style wisdom & guidance on growing your Freedom Friendly Business - delivered to your inbox every Monday. Subscribe here!
So what’s your email name and proposition? Have you got a name and description for your emails that explains the value of being on your list and how often they will receive emails from you, like I do above? If not, create one now.
Perhaps your emails are a weekly look behind the curtain at what’s going on in your business, maybe it’s where you share your most personal insights, stories and experiences, perhaps it’s a fortnightly pep-talk that’s delivered as an audio or video.
The key part of your email proposition is that it’s unique - you can’t get this content elsewhere. Or at least if you re-purpose the occasional email into a blog or social media post, your subscribers always get it first.
Your mailing list is not the place for news!
Because here’s the thing - who wants to sign up to your news. Sorry but, I don’t! Do you want my news? No - boring!
You want something that’s going to serve you. And you most definitely don’t just want a list of what’s new on my blog or my latest podcast episodes - sure that can be a section in my emails but it’s not the only thing I’m sending because… your mailing list isn’t the place for news!
Create your email name and proposition and use it ev-ery-where.
MISTAKE NUMBER 2: You’re not ‘selling’ your emails
When is the last time you talked about your actual emails? Not the free lead magnet you offer or your mailing list in general, your actual email content?
Seeing as we’ve established that this is where the value is, shouldn’t you be talking about it a bit more?
Now you know what your emails are all about and what value they are delivering - sell it! You want people on your mailing list because they are excited to receive your emails - not because they signed up for a freebee and then couldn’t be bothered to un-subscribe.
By explaining the value of what they’re getting and how often, people really know what they’re signing up for, and are more likely to be engaged subscribers.
So, sell your emails on the content, rather than just the free lead magnet
Use your email proposition title and description everywhere to explain the value of your emails
Share a sneak peek at your email content before it goes out to encourage people to not only sign up to your list, but look out for your email
When you get replies to your emails letting you know how much they enjoyed your latest email, share it on social media, and on your subscribe page on your website (we’ll get on to that).
MISTAKE NUMBER 3: You’re actively blocking people from signing up (yes, really)
Let’s imagine for a second, you mention your mailing list or your next email on social media and the person at the other end wants in, great! You tell them the sign up link in in your bio. They head to your bio link and click on it, only to be met by a list of buttons (yeah, I REALY HATE linktree - but that’s a topic for another day). Which one do they need to tap to subscribe?
If they REALLLLY want in maybe they head over to your website, but even on your website it’s still not obvious where or how they need to sign up. So, they give up, and you’re down a subscriber.
This seems so obvious but this is the mistake most people are making - and it’s so easily fixed. 90% of getting people onto your mailing list is simple about making it easy for them!
I’ll say it again…
Put simply, making it easy for people to sign up means putting your sign up form e-ve-ry-where. Here are some tricks you might be missing when it comes to making it easy for your subscribers to sign up…
Include a sign up form in the footer of your website, so it shows up on every single page (with your mailing list name and proposition don’t forget)
Include a sign-up form on your about page (often one of the most visited pages on your website)
Include a sign up form on your homepageInclude a sign up form in your blog posts, try to fit one into all of them where you can naturally weave one in (like I did above)
Create a pillar page for the topic/ or audience struggle that your lead magnet addresses - and of course include the sign up form on that page, probably a couple of times.
Create a dedicated subscribe page that ‘sells’ your emails and your lead magnet.
This is a BIGGIE - use a damn form! I’m passionate about this one! If you’re getting people to click a button to go to another page or even another site (perhaps a Flodesk form). Please - for the love of god, change it to a form! You want to replace that button with an embedded form because that reduces the amount of clicks that person has to do to sign up, and if they notice they are being taken off your website to sign up, they might freak out and hit the back button - meaning they don’t sign up, and you’re down a mailing list subscriber.
The link in your bio - same goes here. Rather than having a button that takes them to where they sign up, make the link in your bio a page on your website that’s designed for Instagram. On that page you can have an embedded form where they can sign up.
When you talk about your mailing list on instagram stories, put the link to your subscribe page in the story rather than saying the link’s in your bio - we’re all about reducing the number of clicks it takes for someone to sign up.
That’s it, please tell me you won’t keep making these mistakes? oh and PS. You’re subscribed to my mailing list right?
Wanna stash this post in your back pocket for the next time you’re doing a mailing list revamp? Pin for later:
