Did you know that you can use Instagram to grow your email list? It’s a smart and effective way to find your way to your followers’ inboxes. Although it’s not possible for Instagrammers to subscribe directly to your email list on the platform, there are many ways that you can lead your followers to a landing page or your website from Instagram, where a creative opt-in form is waiting for them.
In this article, I’m going to walk you through the different methods that you can try to expand your email list using Instagram. But first, let’s see what is so special about the email that makes it one of the most robust and effective marketing strategies. So, here we go:
Why Should Use Instagram to Expand Your Email List?
Different digital marketing strategies come and go over the years, but the email never goes out of style. How many times a day do you check your inbox? How many emails do you receive from brands? Even Gen Z members — despite their bad reputations for not caring that much about emails —, use it to interact with brands and make purchases.
In the following, I’ll outline some of the most important reasons why you should invest your time and energy in email marketing, especially when it comes to gaining subscribers from Instagram.
1 – Emails Don’t Have Expired Date
If you publish a post on Instagram, it’s effective lifetime would be around 24h. Your post does not go anywhere, but the problem is, after this period, people won’t engage with it that much anymore.
What if that post contains something important about your brand, and you’d like all of your followers to see it?
Luckily, this is not the case with email. When you use email to communicate with your audience, you can be 100% sure that at least they will receive it. Depending on your niche, the email opening rate might be different, but it can go up to 36.15%, which is great considering the average email open rate for all industries is 22.15% (GetResponse). And if they see your email, they can always come back to it in their inboxes.
2 – Email Addresses From Instagram Are Valuable
Your followers on Instagram have already shown their interest in your business by hitting the “follow” button, right? So, they might also be interested to hear more from you.
The beauty of Instagram is that it has one of the highest engagement rates among social media. So, if you’re doing a good job interacting with your followers, there’s a higher chance that they accept your offer for subscribing to the email list.
When there are more than one billion active monthly users on Instagram who are mostly engaged, why not invite them to your email list?
3 – Email Worth Every Penny!
Did you know that for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42? Isn’t it just amazing?
On the other hand, sending bulk emails is not that expensive. For example, you can send 2,000 emails daily from your Gmail. But if that’s not enough for you, try bulk email services.
4 – Everyone Uses Email
In this digital world, it’s pretty much rare to find someone who doesn’t use email; well, maybe except grannies. People might prefer social media over others, but they all use emails. Also, it doesn’t matter which email service they use; you can contact them all.
Now that you know how much email marketing can help your brand, let’s see how you can expand it using Instagram.
5 Tips to Grow Your Email Marketing Campaign Using Instagram
Although Instagram seems a little bit limited when it comes to email, there are still ways to find and get your followers’ email addresses. Let’s check them out:
1- Use Call To Actions in Your Bio
Instagram bio is a perfect place to invite your followers to join your email list. Instagram allows you to add one clickable link in your bio. You can use that link to lead your followers to an email landing page or simply your website where they can subscribe to your email list by filling an opt-in form.
But you can’t just add that link to your bio and wait for followers to click on it. You need to use the call to action phrases to persuade them.
For example, if they can download free ebooks, templates, or any type of freebies on your website, make sure you mention that in your bio.
Moreover, if you have a business account, Instagram allows adding the “Email” button in your bio, which leads the followers directly to their compose part of their email app. But this method is not that effective as they have to actually send an email to you instead of just adding it.
2 – Invite Them to Subscribe Using Videos
Did you know videos make twice the engagement that photos create on Instagram? Videos can really grab your followers’ attention. If you run a YouTube channel, you know that the best way to invite your viewers to subscribe to the channel or your newsletter is by the video.
This method is excellent for those who have a Youtube channel and want to use this method. If that’s the case, you can invite your followers to subscribe by sharing that Youtube Video on the Instagram Story or even your IGTV.
Even if you don’t have a YouTube channel, simply record a video using your Instagram Stories, feed, or Reels and invite your followers to join your email list.
3 – Swipe Up Instagram Stories
If you have over 10k followers, you can use the “Swipe Up” feature of Instagram Story. Just like the link in bio, it directly leads your followers to your website or any other external link that you like.
This is an excellent opportunity as Instagram Stories has a higher engagement rate compared to feed posts.
Moreover, Stories offer many other tools such as quiz stickers, questions stickers, emoji sliders, and mentions that will grab any visitor’s attention. Use these tools to persuade your followers to subscribe to your email list.
4 – Run Contest
Instagrammers love the competition and getting free stuff! So, make sure contests and giveaways are on your Instagram marketing checklist.
You can tell your followers that you give away one of your products or services and you select the winner between those who subscribe for your email list.
Also, you can offer a special discount on one of your items and then tell your followers to use the email button on your Instagram to send an email and in return, they get the discount coupon.
It’s worth mentioning that there are some Instagram management services that act like virtual assistants and let you add coupon buttons to your bio.
5 – Offer Free Webinars
Another way to get your followers super excited to sign up for your email list is to offer a free webinar for them. This is a very popular approach among business and sales coaches, but you can run a webinar with any topic related to your business.
For example, if you have a pottery business, you can offer a webinar and talk about the tips and tricks of making pottery or maybe invite people to sign up for your workshop.
The important thing here is to figure out what takeaways your followers really want to learn from your business. Your webinar must be about something that they are really eager to learn. If you have doubts about it, you can always ask them what they prefer. Use Story polls or even ask them to leave a comment for you.
When you decide what topic is the best for your webinar, ask your followers to reserve a seat. You can choose which software to run your webinar from this list made by Content Mavericks.
Here’s an example of a feed post by Amy Porterfield in which she promoted her latest webinar about launching a digital course. Look how she encouraged her followers to join her by adding a nice CTA at the end of her caption.
And don’t forget to design a remarkable landing page!
And finally, you can ask your friends to promote you on Instagram.
6 – Ask Followers to Sign up for your Newsletter
It’s totally fine to ask your followers to sign up for your newsletter in your Instagram posts. Actually, your followers might not visit your bio day-to-day, but they will see your posts on their feed.
So, make sure you mention your newsletter in your captions from time to time and don’t forget to add a call to action at the end. Also, you can persuade them more by offering a discount!
Another good way to maintain a strong relationship with the followers is to ask them whether they are happy with the emails that they receive from you. This way, you can use their valuable feedback and improve your newsletter.
Final Words
We all know that email never gets old! It’s timely, cheap, more professional, and everyone has it! As Instagram might seem a little bit limited when it comes to external links, most people don’t consider Instagram a platform to collect emails and expand their list. However, using the tips that I mentioned in this post, you can build your email list faster when you use Instagram and its incredible tools. So, what are you waiting for? Try them now!
Author’s Bio
I’m Rezvan, a freelance copywriter at SocialPros where I write about Instagram marketing. I’m a Potterhead, resistant to caffeine overdose, and love old songs.
