Recently we shared our new favorite newsletter platform, Flodesk. Just switching your newsletter platform over from MailChimp to Flodesk won’t magically result in new subscribers. Although their beautiful mobile-friendly pop-ups will in fact help.
The real kicker is providing a valuable freebie to excite blog visitors to sign up. Because really, we want to create freebie ideas to drive more newsletter sign ups, right?
Why You Should Create A Freebie For Your Email List
Creating a freebie is CRUCIAL for growing your newsletter list. Why should you create one? Well when was the last time you subscribed to a newsletter that simply popped up on a screen saying “subscribe!”. Or “don’t miss a thing”? I’ll be honest, NEVER.
Why?
Because I have no idea what I’m getting. I have not been provided with a clear idea of what to expect from this brand. And as I’m sure we can all agree, our inbox is sacred. I don’t want more crap in it, unless it’s something I really want.
So this is your reminder to swap out the general subscribe verbiage, and instead, swap it out for something enticing! Readers are more likely to hand over their email in exchange for something. This is where a great freebie comes in!
Which Newsletter Freebies Are Right For My Audience?
To get the most bang for your buck with a freebie you want to create the right freebie for your audience. We recommend looking at your top posts
Or is there a section of your blog that gets lots of traffic but readers drop off quickly after? Capture their information so you can welcome them to your brand with a great freebie and follow up with a nurturing welcome sequence.
You can also keep it simple and just expand on the content you’re already providing. Whether you’re a food blogger, beauty blogger, fashion or lifestyle blogger, there’s SOMETHING you can easily make to provide as a freebie based on your overall content.
How to Make A Successful Newsletter Freebie
Create a successful freebie by providing new and exciting content that resonates with your readers in an easy to read downloadable form. A few things to keep in mind.
- Keep things fresh seasonally so that it’s always relevant.
- Provide something useful to your audience a checklist, a tip, a guide
- Don’t overthink it! A 1-2 page guide is all you need. You can even just use a pretty email template to be your freebie!
- You can always add
more freebies later, done is better than perfect! - Create a workflow in Flodesk to deliver your freebie and follow up with any additional newsletters to nurture your list.
10 Freebie Ideas To Drive More Newsletter Sign Ups
From travel to skincare, fashion and more, we’ve got 10 fun ideas for your next freebie.
1. A Travel Packing List
This can be a weekend guide, a must have list of products for International travel, or maybe essentials when traveling with kids. You can tailor this to your audience no matter what your blog is.
2. Exclusive Recipes
For my food bloggers, share a couple of recipes that are exclusive to your newsletter. Change this up seasonally to keep people interested.
3. Ways To Wear A Specific Piece Of Clothing
For all my fashion bloggers out there, this is a really easy freebie to make. Use old images you’ve shared, or just create collages of the outfits to share some ideas. Change this up seasonally to capture new subscribers!
4. Getting Organized Checklist
For lifestyle bloggers, or mommy bloggers, a great organizational hack or checklist is great. People love a quick and easy download. Canva has fantastic templates for this as well!
5. Rainy Day Activity For Your Kids
For the mom bloggers, create a really fun list of activities. Or make a whole calendar of ones to try.
6. How To Have An At-Home Spa Night
Beauty bloggers and lifestyle bloggers, this is so easy to share. And a great way to share your affiliate links too. Share a fun way to have an at home spa night.
7. Affordable Finds For The Home
For the interior design bloggers, share your seasonal affordable home finds. This could also be an easy monthly series that you can also tease. You can always send it to your current list when it goes live so they don’t feel like they’re missing out.
8. A Business Resource
If you’re someone who offers any type of service for businesses or coaching etc, you may want to provide a snippet of information that they can expect from you.
A few ideas, maybe you’re a social media manager expert, share your favorite trending hashtags and Reel’s audio. Or an essential checklist for their business. Are you a fitness coach and want to expand your client list? Share an easy at home workout, or shopping list for healthy meals.
9. A Style Guide
This is something that Cathy of Poor Little It Girl created tailored to her audience, petite fashion! See Cathy’s petite guide in action. As an authority on petite fashion, she expanded on her petite sizing post by offering more to her readers by providing an exclusive petite guide download.
Are you a plus-size blogger, make a plus size guide! Are you a mom fashion blogger and want to share easy mom outfits? Perfect! This one is super versatile and can be tailored to the seasons as well.
10. A Beauty Guide
Personally, I was generating lots of traffic to hair tutorials and wanted to capture as many people as possible. By tailoring the pop-up to the content most of my users were discovering me on, I was able to increase sign-ups. I created an extensive braid guide with tutorials and favorite products. This pop-up is now on any and all of my hair and beauty posts.
PS Get 50% off your Flodesk subscription and start sending beautiful emails today! Click HERE to get Flodesk for $19 a month for your first year.
Sign up today to be a part of our newsletter and get our FREE blog checklist to download.
