20 Awesome Tools to Help Grow Your Email List Quickly

One of the most critical tasks of building an online business involves growing an email list of targeted subscribers. Regardless of whether you have an ecommerce business, a service-related business, a blog, or any other type of business, your email list can be an extremely valuable asset.

There are a lot of different ways to grow your email list, and thankfully, there are many resources that you can use to make it easier and more effective. This article will cover 20 excellent tools and resources that can help you to grow your list, and ultimately increase the profitability of your business.

(The tools and resources listed here aren’t necessarily ranked. Some of them are grouped together because they are similar.)

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels is a name that you’re probably familiar with, because it’s become an extremely popular platform for growing online businesses through sales funnels. It does a lot of different things and growing an email list is one of them.

With the help of ClickFunnels, you can easily create landing pages that encourage visitors to subscribe to your email list. You can use one of the pre-made templates or use the drag-and-drop builder to create your own. But Clickfunnels is much more than just a landing page platform. You can create and manage a full sales funnel that generates leads and sales.

ClickFunnels is a great option if you are looking to grow your email list and sell a product (especially digital products). You can even create membership websites with ClickFunnels to deliver your content or product to customers.

If all you’re looking to do is create a simple landing page with an email optin form, ClickFunnels is a bit overkill and you can find other options (several listed in this article) that will be cheaper.

ClickFunnels Features:

Drag-and-drop editor to create pages without coding
Creating landing pages
Create sales pages
Integrates with your choice of payment processors
Create membership websites and protected content
Create upsells
Create follow up funnels
Email marketing automation

OptinMonster

Most of the visitors that come to your website will leave and never come back. OptinMonster’s goal is to help you convert more of those visitors into email subscribers, and ultimately into paying customers.

With OptinMonster you can easily create popups, slide-in forms, inline optin forms (to be placed within your site/blog’s content), floating bars (header or footer), sidebar forms, content lockers, and more. Basically, any type of optin form that will help you to turn visitors into subscribers can be created with OptinMonster.

OptinMonster offers many pre-designed templates that you can use by simply entering your own text and connecting it to your email marketing provider (like AWeber, GetResponse, Active Campaign, ConvertKit, and others). And you can also use the drag-and-drop editor to design and create your own forms.

One of the cool features that OptinMonster offered before any of its competitors is exit-intent technology, which shows a popup as the visitor is about to leave your site, giving you one last chance to convert that visitor into a lead.

OptinMonster can be used with WordPress, Shopify, and even static HTML websites. While there are a lot of WordPress plugins for creating popups and other option forms (and several of them are listed below), OptinMonster stands out as one of the top options.

OptinMonster Features:

Create popups
Create notification bars (floating bars)
Create slide-in forms
Create mobile-friendly optin forms
Create yes/no forms
Create 2 step-optins
Have full control over when and where your forms are displayed
Integrate with all of the leading email marketing providers very easily
Use pre-designed templates or design your own forms

Thrive Leads

The WordPress plugin Thrive Leads, created by Thrive Themes, is similar to OptinMoster, but with a different set of features. Like OptinMonster, Thrive Leads makes it easy to create popups, sidebar optin forms, sticky notification bars, inline forms, and other types of optin forms.

You can also control which visitors will see your forms and when. You can also use one of many pre-designed templates or create your own design.

Although Thrive Leads functions differently, essentially it allows you to accomplish the same thing as OptinMonter. I’ve personally used both extensively and either one is an excellent choice.

One of the nice things about Thrive Leads is that you can purchase it individually or get access to the plugin with a Thrive Themes membership. Thrive Themes offers several outstanding WordPress plugins (I’ll mention another one later in this article) as well as themes, so the membership can prove to be a great value.

Thrive Leads Features:

Create popups
Create notification bars (sticky bars)
Create slide-in forms
Create mobile-friendly optin forms
Create yes/no forms
Create 2 step-optins
Have full control over when and where your forms are displayed
Integrate with all of the leading email marketing providers very easily
Use pre-designed templates or design your own forms

While OptinMonster and Thrive Leads are my two favorite options for creating popups and other optin forms, PopUp Domination was around before either of them. In fact, PopUp Domination was very influential in the early stages of this industry. It originally started as a WordPress plugin, but like OptinMonster, PopUp Domination can now be used with any website.

PopUp Domination offers some beautifully-designed templates, and of course, you can customize them. It has just about every feature you could possibly want for working with popups, but it does not allow you to create other types of optin forms like OptinMonster and Thrive Leads do.

Popup Domination Features:

Create popups
Have full control over when and where the popups are displayed
Create mobile-friendly popups
Create GDPR-friendly popups
Geographical targeting

Bloom

Bloom is an optin form WordPress plugin created by Elegant Themes. You can’t buy Bloom individually, but if you have a membership to Elegant Themes you will have access to Bloom. The Elegant Themes membership is an incredible value with two amazing (and versatile) themes, as well as a few plugins.

You can create popups, fly-ins, inline forms, below-content forms, widget area forms, and forms that are used to lock content so it can only be seen by subscribers.

Bloom also gives you different display options to control when and where the forms are shown, but it does not include features like exit intent or geo-targeting.

You’ll be able to use more than 100 pre-designed templates to create your forms with Bloom.

Overall, Bloom is a good option, but not quite on par with OptinMonster and Thrive Leads. If you already have an Elegant Themes membership, or if you would make use of the other plugins and themes available through Elegant Themes, Bloom could be a good choice. But I wouldn’t recommend purchasing the membership only for Bloom.

Bloom Features:

Create popups
Create fly-in forms
Create inline forms
Create below-content forms
Create widget area forms
Lock content to only be visible for subscribers
Control where and when your forms are displayed
Integrates with 19 email marketing platforms
100 pre-made templates that can be customized

Convert Pro

Convert Pro is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create several different types of optin forms, including popups, slide-ins, notification bars, inline forms, and more. You’ll also have full control over when and where your forms are shown, including exit intent, geo-targeting, device detection, and more.

In my opinion, the pre-designed templates offered by Convert Pro are not as good as those offered by OptinMonster, Thrive Leads, or PopUp Domination. However, Convert Pro does give you the freedom and flexibility to create your own design.

One of the best advantages of Convert Pro is pricing. It’s cheaper than some of the other alternatives listed above.

Convert Pro Features:

Create popups
Create sticky bars
Create slide-ins
Create before-post forms
Create after-post forms
Create yes/no forms
Create mini quiz forms
Full control over when and where forms are shown
Exit intent
Geo-targeting

Speaking of pricing, WP Subscribe Pro is one of the most affordable premium WordPress plugins for growing your email list, and there is also a free version available.

WP Subscribe Pro allows you to create popups, but no other type of optin form. The premium version includes exit intent technology, but it does not have the same advanced targeting options that OptinMonster, Thrive Leads, and others use to control which visitors see the popups.

The pro version integrates with several of the leading email marketing platforms like AWeber, MailChimp, GetResponse, and several others. But it does not offer as many integrations as some competitors.

Overall, WP Subscribe Pro is an excellent option if you’re working with a tight budget, but it can’t quite compare to the higher-priced alternatives.

WP Subscribe Pro Features:

Create popups
Some control over when and where your forms are shown
Exit intent
Customizable colors
Limited free version available

Sumo

Sumo is an interesting option because there is a free version that is more feature-rich than a lot of other free plugins. The free version allows you to create popups, notification bars, and welcome mats (covers the full screen). You also have some options to control when and where your forms are displayed, but the premium version comes with more advanced targeting features.

You can also create welcome emails and benefit from some ecommerce features if you’re running an online store. The cart abandonment and discount code features are pretty nice.

If you need to use a free option, Sumo is an excellent choice. If you have a budget and you’re willing to pay for a premium tool, I would personally recommend some of the other options like OptinMonster or Thrive Leads over Sumo.

Sumo Features:

Free and premium versions available
Create popups
Create notification bars
Create welcome mats
Social sharing
Control where and when your forms are shown (limited options with the free version)
Email and ecommerce features

Sleeknote

Sleeknote is a powerful option that includes much more than just optin forms. It also includes functionality to increase sales and connect with your site’s visitors. All of the functionality is built into one platform, so if your only purpose is to get more email subscribers, Sleeknote may be overkill. Because of all of the features and functionality, Sleeknote is also priced higher than most of the other options mentioned above.

Since this article is focused on growing an email list, I’m only going to touch on Sleeknote’s features that involve email marketing. You can create popups, forms for contests and giveaways, as well as content upgrades. You’ll have control over the design of the form, as well as full control over when and where the form is shown.

Sleeknote shines when it comes to analytics, which you’ll love if you have an ecommerce site. You can see ROI and other helpful stats easily and quickly.

Sleeknote Features:

Create popups to grow your email list
Control the look of your forms
Control when and where your forms are shown
Detailed analytics
Ecommerce features that will help you to sell more
Features that allow you to connect with visitors, like scheduling meetings

SiteKit

SiteKit allows you to create popups, notification bars, and more. One of the unique features of SiteKit is the ability to customize games to collect email addresses from visitors. For example, visitors can enter their email to get a coupon code for a random percentage off.

SiteKit is very helpful for growing your email list, but it is mostly designed and created for ecommerce websites. Bloggers and other types of sites may not be able to get the most out of SiteKit’s features.

SiteKit Features:

Create popups
Create notification bars
Use gamification to grow your list and increase sales
Ideally suited for ecommerce websites

Leadpages

Several of the options that I’ve covered so far allow you to create optin forms and popups to grow your email list. Now, we’re moving into a separate category of tools and resources. Leadpages allows you to grow your list through the creation of landing pages. You can also use Leadpages to create popups and notification bars, but landing pages are what Leadpages does best.

Landing pages can be an extremely effective way to grow your list. For example, you could create a free resource (lead magnet) and create a landing page to offer it to your visitors in exchange for their email address.

Leadpages comes with plenty of templates that you can use, as well as the ability to easily create your own designs and layouts.

Leadpages Features:

Create landing pages
Create popups
Create notification bars
Use pre-designed templates or create your own with the drag-and-drop builder
Collect payments

Unbounce

Unbounce is a Leadpages alternative that is also very popular. Like Leadpages, Unbounce will allow you to create landing pages, popups, and notification bars. It also features plenty of beautifully-designed templates, or you can easily build your own.

The pricing of Unbounce is a bit higher than Leadpages.

Unbouce Features:

Create landing pages
Create popups
Create notification bars
Use pre-designed templates or create your own with the drag-and-drop builder

Thrive Architect

Thrive Architect is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create your own page and post layouts and designs with a drag-and-drop builder. While it’s not exclusively about building your email list, Thrive Architect does include a number of landing page templates, so it can serve as an alternative to Leadpages or Unbounce. Since Thrive Themes offers several high-quality plugins and themes (including Thrive Leads, which was covered earlier in this article), a membership to Thrive Themes can be a great purchase.

Thrive Architect comes with many pre-designed templates that you can use. You can customize the templates with your own text and images, or you can create your own designs from scratch. You’ll be able to easily integrate with the leading email marketing providers.

Thrive Architect Features:

A plugin that provides a drag-and-drop page and post builder for WordPress
Use the pre-made landing page templates to create your own landing pages quickly
Use the drag-and-drop builder to create your own landing pages
Integrates with the most popular email marketing providers

OptimizePress

OptimizePress is a WordPress plugin and theme that makes it easy to create your own landing pages. It comes with more than 60 templates, and additional templates are also available for purchase.

But landing pages is just the start. OptimizePress can also be used to create sales pages, membership websites with protected content, webinar signup pages, and complete sales funnels.

Unlike some of the other options, like Leadpages, the landing pages you create with OptimizePress will be hosted on your own site and you won’t face monthly charges.

OptimizePress Features:

Create landing pages
Create sales pages and funnels
Create webinar and event signup pages
Create membership websites
Pre-made templates to choose from

Hello Bar

A notification bar, floating bar, or sticky bar (all essentially the same thing) can be a less-intrusive alternative to a popup. The bar will sit at the top or bottom of the screen and stay there as the visitor scrolls. It won’t cover up the content, so most visitors don’t mind it as much as a popup, but it can still be helpful for growing your email list.

Hello Bar was one of the first to offer this option. It’s a fairly simple tool that offers free and premium accounts. The free account is limited to 10,000 pageviews per month, and the features are also limited. You can also pay for a premium plan to get features like added design and targeting features, as well as A/B testing and more integrations.

While Hello Bar can be very effective, the monthly price on the premium plans makes it a more expensive option than some alternatives.

Hello Bar Features:

Create notification bars
Limited free version available (up to 10,000 pageviews per month)
Design and targeting features are expanded for the premium plans

WP Notification Bar Pro

WP Notification Bar Pro is a WordPress plugin that is a much cheaper alternative to Hello Bar. It doesn’t involve a monthly fee and can be purchased for a low price that includes one year of support and updates.

With WP Notification Bar Pro you’ll be able to create an unlimited number of bars and you’ll have control over details like colors. You can also use countdown timers and social icons in your notification bars.

Some of the options are not quite as advanced as Hello Bar, but it’s available at a small fraction of the price.

WP Notification Bar Features:

Create sticky notification bars
Create slide-in notification bars
Control over colors
Include a countdown timer

Contest Domination

Now we’re moving into the last section of tools/resources. The next four options all allow you to grow your email list by running a contest or giveaway.

With Contest Domination, you can easily and quickly create a landing page for your contest using one of their pre-made templates. You can also integrate Contest Domination with Leadpages, OptimizePress, ClickFunnels, and others.

Create your own contest or giveaway and grow your email list with people who are signing up to join the contest. Contest Domination will also select the winner for you. The winner can be selected at random, or it can be the entry that earned the most points.

Contest Domination Features:

Create contests to grow your email list
Pre-made landing page temples
Integrates with the most popular email marketing providers
Automatic winner selection

Rafflecopter

Rafflecopter is another popular option for hosting a giveaway or contest. You can easily and quickly set up your own giveaway using their templates.

You can set up the rules for your giveaway. For example, you can offer additional entries or points to people who share it with their friends, helping your contests to go viral and get bigger results. Rafflecopter can also automatically select a winner for you.

Rafflecopter Features:

Create contests to grow your email list
Use one of the design templates to set it up quickly
Integrates with 9 email marketing providers
Automatically selects the winner for you

ShortStack

ShortStack allows you to create contests, giveaways, and quizzes. Your campaigns can be posted to social networks, embedded, or shared through a custom landing page. You can also set up the rules to encourage participants to share the contest or giveaway to increase exposure.

ShortStack comes with a number of pre-designed templates, or you can create your own.

ShortStack Features:

Create contests to grow your email list
Use one of the design templates to set it up quickly, or create your own design
Email functionality is included
Automatically selects the winner for you

KickoffLabs

With KickoffLabs you can easily create and set up contests, giveaways, sweepstakes, and product launches. You’ll set the rules and those who participate can be rewarded for sharing it with their friends and spreading the word for you. You can also set up pre-launch waitlists, coupons, and give rewards for referrals that lead to purchases.

You can create landing pages, popups, and slide-ins to promote your contests. KickoffLabs will give you demographic information, allow you to tag leads, and much more.

KickoffLabs Features:

Create and run contests
Create and run sweepstakes
Create and run product launches
Have full control over the rules and rewards
Encourage participants to share it and get more points
Easy landing pages and popups

Final Word

If you’re looking to grow your email list, and I’m sure you are, these 20 resources can help to drastically improve your results and grow your list much faster. Check out the details and features to find the option that is best for you, and start working with it today.