Your email list is dying a slow death

Hey, Michael from AdSumo Digital here.

Let me share something shocking I discovered last month while reviewing one of our client accounts.

This brand was spending $13,000 monthly on Facebook ads to drive traffic. Their website was converting at a respectable 2.3%. Their emails were generating 25% of total revenue.

All decent numbers.

But when I looked at their list growth rate, I nearly fell out of my chair:

They were adding just 625 new subscribers each month.

With 25,000 monthly visitors, that's a measly 2.5% capture rate.

Here's why this matters more than most brands realize:

Your email list is constantly decaying.

Every month, you lose subscribers through:

• Unsubscribes (industry average: 0.25%)

• Inactive subscribers who stop opening (about 1-2% monthly)

• Email address changes and abandoned accounts (another 0.5%)

That means without active list growth, you're losing roughly 2-3% of your list every single month.

For a brand with 20,000 subscribers, that's 400-600 subscribers vanishing into thin air. Every. Single. Month.

This slow decay creates a dangerous downward spiral:

1. Smaller list = fewer people receiving campaigns

2. Fewer campaign recipients = less revenue

3. Less revenue = reduced budgets for acquisition

4. Reduced acquisition = even slower list growth

5. Slower list growth = accelerated list decay

And round and round we go...

But there's good news. You can reverse this trend starting today.

Here are 5 actionable tactics you can implement this week to accelerate your list growth:

1. Optimize your pop-up timing: Test delivering your pop-up at 8 seconds instead of instantly or waiting too long. Our A/B tests show this timing consistently outperforms others, with submit rates increasing by 30-40%.

2. Add a two-step opt-in process: Instead of asking for email immediately, ask a simple yes/no question first ("Want to save on your first order?"). This psychological commitment principle can boost conversion rates by 25-30%.

3. Run an A/B test on your headline: Replace generic "Get 10% Off" messaging with benefit-driven language. One of our clients saw a 22% lift by changing to "Save $15 on Your First Premium Order."

4. Add SMS collection to your existing pop-up: Rather than choosing between email or SMS, collect both with a two-step form. We've seen this add 15-20% more contacts to your marketing database with minimal impact on conversion rates. Just make sure customers can skip the sms opt-in if they want to.

5. Create a dedicated landing page for list growth: Build a simple quiz or assessment that provides value, then promote it across your social channels. This approach consistently adds 300-500 targeted subscribers monthly for most brands.

One of our clients recently implemented just three of these strategies and added 4,414 new subscribers in a single month.

The impact was immediate and dramatic:

• Flow revenue jumped to $15,596 (72% of their email revenue)

• Their average flow RPR (revenue per recipient) hit $0.376

• Their sending segment grew from 10,570 to 13,226 subscribers

• Overall email-attributed revenue increased from 9.26% to 11.91%

This is the compounding magic of list growth.

Every new subscriber you add today:

• Enters your welcome flow (typically $1-3 per subscriber)

• Joins your campaign audience (ongoing revenue)

• May eventually abandon a cart (high-converting recovery opportunity)

• Becomes a potential repeat buyer (lower CAC)

• Could turn into a loyal advocate (free word-of-mouth)

The brands crushing it right now are the ones who've made list growth a regular part of their weekly metrics review.

Your action plan for this week:

1. Check your current list growth rate (new subscribers ÷ unique visitors)

2. Implement at least one tactic from above

3. Set up an A/B test on your main pop-up

4. Schedule a monthly review of your capture metrics

I'd be curious to hear - what's your current list growth rate? And which of these tactics will you implement first?

Just hit reply and let me know.

Talk soon,
Michael

PS - If you run an Ecom brand and want to have a 15 minute strategy session with me, book a call here »