How a Giveaway Grew Our Email List by 6,507+

Want a faster way to grow your email list? We ran a giveaway on SeedProd and added 6,507 new subscribers in just 25 days.

Today, I’ll walk you through how we did it, and how you can use a giveaway to grow your email list.

This strategy is one I’ve used time and again to grow email lists without spending a fortune on ads. And thanks to tools like RafflePress, it’s easier than ever to run a giveaway that actually gets results.

Why Giveaways Are Great for Growing Your Email List

Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience. But getting people to sign up can be tough, unless you give them a reason. That’s where giveaways shine.

• They’re easy to track: You can measure your growth every step of the way.
• They’re cost-effective: We added each new subscriber for under $1.
• They create urgency: A time-limited contest encourages quick action.
• They expand reach: Viral sharing helped us get over 22,000 referrals.
• They attract the right people: A well-chosen prize pulls in your ideal audience.

What Makes a Giveaway Work for Email Growth?

Not every giveaway leads to results like this. Here’s what made the difference for us:

• A prize aligned with our audience: We chose a MacBook Air M2, ideal for our tech-savvy readers.
• Required newsletter signup: Entering meant joining our email list.
• Promotion across multiple channels: We used email, social media, and site banners.
• Time-sensitive urgency: Our giveaway lasted just 25 days.

Email List Giveaway vs. Social Media Giveaway

Running a social media contest can get you more followers fast. But followers are not the same as subscribers.

Social media followers exist on a platform you don’t control. Your reach to them depends on the algorithm, and that can change overnight. An email list is yours to keep, and you can reach every person on it directly.

	Email List Giveaway	Social Media Giveaway
Who owns the audience	You own your email list	Platform owns the relationship
How you reach subscribers	Direct email to every person	Algorithm-limited organic reach
Long-term value	High – direct marketing channel	Lower – subject to algorithm changes
What you collect	Email address and signup source	Platform-dependent profile data
Cost per lead	Under $1 per subscriber (our result)	Varies by platform and spend

With RafflePress, entrants join your email list directly as part of the entry process. You capture email addresses, not just social follows.

How to Run a Giveaway to Grow Your Email List

Let’s walk through the exact steps we used to set up our giveaway. You can follow these same steps to grow your own email list.

Pick a Prize That Attracts the Right People

Your prize needs to attract the kind of subscribers who will be interested in your business. When we planned our giveaway, we carefully considered what would appeal to our target audience while still being valuable enough to drive signups.

We chose the MacBook Air M2 because many of our readers are web professionals who use Macs for their work. The high value of the prize matched our ambitious goal of getting at least 1000 new subscribers, and it naturally appealed to our audience.

If you need some inspiration, see my roundup of proven giveaway prize ideas.

Use a Tool Like RafflePress

While there are many tools you can use to run a giveaway, including social media contest apps and standalone giveaway platforms, we chose RafflePress since our website runs on WordPress.

RafflePress is a WordPress giveaway plugin that makes it easy to create an online contest on your website. You can add entry methods like joining an email newsletter, following social media accounts, or visiting web pages.

Plus, it connects with popular email marketing services to automatically add new subscribers to your list.

To get started with RafflePress, install and activate the plugin on your WordPress site. Once activated, go to RafflePress » Add New in your WordPress dashboard.

Next, enter a name for your giveaway. We used “Black Friday” to keep it simple and clear.

Then, choose the “Grow Your Email List” template, which comes pre-configured with the best settings for collecting email subscribers.

After selecting your template, add your prize details and upload an attractive image. Using high-quality photos of your prize is important for making it stand out.

We made sure to include professional images of the MacBook Air M2, since people are more likely to enter when they can see exactly what they might win.

Connect Your Email Marketing Service

Before launching your giveaway, you’ll need to connect it to your email marketing service. This ensures that anyone who enters your giveaway is automatically added to your email list.

RafflePress works with popular email marketing services like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, AWeber, and many others. We connected our email marketing service, and the setup was straightforward.

To connect your email service, click on the “Join Newsletter” action in your giveaway template. Then select your email provider from the dropdown menu and follow the connection steps.

Each email service has slightly different setup requirements, but RafflePress walks you through the process.

Once connected, choose which email list you want to add subscribers to. We created a special “Black Friday” list to keep our new subscribers organized. This made it easier to track results and send targeted follow-up emails later.

Make sure to enable the “Trigger on Signup” option for the newsletter subscription. This ensures everyone who enters your giveaway automatically becomes a subscriber.

Set Up Your Giveaway Rules

Every successful giveaway needs clear rules to protect both you and your participants. We made sure our rules covered all the important details about how our giveaway would work.

Your rules should include basic information like:

• When the giveaway starts and ends
• Who can enter (age limits, location restrictions)
• How to enter
• How winners will be chosen
• When and how winners will be notified

We set our giveaway to run for 25 days during our Black Friday campaign. This gave us enough time to promote it while maintaining a sense of urgency.

Creating our rules was easy with the built-in rules generator.

We simply had to enter a few details and click “Generate” for an instant set of terms and conditions that we could edit and display.

You’ll also want to check local laws about running giveaways. Different countries and states have different requirements.

I recommend consulting a legal professional to make sure your rules comply with all relevant laws. You can also see my guide on how to write giveaway rules.

If you’re using a standalone giveaway landing page, it’s a great place to display your rules clearly.

Promote Your Giveaway Everywhere

Getting the word out about your giveaway is crucial for attracting entries. We promoted our MacBook giveaway across multiple channels to reach as many potential subscribers as possible.

First, we announced the giveaway to our existing email subscribers. Since they’re already interested in our brand, many of them shared the contest with their friends and colleagues.

We also shared our giveaway on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Each post included an eye-catching image of the MacBook Air and clear instructions on how to enter.

To make our giveaway more visible on our website, we used OptinMonster to create an attention-grabbing banner. This helped catch visitors’ attention and drive more entries throughout our site.

The key is to promote your giveaway consistently throughout its duration. We posted regular reminders as the deadline approached, which created a sense of urgency and brought in more last-minute entries.

Choose and Announce the Winner

Once your giveaway ends, it’s time to pick a winner. RafflePress makes this process simple with its random winner selection tool.

To choose our winner, we went to RafflePress » Giveaways in our WordPress dashboard and clicked the “Needs Winners” link next to our giveaway.

Here is an example of how this would look on one of our demo giveaways.

The plugin automatically verified all entries to ensure they were legitimate before selecting a random winner. Then, it’s simply a case of clicking “Choose Winners Now”.

After selecting the winner, we emailed them using the contact information they provided when entering. We gave them 48 hours to respond and claim their prize.

It’s important to be transparent about the winner selection process. We announced the winner on our social media channels and sent an email to all participants. This helps build trust with your audience and gets them excited about entering future giveaways.

Follow Up With Your New Subscribers

Getting new subscribers is great, but keeping them engaged is even better. After our giveaway ended, we focused on turning these new subscribers into long-term followers.

We sent a series of welcome emails to our new subscribers. The first email announced the winner and thanked everyone for participating.

When you’re doing this, you can include a special offer or consolation prize in this email to keep people interested in your brand even if they didn’t win.

A simple 3-email follow-up sequence works well here. Send a winner announcement with a consolation offer for non-winners, a short brand introduction email, and then start your regular newsletter cadence.

Don’t make the mistake of letting your giveaway subscribers go cold. Instead, start sending them your regular newsletter content right away. This helps them get familiar with your brand and the value you provide.

After 2-3 emails in your welcome sequence, check who hasn’t opened anything. Send one re-engagement email before removing them. A smaller, responsive list is worth more than a large unresponsive one.

Keep track of how many new subscribers stay on your list after the giveaway ends. In our case, most subscribers stayed engaged because we targeted the right audience with our MacBook prize. A tech-focused prize attracted tech-savvy readers who were genuinely interested in what we publish.

The prize you choose pre-qualifies your audience. A generic gift card attracts everyone; a targeted prize attracts the right people.

For help setting up your welcome sequence, see our guide on how to create an email newsletter.

Real Results: 6,507 New Subscribers in 25 Days

Running a giveaway helped us add 6,507 new subscribers to our email list in just 25 days. Here’s a breakdown of what we achieved:

Metric	Result
New email subscribers	6,507
Days run	25
Cost per subscriber	Under $1
Referrals generated	22,000+
LinkedIn shares	11,000+
YouTube channel visits	3,000+
Facebook likes	2,000+
New Twitter followers	2,000+

The key to our success was choosing the right prize, making it easy to enter, and promoting it effectively across multiple channels.

And because the MacBook Air M2 appealed directly to tech-savvy professionals, most subscribers stayed active after the giveaway ended.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you run a giveaway to grow your email list?

Choose a prize that appeals to your target audience, then set up a giveaway using a tool like RafflePress. Require email signup as the entry action, connect your email marketing service, and promote the giveaway across your existing channels. When the giveaway ends, announce the winner and send a welcome sequence to all new subscribers.

What is the best prize for an email list giveaway?

The best prize is something your ideal subscriber specifically wants, not something everyone wants. A gift card attracts everyone and results in low retention. A MacBook Air attracted tech-savvy professionals for us, and most of those subscribers stayed active after the giveaway. Match the prize to the audience you’re trying to build.

How do you keep giveaway subscribers from unsubscribing?

Start your welcome sequence immediately after the giveaway ends. Send a winner announcement, a brand intro email, and your first regular newsletter within the first week. The biggest drop-off happens when subscribers feel like they signed up for a prize, not a newsletter. Show them the value of staying subscribed from day one.

How long should a giveaway run to build your email list?

Two weeks is the sweet spot for most giveaways. It’s long enough to promote to your full audience and short enough to keep urgency high. Our giveaway ran for 25 days because it was tied to a Black Friday campaign, which gave us a natural reason to extend it. Without that kind of seasonal hook, 2 weeks is usually the right call.

How do you promote a giveaway to get more entries?

Start by emailing your existing subscribers. They’re already interested in your brand and will share with their networks. Post on every social media platform with a clear image of the prize. Add a site-wide banner using a tool like OptinMonster. Send reminder emails as the deadline approaches to capture last-minute entries.

Start Your Giveaway to Grow Your Email List

Remember, the goal isn’t just to get more subscribers, it’s to attract people who are interested in what you offer. By following the steps in this guide and using tools like RafflePress, you can run your own successful giveaway to grow your email list.

Ready to start yours? Get RafflePress today and follow the steps above to grow your email list with contests.

If you liked this article, you might also want to check out:

• How to Run a Successful Black Friday Giveaway in WordPress
• How Agile’ Grew Their Client’s Email List by 52% with RafflePress
• How Smash Balloon Grew Their Email List by 3,584 Subscribers
• How to Create an Email Newsletter (Step-by-Step)

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