List Growth Masterclass
In this masterclass, you'll learn everything you need to know about using sign-up forms and pop-ups to drive massive list growth for your eCommerce store.
I. The 3 Pillars of Email Marketing
To build a strong and effective email marketing strategy, you need to focus on three essential areas:
- Automations - These are pre-set email flows automatically sent based on customer actions. Examples include a welcome series when someone joins your list or abandoned cart emails that remind shoppers to complete their purchase.
- Campaigns/Newsletters - These are manually sent emails designed for product launches, sales promotions, or sharing updates about the brand. They help keep customers engaged.
- List Growth - This is our focus today. It involves strategies to collect more email subscribers, mainly through pop-ups and sign-up forms.
II. Why List Growth Matters
Growing your email list is crucial for long-term success because:
- Most website visitors don't purchase on their first visit.
- Capturing their email allows you to follow up and build trust over time.
- A larger email list increases opportunities to convert leads to paying customers.
- It reduces your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) because you can market to subscribers repeatedly without paying for more ads.
Example: Imagine 1,000 people visiting your site, but only 2% buy. If you capture emails from 10% of those visitors, that's 100 more people to market to later!
We'll touch on this important calculation later in this training.
III. The Reality of Online Shopping
Let’s face it—most people won’t buy on their first visit to an eCommerce store. Here’s why:
- They don’t know enough about the product.
- They might be waiting for payday.
- They’ve never heard of the brand before.
- They aren’t sure if they can trust the quality.
Only about 2 out of 100 visitors actually buy something. That’s why we need to warm up the rest with good content.
IV. Building Trust with Content
Before someone buys, they need to know, like, and trust your brand. This happens through repeated exposure to helpful and interesting content.
This graphic below helped me a lot to understand your customer journey.
The "5 stages of awareness"
Our goal? We aim to engage your site visitors at the right stage of awareness and guide them down the funnel—from unaware (not ready to buy) to most aware (ready to buy).
The "7-touch points"
There's a common belief that it takes around 7 touch points (though it's likely closer to 10 today) to turn a cold lead into a paying customer. Every Facebook ad, TikTok, Reel, or newsletter counts as one of those touch points.
Types of Content:
We'll compare the two main types:
- Paid ads help attract people but can be costly.
- Email marketing is affordable and allows consistent communication to build trust.
P.S This doesn't mean that a store should rely solely on email marketing and stop running their paid ads
But rather use ads as 1-2 first touch points to get the customer to the site.
Then we'd like to make them sign up on the pop-up and keep nurturing these new customers with email marketing.
In this example below you can see how we 4x sales from email marketing
Just by getting the pop-up submit rate from 2% to 8%
[Freebie] How does your store perform? Download this quick profitability sheet I've put together - click on this link to test your store's profitability.
How to use the table? Check this video
But how do we actually get to a pop-up from an average 2.5% to an amazing 8.75%?
We can module big brands who usually already spent millions
Testing like crazy to optimize their conversion rate by 0.1%.
V. Why Pop-Ups Are Essential
Pop-ups are one of the most effective ways to grow your email list. Here's why they work so well:
- They immediately grab attention and offer something valuable (like a discount) in exchange for an email.
- Improving your pop-up conversion rate can dramatically increase your sales.
- Pop-ups act as the virtual salesperson that warmly greets and engages customers, just like in a physical store.
In 2025, most of your customers have seen a pop-up or two before - this is a pretty common strategy of collecting info online (i.e. their email or phone number).
VI. What Makes a High-Converting Pop-Up
- Strong Offer: Provide something that customers actually want—discounts, freebies, exclusive deals, or early access.
- Simple Design: Use bold, clear text with minimal wording. The offer should be the most noticeable element.
- Perfect Timing: Show the pop-up after a short delay (4-12 seconds) or when the user is about to leave the site (exit intent).
- Fast Loading: Slow pop-ups frustrate users. Test loading speed to ensure it’s instant.
Let's take a look at a few examples:
- Great mobile examples:
Example #1 - Cuts Clothing
The look -
The size of the pop-up is probably as small as you should go, the larger and more space it takes up the screen, the better.
Black on white text: Get your 20% off first order.
Simple and effective.
The Teaser -
Great in conveying the offer 20% off but it's not too intrusive. Great addition in case the end user just X out the form first, they can always click on the teaser to have the pop-up show up again.
The strategy -
Desktop gives us the option to exit intent. Mobile does not.
That's why a new strategy I am seeing is:
Mobile - Collect SMS first or only SMS. (Most clients wouldn't be happy about not including email so don't push this SMS-only strategy)
Example #2 - DrSquatch
The look -
Big text saying: Mystery discount
Look how big this form - it takes the entire screen, so the end user is most likely to opt-in.
The strategy -
Email → SMS
They used a gamified version here "Mystery discount" and you have to click on of the options on the pop-up to redeem your "secret offer" which also taps into scarcity.
Email → SMS
Example #3 - JukeBox
The look -
Nice and big and it takes over the entire screen
The strategy -
SMS → Email
This pop-up uses a new feature of "easy opt-in" for SMS
Where you opt-in quicker
You get a code sent to your phone and you opt-in after inputting the code
VIII. Common Mistakes to Avoid
1. Weak or Unclear Offers:
If the offer isn't valuable, people won't sign up. Your offer needs to be exciting and worth sharing their email. If you're not offering a discount, make the form more engaging.
Try some ideas like:
- Gamify the experience: Introduce a spin-to-win wheel or scratch-off discount.
- Host a giveaway: Offer a chance to win a high-value product.
- Exclusive content: Provide a free guide, recipe book, or insider tips.
- Bigger discounts: Instead of a small 5% discount, offer $25 off for higher-priced products.
- Bundles or free gifts: Add a free item with their purchase to increase perceived value. Here applies what is called in psychology the reciprocity rule: It suggests that offering something valuable for free creates a sense of obligation, making customers more likely to engage with your brand and make a purchase.
2. Asking for too much
Every touchpoint we ask from the client adds friction = lower submission.
3. Time delay
The form should not fire off immediately.
Or wait for too long so the client has already left.
You should find a balance between the 2.
My tip: 60% of the average sesh time (First time visitors)
4. Slow loading speed
The worst experience for a customer is a slow pop-up to load
We should test the forms on our devices with a good internet speed.
I recommend using this website here to reduce the file size of your WEBP, AVIF, JPEG and PNG files: TinyPNG
5. Small forms
Too small of a form = low submission rate.
6. Too much copy
7. Too much going on
IX. Types of Sign-Up Forms
- Pop-Up: Appears in the center of the screen. Best for grabbing attention.
- Fly-Out: Slides in from the side. Less intrusive but still effective.
- Embedded Form: Placed on product pages, footers, or blogs. Great for consistent visibility.
X. Steps to Create a High-Converting Pop-Up
- Craft an Irresistible Offer:
- % Off (for products under $100)
- $ Off (for products over $100)
- Mystery Discount to spark curiosity
- Free Gift with purchase
- Free Shipping for first-time buyers
- Giveaway Entry to win a prize
- Exclusive Guide or Resource
- Early Access to new products or sales
- Choose the Right Form Type:
- Pop-Up
- Fly-Out
- Embedded Form
- Design Your Form (Using Klaviyo):
- Draw inspiration from high-performing brands.
- Focus on clarity, simplicity, and impact.
- Quality Assurance Checklist:
- Only one input per step (email or SMS)
- Delay pop-up 4-12 seconds after page load
- Ensure it covers at least 75% of the screen (especially on mobile)
- Keep the copy short (under 10 words)
- Make the offer the most prominent feature
- Use a "Close Form" button instead of an "X"
- Run A/B Tests to Optimize:
- Test different offers (discounts vs. freebies)
- Experiment with form types (pop-up vs. fly-out)
- Adjust time delays for best results
- Compare "Close Form" button vs. traditional "X"
- Test various images, copy (text) , colors and Hero images
XI. Final Thoughts
Pop-ups aren’t just annoying boxes—they’re tools for building relationships. Use them wisely to grow your list, connect with customers, and boost sales. Keep testing and improving to get the best results!
Want to discover your Klaviyo account low hanging fruit?
Book a free Klaviyo account audit with me!
