How to Collect Email Addresses: Ways and Tools

Imagine having a direct line to communicate with your potential customers without worrying about social media algorithms or expensive ads. That’s precisely what collecting email addresses does. It offers a reliable way to connect, nurture, and convert leads into loyal customers.

Statistically, 60% of consumers have purchased after receiving a marketing email. That’s another reason why you must collect email addresses and target your email list.

“But hey, collecting emails is not easy.” Is that what you are thinking? To help you out, in this post, I have discussed how to collect email addresses most naturally. I’ve also included the top tools for implementing these methods.

Keep reading.

5 Reasons Why You Should Collect Email Addresses

If you’re not collecting emails, you’re missing out on one of the most valuable ways to grow your business. Here’s why it matters:

1. You own your audience: Unlike social media, where algorithms control your reach, emails go straight to your subscribers’ inbox, giving you full control.

2. Email marketing drives sales: Sending targeted promotions, discounts, and product updates keeps customers engaged and increases repeat purchases.

3. It’s cost-effective with high ROI: Email marketing is cheap and can generate around $42 for every $1 spent, making it one of the most profitable marketing channels.

4. People check emails daily: Your audience reads emails multiple times daily, making it easy for you to stay on top of their minds.

5. Better customer relationships: Regular emails with valuable content build trust, keep your brand relevant, and strengthen customer loyalty.

9 Best Ways to Collect Email Addresses

Are you looking to turn website visitors into loyal subscribers? Here are the top strategies for capturing leads and building lasting customer relationships.

1. Implement Email Opt-in Popup

Image Source: Picreel

An email opt-in popup is a small window that appears on a website. It asks visitors to enter their email in exchange for something valuable, such as a discount, free guide, or newsletter. The popup also detects user behavior, such as time spent on a page or when they’re about to leave.

For example, an online store can show a 15% off popup when visitors are about to exit, encouraging them to sign up. You can place it on your homepage, blog, or checkout page for maximum visibility. The best part? It will help you grow your email list regardless of your industry – eCommerce, SaaS, or service-based.

Expert Advice: Show your popup at the right moment and keep the message clear to maximize sign-ups.

2. Embed Signup Forms

Image Source: Press

A signup form is a simple box on your website asking visitors to enter their email to receive valuable content such as premium articles, newsletters, exclusive videos, or free courses. For example, a healthy drinks brand can add a newsletter form at the end of the homepage, offering 10% off on the first order for signing up.

You can place these forms where engaged visitors hang out, like at the end of your homepage, in the middle of blog posts, on the sidebar, or at the end of an article. Whether you sell products, offer services, or run an online course, you can use these embedded forms to grow your email list.

Expert Advice: Keep your signup form simple for minimum friction, use vibrant colors to catch the eye, and add action-driven text to highlight the value.

3. Create Valuable Lead Magnets

Image Source: Sienna Sauce

A lead magnet is a free, valuable, and attractive resource like ebooks, checklists, or whitepapers you provide your website visitors with in exchange for their email addresses. For example, a spreads and sauce brand can offer a “Free cookbook” on the website as a popup to collect emails from interested visitors.

Remember to use website popups to promote lead magnets when visitors spend time on a page or try to leave. You can also place these magnets as embedded forms within blog posts and landing pages or share them as posts through social media and ads to attract engaged subscribers. They will be perfect for your business, whether you’re selling products, services, or knowledge.

Expert Advice: Ensure your lead magnet is relevant to your audience, valuable enough to exchange an email for, and easy to consume, like a short guide.

4. Leverage Social Media Lead Ads

Image Source: Social Media Examiner

Social media lead ads display a form directly within Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter, where users can submit their email addresses to get a helpful resource. This can be a free guide, discount, or webinar. For example, an HR platform can run a Facebook lead ad offering a new hire checklist, effortlessly capturing emails.

You can place them in news feeds, stories, or promoted posts to reach the right audience. These ads work equally well for all kinds of businesses, from eCommerce to service providers.

Expert Advice: I recommend using eye-catching visuals and messaging that resonate with your audience. Also, continuously refine your targeting and ad creatives to maximize conversions.

5. Adopt Gamified Offers

Image Source: Warby Parker

Gamified offers engage your visitors with a small game like spin-the-wheel popups, quizzes, or reward-based challenges where they enter their email to unlock a discount, a freebie, or exclusive content. For example, an eyewear store can host a quiz offering personalized frame style recommendations, making email sign-ups more helpful.

You can place them on your homepage, as dedicated landing pages, or as popups when users are about to leave. Promote your offers through social media and on your website to drive participation, and integrate it with your email marketing platform to automate the collection and follow-up process.

Expert Advice: Make your gamified offers fun and valuable while ensuring they solve a problem or offer a real perk. Consider including a strong call to action in your offers to encourage users to enter their email to claim their reward.

6. Personalize Landing Pages

Image Source: ClickUp

A personalized landing page collects email addresses by offering something valuable that addresses visitors’ interests directly. This can be an exclusive guide or webinar tailored to a specific audience. For example, a productivity platform offering team workspace can create a landing page for marketing teams.

They can promote a free productivity toolkit, making the sign-up feel more relevant while increasing email conversions. You can use this strategy for your SaaS business’s target audience, which includes marketers, IT specialists, business owners, and sales professionals.

Expert Advice: Make your landing page feel like a one-on-one conversation. Use personalized headlines, targeted offers, and dynamic content based on visitor behavior to maximize email sign-ups.

7. Provide Free Product Demos

Image Source: Picreel

A free product demo offers a live or recorded walkthrough in exchange for an email sign-up, helping visitors see how your product can solve their problems. For example, a popup software company can offer a demo, requiring visitors to enter their email to access it, boosting both engagement and sign-ups.

SaaS companies with unique products can use this strategy. You can promote demos through popups on your website, dedicated landing pages, embedded signup forms, and social media ads.

Expert Advice: Make your demo feel exclusive. For that, you must offer a limited-time or personalized session and highlight what users will gain upfront. When people see real value, they’ll be more eager to sign up with their email.

8. Offer Exclusive Content to Email Subscribers

Image Source: Unstoppable Ecommerce

This is all about providing your email subscribers with exciting bonuses like insider tips, industry reports, early product releases, or premium articles in exchange for their email. For example, an eCommerce store can offer early access to sales or limited-edition product drops, encouraging visitors to subscribe and keeping them excited about upcoming deals.

You can promote it through website popups or social media. Whether you are a blogger, own a SaaS company, or run an eCommerce brand, this strategy can help you collect email addresses effortlessly.

Expert Advice: Try to offer insightful content or solutions that are not readily available elsewhere.

9. Utilize Live Chat and Chatbots

Image Source: Picreel

Live chat and chatbots offer a direct engagement channel with your website visitors, providing instant answers and fostering a positive user experience. For example, after assisting with a query, the chatbot can offer additional resources sent directly to the user’s inbox, prompting them to subscribe.

By programming your chatbot with conversational marketing techniques, you can seamlessly transition from providing value to requesting an email in a natural, unobtrusive manner.

Expert Advice: Tailoring the chatbot’s interactions based on the specific page or user behavior can increase the relevance and effectiveness of your email collection efforts.

5 Tools to Collect Email Addresses

Now that you know how to collect emails for email marketing, you need the right email capture tools to implement the above strategies effectively. Here are five indispensable tools that can transform your email collection efforts.

1. Picreel – Best for Boosting Leads, Conversions, and Sales

I needed a way to collect emails without annoying visitors, and Picreel made it simple. The exit-intent popups captured visitors right before they left by tracking their behavior and displaying a targeted offer at the perfect moment, making sign-ups effortless.

I could even create and trigger offers based on visitor behavior, making email collection feel natural rather than intrusive. With the customizable templates, creating popups and collecting emails was super easy. The best part was how smoothly it integrated with my email marketing tools and automatically added new leads.

What You Will Like

• Scroll-based & timed popups to engage users at the right moment.
• Gamified elements like spin-to-win wheels to engage visitors and boost sign-ups.
• Real-time analytics to track and improve conversion rates.
• A/B testing capabilities to fine-tune your strategies based on real user data and maximize effectiveness.

What You Will Not Like

• Doesn’t offer a downloadable or on-premise version. However, the web-based platform is always up-to-date and accessible on all devices.
• The dark mode option is unavailable. But the interface is quite clear and usable at all times.

Price: Forever free (up to 5k visitors). Paid starts at $9.99/month.

2. Mailchimp – Best for Email Automation

Image Source: Mailchimp

I use Mailchimp to collect emails in multiple ways. Signup forms, pop-ups, and slide-ins help me capture leads on my website and blog. I also create landing pages and run social media lead ads to grow my list. If I’m at an event, QR codes make it easy to collect emails offline.

Mailchimp’s e-commerce integrations let customers opt-in during checkout, while lead magnets and referral forms boost signups. Plus, its AI-powered insights give me smart recommendations for audience growth. These tools help me build my email list while complying with privacy laws like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

What You Will Like

• Social media ad tools to collect emails through Facebook and Instagram.
• Mobile-friendly emails to reach subscribers on any device.
• Automation tools to send personalized, trigger-based emails at the right time.
• Double opt-in forms to confirm email signups and reduce fake or spam entries.

What You Will Not Like

• Customer support is slow and unavailable over the phone.
• The interface is not user-friendly and has a steep learning curve.

Price: Starts at $13 per month

3. HubSpot – Best for CRM-Integrated Popups

Image Source: HubSpot

HubSpot combines popups and forms with its CRM, keeping all leads organized in one place. The popup forms were easy to customize, and I could trigger them based on visitor behavior, ensuring they appeared at the right time.

With progressive profiling, I captured more details from repeat visitors without asking for the same information twice. The drag-and-drop form builder simplified setup, and the seamless email marketing integration helped me automatically follow up with new contacts.

What You Will Like

• Assign lead scores to prioritize high-quality prospects.
• Behavior-based targeting to show sign-up forms based on time spent, scroll depth, or user actions.
• Lifecycle stage targeting to personalize popup form for new visitors, leads, or returning customers.
• Live chat and chatbots to collect emails through direct conversations.

What You Will Not Like

• Popups take a long time to load on highly designed websites, which increases bounce rates.
• Doesn’t let non-HubSpot users access the full functionality with third-party platforms.

Price: Starts at $15/month/seat

4. OptinMonster – Best for Optimizing Form Conversions Without Coding

Image Source: OptinMonster

OptinMonster completely changed how I collected emails on my site. Instead of just showing generic forms, the dynamic popups are adjusted based on visitor behavior, making sign-ups feel more natural. With Spin-to-Win opt-ins, I made people enjoy interacting with my website, which helped me grow my email list faster.

I also liked how the page-level targeting ensured visitors saw offers relevant to their reading, making signing up unobtrusive. I was happy with how the Inactivity Sensor helped me capture emails from people who had stopped engaging before they left my site. The best part was that I could do all this with a few clicks without any coding.

What You Will Like

• MonsterLinks™ to turn any link or image into an opt-in form.
• Floating bars to display offers constantly, encouraging visitors to sign up before leaving.
• Geo-Location Targeting to personalize popups based on visitor location and win higher signups.
• Smart optimizations to improve popup content using copywriting principles and AI.

What You Will Not Like

• Setting up advanced targeting options is complex and has a learning curve.
• Has some analytics delays which don’t let you see the real-time performance of your forms.

Price: Starts at $7/month

5. Sumo – Best for Freemium popups

Image Source: Sumo

I’ve used BDOW (formerly Sumo) to grow my email list with smart popups and forms. The exit-intent popups made a big difference by displaying a compelling message or sign-up form just as visitors were about to leave. This helped me capture more emails without disrupting the user experience.

The pre-designed templates were clean and professional, so I didn’t have to waste time designing them from scratch. What stood out most was its seamless integration with my email marketing tool, which automatically added new leads to my list. The detailed analytics also helped me fine-tune my email collection strategy for better results.

What You Will Like

• Smart display rules to control when and where popups appear.
• Welcome mats that capture emails immediately when visitors land on the site.
• Heatmap tracking to see how visitors interact with popups and improve placement.
• Lead magnet delivery for offering downloadable resources in exchange for emails.

What You Will Not Like

• Runs on one computer only and offers limited flexibility for team access.
• Popups under the free version have branding, which makes popups look unprofessional.

Price: Starts at $12/month

Grow Your Audience With Smart Email Collection

Gathering email addresses isn’t just about growing a list; it’s about building relationships, increasing sales, and keeping your audience engaged. With direct access to potential customers, you can send personalized offers, nurture leads, and drive repeat purchases without relying on ads.

The good news? As mentioned in the blog, there are multiple ways to gather email addresses, from popups and lead magnets to landing pages and social media lead ads. However, implementing them correctly can be challenging without the right tools.

Don’t worry; exploring the options I have covered in this blog can help you find the best fit for your business. If that sounds overwhelming, you can try one of my favorite tools without a doubt – Picreel. It has all the features to create and implement email-capturing popups without much effort or cost.

Wait no further; start exploring, implementing, and driving results.