jinty

How do I build an email list with a free giveaway?

Give one small, useful thing away in exchange for an email address.

Pick the thing to give away

Take one small part of the problem you already solve and answer it properly. A checklist, a shopping list, one worked example. Give a slice, never the whole thing, so the paid version is still the obvious next step.

The download editor, with a short giveaway titled and described.
Make it a free download

Add a link, choose sell or give away a download, then set the price to Free. Instead of paying, the person leaves their name and email address, and the file is sent to them straight away.

The price question, set to Free.
Say what they get

Write the line under your title in plain, countable words. "A one page checklist to print for the fridge" tells somebody far more than "a PDF". That line is what decides whether they hand over an address.

The What they get field, filled in.
Publish it and share the link

It gets its own address, and it sits on your link-in-bio page too. Put the link where you already answer this question: a post, a reply, a group you are in, the bottom of an email.

The free download live on a link-in-bio page.
Or add a sign-up box instead

The collect emails link type puts a box on your link-in-bio page with your own button words on it. Someone leaves an address and nothing is emailed back, so use it for keeping in touch rather than for delivering something.

The sign-up box on a published link-in-bio page.
Watch them arrive

Everyone who leaves an address lands in Contacts, with where they came from and the date. If they also ticked the box saying you may send them news, that is recorded separately, with its own date. Contacts are not capped.

Contacts, with several rows and their sources.