How We Increased Our Email Opt-ins By 1000%

Learn how we increased our email opt-ins by 1000% and turned more visitors into subscribers using targeted forms, smart incentives, and GDPR-compliant best practices.

Learn how to increase email opt-ins by 1000%

I’ve been working on a project for the last few months to improve how we’re collecting emails at Gleam. Our aim is to maximise the amount of users we’re able to connect with, and provide them with content that will always keep Gleam front of mind when they are trying to grow their business.

What Is an Opt-In and Why Does It Matter?

An opt-in is when a user gives you permission to send them emails — usually by submitting their email address via a sign up form. A proper opt-in builds your mailing list with potential subscribers who want to hear from you.

Under modern privacy laws like GDPR (EU) and the Spam Act (Australia), it’s no longer enough to just collect emails — you must follow key principles:

• ✅ Explicit Consent: The user actively agrees to receive marketing emails (pre-ticked boxes aren’t allowed)
• ✅ Clear and Unambiguous: Language must be easy to understand and free of legalese
• ✅ Informed Consent: Tell users what kind of content they’ll get and how often
• ✅ Specific Consent: Consent should only apply to the described purpose (e.g., contest updates, newsletters)
• ✅ Revocability: Include a clear unsubscribe link in every confirmation email

Respecting these principles doesn't just keep you legally compliant — it also improves conversion rates, since your audience is engaged from day one.

The natural extension of this goal is to test ways that we can drive more email opt-ins, starting with our Blog. We get roughly ~20k visits / month here from people who are interested in growth, even capturing a small percentage of those users is a fantastic quick win.

Up until now we’ve always had a generic opt-in form that was growing our list by ~200 subscribers each month. Quite uninspiring if I do say so myself. In the past very small changes have netted us 484% growth in some areas, so there’s definitely room for improvement. I just needed to set some time aside to test it.

I gave myself 30 days to improve opt-ins, collected data, tried a bunch of different tactics and these are the results, enjoy.

The first thing I looked at was how we’re capturing generic email addresses from anyone that visits the blog. I wanted a way that anyone viewing any article on any page could find an easy way to signup for updates if they wanted.

Gleam blog page featuring a header opt-in form to capture email subscribers

This particular message converts 0.5% of our traffic into a subscriber. Probably the worst converting form on the blog. I’m guessing mainly because most users just scroll past it for the content.

The problem is that, these are the types of opt-ins that most people will build. And generally….they suck.

Opt-in Rate: 0.5%
Monthly Opt-ins: 100

This form could most definitely be improved, perhaps with a stronger call to action or a personal touch (i.e. an image of me). Consider this one a work in progress.

The second thing I implemented was a floating header bar using our Capture app. Our rules give me a lot more flexibility to test various scenarios to maximise the opt-in rate.

I’ve been testing 3 variations over the last month on getting users to install our Capture Bar. So results may be slightly different if I was chasing purely blog opt-ins.

Gleam Capture settings interface showing targeting rules for a blog opt-in bar

You’ll see the rules prevent the bar from showing to existing subscribers, it’ll only run on the blog subdomain and I’ve got the traffic split equally by 33.3% across 3 variations.

Website example displaying a dark-themed opt-in bar for capturing email subscribers

This was the first variation I tried. I wanted to test keeping the opt-in visually close to the main theme. I feel that it blends too much though (and shows in the results).

Opt-in Rate: 0.5%
Monthly Opt-ins: 100

Website opt-in bar featuring a green design and email signup field

I decided to create a variation that had much more contrast, I also wrote more compelling copy. The results here were really surprising, I was able to improve on the original by 100% quite easily.

Opt-in Rate: 1%
Monthly Opt-ins: 200

Website opt-in bar with a green design encouraging users to click and sign up

I also wanted to see how not asking for an email would impact results, so I created a variation that removed the opt-in field. I was expecting this to be higher, not really worth it to forfeit getting an email address.

Click Rate: 1.2%
Monthly Clicks: 240

I’ve been in this boat quite a few times myself – sometimes I just want to be able to opt-in to new post notifications for a blog.

This particular opt-in uses the Manual trigger rule inside our Capture app. This basically keeps it hidden until the Capture ID is called OnClick on the button.

The code looks something like this:

<a href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="_app.popup('GadiD')">Click here</a>

Click Rate: 1.5%
Opt-in Rate: 90%
Monthly Opt-ins: 270

I could probably also improve this by adding it to the end of the post so users see it once they’ve finished reading. I’m conscious that I don’t want to overload people, so this method is pretty frictionless.

Up until this point, many of the opt-ins I’ve implemented have been very generic and sweeping across the entire blog. I wanted to test something that gave readers more incentive to subscribe.

I created a scrolling Capture that reveals itself to the user only after they had read at least 50% of an article (indicating they were somewhat interested in the content).

I’m using this Capture type to link to a pretty epic piece of educational content that we’ve written on how to promote your contest.

The rules are quite simple here, I also limit the amount of times a user sees the opt-in (so we don’t annoy them more than once):

Gleam Capture settings showing rules to trigger a pop-up after users scroll the page

It was really surprising to see how well this opt-in worked. The incentive tied with the engaged user really increases their willingness to subscribe. This makes me think that there’s plenty more ways to improve on this method by making the incentive more attractive.

Opt-in Rate: 6%
Monthly Opt-ins: 1200

The last thing I’ve been testing are ways to use opt-in forms to recommend which article you should read next. You might think that asking for an email to do this isn’t a great idea, but I was very surprised at how well it worked.

Gleam Capture example offering a content upgrade to incentivise email signups

You’ll notice this example has just popped up for you to have a look 🙂 The premise is simple, once the user hits the bottom of the article it’ll popup with a recommendation for the next one. I’ve found that you will want to make sure the recommended article synergises with the current one, the better the synergy the more likely the opt-in.

Opt-in Rate: 15%
Monthly Opt-ins: 150 (I’ve only tested this option on a single article)

So there you have it, a few simple experiments that enabled us to grow our monthly opt-ins from ~200 to over 2000 in just under 30 days.

I’m still constantly testing more ideas which hopefully I can share when I have more data:

  • Webinar Signups
  • Premium Member Only Content
  • Using CTA Popups to Increase Pageviews
  • Embedded Opt-In Forms
  • Longform Articles With Additional Downloads Via Opt-in

The majority of the tests in this article were done using Gleam Capture. Once you install the Javascript you don’t need to make any more changes to code on your site, you can build and test new ideas in minutes.

What Is An Opt-in Email List?

An opt-in email list comprises users who have explicitly granted permission to receive your emails, typically through a sign-up form or landing page. Click to understand how to build a compliant and engaged subscriber list.

What Should I Include In An Opt-In Form?

our opt-in form should explain what users are signing up for, link to your privacy policy, and use a clear CTA. Click to explore what makes opt-in forms convert better.

Is Double Opt-In Required For GDPR?

No, but GDPR recommends clear, unambiguous consent — and double opt-in helps provide proof. Click to see how double opt-in supports GDPR compliance.

How Can I Improve My Opt-In Conversion Rates?

Offer valuable incentives, time your form triggers, and segment by source to grow your list faster. Click to discover how to boost opt-in rates with Gleam’s smart targeting.

What’s The Difference Between Single Opt-In And Confirmed Opt-In?

Single opt-in adds users instantly, while confirmed opt-in requires email verification before adding them to your list. Click to compare both methods and decide which is right for you.

What Are The Best Practices For Email Opt-Outs?

Make it easy to unsubscribe, honor requests promptly, and use opt-down options to keep users engaged. Click to learn how to reduce unsubscribes while staying compliant.