Email in 2025: Evolve or get left behind

A few weeks ago, I attended a gathering of 40+ entrepreneurs in Atlanta. It was inspiring to spend quality time in person with some incredible brand creators and business builders.

On the first night, I struck up a conversation with a popular YouTube creator. We got onto the topic of email marketing, and went down the how to get more email subscribers rabbit hole.

These days, email subscribers are harder to acquire than ever before. There are so many lead magnets and newsletters, and so many people competing for our attention.

As we discussed our strategies for 2025, it was clear the game is changing fast.

So today I'm going to share four key strategies that my YouTube buddy and I agreed on, and why I think they'll work as we move toward the new year.

Let's dive in.

Note: I’m also hosting a free workshop with Kajabi called "Building Your Email List To Generate Revenue."

In this workshop, I share levers and tactics for growing your email list with future customers.

Sign up here to watch this workshop for free.

The Big Problem with Current Email Acquisition Strategies

When I look at how creators are building their email lists, I see a lot of outdated tactics.

Pop-up lead grab forms, generic PDF lead magnets, and spray-and-pray approaches are becoming less effective.

Why? Because we're inundated with this stuff.

Subscribers are now more discerning than ever with their inbox space. They're not just giving away their email addresses for some worthless PDF. They want value, personalization, and a real reason to let you into their inbox.

So how do you adapt?

Here are four strategies that will set you apart from the ocean of noise out there in 2025.

1. Content-Driven Acquisition: Quality Over Quantity

You can't churn out mediocre content just to have something to email about.

Your content needs to solve real problems. Create comprehensive content hubs instead of quick posts and crappy freebies. You want to build a resource-heavy content library for your audience.

For example, let's say you're in the fitness space. Instead of writing a simple "10 Best Ab Exercises" newsletter, you could create an entire ab workout program with video demonstrations, meal plans, and progress sheets. This becomes your content hub and free resource.

Now, every time you create a piece of content related to ab work, you'll have a natural lead magnet to offer up.

My personal goal in 2025 is to create 10 content hubs that I can pair with the most relevant content I write across each of my platforms.

Remember, every piece of content you create should lead to an email sign-up opportunity. But it needs to feel natural, like a logical next step — not a desperate ask for subscribers.

2. Advanced Personalization: Beyond "Hey [First Name]"

Personalization has already moved way beyond using someone's name in an email.

You need to know everything you can about your subscribers to make sure they gain tremendous value from what you write. Because when people gain value from content, they share it. And that helps you grow, of course.

I survey (and segment) every newsletter subscriber, using a tool called RightMessage. I ask 7-9 simple, multiple choice questions, and I have an 86% completion rate.

So when I send out new emails, I plan on relying on subscriber data to speak to my readers personally, produce content they'll appreciate, serve the right products at the right time, and encourage them to share my content.

"Hey, Beth," is dead. It's time to get much more personal with your email list.

In 2025, this is something I plan on going very deep with given that I have over 192,500 individual data points on my subscribers.

3. Multi-Channel Integration: Be Everywhere (Strategically)

Your email acquisition strategy should seamlessly integrate across all your social platforms and touch points.

I'm not suggesting you spam "subscribe to my email list" everywhere you can. I'm talking about creating a cohesive experience across channels.

For example, let's say you're a podcaster. Don't just mention your email list at the end of every episode. Instead, create episode-specific resources that listeners can access by signing up for your email list. So, if you're discussing productivity hacks in an episode, you might offer a productivity planner as a companion to that episode.

Your productivity planner could have embedded pieces of your content from different social channels, to help you move followers from platform to platform.

The key is to make subscribing (and following you elsewhere) feel like a natural next step, no matter where someone encounters your content.

Your ultimate goal: Add value at every touchpoint.

4. AI-Powered Optimization: Work Smarter, Not Harder

AI will likely be the most important tool for optimizing your email acquisition efforts. One practical application could be using AI to break down all of the data you collect through your email survey.

Imagine you're running a SaaS business. AI could analyze thousands of data points across your email list. Your findings can illuminate opportunities for all sorts of things, like:

• New and/or improved products
• Better future emails
• More compelling future content
• Powerful, relevant calls-to-action

The opportunities are unlimited.

When you understand your ideal customer, you can focus your efforts on creating high-value content for the right people and nailing your "calls-to-subscribe."

The goal is to use AI to make your efforts more efficient and effective, so you can focus on creating more valuable content and building better relationships.

The Bottom Line

Email list building is becoming more sophisticated, personalized, and integrated with other aspects of your online brand. It's not just about collecting email addresses anymore — it's about building multi-channel, value-first relationships.

The creators who succeed will be those who provide real value, with highly relevant content for their ideal customers. AI may get more sophisticated, and the algorithms are always changing. But providing value will never go out of style.

If you want to dive deeper into these strategies and learn how to turn your email list into a revenue-generating machine, I'm hosting a free workshop with Kajabi called "Building Your Email List To Generate Revenue."

Sign up here to watch this workshop for free.

And that's all for this week.

See you next Saturday!