What is it?
Offering free tools on your website can be an effective way to capture email sign-ups.
For example, a fitness website could share a "Calorie Calculator" that shows users how to hit their diet goals. Or a social media marketing blog could offer an AI-powered "Caption Generator”.
Before allowing users to access the tool or see the results, you can have them enter their email to opt-in to your newsletter.
Your visitors get something useful immediately, and you get a new subscriber who has self-qualified their interest in your niche.
Alternatively, you can leave the tool free for everyone to access, encouraging more social sharing and increased brand awareness. You still promote your newsletter to these users, but as an optional extra rather than mandatory.
The Good and the Bad
Examples of how to crush it
Technically
Justin created a database/glossary of terms related to software engineering, aimed at helping those who don’t fully understand the field.
The database launched on August 22, 2022, and while the exact impact on subscriber numbers isn't public, it coincided with a noticeable increase in the newsletter’s popularity.
The Airtable database is freely accessible without requiring an email sign-up, making it easy to share.
When users share or access the database, they are directed to Justin's articles, potentially converting them into regular readers and subscribers.
AI With Vibes
Moyo leveraged his background as a developer to create tools to help grow his AI newsletter.
“I noticed most of my strategies have been things that were not repeatable. I needed something more sustainable. So I was thinking about tools. I could start an AI tool. I could post it on the two AI tool directories that get like 8,000 users per day.”
Posting on AI tool directories with high daily traffic exposed his tools to a large audience.
