How to Grow Your Subscribers Using Social Media & Email Marketing

TL;DR

  • Use social proof — user testimonials, reviews, and influencer marketing — to share your app with more potential customers

  • Use email marketing to remind your trial users when their trial is coming to an end — and include a CTA to subscribe to app on a monthly or annual basis

  • Add fresh content to your app on a regular basis and remind users of the exclusive content they can only get from your app

“If you build it, he will come” may have worked for Kevin Costner, but unfortunately, this cavalier approach does not cut it in the business world. You’ve worked so hard to build and release your app up to this point, and now is not the time to lose steam!

In fact, we’d argue that now is the time to really start grinding in order to get more subscribers — because the more subscribers you have, the more money you make!

Why Should I Care How Many Subscribers I Have?

As we just noted, you need subscribers in order to make money. And not just any subscribers — paid subscribers. While racking up trial subscriptions is great, you need to focus on converting those trial subscribers into paid subscribers.

We can tell you that on average, more than 50% of Playbook’s trial users convert into a paid subscription. That’s why it’s so crucial to hook users during their 7-day trial period — and you can do this by posting fresh content on a regular basis, engaging with fans on social media, and more.

Below, we’ll share how you can use social media and your email lists to turn trial subscribers into paying customers.

3 Ways to Grow Your Subscribers Using Social Media

It’s all about social proof. Use the following tactics to turn trial subscribers into paid customers:

  1. Encourage user testimonials and reviews — sharing positive reviews and before/after transformations is an excellent way to showcase happy customers using your app. In turn, this will encourage those who are on a trial to take the leap to a paid subscription.

    You can even offer small prizes, like a one-on-one Zoom session or free e-book, to encourage fans to share reviews and results from your workouts on social media. The time you invest putting this together is a small price to pay for new subscribers.
  2. Ask your followers to use a specific hashtag to share their workout progress, then repost those to your own Instagram account.

    Sharing these to your account makes your fans feel good, and when they share these posts to their own accounts, they’re exposing your brand to an entirely new pool of potential customers.

  3. Partner with other influencers to help grow your brand — by sharing your content on their pages, you again expand your reach and are more likely to get new subscribers.

If you want more specific training on these items, check out this article on social proof.

2 Ways to Grow Your Subscribers Using Your Email List

If you have an email list, use the following tactics to convert your trial subscriptions into paid ones:

  1. Send out at least one email during the trial period that lists all of the exclusive content users get by subscribing to your app. Remind them how frequently you’re publishing new workouts, any insights you share, and stress the community aspect that users can only access if they’re subscribed to your app.

  2. Promote new workouts and app features by sending out regular emails to your subscribers. Whether someone is on a trial, monthly, or annual subscription, this is a great way to stay top of mind with your users — and might even convince a trial user to sign up for the long haul.

Note: A CTA, or call to action, is a short statement or phrase that’s designed to get a consumer to act. Think “Buy Now,” “Subscribe Today,” “Sign Up,” or “Learn More.”

3 Best Practices to Keep in Mind

  1. Add fresh content to your app on a regular basis — trial users will be more likely to convert to a monthly or annual subscription if they know they’re truly getting the bang for their buck.

  2. Respond to your Instagram DMs and creator app messages on a regular basis — if users are requesting a particular workout or have questions and you’re quick to answer, they’ll be more likely to stick around after their trial period.

  3. Create a sense of urgency in all social media and email copy. Include a powerful CTA at the beginning of each post, and remind users that your app offers exclusive content they won’t find anywhere else.

We can’t stress this enough — talk about your app everywhere and talk about it all the time. Trial subscribers are great, but you need to implement the above tactics in order to get them to convert and get yourself paid.