How to Grow Your Email List on Shopify

Who it is for

Stores building their list

Time needed

2 to 3 hours to set up

What you need

Shopify Forms and a sign-up offer

Your email list is the one audience you own. Ad prices change, social reach drops, but a subscriber who asked to hear from you stays reachable for as long as you keep them interested. That is why I set up list growth on every store before any campaign work.

This guide covers how to grow an email list on Shopify step by step: consent first, then checkout, a sign-up popup, the offer, other places to collect addresses, how to grow fast without damaging the list, and how to measure it. Menus and features come from Shopify's help center, and the consent rules from the ICO and FTC, as checked on 7 November 2026.

Get consent right before you grow

A list built without proper consent is a liability. The rules depend on where subscribers live:

• US. CAN-SPAM doesn't require opt-in, but every marketing email needs your postal address and a working opt-out honored within 10 business days. Opt-in still gives you a cleaner list.
• UK. The ICO says you need specific consent to email individuals, such as ticking an opt-in box, or the soft opt-in for existing customers who bought a similar product and were offered an opt-out.
• EU. The ePrivacy Directive requires prior consent, with the same existing-customer exception.

Shopify helps with two settings. Double opt-in, which emails new subscribers to confirm, lives under Settings > Notifications > Customer notifications, in the Marketing double opt-in section. In Germany, Shopify shows an extra option to require confirmation. Your sign-up wording should say what people will get and roughly how often.

Step 1: collect emails at checkout

Every buyer types an email at checkout, so a marketing checkbox there is the easiest win on most stores.

1. Open the setting. Go to Settings > Checkout and find the Marketing opt-in section.
2. Turn on email. Enable the email option so the consent checkbox shows at checkout.
3. Choose preselection. Pick Regions recommended by Shopify to let Shopify decide per region, or Regions you choose to set it yourself. Choosing no regions means the box is never preselected, which is the safe option for UK and EU customers.
4. Rewrite the label. Change the default text to something specific, such as "Email me new arrivals and offers, about twice a month." You can edit it in the same section or in your theme's language editor.

Step 2: add a sign-up popup with Shopify Forms

Most visitors leave without buying. A popup is how you keep in touch with some of them.

1. Install Shopify Forms. It is free from the Shopify App Store.
2. Create a popup form. Choose a popup for the main offer. Collect the email address only at first. Every extra field lowers sign-ups.
3. Add the offer. Shopify Forms can attach a new or existing discount to the form, delivered when someone subscribes.
4. Write it plainly. A headline with the benefit, one line on what they'll receive, the field, the button. Example: "10% off your first order. Plus new arrivals before anyone else, about twice a month."
5. Time it. I avoid showing a popup the moment someone lands. A short delay, or a trigger after they scroll or view a second page, interrupts less. Check that it closes easily on a phone.
6. Add an inline form. Create an inline version for the footer and key pages, so people who closed the popup can still join.
7. Connect the welcome email. Subscribers should get the code and a welcome straight away. My guide to writing a welcome email series covers what to send next.

If you use Klaviyo or another email tool, its own forms do the same job. Use one form tool, not two, or visitors may see two popups.

Step 3: choose the right sign-up offer

The offer decides how many people join and what kind of subscribers you get.

Discounts work, but they attract some people who only want the code. Early access and useful content bring in subscribers who want to hear from you. Many stores combine them: a modest discount plus a clear promise of what the emails contain.

Step 4: collect emails in more places

A popup alone misses many chances. These placements add steadily:

• Footer and page sign-ups. Add a newsletter block through your theme's sections, or an inline Shopify Form.
• Back-in-stock alerts. Shoppers who want a sold-out product will give an email gladly. Shopify Messaging has a template for emailing waitlisted customers when a product is back in stock. Ask for marketing consent separately from the alert.
• Customer accounts. Show the benefit of subscribing on the account page, where signed-in customers already trust you.
• Content. Size guides, care guides and buying guides can end with a sign-up form for related tips.
• Packaging. A card with a QR code to join for early access reaches every customer who ordered without subscribing.

How to grow an email list fast without hurting it

Fast growth is possible, but most shortcuts damage the list. What works:

1. Improve sign-up rate before buying traffic. Doubling your sign-up rate does the same as doubling traffic, at no extra cost.
2. Run a launch or early-access waitlist. A new product with a sign-up-only first look gives people a reason to join now.
3. Partner with a related brand. A joint giveaway with a brand whose customers suit you, with clear consent wording that names both brands.
4. Send landing-page traffic to a sign-up page. For social or influencer traffic, a dedicated page with one form often converts better than the homepage.

What doesn't work: buying lists, scraping addresses, or adding everyone who ever ordered as a subscriber without consent. Shopify's delivery guidance says plainly never to purchase or rent contact lists, and sustained spam complaints or bounces can lead Shopify to limit or pause your Shopify Messaging access.

Keep the list healthy as it grows

A bigger list only helps if the addresses are real and engaged. Shopify Messaging always filters bots and removes bounced, unsubscribed and complained addresses from future campaigns. Shopify's guidance also suggests double opt-in, hCaptcha on sign-up forms and removing inactive or suspicious contacts.

Gmail's sender guidelines ask all senders to keep spam complaints below 0.3%, and bulk senders below 0.10%. A list full of people who forgot signing up pushes you towards that limit. Every few months, segment subscribers who haven't opened or clicked in a long time, send them one re-engagement email, and stop emailing those who don't respond.

How to measure list growth

Track two numbers each month: new subscribers, and sign-up rate, which is sign-ups divided by sessions. Shopify Forms has analytics for each form, and the default Email subscribers segment in Customers shows the total.

Test one change at a time: the offer, the headline or the timing, for at least a few weeks each. Also check what subscribers do next. A form that brings many sign-ups who never buy may be worse than a smaller, better one.

Common mistakes

1. Preselected boxes for UK and EU shoppers. Consent there must be specific and active.
2. A popup on landing, on mobile, that's hard to close. It annoys visitors and can hurt sales.
3. Too many fields. Ask for the email first. Collect birthday or preferences later.
4. No welcome email. The promised code should arrive within minutes.
5. Two form tools. Shopify Forms plus another app means duplicate popups.
6. Bought or scraped lists. They harm deliverability and break consent rules.

Email list growth checklist

• Checkout email opt-in on, with preselection off for UK and EU.
• Opt-in label rewritten to say what subscribers get.
• Double opt-in decided and set up.
• Popup and inline forms live, with one clear offer.
• Popup tested on a phone and closes easily.
• Welcome email delivering the code immediately.
• Back-in-stock, account and packaging sign-ups added.
• Sign-up rate tracked monthly, and one change tested at a time.

Next steps

Turn on the checkout opt-in today, install Shopify Forms this week, and measure your sign-up rate for a month before changing the offer. Once subscribers arrive, the next job is turning them into customers, which my guide to essential ecommerce email flows covers. If you'd like me to look at your forms and checkout, my CRO service starts from $500.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Collecting customer contact information, Shopify Help Center
2. Shopify Forms, Shopify Help Center
3. Message delivery in Shopify Messaging, Shopify Help Center
4. Electronic mail marketing (Guide to PECR), Information Commissioner's Office
5. CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business, Federal Trade Commission
6. Email sender guidelines, Google Workspace Admin Help

Related services and work

Written by Ashraf Siddik

I'm a Shopify developer and CRO specialist. I have built and improved Shopify stores since 2018, completed more than 1,000 projects, and hold a 4.96 average rating across 719 client reviews.

About me · Client reviews