Email marketing is the best way for artists to get and stay in touch with their audience long term. The ever-changing social media landscape with incalculable algorithms restricting users’ organic reach has taught us that we cannot rely on social networks to stay connected. That’s why every artist needs a mailing list! In this post, I show you how to start and build an email list in 6 easy steps to make the most of your audience.
Many artists used to think that social media is the best way to grow a following online. And maybe it really was. But not so anymore. Social media has changed a lot. To the worse.
Nowadays, it’s becoming harder and harder to create exposure for your art on social networks and connect with your audience in a meaningful way.
→ Artists Do Need A Website (Cuz Social Media Can Kill Your Art Career)
Chances are only 3-5% of your Instagram followers are actually seeing your posts—and Instagram (and other networks) keeps restricting your reach even more—in favor of paid ads.
That’s why it is important for artists to look into other ways to stay in touch with art lovers, collectors, and like-minded people.
But there’s a solution: email marketing for artists.
Studies show that email is still one of the highest-performing marketing channels out there, with email opening rates being above 21%.
That’s five to six times more than the average exposure you get from platforms like Instagram!
Luckily, with all the marketing tools at your fingertips, it’s easier than ever for artists to start and build an email list.
In this post, we’ll talk more about the reasons why artists need a mailing list and the benefits of email marketing of artists. Plus, I’ll show you how to start building an email list in 6 quick and easy steps!
To kick things off, here are the best email marketing providers for artists to jumpstart your subscriber growth:
Top 3 email marketing providers for artists at a glance
- Why To Buy
- Free to use up to 500 subscribers
- Free 30-day trial of premium features
- Why To Buy
- Free to use up to 1,000 subscribers
- Free 30-day trial of premium features
- Why To Buy
- Free to use up to 10,000 subscribers
- Free 14-day trial of premium features
Why do artists need an email list?
I’ve just mentioned that only a tiny fraction of your followers actually get to see the content you upload to Instagram.
But that’s not the only reason why artists need an email list.
Can you still keep track of how many social media platforms (and art sharing sites) have emerged and disappeared over the years?
When I started to create digital art, MySpace was still a thing. That was actually the first platform where I uploaded my first, awkward creations. (◔_◔)
MySpace is still around, but its days of glory have long gone. Then, for example, there was Shadowness. That was an art sharing site like DeviantArt. However, the owners felt that they had no time anymore to take care of the platform, so they closed it down.
Over the years, one could watch many social media platforms come and go, enjoying some time in the spotlight before being overtaken by the next big thing. This cycle only seems to speed up in recent years. Just think of TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky—the latest additions to the social media landscape.
→ Best Sites to Upload Art 2025 [Artist Guide To Posting Art Online]
But no matter how much effort you put into growing your social following on a specific platform—and no matter how successful you may be, sooner or later the platform will change its algorithm. That means what worked for you in the past might not be working in the future anymore.
Using email marketing as an artist, however, gives you unrestricted access to your audience, without depending on a third-party platform that controls your content's visibility.
Unlike social media, your mailing list ensures that your messages reach your subscribers—straight to their inbox.
By the way, if you want my newsletter to pop up directly in your inbox, you can subscribe below. ʕᴖᴥᴖʔ
- Stay in touch!
Our Newsletter is packed with creative tips, free tutorials, art tool reviews, and looaads of inspiration!
What are the benefits of email marketing for artists?
Well, above I’ve already shared some extremely valuable advantages of starting and growing an email list as an artist. But there’s more to it.
Here’s how you can benefit from email marketing as an artist:
1. You can forge a personal connection with your subscribers.
A mailing list allows you to foster a strong connection with your audience by regularly sharing updates about your work and insights into your life as an artist. This can help you build a loyal following and cultivate a sense of community.
2. You'll have the undivided attention of your subscribers.
When you send an email, you’re communicating directly with your subscribers—without competing posts, ads, or other distractions.
When do you actually have the chance to focus on a post from someone you follow on social media? The odds are that you will randomly scroll through your feed, with your attention being scattered in every direction.
3. You'll engage with people who truly care about your content.
Your email subscribers have actively chosen to receive your newsletter, meaning they’re genuinely interested in your art and what you share.
The truth is that people are much more hesitant to give away their email address than to follow someone on social media. This makes your subscribers an invested and highly engaged audience.
4. Your subscribers are more likely to interact with you.
Unlike social media followers, who may absent-mindedly scroll past your posts, your email subscribers have already shown a deeper level of interest by opting in to your newsletter.
In consequence, they tend to be more inclined to open and read your messages, engage with your content and act on your calls to action, whether it’s purchasing your art, attending an event, or supporting your work in other meaningful ways.
5. You have better chances of selling your art and related products.
Email marketing for artists is also great from a business perspective. Because your subscribers have a deeper connection with your work and a stronger sense of familiarity with you as the artist, they are more likely to buy from you.
That’s perfectly normal. Purchase decisions are based on trust. The more your subscribers trust you, the more comfortable they feel making a purchase.
Ok, with that out of the way, I will now show you how to start and build an email list in six steps. Let's go!
How to start and build an email list in 6 steps
STEP 1: Add an email sign-up form to your website
Gathering email addresses from your website is the easiest way to start and grow an email list. That being said, you’ll need to build an artist website, if you haven’t yet.
The most popular and easy-to-use website builders for creatives are Squarespace and Pixpa. But you can also use WordPress to make a website for your art.
Here’s some more information for you on that topic, if you’re interested:
Alternatively, you can also include a link to your email opt-in on your social media, for example in your bio on Instagram.
Whatever way you prefer, in any case you’ll need to choose an email service provider (ESP) that offers all the tools and forms for people to subscribe.
ESPs allow you to collect email addresses, create and send mailing campaigns, manage subscribers, and track performance by giving you insight into open rates and clicks.
AWeber, ConvertKit, and MailerLite are some of the best email service providers in the market. They offer beautifully designed opt-in forms that are ready to use out of the box.
If you’d like to have highly personalized forms on your site that match your artist brand, check out Bloom—this WordPress plugin allows you to customize your opt-ins down to the T!
To help you make your choice, here’s a quick overview of the ESPs:
1. AWeber
- Why To Get
- Free to use up to 500 subscribers
- Free 30-day trial of premium features
- Why To Avoid
- Limited subscribers on free plan
AWeber is a well-known email service provider that specifically caters to small businesses. Many creative entrepreneurs, including myself, use the platform to embed sign-up forms on their website and send out automated emails to their subscribers.
The platform provides a variety of pre-designed templates for opt-in forms, emails, and landing pages, which can be easily customized with the included drag-and-drop editor.
2. MailerLite
- Why To Get
- Free to use up to 1,000 subscribers
- Free 30-day trial of premium features
- Why To Avoid
- Simpler email automation features
MailerLite is an email marketing platform that is both beginner- and budget-friendly. The free plan allows up to 1,000 subscribers and comes with email automation builder, sign-up forms, and pop-ups, among others.
Similar to AWeber, MailerLite offers a drag-and-drop editor and premade templates that you can customize without any coding skills. It works seamlessly with popular website builders and e-commerce platforms, including Shopify and WooCommerce for WordPress.
3. ConvertKit
- Why To Get
- Free to use up to 10,000 subscribers
- Free 14-day trial of premium features
- Why To Avoid
- Pricier than competitors
ConvertKit, now rebranded to Kit, specifically offers email marketing for artists, bloggers, creators, and other small entrepreneurs looking to start and build an email list. All templates are crafted by professional creators who understand the needs of their customers.
The templates are fully responsive and can be tailored to fit your brand’s unique style. In addition to that, Kit’s very own Creator University is packed with free workshops and tutorials to help you optimize your email funnels.
Other email service providers that I recommend having a look at are Brevo and Constant Contact.
STEP 2: Offer a free incentive to join your email list
Encouraging readers to sign up for your mailing list is much easier when you offer them something in return. Many artists entice people to subscribe by offering them a free copy of one of their artworks. This can be a digital file that a new subscriber will receive via email after signing up for your newsletter.
In marketing jargon, such a free incentive is called a lead magnet. Other effective lead magnet ideas for artists to start and build an email list include educational e-guides, cheat sheets and downloadable presets for digital art software, limited-edition prints, behind-the-scenes of creating your artwork, and so on.
Offering website visitors a valuable, free resource in exchange for their contact information should be part of every artist’s email marketing strategy.
The challenge lies in figuring out the best incentive to make people sign up for your email list in the first place.
Of course, the type of resource depends on your audience and art niche. As a rule of thumb, the lead magnet should provide value and be relevant to your subscribers.
To get some ideas and help you build an email list, you can download a free PDF with the best lead magnet ideas for artists in the Freebie Library!
- Get the Best Lead Magnet Ideas for Artists in a FREE PDF
STEP 3: Display a pop-up sign-up form on your website
Your subscriber sign-up form should have a prominent spot on your website and be visible all the time. For example, your opt-in can be in the footer of your site, in the sidebar of your blog, or appear directly in your blog posts.
→ Should You Still Make An Art Blog In 2025?
However, in addition to that, it’s a good idea to also display a pop-up sign-up form on your website, because those have proven to convert really well.
A pop-up form is a small window that appears while visitors are browsing your website. Paired with a free incentive, it’s an effective tool for promoting your newsletter and gathering subscribers.
When you create a sign-up form, you can choose when you want it to pop up—immediately upon arrival of a visitor, after a few seconds of engagement, or when the user is about to leave your site. That’s called a trigger.
An exit-intent pop-up, for instance, is an email opt-in form that is triggered when a visitor moves their cursor toward the exit button. This type of pop-up should provide value, such as exclusive content or special offers—something that makes your visitors want to stay longer and sign up.
Email service providers allow you to embed these forms across multiple pages of your website. For advanced customization options and trigger settings, you can use the Bloom plugin for WordPress.
STEP 4: Deliver exclusive and meaningful content
When you start building an email list and have collected your first subscribers, it’s important to deliver. (>ᴗ<)
Offer your subscribers something exclusive and meaningful. They have signed up to be part of the inner circle, now it’s time to make them feel special.
Here are some ideas of what content you can provide in your newsletter:
Early access to new work. Give your subscribers a sneak peak to your latest work before publishing it on your website or social media. You could even offer a discount for early buyers.
Behind-the-scenes glimpses. People who love your art or new artists who want to learn from you are curious about your creative process. Through your email list, you can provide them with deeper insights—personal updates, the full story behind a piece, creative challenges, or sketches and raw ideas that you don’t share on social media.
VIP offers and discounted sales. Treat your subscribers like very important persons. Reward them with exclusive discount codes, special limited-edition prints, or access to unique sales offers of brands you are affiliated with.
STEP 5: Make sure your newsletter is mobile-friendly
Many of your subscribers will read your newsletters on their smartphones and tablets. If your emails look out of wack on mobile devices, chances are the recipients will not read and engage with them.
As a general rule, a poorly formatted email may cause subscribers to ignore, delete, or even unsubscribe from your list altogether.
To avoid that, you should verify that your newsletter is easily readable and looks good on all devices before sending it out.
In other words, taking the time to test and optimize your email layout for mobile is an essential part of email marketing for artists. In particular, you should make sure that:
Text is legible – Use a sufficiently big font size and avoid using cursive fonts that are hard to read.
Images scale properly – Images in your email should resize properly instead of overflowing the screen on mobile devices.
Buttons are clickable – Links and buttons are some of the key elements for engagement. Make sure that all links are intact and that calls to action are clickable and large enough for easy tapping.
Content is organized– Keep your text well structured and make sure that key information is visible without excessive scrolling. Break up long text into several paragraphs. Use subheadings, bold and colored font to guide your readers through your content.
STEP 6: Don’t forget GDPR compliance
Just like you need to have a cookie notice on your website to comply with GDPR requirements, your email sign-up form must be GDPR-compliant.
That means that your subscribers must give their explicit consent to receive your newsletter. In practice, this is done with a double opt-in.
After submitting their email address through a sign-up form on your website, the user receives a confirmation email containing a link or button to verify their subscription. The user must click this link to confirm that they want to receive emails from you.
Only after this second step is completed will they be added to your mailing list. When choosing an email service provider like AWeber, MailerLite, or ConvertKit, you will get GDPR compliance out of the box, without having to set it up manually. Very convenient. ʕᴖᴥᴖʔ
With the above six steps completed, you are set to start growing your email list!
Here are all email marketing providers again at a glance:
All email marketing providers for artists in a nutshell
| Email Provider | Free Plan | More Info |
|---|---|---|
|
|
up to 500 subscribers | Visit AWeber's Website |
|
|
up to 1,000 subscribers | Visit MailerLite's Website |
|
|
up to 10,000 subscribers | Visit ConvertKit's Website |
|
up to 500 subscribers | Visit Brevo's Website |
|
no free plan | Visit Constant Contact's Website |
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These were my best tips on email marketing for artists! I wish you lots of success when you start and build your email list. Let me know how it’s going. What challenges are you facing and what’s your favorite email service provider? I’d love to hear from you! Make sure to sign up for my email list so you don’t miss out on new blog posts and other cool stuff. ♥
