How Recipe Creators Are Growing Their Email Lists Faster Than Ever
Every click you ask someone to make costs you about 30% of your audience.
So think about the typical Instagram discovery process for your recipes. Someone sees your reel, goes to your profile, clicks your link in bio, searches through multiple recipes to find the right one, then hopefully clicks through to your site. That's a lot of clicks.
Over the last year, I've watched creators like Pinch of Yum grow their email list more from a single Instagram reel than they had in the previous 12 months combined. I've seen 75% click-through rates and 5% email opt-in rates from simple DM automations. Not because these creators weren’t doing the right things before, but because they started using tools that were actually built for them.
Here’s exactly how they’re doing it (I talked about this a ton on a recent episode of Food Blogger Pro).
Why Email *Still* Matters More Than Ever
40% of recipe creators who responded to our recent survey said their website traffic is flat or down this year. The biggest fear driving this decline? AI search results.
Google is actively testing recipe cards that show ingredients directly in search results. And in some versions, they're including AI-generated cooking instructions too. In the most aggressive test, people never need to click through to your site at all.
This isn't a distant threat. It's happening right now.
But here's what I learned building my last company. There are only 2 things you can actually own online: your website and your email list. Everything else, your Instagram following, your Google rankings, your Pinterest reach, can disappear with an algorithm change.
Email is different. When someone gives you their email address, you have a direct line to them that no platform can take away.
The revenue impact is real too. Sites like Pinch of Yum generate hundreds of thousands of dollars from email traffic alone, especially when you factor in first-party data tracking that boosts ad revenue from email clicks.
Plus, email opens up revenue streams that social media can't match:
Newsletter sponsorships from brands
Dedicated email campaigns for products you love
Foundation for paid memberships and premium content
Direct communication for launching your own products
You’ve already built an audience that trusts you. Email just lets you own that relationship instead of renting it from Instagram or Google.
2 Email List Growth Strategies That Actually Work
After working with hundreds of recipe creators, I've seen 2 list growth strategies that actually move the needle. One runs automatically in the background. The other creates those big growth moments that can double your list overnight.
1. Passive List Growth (Set It and Forget It)
This is where most creators should start. You set up a template once, and it works automatically for every piece of content you post.
Here's how it works: When someone comments your keyword (like "recipe" or "save"), they instantly get a DM with the recipe link and an option to save it to their email. We're seeing about 5% of people who receive these DMs opt into email lists.
Here’s what it looks like:
The setup takes about 10 minutes:
Create your DM template with your brand colors and messaging
Choose your keyword
Connect your email platform (Kit, Flodesk, etc.)
Turn it on
That's it. Every time you post content and include your keyword in the caption, the automation handles everything else. No daily logins, no manual setup for each post.
Because think about the math…if you post once a day and spend 10-15 minutes setting up automation each time, that's 70-105 minutes per week. Over a month, you're looking at 5-7 hours of manual setup work. For busy creators posting multiple times per day, this gets completely out of hand.
2. Active List Growth (The Big Wins)
This is where you get aggressive about list building, but you do it strategically - maybe once out of every 10 posts.
Instead of linking directly to a recipe, you create a landing page that requires an email signup. This works best when you're offering something more valuable than a single recipe: meal plans, roundups of your best content, or collections like this one from @pinchofyum:
Instead of linking to individual recipes, Lindsay created a Kit landing page where people could get 22 of her favorite freezer meal recipes.
The result? "It was as much growth as we've had in the email list over the past year" All from a single piece of content.
The key was repurposing existing content in a new format. She didn't create 7 new recipes, She packaged existing ones in a way that was more valuable to her audience.
What’s Driving Results Right Now?
The formats that worked 6 months ago aren't necessarily what's working today. Here's what we're seeing across our creator network right now.
Carousels Are Making a Comeback
Instagram carousels are blowing up again, but not the old-school static image approach. The winning formula combines video and static images in the same post. Maybe a video for the first slide, static ingredient shot for the second, then a quick video of you taking the first bite.
What makes carousels so powerful is that Instagram gives you multiple chances to catch someone's attention. You might see the first slide today, but Instagram could show you slide two or three later if you didn't swipe through. It's like getting multiple at-bats with the same piece of content.
We're seeing 2 approaches work particularly well:
Roundup Style: Like “7 Fall Recipes” where each slide represents one recipe. Perfect for repurposing existing content seasonally.
Behind-the-Scenes: Hero shot of the finished dish, followed by your nicely organized ingredient layout, then a quick video of the cooking process or first bite reaction.
The key insight? You probably already have all this content. You're just packaging it differently.
Story Replies Are Crushing It
This surprised me the most. Instead of adding a link directly to your Instagram story (which Instagram sees as traffic leaving the platform), you ask people to reply with a keyword and send them the link via DM.
Like this:
The result? Instagram sees lots of two-way engagement and rewards the story by showing it to 10-20% of your audience. Some creators tell us these story replies get more reach than their regular reels.
The Art of Strategic Repurposing
The biggest missed opportunity I see is creators not leveraging content they already have. You've spent years building a library of recipes. Why not create a "My Most Viral Recipes" carousel or reel? Or a seasonal roundup of your best summer content?
Pinch of Yum's freezer meal success came from repackaging existing recipes in a new format. They didn't create 7 new recipes, they took content that already worked and presented it as a cohesive collection.
Think of it like creating a Spotify playlist, but for recipes. Your audience gets value, you get list growth, and you don't have to start from scratch.
You've Already Done The Hard Part
Building an audience is the hardest thing you can do on the internet.
Think about what you've accomplished: consistent content creation, building trust with hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of people, mastering food photography, developing your unique voice. Most people can’t do that.
What shouldn't be hard is the technology that helps you turn that audience into a sustainable business.
You shouldn't have to become a marketing expert to send someone a recipe link. You shouldn't spend hours each week on the same manual setup. You shouldn't choose between growing your email list and providing a good user experience.
You've built the audience. You've created the content. You've earned the trust. Now let's make sure you own the relationship. Try Grocers List today.
