Trying to get more e-mail addresses and opt-ins.....READ THIS!

As many of you know, building an email list for marketing is one of the best ways to generate future revenue. This article is going to be focused on the acquisition of e-mails. I’ll discuss how to manage those e-mails in another article.

So when we look at ways to generate emails for marketing purposes, we need to think about what appeals to our audience. When is someone most likely to opt-in to emails, why would they opt-in, placement of opt-in, other functions of the site the opt-in might interfere with, and more.

Let’s start by answering the “why.“ Does your audience respond to discounts? What about to receive a free gift with purchase? To become a rewards member? You should look to ask yourself, what makes the most sense for the audience I have and the product or service I’m selling. If you offer a service, and are offering a discount for subscribing to a blog, or entering an e-mail to receive the service at a discounted rate, be sure to put yourself in the shoes of your audience and ask yourself what makes the most sense. If your goal is strictly for lead capture, you can offer a free download, or some sort of guide to get more info. Be limited on the amount of form fields you have here, too many can cause

someone to back out or fill in incorrect information. If you offer a product, what is the incentive for signing up?

Next, let’s think about when your audience would most likely want to opt-in. We have all seen those pop-ups that offer a discount as soon as you’ve been on a site for about 10 seconds. How many people fill that out before they even browse product? What kind of success rate do you have with this kind of pop-up? Depending on your audience, you may find it helpful to have this pop-up appear after someone pushes the “Add to Cart” CTA. You may want to offer this after someone makes any sort of engagement on the site. You also, may want to use this as an exit intent pop-up. What exactly is the benefit of signing up at the given moment you decide to have the pop-up actually present itself to your user. There are tons of different styles of pop-ups. You’ll want adjust the timing and the approach. You’ll also want to keep in mind that you don’t want to distract users from the “shopping” process. Some people use a Facebook opt-in at checkout to notify of shipping updates, new promo’s, etc. Shopify recently did an upgrade to where people are now notified of shipping. This allows for text notifications and more. Some people gather emails at purchase. Once you are in the check out, you can “sign up today to receive ... % off.” Once you gain the access to have your users information, you’ll have the access to use this for future marketing purposes.

Many of us have heard time and time again that good copywriting is necessary in generating conversions. In this case, you can consider the opt-in rate, a conversion goal. Each time someone is presented with the opportunity to enter their e-mail, they have a decision to make. Good copy is one of the major players in the decision making process. Is your offer generic? Is it the same old same? Is the font the right size, color, able to be read? Is there urgency? Does it create FOMO? Good copy isn’t just something you need for your website, but must be matched in your pop-ups and offers if you’re looking to gain more e-mail addresses, opt-ins, or subscribers.

Another key component to be considered is other pieces of your site or marketing that can be used to generate more opt-ins. You can add this to the promo bar, to the footer, as a scrolling footer that stays present on mobile, and many other ways. If you’re a service wanting leads, you should be asking for an e-mail or opt-in at every chance you get. Again, you don’t want to have your opt-in request interfere with other functions on the site. For example, if you have a chat-bot that auto-pops, then you would want to ensure that a pop-up doesn’t halt the engagement of the chat-bot. You would also want to ensure that the opt-in request flows with other features within your site.

People do not opt-in, unless you have their “buy in.” If you have not created trust, urgency, incentive, and they are not sold on your product or service, they are not going to just hand out personal info. What do you do to create these items? There are a ton of different companies out there that do pop-ups. Several have dashboards to help you track opt-in rate, and can be customized to your goals. If you’re looking for a way to grow your future revenue, this is an essential channel in marketing your business. There are companies out there, that make a significant amount of sales strictly from growing their email list and keeping their audiences engaged. Repeat traffic can lead to, recurring revenue and increased AOV off of a repeat customer.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful

weekend.

Thanks, Elizabeth