10 Tips to Increase Email Signups
Email isn’t dead; it’s one of the best ways to build a relationship with your clients. We always advise clients to consider email acquisition a success metric because if someone exits your site without giving their email, they could very well be gone forever. An email lets you stay in touch so they can get to know you and return when they’re ready to purchase. It’s the next best thing to converting.
Our client engaged us to increase email sign ups from their blog. In just two months we increased their weekly signups from 43 per week to 265. That’s a 518% increase. We distilled our method into ten guidelines below.
1. Build, measure, learn
Email pop ups the second you land on a site are annoying. Everyone knows this. The unfortunate truth is that they do work… sort of. If you have nothing to compare it to then yes, you will see sign ups from that immediate pop up. But trust your instincts: it can be annoying. Especially for a new visitor who hasn’t gotten to know you yet. They might want that 10% off coupon, but they need to at least see what you’re working with first.
We recommend that you treat increasing your email signups as a marathon, not a sprint. Form hypotheses, test everything from creative to placement to timing to incentives. Watch the data weekly to make educated decisions about what to try next. If you’re not familiar with the phrase “build, measure, learn,” it’s from The Lean Startup by Eric Reis. The concept is akin to the “fail fast” mentality that’s become popular in recent years. Basically launch something, see how it does, and then iterate to improve it. It’s a very data-focused approach to marketing and digital interaction in general. If you haven’t read it, we highly recommend it.
Don’t think of email sign up as a “set it and forget it” situation. The easiest and most obvious thing to do is not always the most effective thing to do. Testing and iterating is a process, it’s an education, you need to know what metrics to look for, but don’t get overwhelmed, you can always call us 😉
2. Give a promo code
Yes, this may seem obvious: every site you go to slaps a 10% off offer in your face the second you arrive. But again - it can be better! Using the build, measure, learn methodology, test different offers. Does a percentage off work better than a dollar amount off? Does offering a slightly higher incentive (such as 15% instead of 10%) increase your signups by so much that it’s worth it? What about a free gift with purchase instead of a discount?
If you’re concerned about promo codes going viral or any devaluation of your brand, there are some strategies to avoid these downsides of giving away promo codes (which we can help you with!).
3. Offer a free download when you sign up for email
This is especially useful if your brand has a strong lifestyle component and robust blog content. If visitors are already finding you for your content, through SEO, a viral post or other means, you can capitalize on that! Offer a free guide to something your brand has expertise in. It can be a link to download a PDF or an email series that doles out advice over a series of days.
The content should be high quality, relevant and contextual. Perhaps a guide to working from home, a recipe book, a guide to throwing a dinner party - whatever your audience is interested in and echoes the ethos of your brand. It should be content you don’t offer elsewhere on your site or blog so it’s truly an exclusive to email subscribers.
4. Make it contextual
The antidote to the slap-in-the-face approach to email signups immediately upon arrival is to weave the prompt into the user experience. Examine your data and test opportune moments to prompt the user to submit their email. Perhaps after the user has added to their bag, spent a certain amount of time on a given page, or returned to a page more than once.
You can also make your ask contextual to what the user is currently viewing. If they are looking at a blog article, offer a discount on related products. If they are looking at a particular product, offer a download about how to best use or style it in their everyday lives. Look for opportunities to make the user feel receiving emails from you will bring them relevant, valuable content.
5. Test locations
Think outside the box on this one. We like to keep a newsletter sign up in the footer because users have been trained to look there if they want to sign up proactively. But beyond that, experiment with other placements. Embed a signup form halfway through a blog article or on a product page. Users who are engaging with your content are more likely to be interested in more of it. Try subtle stationary pop ups that don’t interfere with the user experience but remain stationary as the user scrolls to catch their eye. There are a lot of options and most email platforms allow you to easily try different solutions.
6. Test timing
Timing is a great A/B test if you have enough traffic to support testing. Try an immediate popup vs a 10 second delay. Then try 15 seconds or after three page views. Keep iterating and see what performs best.
7. Consider screen size
Don’t forget about the differences between mobile and desktop. Make sure your email sign up looks great across all screen sizes. You may want to run tests that are specific to mobile or desktop only. Responsive design (that is, using one code base for all screen sizes that rearranges itself according to the screen it’s being viewed on) is overall the best approach to web design but some behaviors don’t seamlessly translate across devices. This is a case where you may find that breaking with responsivity gains you more email sign ups.
8. Follow through
If you promised a discount code, free gift, or download, that should obviously be set up and ready to go as soon as the user signs up. Beyond that, make sure you’ve also put a welcome series into place. At the very least you should have one welcome email set up. We’ll do a separate post about crafting a brilliant welcome series, but for now suffice to say, if someone signs up for emails, give them a beautiful and useful email!
9. Make it beautiful
The emails you send your client after they sign up should be on brand and beautiful. This is your first step towards building a strong relationship with your client, they deserve a bit better than a plain email confirmation template. Bring it to life by reiterating your core value propositions, highlighting key products, and including calls to action to start shopping.
10. Track your progress
Last but certainly not least, track your progress. As you try different solutions, keep track of everything you test and how it performs. You’ll keep what works from each test but don’t stop there - try another idea against the winner of the last test. The more you test and iterate, the more honed your strategy becomes.
That’s it! It’s not a small project to increase email sign ups but it does pay for itself if you put the time in. And of course, Frankette is always here to help get your strategy off the ground.
Til next time!