When you want new leads for email marketing, and you want them quick, purchasing data may seem like a good option for marketers when they are in a desperate situation. But let me tell you this –
High quality email lists for sale do not exist. Tweet This
I have lost count of the amount of conversations I have had with marketers that have had bad experiences with purchased data. Unfortunately, you will never know the quality of purchased email data until you email out to it, and by then, the damage is more than likely already done. Your deliverability rates suffer, your bounce rates go through the roof, and your spam complains and unsubscribe figures rocket. On top of that, your IP reputation plummets, and your email service provider can kick you off their platform. This might sound a bit dramatic, but it absolutely happens.
Good data is essential to the success of any email campaign. Tweet This
I like to educate my clients that the best data is always going to be the data that marketers collect themselves. However, increasing the amount of relevant, engaged users to your email can seem like a tough nut to crack. And the process of generating your own opt it list, (as opposed to buying or renting a list from a vendor), takes a bit more time. But if you are serious about creating a well rounded, optimised email programme, then this is time worth investing.
Everyone who visits your website is a potential prospect, making it the perfect vehicle to gain quality additions to your email list and a far better method than paying for scatter-gun lists that can harm deliverability rates.
Improving the amount of people that sign up to emails on-site is about gentle optimisation. Read on and see how the smallest tweaks can make the largest difference!
On-site email sign ups – optimise to satisfy
Far from requiring a virtual sledgehammer, cracking on-site sign ups needs little more than a bit of tender loving care – and I am here to help you understand how.
1. Have a sign up box on every page of your site
If you’re restricting yourself to having email sign up boxes solely on blog pages or just on your homepage, ask yourself why: is it only blog readers who might be interested in your mailings? Of course not! And remember people will not always be landing on your blog pages or homepage from the search engines.
Ensure that you make it as easy as possible to sign up to email communications for every visitor to your site:
- Make the email sign up box as attractive as possible, and easy to find
- Don’t add an abundance of fields to your form – just ask for the visitor’s email address, and maybe their first name. You can build on user data later on. A sign up form with loads of fields can put users off and discourage them from handing over their details.
- Consider placing your sign up box neatly within the footer of your site, this ensures the box appears on every page
2. Tailor the sign up copy appropriately
Another great way of boosting the effectiveness of your email sign ups is to tailor the copy to the specific page the user is on.
- Write the copy within email sign up boxes specific to the page that they sit on
- E.g. on blog page consider using ‘sign up here for new blog posts’, or ‘sign up to hear about new updates’ on product pages
- Avoid site-wide generic email sign up box copy
3. Consider a dedicated sign up page on site
Don’t make people take you at face value as to the quality of your emails – let them see for themselves!
A dedicated sign-up page gives you the chance to visually showcase the benefits of your emails and set expectations. Importantly, this page also acts as an important marketing vehicle for social media and other channels:
- Dazzle potential subscribers with visuals of your mailings & newsletters
- Be sure to set expectations (e.g. how frequently subscribers will receive your emails)
- Sell the benefits of being on your list. Will users receive details of special offers, or get access to exclusive content? Simply inviting users to “sign up for your newsletter” is not very enticing. Be more explicit as to why someone should hand over their email address.
- Promte your sign up page via social media to attract and capture the details of your followers, who are highly likely to be interested in your emails. You could also consider adding a link to the sign up page within your outgoing email signature
4. Consider incentivising the sign up process
If you have traditionally struggled with low sign up rates from your website, it is worth considering incentivising your email sign ups.
This doesn’t have to involve anything drastic – but by offering visitors a carot to sign up, this could be the gentle persuasion they need to hand over their email address. And by carrot, we don’t mean a free vegetable either:
- For e-commerce sites, discount codes or money off a next order are a great way of attaining quick wins
- High quality content such as guides or downloadable PDFs are also a good incentive
- Steer clear of competitions such as “sign up for a chance to win an iPad” This can result in a tidal wave of sign ups from people who are interested in an iPad, but are no way interested in your company and want you have to offer. Any incentive should be closely tied to you and your business, and what you have to offer.
5. Use social proof
Social proof is, in its simplest guise, where person X assumes the actions of person Y in order to reflect correct behaviour for a situation.
You can use social proof to increase the amount of sign ups.
- If you already have a large suscriber base, consider listing how many you already have in your email sign up box (e.g. 10,000 people already enjoy our newsletter each month, and you could to!) There is also the element here of ‘fear of missing out’ – can the visitor afford to not be receiving this content?
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