So many businesses and content creators are focused on traffic. Obsessing about page views and unique users. To be fair you get a great feeling when your site gets over 100,000 page views a month, but a good feeling doesn’t pay the bills!
If you’re not doing anything with this traffic, then it may well not count for much. Even if you’re running ads you’re probably not going to be set for life based on just your ad revenue.
In order to grow a successful and lucrative business you need to convert these visitors into customers, but it’s not often that you can go straight from visitor to customer. People have certain conditions and barriers to purchasing that you need to address before they will take the plunge. So the middle man between the visit and the purchase is the email list. Turning them from a visitor into a subscriber means you can serve them, help them grow, address their concerns and then they may be in a place to want to buy from you.
This is why you hear so many online marketers talking about building your email ist. This stuff is important!
ExactTarget found that, “91% of consumers reported checking their email at least once everyday.” This shows you, if you need convincing, about the power of email marketing.
How do you turn those casual browsers into subscribers?
- Create quality content that people are searching for.
We all know that content has to be high quality. There’s so much of it out there, yours needs to stand out in order to do its job for your business.
Make sure you’re targeting keywords that make sense and are congruent to your brand. This will help ensure the traffic you get will be of a higher quality and more focused on what you have to offer. Then it follows that they will be more interested in opting in and becoming a subscriber.
- Encourage subscribers to forward your emails
Ask you current email subscribers to forward the email to a friend if they thought it was valuable. Most people like to be the one recommending something good to friends and people also feel more confident when they are taking action based on someone else’s recommendation (social proof).
- Use the right Call to Action (CTA)
No-one wants to ‘subscribe’. It feels like you’re signing up to a mortgage! It definitely doesn’t sound like a fun thing you would do willingly. Carefully choose the language you use on your opt in forms and in your calls to action specifically. Think of what would make you click. Something enticing, fun, focused on the benefit and value you will offer if they opt in? Think about what sort of language would resonate with your ideal customer the most.
- Think about the design & colour psychology
Test your opt in forms to see which perform best. You can switch up the colours (only changing one thing at a time between testing periods) to see which colour button (for example) yields the best subscriber rate. A quick Google search on colour psychology will give you lots of theory to get stuck into testing with your audience.
It is difficult, however, to isolate all of the variables so you can be 100% sure that the change in colour caused the lift or drop in subscribers. It might be more prudent to look your audience and be led by the theory around what they are attracted to the most. It’s known that the higher the contrast between the text on the button and the background the higher subscription rate. There are also differences between the colours liked and disliked by men and women. If you have a female audience then selecting a colour that females perceive negatively might not be a smart move.
- Vary the formats of content you use
Not only does this help you reach different people, but also it makes your brand more multifaceted and interesting. So people will be drawn deeper into your content and brand. Then they will be more likely to subscribe.
Content types could include;
- Video
- Live broadcast
- Infographics
- Case studies
- Interviews
- Challenges
- Curated content
- Blog posts
- Use pop ups
Pop ups get a bad rap, but they are an excellent way to focus your visitors on subscribing. This is more successful when you have specific offers on specific content pages, so you can make sure the free offer is congruent with the information they are reading (e.g. the next step they need to take). I use LeadPages* (affiliate link) for my landing pages and pop up boxes.
- Remind the user they can unsubscribe at any time
When someone doesn’t know how valuable something could be they may be reluctant to sign up for your emails. So reminding them that they are free to unsubscribe with no hard feelings could get them off the fence.
- Put opt-in forms where it matters
Think about where it makes the most sense to place these forms. Quite often the ‘About’ page on a website (especially a blog) is one of the most highly trafficked pages. So this would be a great place to capture and convert that visitor to a subscriber.
You can also test the location, try your footer and see whether that works, or somewhere else on your site. Leave them for long enough for a thorough test, but don’t be afraid to change things up to see if you can get a better subscribe rate. REMEMBER though, only ever change one thing at a time. Don’t change the font, the colour and the location as you will have no idea which part of that change made the difference.
- Incentivise your followers and browsers to opt in with a competition
Competitions and giveaways can be a great way to build your list, but make sure give away a prize that is very specific to your target audience. Giving away an iPad might get you lots of subscribers, but they won’t necessarily be interested in your content going forward.
- Use Leadboxes within your content
Be sure not to solely focus on pop ups. Mix in leadboxes which sit within your copy paragraphs. These can also yield a great opt in rate.
- Give them something valuable – “Content Upgrade”
What can you give to someone as an incentive. To encourage them to join your list? Whatever you decide to give you should truly believe that you could charge for it. Providing them with this content upgrade also help you. You get the opportunity to impact them, to demonstrate your way of thinking and your teaching style. They get a little taster and if they like it they will subscribe and hopefully become a customer in the future.
- Show how your content upgrade solves their issues
You could give them one tip to solve their problems, but share 10 more tips in the freebie. Or you could simply describe their pain point on the opt in page/leadbox almost to remind them in that moment of this problem that they have, positioning your opt in as the solution.
- Show social proof
We gain confidence in our actions based on the experience of others. So if a friend tells us a film is good, we might give it a try. You read a review of a new restaurant and you try it out. Sharing testimonials from subscribers and also sharing the number of people already signed up (if impressive) are ways to use social proof to your advantage.
- Share what the expect
Telling potential subscribers what to expect if they join your list might help they make a decision. Stating they will be emailed once a week might actually be a relief and something they would be more than happy with, for example.
- Demonstrate the community aspect
As humans we have an innate desire to belong. Positioning your email subscribers as a community and fostering this sense of belonging will make it more appealing to potential subscribers.
- Create urgency
If you have products or services you could offer a discount or a coupon code for a limited period to those who sign up. Scarcity works to force people into making a decision. Just make sure it is actually genuine and you stop the discount when you said you would.
There are just some of the ways you can turn visitors into subscribers and hopefully then into raving fans. Do you have any tips for list building?
