You probably already know you need to capture email addresses to grow your list but it’s easy to get stuck on the ‘how’.
In this episode, we're sharing 10 tried and tested practices for capturing email addresses, so you could break through the email list building block.
Prefer the text version of this episode? Read it on our blog 👉 How to capture email addresses on your website: 10 tactics you need to know.
More links worth your attention:
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe to get notified about the next episode!
Create beautiful email signup forms, coupon boxes, and pop-up surveys for your store with Getsitecontrol.
You probably already know you need to capture email addresses to grow your list but it’s easy to get stuck on the ‘how’.
In this episode, we're sharing 10 tried and tested practices for capturing email addresses, so you could break through the email list building block.
Prefer the text version of this episode? Read it on our blog 👉 How to capture email addresses on your website: 10 tactics you need to know.
More links worth your attention:
🔔 Don't forget to subscribe to get notified about the next episode!
Create beautiful email signup forms, coupon boxes, and pop-up surveys for your store with Getsitecontrol.
Hi, this is Getsitecontrol Insider!
In this episode, we’re talking about email capturing.
You probably already know you need to capture email addresses to grow your list, but it’s easy to get stuck on the ‘how’.
Stay tuned to break through the email list building block by learning 10 practices for capturing emails.
How do you make sure the people who land on your website come back?
Email capture is a huge part of that effort.
When you email your audience regularly, you remain top-of-mind and make sure they don’t forget you exist.
However, people don’t give away their email for fun.
Here is what I see often. Many website owners add a newsletter opt-in form at the bottom of their website and hope for the best.
But people need more incentive to give away their information. And they need more than one reminder to do so.
So, how you can incentivize website visitors to become your subscribers without being pushy? Thankfully, there are a few ways to do that.
Tactic #1. Take the proactive route to capture email leads
Don’t wait until your visitors start looking for a subscription form. Unless they fall in love with your brand, they won’t care enough to do that.
You need to capture email addresses in a proactive way. For instance, you can add email subscription popups and slide-ins that will be displayed to your visitors at the right moment.
Popups are a tried and tested tool, and if you’re trying to grow your email list, for you it’s an essential.
Tactic #2. Include a variety of opt-in methods
Now that we’ve covered the first tactic, you should know that popups are only effective when used sparingly – meaning, you don’t assault your visitors with too many popups that prevent them from enjoying their user experience.
Popups are also not the only type of opt-in forms you can use.
For instance, in-line forms, slide-ins and sticky bars can be just as efficient.
You can also implement exit-intent popups that only appear when users are trying to leave.
Which type of opt-ins works best? Every audience responds differently, which is why it’s a good idea to have more than one type. Plus, if your visitors miss the first opt-in, they’ll have another chance to join your email list when they see the next!
Tactic #3. Say no to boring email capture Calls To Action
No more ‘Submit’ buttons, please!
The CTA (call-to-action), as the name suggests, is meant to call your visitors to action.
Every word on your website is an opportunity to increase your conversions. The same thing goes for your CTA buttons on email capture forms.
Depending on your business, there are so many variations you can use: “Get access”, “Join the club!” “Give me the discount” “Send me the ebook”.
If you’re running out of inspiration, check out the link in this episode description. We’ve shared 12 ridiculously efficient examples of calls to action to help you get more subscribers!
Tactic #4. Personalize your opt-in forms
Most tools like Getsitecontrol allow you to quickly create awesome-looking forms with templates. But you don’t have to stick to pre-existing designs!
Solidify your branding with personalized opt-in forms that stand out. For instance, try using custom fonts that fit with your brand and colors from your own palette.
The more you can grab your visitors’ attention with your email capture forms, the more likely they will consider opting in!
Tactic #5. Experiment with targeting
Did you know that you can display different subscription forms to different people? Yup – you can use targeting to customize who sees what.
For instance, you could show different opt-ins depending on your visitors’ locations. Maybe you don’t have the same deals in the US as you have in Europe.
You can also target users based on behaviors. Let’s say a visitor clicks on a specific product page or reads a blog post – you can set up an opt-in form that only shows up for these people. It should, of course, be relevant to what your visitors checked out.
Here is another example of targeting. You can show an email capture form to those who are about to abandon a shopping cart and offer them a discount in exchange for a subscription.
Tactic #6. Create lead magnets
Speaking of incentives, let’s move on to Lead magnets.
Also called opt-in bait, these are resources offered in exchange for email addresses.
For ecommerce brands, discounts are always effective as lead magnets.
But you can also offer things like:
Tactic #7. Offer content upgrades
Content upgrades and lead magnets have a lot in common – both give away resources as an incentive for visitors to give you their email addresses.
With content upgrades, however, you are ‘upgrading’ an existing piece of content on your website, such as a blog post, podcast, video, or infographic. Your upgrade should be very specific and related to the subject matter of the original piece of content.
For example, Elna Cain, who teaches freelance writers how to make money writing, included a list of booming writing niches as a content upgrade in a blog post about finding copywriting jobs.
That makes perfect sense, because people reading this post are most probably interested in writing niches that will help them succeed!
Tactic #8. Use a quiz for capturing email leads
We’ve already covered a few lead magnet ideas to capture email addresses. However, quizzes are a bit different!
A quiz walks your users through a series of questions and answers to help categorize them one way or another. At the end of the quiz, you can ask for an email address in exchange for the results.
Quizzes are very effective for building an email list for a couple of reasons.
First off, quizzes are fun! They offer entertainment packed with insight in exchange for just a short burst of time.
You can also use quizzes to capture email addresses the smart way – that is, by segmenting your subscribers.
With a quiz, you can segment your subscribers either based on the results they got, some of the answers they gave, or both. Most quiz software allows you to add tags to subscribers when they choose certain answers or get a specific result. These tags then show up in your email marketing tool.
When you segment your subscribers, you can choose to send them more relevant emails based on which segment they belong to.
Additionally, if you offer products or services, you can use your quiz results to showcase curated offers based on which result subscribers got.
Tactic #9. Run a giveaway
People love getting free stuff. That’s why giveaways can be a powerful email capture method!
All you need to do is require visitors to provide their email address in order to enter the giveaway.
Plus, with giveaways, it’s easy to expand outside of your website.
For example, if you post about your giveaway on social media, you can get your audience to tag their friends if they want to enter. This will automatically give you more exposure than if site visitors were to enter alone.
Want your new subscribers to stay engaged even after they joined your giveaway? Here are a few tips:
Finally, you can capture email addresses using surveys
Before you ask – no, surveys are not quite the same as quizzes!
Quizzes are used to provide the user with a result. Surveys, on the other hand, don’t typically have results at the end. They are primarily designed to help you get to know your audience better.
Your survey can tackle several topics, including:
Now, how do you capture email addresses with surveys? Just add an email opt-in form at the end, and those who are interested to know more about your brand will join the list. You can also offer a discount to those who fill out the survey to thank them for the responses.
And there you go – now you know how to retain more website visitors by converting them to email subscribers!
While you don’t have to start using all of these methods at once, it’s a good idea to implement more than one and make your website leak-proof.
Want more insights for growing your online business? Then check out our blog and don’t forget to subscribe.
Until next time!