Introduction
“The money is in the list”, the marketing gurus say. “Smash that like button, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to receive messages..” says the Youtubers. “Enter your email address here and receive a 10% discount off of your first purchase!”, says the online clothing store you clicked on by accident.
Aside from being marginally annoying, all of these characters understand one thing that you need to know as a business owner with plans to grow big–the importance of establishing a direct contact with their audience with the use of an email list.
Purpose of the Guide
Being that your primary business structure relies on bits of data zipping through space rather than a physical structure people can walk into and buy, collecting your customer’s information should be of extreme interest to you.
If it weren’t for that, you’d have no problem with your customer coming in, swiping their card, and then going off on their merry day after spotting your store sign along the highway.
In the world of ecommerce marketing, however, information is strength–and it’s also money–lots, if you’re willing (and able) to obey the demands of the almighty Google algorithm which processes over 3.2 billion searches everyday.
This guide will sort through all of the internet background noise and declining attention spans to help you flesh out an extensive email list that will give you direct and continuous access to your customers so you can convert their interests into a strong brand loyalty,
In fact, not only will they be happy to hear from you when you promote your products, but they will also choose to do business with you over your competitors (more on that later),
Benefits of having a MASSIVE email list
Having a big email list is essential for your ecommerce store in the world of big data. In fact, your store itself is data, and therefore, it would only behoove you to expand and refine the data outreach capabilities of your store via the use of email.
And why does your email list need to be massive? Because it’s all about conversions. For example, if your store consistently converts 3% of your 10 thousand subscriber email list into sales, then you can scale that conversions upwards by not only increasing email list engagement, but also growing your list into 100 thousand.
This guide is going to give you the tools you need to integrate a series of email marketing judo that engages the subscribers you already have, while also growing your list into a fuller and more robust membership.
Overview
- Step 1: Optimize Your Website Email Collection
- Step 2: Offer Irresistible Incentives
- Step 3: Leverage Social Media and Partnerships
- Step 4: Utilize Paid Advertising
- Step 5: Nurture and Engage Your Subscribers
- Conclusion
Step 1: Optimize Your Website for Email Collection
Types of pop-ups: exit-intent, timed, scroll-based
There’s a pretty good reason that marketing greats such as Neil Patel swear by an exit-intent survey that converts his Ubersuggest bounce rates into email sign-ups. You should use a mixture of the available email sign-up pop-ups to capture more of the people coming into your store.
- Exit-intent
Sites such as Hotjar are one of the many sites that offer a free trial to use an exit-intent survey. According to Optinmonster.com, these types of pop-ups are shown to convert an additional 2–4% of people leaving your page (even some of the ones who “bounce” off of your page. No harm, no foul, right? Add one to your ecommerce store if your goal is to aim for massive.
- Timed
This one is the standard pop-up type that is common across well-known sites such as AP News and others. Better yet, these pop-ups can be optimized to appear at your preferred time interval that best suits the average time customers spend on your page. Keeping this in mind helps convert new visitors, while also reducing the chances of appearing annoying or desperate.
- Scroll-based
You should pat yourself on the back if your analytics show customers converting using the scroll-based pop-up. It means they’re actually reading your blog, scanning your inventory, and also hinting that they’d be interested in further discussion (and purchasing, too.) Try A/B testing the Timed vs. Scrolled varieties to see which one is a better fit for your business. (*Remember, don’t do too much!)
Best practices for design and copy
The good news is that you don’t have to be great at design to make some pretty eye-catching copywriting. Designers have already put in thousands of man-hours turning previously difficult code into colorful drag-and-drop icons you can quickly put to use.
Embed Signup Forms
These are perhaps the simplest and the most common email sign-up forms in existence. These are the static boxes that appear at the top of your Homepage, at the bottom of a bog post, or side–whichever one you prefer. Everyone expects them to be visible and simple to use.
And if they’re really interested, they’ll even look for them on your page. Here’s how to place them and capture more emails for your increasingly massive list without being too intrusive
Strategic placement on homepage, blog, and product pages
Knowing where to strategically place your email sign-up forms on your store’s pages can seem like placing cameras in the forest to capture a rare, exotic animal. You don’t want to alert the subject to your presence, nor do you want to make them feel threatened enough to flee and never be seen again.
What you want to do is make the forms appear to be as natural and innocuous as possible, while also collecting customer emails for your indispensable list of future customers.
Place a sign-up form on your Homepage, product page, and (preferably) at the bottom of your blog posts, if you have them. A bonus is that you also capture the customer’s email on your Contact page, and at the Checkout phase if they are making a purchase.
If you forget anything, just remember that you should use one per page plus exit as a mnemonic device. Avoid annoying, and grow massive.
Using incentives like discounts and freebies
In all of my observations, there may never be a higher-converting email capture greater than the lead magnet. If you are on a shoe-string budget and don’t know if you can afford to give discounts, just know that you are gaining a potentially loyal customer in return for a one-time incentive.
Put in the work to write that free ebook, specialized calendar, or that other free incentive that leave customers in disbelief when they see the offer. You want people to say “wow! I don’t believe it. I get all of this for free?”
In fact, creating multiple free incentives will entice people to sign-up multiple times, which makes your brand that much bigger in their eyes.
Even better is that these free incentives can serve you for months (or even years) as your email list grows bigger. The fact that you offer so much value for free in exchange for the customer’s email list is one of the most important factors in building trust and brand loyalty.
At that point, customers will be willing to pay you anything you want–and they might even refer you to a friend in the process.
Step 2: Offer Irresistible Incentives
In the near future, it might turn out that the alternative spelling for “big email list” is free stuff. By focusing your brand on over delivering on value with discounts, rewards, ebooks, gifts, bonuses, and useful information and products that offer to solve the customer’s pain points, your audience will want to wake up each morning and look for you in their inbox.
Admittedly, I do this myself when I look for Ubereats discounts and BOGOs in my inbox whenever I don’t feel like cooking, and I consider myself to be a fairly hard sell. This anecdote should instead be you and your business, along with all of that great stuff you have to offer.
Discounts and Coupons
Discounts and coupons are tried and true when it comes to converting digital window shoppers into paying customers. Matter of fact, I can confess to being converted multiple times after seeing that the deadline for a great deal was near.
If you’re using a platform like Shopify, you can set your own discount code as well as an expiration date. Include a coupon for 10% in your email welcome series sequence when customers sign-up and make the deadline clear on the coupon’s copy.
Freebies and Giveaways
Everyone loves to get the things they value for free. In fact, according to Leadpages, the average ebook landing page conversion rate is a whopping 24%. Good news is that not only will you convert many of your online visitors into email opt-ins, but you can find out more about them according to what they choose to download.
From here, you can have them automatically segmented by interests, which will inform you how to market to them in the near future. Here are some freebies and giveaways that can attract subscribers.
- Raffles
- Free shipping
- Free products
- Gift cards
Setting up the free giveaway
If you’re using Shopify, you can easily download a number of apps, such as widgets, that will streamline the giveaway process which you can then send to your new subscribers via email. Some of these apps include:
- Giveaway Ninja
- SweepWidget
- PineRaffle
Exclusive Content and Early Access
While you definitely want to make your email opt-in free, you should also offer a “free trial” for some of your more exclusive content, if you have it. Remember to actually have exclusive content that you’re offering in exchange for an opt-in rather than giving all of your customers the same material across the board.
For example, if you will be offering a 30% discount for a Black Friday sale, create an opt-in pop-up that displays this product for the users that subscribed under this particular opt-in. This will create more trust in your brand and yourself as a serious entrepreneur, looking for creative ways to satisfy your subscribers.
Step 3: Leverage Social Media and Partnerships
Since the earliest days of marketing, advertising agencies have used celebrities and other prominent people to promote their products for them. And while you might scoff at enlisting the help of some “influencer” online who knows nothing about your business or how it works, just take a look at how Kylie Jenner caused Snapchat to lose $1.8 billion with a single Tweet from her account.
Of course you’d want those numbers to go in the opposite direction and drive traffic to your store, which is quite possible. And while you might not get a second look from someone of Kylie Jenner’s caliber, you can make inroads with significantly smaller influencers on different social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
Many of these influencers looking to make a viable income via Google’s Adsense would be more than happy to promote your products in return for a percentage of the returns. And the good news is that when they grow, you grow as well–and so does your access to more email inboxes.
Promote on Social Media
If you don’t have a social media account for your business already, you should create one. In order to maximize your social media outreach you should create an account across all major platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. From here, you can slide into an influencer’s DMs with an offer in exchange for promoting your business to their followers.
The worst an influencer can say is “no”, which shouldn’t deter you from reaching out to an influencer who will say yes. Have them make a video talking about your brand in front of their audience, and have them post a link for an exclusive discount that leads back to your site.
Best platforms for promoting email signups
Some of the best email sign-up platforms around can help reduce subscriber friction and make the process as seamless as possible. Some of these include,
- MailChimp
- Klaviyo
- ActiveCampaign
- Constant Contact
Strategies for organic and paid promotion
If your budget allows, you should opt to use both paid and organic promotion channels. HARO allows you to offer your “expertise” to journalists in exchange for a backlink, which is essential for getting your store out front of Google search. Fortunately, it is entirely free to use the platform to attract new customers to your platform and sign up.
Collaborate with Influencers and Partners
Potential influencers and partners can be found all over social media. Major hang-out spots include Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and others. Try shooting them a DM and let them know you’re offering an affiliate program or an exclusive discount in exchange for their audience’s attention. The good thing is that there are plenty of “influencers” and like you, many are looking for opportunities.
Run Contests and Challenges
Running a contest or a challenge is a great way to get people interested in what you’re offering. Having a deadline for the contest creates a sense of urgency which translates into higher conversions and email addresses.
Countdown Mail offers a great, eye-catching email form with a large visible clock that ticks away during your promotion. Having this clock prominently displayed, ticking away in real time, sends a clear message to customers who might be procrastinating or ignoring your brand to act now. It is simple, effective, and translates into a bigger email list.
Step 4: Utilize Paid Advertising
Paid advertising is yet another viable option to convert search and social media users into subscribers. It’s similar to what you see disrupting your favorite videos on YouTube, but on a more limited scale. Using paid ads on any major platform can add up quickly, but here’s a list of some of the most popular platforms.
Facebook and Instagram Ads
Every serious ecommerce store should have a Facebook marketing strategy. However, rules are pretty tight and you can end up getting flagged and banned from the platform if you’re not careful. Create an effective marketing campaign for both Facebook and Instagram, but make sure your company is on both platforms first.
Find out who your customers are, as well as their backgrounds, their interests, and even their income level. This basic demographic information is important when you begin to flesh out your campaign for targeting a particular audience.
Facebook allows you to install a piece of code called a “pixel” on your store’s website so you can track user data and responses to your ads.
Google Ads
Google Ads is a PPC (pay per click) model that allows your business to show up in the top of Google search results, and pay for every time someone clicks on your ad. Before using this model, it is wise to understand the volume of people who already visit your store, so you’ll know how much money to put aside for advertising.
According to Metadigital, the average conversion rate for a Google Ad is 4.40%, but differs depending on what industry you’re focusing on. And since your goal is to gain new leads and contacts with your email forms, the ads can link directly to your product page where visitors can subscribe at checkout.
Step 5: Nurture and Engage Your Subscribers
When it comes to communicating with your subscribers, email is king. For that, there’s a clear reason that the ROI for email marketing is $36 for every $1 spent. As long as you send your email subscribers content that is valuable to them, they’ll be more than happy to keep your open-rate at an agreeable level.
Figuring out what to do after you get a new email opt-in is a science within itself. New sign-ups don’t like silence after they’ve given you their @ address and probably their first name (for personalization reasons.) Automate a confirmation email at sign-up, and approach them scientifically to eventually convert them into a paying customer.
Welcome Series and Onboarding
The email welcome series is the standard ice breaker between you and the new opt-in. It is the opportunity to form a bond with them, and also deliver on any freebies, discounts, or deals you offered them according to their segmentation.
The basic welcome series consists of 3–5 automated emails over 3–5 days. I highly recommend that you send them an email per day during the onboarding process.
Nowadays, people are much pickier over whom they give their email address to, but the chances are much higher that they are willing to engage your content after intentionally clicking through to your site.
Things to avoid during the onboarding process:
- Do not try to sell to them
- Do not spam your new opt-ins with multiple emails in a day (unless transactional)
- Do not sell your customer’s information
Regular Newsletters and Updates
Although the newsletter is getting increasingly harder to sell nowadays, people expect them to be available everywhere they go. The basic newsletter frequency is once per week, and should be a compilation of your products, discounts, or industry trends.
There isn’t a universal template for a newsletter, but there are useful examples to help you quickly build your own (and you should). The opt-in for the newsletter can be a basic pop-up, slide-in, or an email form that is prominently displayed in a location of your choice.
You have to find a balance between value-driven content, and the promotion of your own products without being too intrusive or spammy. You should also send them a link to your new blog post to inform them about the hottest new leggings for the year.
In your post, place a clever hyperlink to your product just in case they wanted to see what the hype was all about.
Re-engagement Campaigns
Believe it or not, there are times people get so busy they forget to check for their email for that new promotion you promised them last week. Or perhaps they’ve taken an interest in a store similar to yours but with better incentives.
You should do a quick rundown of your email list to identify disengaged subscribers. Send them an email with a clever headline such as “Baby, come back!” or, a simpler “We miss you!” I, myself, appreciate these types of emails, and I actually get a bit of a laugh at it. It says that you value me as a customer and don’t take too kindly to being ignored by someone you consider a good “friend”.
How can you do this? Send them a 10% discount on their next purchase. Optimize your subject line with your concern about their absence, and offer the solution in the subtext where they can see it. It can very well be the last chance you have before they mark you as spam, so you’d want to get straight to the point.
Conclusion
By implementing these various, multichannel strategies, you should be able to build a sizable email list for your online business. These steps were specifically designed to help you get your foot in the door with one of the greatest (if not the greatest) marketing techniques to expand your outreach campaigns.
Remember, you own your email list. While you may lose access to your social media, for one reason or the other, just know that your email list is something that you can leverage through extreme technical difficulties (and censorship) when times get unpredictable.
Email still reigns as king of the favored marketing channels, and for a very good reason. That is why you need to build a strong and steady subscriber count to bolster your business, and also to shore your income in very difficult economic times.
Well, what are you waiting for? Go out there and make your email list massive!