Guest Blog Post by Michael Wadsworth, Partner Marketing Associate at Justuno
The best time to start collecting emails was yesterday. The second best time is now.
And with much of the world now stuck inside, online traffic has seen a dramatic uptick. Fortunately, this provides a great opportunity to capture that extra traffic. The window of opportunity is at its widest for those in the e-commerce space, if you play your cards right.
Besides social media, what’s the one thing everyone checks? Email.
Email has the highest return on investment over any other marketing channel; the median email marketing ROI is 122%, or four times higher than any other digital marketing channel.
Why? Because, the cost to acquire an email address and nurture that contact to a conversion and then to a repeat purchase, is far lower than other paid channels. Email marketing isn’t going away anytime soon, so there’s absolutely no reason you shouldn’t be creating email lists to use for your marketing efforts.
The foundation for email marketing: Basic email list building
How do you begin creating your email list? It all begins with an onsite lead capture. We’ll delve into the specifics below, but it all begins with a simple pop-up asking the visitor for their email.
These are examples of Justuno’s New Visitor pop-up. The most effective method of lead capture is to offer a quick n’ easy discount on a visitor’s first order in exchange for their email. By displaying the discount code immediately after the visitor opts-in, you encourage a same-session purchase. If they add an item to their cart and leave, well, you just got your first-email icebreaker!
Remember, these displays are all about adding value to the customer; the secret to successful on-site promotions is finding the sweet spot between adding value (discount, news, etc) and not annoying them in their online shopping journey. Make it concise and easy to dismiss so they don’t annoy your web visitors.
For your basic lead capture operations, we recommend two options: First, a New Visitor Pop-up, and second, an Exit Offer.
New Visitor lead capture
All e-commerce merchants that do not have an offer targeting their new visitors need to set one up now. This is the first conversion rate optimization we at Justuno recommend for ALL merchants to set up on Day One. Fortunately, New Visitor displays are easy: it shows an offer whenever a new visitor comes on the site. Obvious, yes, but it means that it does NOT show to visitors who have previously been to your site and/or have already engaged with this promotion. The nuance of “new” in your targeting rules here will actually dramatically increase your engagement rate and help you build more targeted segments within your email service provider (ESP). Remember, nothing is more annoying than someone bugging you about something you’ve already given them.
Here are a few of the most common offers e-commerce merchants show in their New Visitor pop-ups
- 10-15% discount
- Free guide or e-book related to products or industry
- Contest offers (enter email to win)
- Spin-to-win Gamification
Exit Offer
This intelligent display tracks when visitors are close to leaving the site, and fires right before they go as a last-chance shot at getting their email.
The second conversion rate optimization our team suggests setting up is an Exit Offer. An Exit Offer Display fires whenever a new visitor is behaving in a manner that indicates they’re going to leave the site (on mobile this is navigating toward the “back” button in the browser). Here, we like to suggest setting these up when the visitor is existing a product detail page (PDP) or cart page. The goal is to get out of the way and make the sale. Forget about email collection here (you’ll get that when they check out). Show them a more compelling offer than your new visitor and display the code directly in the pop-up (no email necessary!). Not only can you increase your overall conversion rate, but you’ll have a new customer in your email database to nurture into a repeat purchase.
Common offers e-commerce merchants show in their Exit Offers:
- 25% off (or more)
- Free shipping
- Free gift with purchase
What Offer is Best?
What’s converts better, a cut and dry 10% off or a juicy $5 dollars off of a first order? Money off or an e-book? A free bracelet with any order? Free shipping?
With so many visitors coming to your site, you can learn exactly what works best for your business and audience through A/B testing your onsite pop-ups. It’s worthwhile to spend the time creating different promotions and A/B testing them to learn what moves the needle for your website traffic. Test different discount types, imagery (lifestyle vs. product), copy (serious vs. cheeky), and even CTA color.
If you want the engagement, BE ENGAGING!
Visitors only spend 5 seconds on a site on average so it’s entirely up to you to get their attention. Plus, with so much digital clutter, you have to stand out and drive that engagement. Show your brand voice – consumers crave authenticity. Be funny or sarcastic or show a huge picture of a kitten. Take advantage of the high traffic numbers and find what works.
State of the World Bonus Feature: Building Your List In A Crisis
If you’re low on or out of stock, you can use a pop-up to capture the visitor’s email to be notified when you have items back in stock. Depending on what products you provide, this could mean a huge increase in post-visit conversion via email.
If you’re a lifestyle brand experiencing challenges right now, use a New Visitor or Exit Offer to encourage visitors to opt-in to your newsletter so they can stay up to date on everything you’re doing during these challenging times. Host an impromptu Instagram Live meet n’ greet or a Zoom happy hour! Make your own home workout video. You may be stuck in a box, but your mind has the tremendous capacity to think outside of it!
For more best practices for onsite marketing during COVID-19, check out our continually updated blog post here.
Conclusion
Email is the most valuable digital marketing channel by a significant margin, but capturing those emails is one of the most difficult parts of the process. With intelligent New Visitor or Exit Offer displays, a splash of brand creativity, and A/B testing, you can start building your emailing list like nobody’s business. The key here is to understand that clear-cut messaging is crucial during this time.
Be as transparent as possible with your website traffic, and your brand reputation will improve. Care for your customers and they will care for you. Get creative with your lead capture strategy, especially if your business has been significantly impacted by COVID-19. Stay focused on converting the traffic you are getting and you will reap the rewards of a large, responsive email database as the crisis passes.
Until then, get that New Visitor Display up ASAP!