Thursday, June 30, 2016

7 Steps to Create and Measure Winning Facebook Ads

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Celebrate Independence Day

Barbecue! ‘Merica! Fireworks! Summer is in full swing and the 4th of July is right around the corner. Now is a great time to add some seasonal flair to your email campaigns and capture your customers’ attention; celebrate the long weekend with some fun, snappy subject lines full of summer spirit. In a writing rut? Check out some of our favorite subject lines in our inboxes right now:

  1. Go America, It’s Your Birthday! (Birthday treat inside!) | Farmgirl Flowers
  2. Your new delivery is here – Celebrate up to 30% off red, white, and blue and sparkly looks for July 4th | Rent The Runway
  3. Oh Say Can You Eat | Tasting Table
  4. America’s Pastime on the 4th of July | SF Giants
  5. PREPARE FOR FIREWORKS | Carbon38
  6. Grilling Secrets from the Pros – Plus red, white, and blue berry desserts | Fine Cookin
  7. Flag this: $6 styles + EXTRA 50% off | LOFT
  8. Let Freedom Ring: Free Shipping Now Through Sunday | Kaufmann Mercantile
  9. Buttermilk Layer Cake, Fresh Blueberries & Stone Fruit Pie – Sweet Red, White & Blue Pie Party in the USA! | Good Eggs
  10. Top 20 Fourth of July Recipes | F&W: The Dish
  11. Proud To Be An American | Under Armour
  12. The Perfect 4th of July Weekend | Travel + Leisure
  13. Must haves for the 4th | Etsy
  14. 6 Big-Batch Cocktail Recipes for the Fourth of July | Liquor.com
  15. Everything You Need to Make the Most of July | Barneys New York
  16. The Ultimate Pork Tacos – Our favorite no-cook summer pastas, pies for 4th of July, and more | Epicurious
  17. 25% Off Makes Sunday Way Better – Ends Today. Stock Up for the Fourth | American Apparel
  18. ‘Mericas For The Whole Family | Chubbies
  19. Grilling Secrets from the Pros – 4th of July party menu | Fine Cooking
  20. Happy Birthday, America! Out the red, white & blue | Express

Ready to get writing and send out your Fourth of July email campaigns?

VerticalResponse is easy to use and free to get started. Sign up and send up to 1,200 emails per month for free.

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© 2016, Tori Tsu. All rights reserved.

The post Celebrate Independence Day appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.

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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Autoresponders 101

Say the words “marketing automation” to the average consumer, and what comes to mind (if they know the term at all) are the dreaded robocalls that disrupt family dinners every night or the shotgun-style junk emails that clog inboxes across the country. As a small business owner, you probably have no desire to be associated with anything like that.

Yet email automation can be an effective, non-intrusive marketing tool for small businesses. We know email marketing works — the numbers bear it out. Email works three times faster than display advertising, stays in the minds of consumers better, and increases the likelihood of purchasing in 47 percent of consumers, according to a study by Teradata. Email marketing is an essential tool for small business owners, offering ROI that other forms of marketing just can’t match.

Autoresponder email campaigns greatly enhance the effectiveness of email marketing — without raising marketing costs. An autoresponder series allows small business owners to share new content, build email lists, promote products and services, and share company news quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.

The Pros of Autoresponders

First, let’s clarify what we mean by autoresponders. An autoresponder email tool sends a pre-determined automatic response to any email your business receives. But the tool does more than that. You can also create automated commands that will send marketing emails to contacts whenever they take a specified action, such as ordering from your website, signing up for your email newsletter, or even simply visiting your website.

Autoresponders can benefit your small business by:

  • Saving time — Rather than requiring you to invest the time writing and sending individual emails to potential, new, and current customers, autoresponders can automatically send a welcome email to a new subscriber, or thank a customer for an order. It creates the feeling of a personal interaction without the time investment you would have to make if you did all that on your own.
  • Creating a positive first impression — Automated emails make it easier to show off your impressive customer service to new customers. A new contact who receives a welcome email or a discount offer could become a paying customer.
  • Maximizing selling opportunities — Signing up for your email list shows the prospect is already interested in your business, product, or service. Connecting with a new customer right away through an autoresponder means your marketing message reaches them when their interest is high and they are most receptive to hearing what you have to offer.
  • Improving value to customers — Everyone hates spam and junk email, so adding additional content or services to your autoresponder emails is a great way to demonstrate to customers that your emails are valuable. Not only are you giving them useful content that can fulfill a need or make their lives easier, you’re also demonstrating that your name in the “from” line means the email is worth reading.
  • Engaging customers — Consistent communication of valuable content is a great way to keep your brand front-of-mind for customers. Autoresponders allow you to maintain a measured, continuous stream of relevant content with a minimal time investment to develop it.

Top types of autoresponder emails

You can use autoresponders in many ways. Here are some of the most popular and effective types of automated emails:

Welcome emails

Whenever someone signs up to be on any kind of company list, a welcome email is an excellent — and expected — way to thank them for their interest and to encourage deeper engagement. The autoresponder tool automatically sends an email with content you’ve predetermined. It could be a simple “welcome to the family” message, an invitation to connect on social media, a promotional offer or discount, links to additional information about your company, products and services, a call to action, or printable coupon. 

Content offer emails

This type of email can actually be combined with others, such as a welcome email. The email conveys your key message — “welcome” or “thank you for your order” — and also offers the recipient additional worthwhile content. You can include brief content directly in the email or incorporate links to lengthier content that the recipient can review at his or her leisure.

Surveys and feedback requests

Asking customers for their opinion is a great way to engage them with your brand. By tying your request for feedback to an action, such as placing an order or chatting online with customer service, you capture the recipients’ attention when they’re already thinking of your brand. You can also choose to initiate the contact by sending a survey to customers who haven’t interacted with your brand for a while. In addition to enriching engagement, surveys and feedback emails provide an excellent way to gather important information from your customers. You can sweeten the deal and increase response rates by incorporating an incentive offer into the email, such as a chance to win a gift card.

Follow-up emails

When you send an email and recipients don’t open it, following up with a second email a few days later can result in an average 30% lift in your open rate. This can be as simple as resending the same email to people who didn’t open the first one. Autoresponders allow you to automatically schedule a follow-up email when you create and send an initial email campaign. This reduces the amount of time you spend on follow-up emails by eliminating the extra work of manually segmenting your list of non-responders and creating a new campaign.

Confirmation emails

When customers make a purchase through your website or mobile app, they want acknowledgement that you’ve received their order and are working to fulfill it. An automated confirmation email gives customers a sense of security, and affords you the opportunity to provide additional information about their purchase. You can also use a confirmation email to up-sell, informing customers of products or services related to what they’ve ordered.

Convincing data

Marketing data firm Epsilon says open rates for triggered emails can be nearly 77 percent higher than for business-as-usual email messages. Click rates for triggered emails can be nearly 152 percent higher. The key to this success, Epsilon notes, is likely because triggered emails go out in response to a consumer action.

Trying to track consumer emails and actions in order to create individual campaigns in response can be a frustrating and time-consuming exercise for anyone. As a small business owner, you need a more effective and efficient way to set up triggered emails, and autoresponders can help.

By establishing autoresponder campaigns, your small business can capitalize on the power of triggered emails, and create more engaged, profitable interactions with prospects and customers.

Get a Free VerticalResponse Account

Sign up and send up to 1,200 emails per month for free.

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© 2016, Contributing Author. All rights reserved.

The post Autoresponders 101 appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.

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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

[Podcast] Episode 28: Smart marketing book recommendations from Douglas Burdett

Ready to be a smarter marketer?

With blogs, podcasts, videos, snaps, chats, and tweets coming at us from all directions, it’s getting harder and harder to find the content that will truly level up your chops. One way to ensure you’re getting the proper marketing nutrition is to have a well-balanced content diet, including not only digital content, but also great marketing books.

In this episode of the Ask Me About Email Marketing podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Douglas Burdett, expert marketer and host of the Marketing Book Podcast. Douglas shares with us his experience reading the best marketing books, and interviewing their authors. Books provide us with an opportunity to fully immerse ourselves into a topic, and as Douglas puts it “rewire your marketing brain.”

In this episode, you’ll learn about:

  • Douglas’ personal book recommendations and journey into marketing and podcasting
  • The benefits of a well-balanced content diet
  • Ways to evaluate if a book’s worth your time
  • Books to read to level up your email marketing
  • Some great marketing tips for email marketers of all levels
  • … and much more!

Here is a list of all the books we mentioned on this episode:

Here are a few other links that were mentioned on the show:

Click here to download this episode directly. (MP3)

Have a question about email marketing? Leave us a message at aweber.com/podcast.

The post [Podcast] Episode 28: Smart marketing book recommendations from Douglas Burdett appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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Thursday, June 23, 2016

Grow Your List with These 6 Social Media Integrations

“Grow an email list,” they said. “It will be easy,” they said.

Growing an email list isn’t rocket science, but it does take some work. Not just work, but strategy. And part of that strategy should include social media.

The number of active social media users in the United States is at an all-time high of 78% and that doesn’t include the billions of other users worldwide. Take a look at the data from We Are Social:

Admit it. Proclaiming your love for your business from the top of a mountain can only be heard so far. So how can you broadcast beyond that?

Promotions, polls, sweepstakes, contests and quizzes help you grow your email list by providing a personal experience and an interactive way to connect with users. If you’re part of the 78% already present in the social media world then you’ve already got a head start. Intertwining your email, content and social media helps make your presence known to the world. Where there’s value, there’s potential. It also helps generate effective leads!

When people enjoy creative content, they feel compelled to share it with their friends, prompting a lifecycle of sharing. It’s a rewarding feeling watching others like and share original content you worked so hard to create. That’s why we compiled a list of our favorite tools to launch your social media skills to the next level.

Your social media toolkit

Woobox

Woobox takes the data from anonymous social interactions and turns them into subscribers. This makes it easy to export your customer data and automatically integrates your new customers into your AWeber account.

To unlock all applications, it’s as low as $30 a month with more perks when paid annually.  Woobox offers default as well as fully customizable templates so your skill level doesn’t interfere with your social game.

All versions gives you access to:

  • HTML Fangate
  • Tab for Twitter
  • Instagram Tab
  • Pinterest Tab
  • Youtube Tab
  • Pick a winner
  • Instant win

If you choose a paid account and find (for some reason) it’s not for you, fear not. They offer a 30-day money back guarantee.  

What’s the harm then, right?

How to integrate Woobox with AWeber

Heyo

Heyo is a social tool optimized for list specific sweepstakes, contests, and campaigns that are fully operational on Facebook, mobile and web. The best part about this is that it the design editor requires zero coding knowledge.

Plans start at $22 a month and include a free 7-day trial. Each option unlocks:

  • Unlimited campaigns
  • Publishing to multiple fan ages
  • Mobile-friendly templates
  • Built in social sharing
  • Pick a winner
  • Facebook brand page(s) and fans depending on the plan

The channel doesn’t require a credit card when you enroll in the free trial so what are you waiting for?

How to integrate Heyo with AWeber

ShortStack

ShortStack is a great way to create campaigns for social platforms, web, and mobile and collect user data through the applications. They make it easy to spread awareness with endless social sharing options.

Plans with email marketing integrations start at $29 a month but all options give you access to:

  • Drag and drop templates
  • 30+ themes to choose from
  • 90+ campaign templates
  • Enabled sharing to social platforms
  • Content scheduling
  • Country-specific settings
  • Copy campaigns
  • Data collection
  • Integrates with Facebook, Youtube, Vimeo, Canva, and the list goes on.

Analytics, countless integrations and ease-of-use make it worth $29+ a month in my opinion. And if you’ve got embedding knowledge, this app may be for you. The average page view rates with embedding is 83% higher than without.

Still not convinced? See for yourself!

Learn how to integrate ShortStack with AWeber

ViralSweep

ViralSweep is a way of taking your sweepstake game to the next level by implementing into any website. If it sounds intimidating, it’s not. It’s designed for creative ideas that don’t require a lot of work to execute.

The starter pack that integrates with AWeber costs $49 a month but comes with:

  • Unlimited sweepstakes and styles
  • Mobile optimization
  • Embedding on any site
  • Award bonus entries
  • Referrals
  • Choose winners
  • Rules generator
  • Real-time analytics

The app is built to expand your social reach and takes just seconds to integrate with AWesome email. How could you not want entries automatically added to your AWeber contact list?

Learn how to integrate ViralSweep with AWeber

Rafflecopter

Rafflecopter helps you create online giveaways across numerous platforms all at the same time with prize incentives. It’s an easy way to run a giveaway online!

Plans start as low as $43 a month with a 7-day free trial and unlock access to:

  • Unlimited entries and giveaways
  • Instant winners
  • Downloadable entry CSVs
  • Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest optimization
  • Internationalization
  • At least one custom theme
  • Full design options
  • Poll/survey entry options

There are so many features that I can’t possibly list them all here. You just have to see if for yourself!

Learn how to integrate Rafflecopter with AWeber

Contest Domination

Contest Domination is a great tool for building your social following through contests. Contest Domination is currently offering a promotion of $40 per month unlimited plan when you pay annually.

This option lets you fully integrate with your AWeber contact list and provides:

  • Unlimited viral campaigns, contest entries, Facebook fans and content length
  • Custom CSS
  • Export CSV anytime
  • Fraud tools

The platform offers a 30-day money back guarantee outside of the 7-day free trial. So, why not?

Learn how to integrate Contest Domination with AWeber

Social campaign best practices

Social media serves as another route to your landing page.

No matter which promotion you launch, remember to include the URL link to your signup form. The more readily available your content is, the more likely you are to get subscribers.

Be honest.

It’s essential to not only express the benefits of subscribing, but also clearly state what your audience is signing up for. Not disclosing this information is the fastest way to gain unsubscribers.

Maintain consistency across all of your content.

Steering from the norm may be confusing to readers.

Find where your audience thrives.

With all of the different social media channels out there, it’s important to find their preferred platforms to communicate. This ensures higher signups and shares.

Don’t overshare.

Subscribers want to feel appreciated and giving away all the goodies to the public takes away from the experience. 

Drive engagement with incentives

In order to see results you need to design results that are worth reading and sharing. There’s nothing worse than investing your time in something only to find that it wasn’t worth it in the end. You want your readers to enjoy the experience, which is sometimes incentive enough. (Remember, fun always wins!)

Promote incentives that fans can’t refuse:

  • Shout outs on social media, company page or newsletter
  • Exclusive offers or content
  • Elaborate quiz results
  • Tangible incentives, like prizes
  • Discounts or coupons

Which is your favorite?

How do you use social media to improve campaigns and expand your following? Share your ideas in the comments section below.

Want to send AWesome emails with AWeber? Sign up here for your free 30-day trial!

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Read All About It! 7 Steps to An Effective Email Newsletter

If your marketing department has launched a newsletter campaign, congratulations! Strategically created newsletters are among the most popular ways for today’s marketers to disseminate information. In fact, it’s so effective that 64 percent of marketing specialists worldwide use this tactic to connect with their customer base.

The study found that newsletters are used more than email subscriptions, email opt-ins, events and invitations, and re-engagement campaigns. Perhaps even more importantly, 60 percent of consumers consider newsletters their favorite way to receive vendor updates and promotions, according to a 2015 report.

Whether you’re starting a new campaign or upgrading an existing program, consider the following suggestions to maximize the effectiveness of your newsletters:

1. Bring it

If your email looks like a newsletter but isn’t full of valuable, interesting, educational content, it isn’t doing its job. In a Nielsen Norman Group study, more than 40 percent of consumers said they appreciate the following content in a newsletter:

  • Information about work-related news or company actions
  • Information about personal interests/hobbies
  • Information about events/deadlines/important dates
  • Reports prices/sales

Other examples of informative newsletter content:

  • Blog posts
  • Tips, tactics, how-to’s, tutorials
  • Industry news/third-party news
  • Events, dates to remember, holidays
  • Interesting facts
  • Reviews
  • Photos
  • Contests/contest winners
  • Resources
  • Company news, such as updates, improvements, new products, awards, volunteer projects, etc.
  • Infographics
  • Webinars and/or videos
  • Testimonials
  • Recipes
  • Fan photos

2. Lose the (sales) hype

People like to be informed of sales, but selling shouldn’t be the main focus of an email newsletter (send such offers in promo-specific emails). Think of your newsletter as a trusted friend your reader has let into their home/inbox, not a pushy salesman with his foot in the door.

3. Go for brevity and ‘clickability’

The average person spends just 51 seconds reading a newsletter. Don’t take this stat personally. Keep content easy to scan with content blocks, brief blurbs, snapshots, takeaways, and bullet points. Use these elements in conjunction with highly visible call-to-action buttons that lead readers back to your site, blog, or social media network for more information. The point of a newsletter is to build a relationship with your audience, to inform and educate them, and to snag some clicks, which, in some cases, can lead to a sale.

4. Be true to your word

If you tell readers to look for your newsletter each week, be there. Pick a frequency and stick to it. Many people don’t like surprises, last-minute drop-ins, or no shows. 

5. Be your own opening act

If your subject line isn’t compelling, interesting, intriguing, or thought-provoking, your reader may not make it past “Hello.” Clearly state your company name in the “from” section, and when crafting a subject line avoid generic titles; instead, write a teaser about the newsletter’s content.

6. Talk back

Using a “do not reply” email address for newsletters indicates responses won’t be seen or answered. Allowing customers to reply, then responding to inquiries and comments, sets a friendly tone and provides you with valuable insight, feedback, and questions that very well may improve your next newsletter.

7. Provide an easy out

Unsubscribers are a fact of life and nothing to take personally. And the harder you make unsubscribing, the greater the likelihood readers will hit that dreaded SPAM button. Make your unsubscribe link easy to find.

Creating a personable, presentable, and effective email newsletter takes work, but when done well it can create valuable customer relationships that other channels can’t.  

Don’t Have a VerticalResponse Account Yet?

It’s easy to use and free to get started. Sign up and send up to 1,200 emails per month for free.

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© 2016, Contributing Author. All rights reserved.

The post Read All About It! 7 Steps to An Effective Email Newsletter appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.

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Tuesday, June 21, 2016

[Podcast] Episode 27: Remarkable Email Marketing for Podcasters with Jerod Morris

Thinking about starting a podcast? Today is your day! Starting a podcast is an exciting venture, and can lead to all sorts of fruitful happenings for you and your business. My fellow podcasters can attest to this.

That’s not to say picking up the mic is easy! Podcasting can be a challenge if you’re not equipped for success. Luckily, heroic individuals like Jerod Morris are out there serving as a digital mentor for newbies and pros alike. With Jonny Nastor, Jerod cohosts The Showrunner, a podcast about podcasting. Over the course of a few episodes, Jerod and Jonny discussed the importance and value of building an engaged email list. To discuss and reiterate some of those points, I recruited Jerod to join the show.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • How to develop a hypothesis for your show’s concept
  • How a strong email strategy can be your podcast differentiator
  • The importance of crafting a strong lead magnet
  • The impact of email marketing on your show
  • Jerod’s advice for forming strong relationships with listeners and subscribers
  • … and much more!

Ready to rock the mic? Already a podcaster? Check out our Email Marketing for Podcaster’s Guide to start building your community today.

Here are a few links that were mentioned on the show:

Click here to download this episode directly. (MP3)

Have a question about email marketing? Leave us a message at aweber.com/podcast.

The post [Podcast] Episode 27: Remarkable Email Marketing for Podcasters with Jerod Morris appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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The Do’s and Don’ts of Email Campaigns for Nonprofits | Part 4 of 4

Last week we covered our the fundamentals of fundraising and the best emails to send to get your donors to take action. This week we’ll examine the right emails to send to maintain and engage your donor base. 

In this four-part guide you’ll find do’s and don’ts for every step of the email marketing process:

Do: Make existing donors feel like part of a team. 
Don’t: Bombard them with unnecessary information.

To keep donors engaged with your nonprofit, send emails that will maintain your relationship. Here are some ways you can keep in touch without going overboard:

1. Newsletter

There’s no better way to let your donors know what’s going on than with a newsletter. This gives you a chance to catch them up and make them feel like they’re part of something special.

Newsletters can include all types of content, including a letter from the director, information about upcoming projects, updates on initiatives, volunteer profiles, a success story, industry-specific news, and event recaps.

2. Useful news emails

From time to time, send emails that contain interesting news related to your nonprofit. For example, an animal shelter could send an email warning about keeping pets inside during dangerously cold temperatures. And don’t forget to capture the reader’s attention with the subject line. These types of emails keep your nonprofit top of mind.

3. Donor preference email

Several times a year, ask your donors what they want. Let them know their input matters. One of the easiest ways to do this is by sending an email survey. You can easily create one through a site like SurveyMonkey and include a link in your email.

Ask donors about their preferences, such as what types of campaigns they prefer or if they have suggestions for making improvements to your organization. What were their thoughts on the last fundraising events? Your donors can provide valuable feedback that will help make your organization better in the long run while improving donor loyalty.

Just remember to keep the survey short and ask specific questions that provide useful information.

Use this guide to engage and connect with your subscribers and you’ll be growing your donor base in no time. Try out these tips to see where they take you and check out the VerticalResponse free program for nonprofits. 

© 2016, Contributing Author. All rights reserved.

The post The Do’s and Don’ts of Email Campaigns for Nonprofits | Part 4 of 4 appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.

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Monday, June 20, 2016

#EmailChat: Social Media Lead Generation

You’re already using social media to generate some buzz for your business, but did you know it’s also a great tool for getting new email subscribers?

In this week’s #EmailChat, we talked about the ways you can optimize your social media platforms to generate leads.

Missed it or need a refresher? Here are the top seven takeaways that you can implement now:

Social media + email = digital marketing #PowerCouple

Social media is essential for building brand awareness. Email is essential for generating revenue, sales and creating a deeper connection with your audience. And when you use them together, they can become powerful elements of your digital marketing strategy.

It’s a great place to capture email leads.

By nature, social media tends to be fast-paced and crowded. As a result, your social content should be brief and give your audience a taste of what to expect from you. If they want more, direct them to your email list.

One thing we love about Facebook is the option to have your email sign up form right at the top of the feed. And with other platforms, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, you can pin a post to the top of your page – a great opportunity to link to your signup form.

The most effective platform is the one your audience is already on.

A common mistake that many digital marketers make is trying to be everywhere all of the time. Unfortunately, that’s one of the easiest ways to burn out. Plus, you might even get frustrated if you don’t reap any awesome rewards as a result of all your hard work, too.

The trick to getting new subscribers is to go where they are. If your tribe is big on Facebook, go there! There’s no point in spending time and money on Twitter if all you hear are crickets.

Need help getting started? Try putting out a survey to your current subscriber base to get a feel for their social media usage. You might be surprised at what you learn.

But be sure to integrate some tools into the mix.

When growing your email list on social, you don’t have to go at it alone. Social media integrations can help maximize your social engagement big time. Try a tool like Interact, WooBox or Heyo for your next social campaign. They’re great tools for generating new leads. Plus, they’re fun and shareable. A win-win.

A few tips before launching your social campaign.

Hold up: You can’t just put up a contest and expect the leads to pour in. It’s not that simple.

If you’re hosting a contest, quiz or other promotion, you need to give away something of value. (Especially if you’re asking for their email address.) You’re likely to see more engagement with your campaign if there’s a nice incentive attached.

Incentives, ftw (for the win).

Speaking of incentives, we have a few examples.

High-value prizes (think tablets and vacation getaways) can certainly help with your campaign’s reach, but it might not attract the most relevant audience.

Instead, consider other freebies that would interest your target customer. Exclusive content, for example, is a great incentive to offer – especially when everyone who enters gets to reap the rewards. Try a simple PDF checklist, guide or other freebie. Promo codes and discounts can work wonders, too.

Bookmark these best practices.

There are a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to using social media to generate email leads.

For starters, the experience people have with your brand should be consistent. Your social presence should reflect your email tone, and vice versa. Your subscribers should be able to recognize that a piece of content comes from you, and not a competitor or unrelated brand. Not only does this help establish brand recognition, but trust as well.

And let’s not forget transparency. If you’re using a social giveaway or contest and collecting email addresses, be sure to disclose that by signing up, people are agreeing to receive your emails. Nobody wants to feel like they’re being spammed.

#ComingUp

Join us on Thursday, 6/30 as we chat with Nick Westergaard, Chief Brand Strategist at Brand Driven Digital, about getting “scrappy” with your emails. (Not sure what that means? Tune in to find out.) 👋🏼

Follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date on all the latest news, updates and events.

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Friday, June 17, 2016

Grow Your Email List with Targeted Sign Up Forms on Your Blog

If you use an ebook or another type of lead magnet to incentivize people to subscribe to your email list, you want to get the most out of it. After all, you put a lot of time and effort into creating that beast, and you want to make sure it’s living up to its full potential.

Aside from simply promoting your lead magnet using a sign up form on your website, you can also use it in other areas where you’re currently driving traffic.

One place that’s worked well for us (which we think will work well for you, too!) is… our blog.

Sharing Your Lead Magnet on Relevant Blog Posts

To enhance the experience our blog readers have with our content – and to hopefully get them further down the marketing funnel as they enter your lead nurturing plan – we decided to test the use of slide-in forms on specific, relevant blog posts.

Our hypothesis was that people who read specific posts on our blog are interested in that topic and would likely be more primed to download a related longer-form piece of content. So instead of simply placing a sign up form on our blog to download our ebook incentive (which would display for all blog visitors), we wanted to target our message to specific visitors who would find the information more relevant to them and their current needs.

To do so, we decided to create two different slide-in forms (these are the kind that slide on to either the left or right side of a web page) using the sign up form tool, AddThis. While there are a number of cool features that drew us to this particular choice, the fact that it integrates with AWeber was a major plus. This meant that as soon as someone entered their email address into an AddThis form, all of their information would be automatically moved into our email list in AWeber.

Our Forms

In each form, we promoted a different lead generation piece: either our email writing course, or our getting started with email marketing PDF guide.

For both of the forms, we set them up so they would appear on specific blog posts that were relevant to each of the incentives. If a blog post talked about creating email content, for example, the AddThis form with the email writing course would appear when readers reached the end of the post.

If a post focused on setting up specific aspects of an email strategy (such as creating a sign up form), or why email marketing is important, the AddThis form promoting our Growing Your Business with Email Marketing guide would appear.

The result? Hundreds of new subscribers to our email writing course and getting started guide.

The Recipe for Effective Sign Up Forms

As with any sign up form you create, you want to make sure your copy is as clear and convincing as possible.

So to test out what resonated best for our audience, we ran a couple of A/B split tests with our forms.

TL;DR version: People like numbers. Forms that mentioned either a listicle or a free giveaway had higher conversion rates than those that didn’t. Also, be as specific as possible when explaining what people will get in return for signing up to your list. Instead of saying they’ll get a freebie, tell them what that freebie will be (i.e., an ebook or templates).

Test 1: Number of Templates vs. Length of Course

The Test: For our form that shared our email writing course, we wanted to know if people responded better to knowing that the course was only 7 days long, or that they would receive over 20 free email content templates.

Test A read, “Free Email Writing Course: Write Better Emails in 7 Days.

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Test B read, “20+ Free Email Templates: Simply fill in the blanks, then copy and paste the content into your emails.”
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The Winner: The form with the headline “20+ Free Email Templates” had an 82 percent higher conversion rate than the form that focused on the length of the course.

The Takeaway: If there’s a specific benefit your audience will gain from your incentive, try focusing on that in your sign up form headline. (Even better if you can tie a specific number to it!) The more you communicate the value of your incentive, the more your readers will understand why they should download it. 

Test 2: General Incentive vs. Specific Incentive

The Test: When promoting our getting started guide, we looked at whether it would be more impactful to present it generally as a “download,” or specifically as an “ebook.”

Test A read, “Free Download: How to Grow Your Business with Email Marketing.”

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Test B read, “Free eBook: How to Grow Your Business with Email Marketing.”

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The Winner: The form with the headline that mentioned the ebook had a 32 percent higher conversion rate than the headline in test B.

The Takeaway: People want to know exactly what they’re signing up for before giving away their email address, so be clear about this in your sign up form.

Increase Traffic to Your Own Lead Magnets

Growing your email list shouldn’t have to feel like a huge burden. Take a look at the channels and incentives you already have, and think about how you might be able to repurpose them and capture traffic you already have in new ways.

If you have an incentive like an ebook or email course, try targeting your promotion of it in new relevant places on your blog. You never know what might happen as a result!

How are you making the most of content you’ve created? Tell us about in the comments below, or send us a tweet @AWeber!

The post Grow Your Email List with Targeted Sign Up Forms on Your Blog appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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