Getting someone to sign up for your email list is difficult, but possible. Nothing frustrates bloggers with high traffic more than the absence of subscribers, despite having the opt-in on every page and pop-ups that remind the site visitors to sign up.
What strategies can you apply for increasing email subscriber numbers?
Let us take a look at six strategies to help improve your subscription rate:
- Change your offer if it is not working
- Offer a course sent via email
- Reduce the information you are asking for
- Give subscriber-only benefits
- Use CTA that works
- Be transparent in your offer
Let us take a look at each one and give you further guidance.
Change Your Offer If It is Not Working
By now, it is likely that you already have an offer, like a free eBook. If it is not working, then you have to start thinking about why.
Maybe your eBook is not attractive enough; perhaps it is not what your target demographic is looking for. It is also likely that the design is not attractive enough.
There really is no way to find out, since you cannot ask people why they did not opt-in your email subscription. The only thing you are sure about is this: it is not converting.
Now, if your offer is not an eBook but a mere “join our newsletter”, then there really is no offer there, and you need to start thinking about creating a lead magnet.
If you already have an offer, what you can do is to change it, or revise how it is presented. This experiment is going to work provided that you have enough traffic.
Be careful when changing your offer, as the lack of opt-in is probably because you have no significant traffic. According to Sumo, the average opt-in rate is 1.95%. *Source
What does this mean? For every 100 site visitors, you must have 2 people signing up to your subscriber list. If you are not getting enough traffic, then changing your offer may not be the solution.
Offer a Course Sent Via Email
One effective way to attract site visitors to sign up is to offer a course that can only be delivered through email. This is a great trick because the only way the site visitor can get that valuable offer is through signing up.
So, how do you get this done?
The first step is to create a course that you can drip to your subscriber’s email. As a content developer, it is alright if you create five pieces of content only, and use that content in your drip email campaign.
You can create the course in video format, or in written format. A video course is not ideally sent via email as it is heavy; it works better if you upload it on your website and only offer access to email subscribers. If your website is built on WordPress, you can install plug-ins to make this subscription possible.
What you want to do now is to make that offer from your opt-in page, but do not mention that you only have five pieces of content. You must make this announcement in the first email message that you send out to the subscriber.
Why?
Because if you say there are only five videos or emails, then the site visitor may not be so interested.
Reduce the Information You are Asking For
A lot of opt-in forms do not work because they ask for too much information, such as the full name, address, and phone number.
Site visitors do not like this. They do not want to get spammed, and they do not want to expose themselves. What you can do is to reduce the amount of information that you ask for in the subscription form.
There is a debate as to whether you should ask for the name or not. The consensus is that it is best not to ask for it. If you want a name, the best approach is to choose only the first name. This should put a customer at ease.
Without the fear of data exposure, the site visitor is more likely to subscribe because his privacy is not at risk.
In addition to privacy risks, site visitors do not want to spend so much time typing their names just to get an offer. Since the offer is free, perhaps they can just go back to it some other time.
And we know that they won’t. Reduce the number of items you are asking for in the opt-in form, and you will see those increasing email subscriber numbers is going to be easier than it used to be.
Give Subscriber-Only Benefits
This approach is what a lot of many online marketers miss. Most of the time, they offer a one-off free eBook and then that’s it.
And then they start spamming people. Site visitors know this, but you can turn things around by promising content that is exclusive to subscribers only.
Such as what?
- Weekly Content
- Quarterly Newsletter
- Video Content
There are many more benefits that you can think of, such as weekly recipes, tips, advice, and other helpful content that your subscribers would love.
Now, you may be thinking that you are giving away hard work for free. On the contrary, you are building a subscriber base that you can use in the future. Remember, these people who subscribed to your email list are people who are interested in your niche.
If you do not spam them, but instead deliver value, you will have built credibility by the time you are ready to sell your info product or your online course. You can also put affiliate links in your blog posts so you can earn commissions from products that you recommend.
Use CTA that Works
The right CTA is what convinces people to sign up. CTA stands for ‘Call To Action’, and it is quite common for bloggers to use common CTAs like “Subscribe” or “Join Us”.
CTAs like this do not work. What you have to do is to create a CTA that blends well with your offer. If you are offering a free eBook, an appropriate CTA is “Yes! I want to learn more!”
Other examples are:
- Join the community for free
- Get started with your journey
- Send me specials now
- Send me exclave content
- Yes, I want free tutorials
- Discover a new world with me
- Claim your free trial
You can be creative as much as you want with CTAs. Do not be afraid to try several ones and test for which ones work the best. If you do not want to spend months with CTAs, you can do split testing. Explore your autoresponder software on how to do this.
What this means is that you can create two different types of email subscription forms for your blog, and then test which ones work better in getting subscriptions.
Be Transparent in Your Offer
This is the last bit of advice, and we will keep it short.
Be transparent. Make sure that you provide your reader with enough information about what to expect if he/she subscribes. The most common reason site visitors do not subscribe is they know that they will be spammed.
Make sure you tell the site visitor what is going to happen after the subscription, and keep that promise.
Summary
Increasing email subscriber numbers may be a daunting challenge, but you can do it if you are not afraid to try different methods. Offering great content is one thing, but positioning it and presenting it in a trustworthy way is another. Try different methods until you find what resonates with your audience.
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