Pop-up forms are one of the most popular ways for businesses to attract new subscribers and grow their mailing lists. Remember, you must get people to opt in to receive messages from you before promoting anything to them via email. A well-made pop-up form could mean the difference between another addition to your subscriber list or a website visitor that immediately ignores an intrusive overlay or a website altogether. So how do you get your pop-up forms to work for instead of against your business?
Understanding pop-up forms.
We’ve all been there. You visit a website and either immediately or after some time, a box appears and overlaps the page, encouraging you to sign up for updates before you continue.
These are pop-up forms, and for many people online, they can be annoying obstructions that are too easy to bypass. However, you can turn them into an effective way to increase sign-ups to your mailing list. Making your pop-up forms work is the key that will allow you to expand your subscriber list and increase the potential for more sales through email marketing. Here is how to turn pop-up forms into your business’s new best friend!
Limit the amount of information you collect.
Once you have a potential customer’s attention, you don’t want to waste too much of their time by having them fill out a lengthy form. Keep your pop-up simple and only ask for information that is essential in establishing communication between you and them. Don’t crowd your form with too many fields: try asking for a name and email address before stopping there. The longer you keep them on that form, the more they will consider abandoning it altogether.
Let your pop-up build on the value that you are offering.
Giving site visitors a gift, discount code, or some other benefit for signing up is one of the most effective ways to entice them to join your email list, often referred to as a lead magnet. A free eBook, a discount on their first purchase, or early access to a product that has not been publicly released yet are all great examples of value that you can offer. Describe these benefits clearly on your web page and then have the pop-up appear as the cherry on top of the cake after visitors have seen what they stand to gain from your business. Research finds that a well-placed pop-up within the context of a website page can increase sign-up and conversion rates to as much as 40%. You may be surprised at how effectively it nudges people to sign up and claim these benefits.
Optimize your pop-up form for mobile.
Many of us access the internet on our mobile devices. It should come as no surprise that a pop-up form which isn’t easy to access or complete on a smartphone is frustrating to interact with and will most likely be abandoned. Think about the visitors to your website and strive to optimize your content to work with the devices they will most likely use to access it. An easy-to-fill pop-up form is one step closer to a potential conversion!
Don’t be too hasty.
Have you ever loaded into a website and immediately felt put off by a pop-up that was already there before you got to see anything else? It is jarring to have an offer thrust in your face before you even have the chance to explore the reason why you clicked onto the website in the first place. On a website, a short delay before unrolling the pop-up form is a good practice because it gives the visitor some time to get acquainted with your business before you make any offer. Digital marketing experts note that pop-ups which display at roughly 60% of the average time spent on a web page are often effective at improving conversion rates.
Let the message on your pop-up form be simple and clear.
Try to leave out excessive text in your pop-up form, as it will make the sign-up process tedious if a website visitor feels that they need to read through paragraphs of text beforehand. Keep your headline short and your call to action concise. Use easy-to-understand vocabulary, and encourage visitors with words like ‘claim ‘ or ‘get’ that clearly describe the benefits that they will enjoy for filling the form. The most effective pop-up forms are usually the simplest!
Pop-up forms are here to stay as long as businesses continue to work towards increased conversions through email marketing. With an average click-through rate of about 3% across many industries, well-made pop-up forms continue to be one of the best ways to build mailing lists. With the right guidance and information, you can turn them into one of the most effective ways to grow your subscriber base!
