Website Pop Up Boxes to Grow Your Email List
In today’s business class we’re going to be talking about the following things:
What is a pop-up box, when it comes to growing your email list?
What is the purpose of a pop-up box?
Do pop-up boxes work?
What are some different types of pop up boxes?
What makes a pop up box effective?
I shared in last week's class that the conversion rate for email blows social media out of the water any day.
This means someone is way more likely to act, click or purchase because of something you emailed them vs. something you posted on facebook or instagram.
But this begs the question, how does one get people who are interested in your service onto your email list?
Yep, you guessed it, pop up boxes or sign up forms. This is obviously not the only way to do it, but pop up boxes are the method of growing your email list that we’ll be talking about today.
So in case you’re still not familiar with what I’m talking about when I say email pop up box, they’re the little boxes that pop up when you are new to a website to try it get you to subscribe to their email list. Their pretty much the last thing you want to do when you are trying to check out a brand new website. Let’s just get this out of the way up front: Pop-ups are totally annoying.
They are, and there’s no disputing that. So, when talking about whether or not pop-ups work, it seems like a NO brainer. Because, they can be so annoying, right?!
Yeah, they can be. But the answer to “do pop-ups work” is actually a big fat yes.
Some pop-ups can convert up to 40% of your website visitors into subscribers and leads. That means that of people who end up on your website, you’ll be able to connect with 40% of them in the future and eventually have them become paying customers. That’s big. You need this.
And even though the first thought we all have about pop up boxes is that they’re totally annoying. They can be done in a way that is less annoying and will help to grow your sewing business in a really meaningful way.
I was totally against putting pop up boxes on my websites when I first figured out what they were and now to put them onto my website. But I tried it and I was immediately blown away at how effective they were at growing my email list . I was getting new sign ups every day for both Hipstitch Academy and to my studio website maverydesigns.com.
There are many different types of email pop up boxes and sign up forms.
The First is called Entrance and Exit Intent Pop-ups
They catch you going in, and they catch you going out. An entrance or exit intent pop-up ensures that there’s never a missed opportunity during your time spent on that page.
You might be worried that a pop-up right upon entering or about to leave sounds a little desperate. But when done right, it’s not desperate and can convert very well.
The second type is Overlay, or Modal, or Lightbox
An overlay typically comes on slowly and unassumingly. You may notice the page you’re staring at slowly starting to fade as the overlay pop-up appears.
No scary pops or crazy distractions. Just a nice, subtle nudge of a pop-up kindly asking you to opt-in.
The next type is called Slide-in boxes
These might remind you of aggressive pop-ups, but don’t sell them short.
You’ll see these sliding into view typically from the side or bottom of a page.
And according to study by MadMimi slide-in subscribe leads had a much better conversion rate than any regular pop-up.
The bottom line of this is, give people a chance to catch their breath before sending pop-ups into action.
The 4th type of sign up forms is Sticky forms
You land on a page. A message pops up, then stays up. Forever (or however long you are on that page). They are often stuck to the bottom or side of a page and will follow you wherever you scroll.
This style element of a pop-up can ensure that it won’t be missed, but be careful with the design. No one wants a footer that they can’t get rid of which cuts off a quarter of the page.
Any of these pop-up types can be triggered by one of the following:
Time spent on a page
Scrolling to a certain point
Entering or exiting a page
Performing a specific action (like clicking on a page element)
Time triggers are a common practice, particularly for entrance and exit intent pop-ups. These pop-ups will be triggered by a preset amount of time spent on a page.
So what makes a great pop-up box or sign up form?
The 3 P’s of email signup forms are Prominence, Promise, and Proof. Each P is important to the success of a pop-up email sign-up form.
Prominence: The pop-up email sign-up form needs to be visually prominent on the page. This is not only limited to the location of the box but also includes distinguishing traits like the color contrast, fonts, and placing it in more than one location.
Promise: Make sure you let your website visitor know exactly what they are getting from you.
Proof: Be sure to let your visitor know exactly what they’re going to get by signing up for your email list. A great way to do this is by using customer testimonials as proof of your subscription’s worthiness,.
So hopefully this gives you a better understanding about how email pop up boxes and sign up forms work.
If you don’t have it employed on your website, I suggest you do that ASAP.
