Let’s face it, getting people to subscribe to a mailing list is not an easy task. In this day and age, we are already faced with an overwhelming amount of emails flooding into our inboxes, enticing people to sign up for even more emails is a growing challenge. In fact, the average email opt-in rate across all verticals is only about 1.95% which is quite low when we compare it to the amount of work we put into setting up sign ups.

For the majority of us, email campaigns are an essential part of our marketing strategy, and increasing the number of opt-ins is a critical success factor in the effectiveness of our email marketing programs. Most people, over 91%, check their emails every day, and the majority of business leaders and marketers still tout email to be among the top marketing channels when calculating ROI.

Given this information, you must maximise your conversion opportunities before you even receive a single email address.

So we have provided you with several quick tips and tricks you can use to increase the number of subscriptions to your e-Newsletter and other email updates.

1. Don’t keep your email subscription a secret.

First and foremost, joining a mailing list that isn't easily visible could be your main problem. After all, you can't increase your opt-ins if no one knows where or how to subscribe to your content. You should first include a signup form on your website, blog, and resources pages.

Add a link to your signup form in your email signature, on your social media channels, company descriptions, and other relevant locations to further increase your odds of conversion. You can even create a marketing automation workflow that creates a pop-up form when a user has visited a certain amount of blogs or website pages. Entice them by using attention-grabbing language with the promise that your content can help them solve their problem.

2. Leverage pop-up forms.

The aforementioned pop-up forms are a simple and effective way to boost your email subscriptions' visibility and conversion power.

There are multiple types—drop-downs, exit pop-ups, and slide-ins —available for creation, so you have several options to attract subscribers. Regardless of the method you choose, pop-up forms are well worth the effort.

3. Offer a unique “subscribers only” incentive.

Another amazing way to generate more opt-ins is to give subscribers exclusive access to an offer of some kind, whether it's free content, money off vouchers, resources, etc. For example "Get access to exclusive guides not available anywhere else on this website! Sign up below." Or, give first-time subscribers a special discount on your product by offering a discount in exchange for a user's email address.

4. Demonstrate immediate value.

As part of your sign-up form, don't just say something like "Subscribe to our Newsletter" or "Join our Email List." Instead, include messaging that describes the value of your content. Tell visitors that they'll receive great tips and how-to's, deals, savings, or other subscribe-worthy incentives by signing up.

For your visitors to willingly hand over their email address, you need to make those benefits crystal clear for them – include information in your pop up for example, promises of new product launches or money off their first order.

5. Give them a sneak peek.

Another great way to entice new subscribers is to encourage people to subscribe to a series of youtube videos, you could look to included a short video teaser in the first step. Next to your video you could include a sign up form and call-to-action, for example: “Want to see the rest? Sign up and see".

Try including a teaser of your own and see what works. It could be a video, a link to a document, a coupon, or an article from your newsletter. When done effectively, sneak-peeks can be used to appeal to new subscribers.

6. Showcase social proof.

It's one thing to tell users your content is worth subscribing to; it's another thing to show them. Numbers are powerful. Once your list starts to gain some traction, it's persuasive to demonstrate how many subscribers you have publicly. 

If hundreds or thousands of other people have joined, why wouldn't you? Highlighting your subscriber count isn't to brag, necessarily, but is meant to convey authority and social proof to your visitors that your email subscription is worth providing their precious contact info.  For example. "Join over 2,500 subscribers".

7. Make your email shareable.

Let your subscribers do some of the work for you! When appropriate, include a “Forward to a Friend” link in your email campaigns. Many email marketing applications even have these features built-in. They enable you to use tools allowing recipients to share your email content via social media. Check with your marketing application support team if this is capable. 

8. Test to find out what works and what doesn’t.

The only way to know what works best is to test your subscription options. Try testing different offers, headlines, form placements, or incentives. Use tools like Google Content Experiments (free) or Visual Website Optimizer to perform A/B split testing. Comparing your sign-up form to another variation will provide insight into the types of offers that work best for your audience. Once you start trying different strategies and examining the results, you’ll likely end up with a powerful offer that drastically increases your opt-ins.

Contact us to see how we can help.