12
February2009
List Building: Small Tweaks Pay Big Rewards
Debbi BresslerContinuing with our series of articles about building your list, here’s some great information recently shared by MarketingSherpa about making small tweaks to your registration form.
Before starting, be certain you’ve set a control that you can test against and are using tracking software, like HyperTracker, so you can easily compare conversion statistics. Here are some areas to test:
- Type of offer. Test discounts,– vs. buy-one-get-one offers,– vs. free reports or ebooks– vs. exclusive offers.
- Images. Most studies show that conversion is higher with images, as it lends physicality to your digital offering. But your business model could be different. Test images of coupons, freebies (like free appetizers at a restaurant), or sample reports / newsletters. You can even test your offer without an image to see if it improves or diminishes conversion.
- Shorter is better. Test any degradation in conversion as you add required fields past the commonly used name and email address field.
- Sell it. In a previous post, I mentioned “selling” your opt-in. MarketingSherpa’s report suggests testing your description as well. They suggest you concentrate on headlines that convey:
- Frequency – Monthly, weekly, daily
- Exclusivity – Special sales, discounts or content for subscribers only
- Excitement – Announce products to list before the general public, limited-time offers
- Button. While the majority of marketers use “Submit” on their buttons, test other verbage to see if conversion improves. Some examples: Join, Sign Me UP, Subscribe, Count Me In, Send Me My Discount!
Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse
