Multiply Your Subscriber List By 700% With These 6 Conversion Tricks

Shopify merchants did close to $3 billion in sales from Black Friday to Cyber Monday in 2019. With more people opting to shop online (a.k.a. stay the heck away from stores) this year, we’re on track to smash those numbers in 2020. Is your website set up to capture your piece of the pie?

Building a healthy subscriber list ahead of the peak shopping week is a critical step in setting your store up for online sales success. You can do that by giving your visitors ample opportunity to convert into subscribers. Merchants who use more than one lead capture display on their site gain seven-and-a-half times the number of email and SMS subscribers than those who only have one form. 

With help from our partners at Privy, a Shopify app that enables high-converting displays like popups, flyouts, and coupons, we’ve compiled these six conversion strategies that will help you capture more subscribers, recover abandoned carts and maximize the value of every site visit during BFCM 2020. 

1. Improve your welcome display triggers

You can crank up the conversion rate of your opt-in displays simply by changing how they behave on your site. Rather than display an email subscription popup immediately, set a display timer for 10 to 15 seconds to let the visitor get a feel for your brand and your products before asking for their information. If they don’t opt in right away, move the signup option to a persistent “tab” that stays in a discreet area on the site with a CTA that tells the user they can click to sign up whenever they’re ready. 

When you create an opt-in display like a popup or flyout, don’t just set it and forget it. Continuously A/B test the display design and the offer it promotes to maximize signups. Holidays, changing seasons and special promotions are all great reasons to make changes to your displays, updating the messaging to match what’s happening with your store. 

2. Use mobile-specific welcome displays

It’s likely that the majority of traffic to your online store is mobile. In the second quarter of 2020, mobile devices--not including tablets--generated 51% of all traffic on the web. And yet we’re consistently surprised by how many retailers fail to test their displays on the very devices where users are most likely to see them. 

Make smartphone testing a mandatory step in the roll-out process for new opt-in displays, ensuring they comply with mobile best practices like using non-fullscreen displays and big, easily tappable CTAs. This isn’t just about providing a great user experience; search engines actually penalize sites that don’t follow these guidelines. 

One option to consider is creating a flyout display triggered specifically by mobile devices that slides up from the bottom of the screen when the user begins to scroll. These are easier for a mobile user to engage with and make for a better experience, which will lead to more conversions.

3. Match your display messaging to your paid advertising

Confusion is the enemy of conversions. If your welcome popup displays a different offer than what you’re promoting in your paid advertising--for example, a user clicks on an ad promoting a 20% off sale, then sees a popup for 10% off when they join your mailing list--this is confusing to users and may cause them to click away. 

Be sure to maintain consistency between the ads you’re running and the messaging in your popups to eliminate confusion-based bounces. Better yet, use traffic-based display triggers to customize the message a user sees based on where they came from, so they match. 

4. Set up a giveaway display

Shoppers love a bargain, so any time there’s a chance to win free stuff, visitors will get onboard. Ask for their email address in exchange for contest entry. What’s great about giveaways is that they don’t have to be expensive to work. 

Black Friday/Cyber Monday is an ideal opportunity to test out a one-time prize to see if giveaways are a sound marketing investment for your brand moving forward. Even something small, like a free item or gift card, can yield an increase in signups. 

5. Target users with a pending shopping cart

As of early 2020, a whopping 88% of online orders were abandoned before checkout. These are people who have taken the time to browse your site, find a product they like, and familiarize themselves with your brand, but for one reason or another aren’t ready to buy quite yet. Don’t let them get away so easily!

Set up an exit-intent popup that targets users who have a product in their cart. At the very least, asking for their email address ensures you can reach out to them with an abandoned cart email urging them to complete their purchase. For even better results, entice them to complete the sale with a time-sensitive discount. 

6. Set up welcome back campaigns

Your VIPs are high-value users. When they visit your site, you should roll out the virtual red carpet to welcome them back. Reward your most loyal customers with a special offer that’s only displayed to those who have signed up or purchased in the past and are returning to your site.

You can also show ‘welcome back’ messaging to visitors who had previously added an item to their cart, but haven’t yet converted. Remind them of what they were interested in to make it easy to pick up where they left off and improve your chances of converting them into a customer.

Remember, anything you can do to increase the level of personalization in your messaging and offers boosts conversion rates. Rather than just throwing together generic opt-in displays and pushing them out on your site, spend a few more minutes giving some careful thought to how you can use your opt-in displays to create a more tailored shopping experience. Your visitors will reward you in the form of more opt-ins and higher conversions.

Find more inspiration from Privy’s most successful opt-in campaigns here. If you need help setting up opt-in displays or strategizing where they fit in your overall BFCM marketing plan, schedule your free consultation with our team of eCommerce experts today. 

Check out the rest of the BFCM Last-Min Strategies:

Rob's Quick Guide to BFCM: Our Head of eCom, Robert Befumo, gives unique insights on unprecedented holiday season to ensure you're prepped and ready.

Smash Your Email ROI: 3 email templates that will up your email game during Black Friday Cyber Monday.

Maximize Your Site Conversions: Put your conversions into overdrive!  10 strategies you can use right now to build the foundation for a successful 2020 holiday season.

Grow Sales Thru Stellar Support: Turn your customer support experience into a revenue generating machine with key insights for your site and reps.

Crush Your Holiday Sales Targets: Use your customer reviews to drive sales this holiday season and beyond.

Grow Your Sales With Process Automation: See five areas where you can employ automation to simplify your operations, save time, and boost sales this holiday season.

High-Converting Templates for SMS, Facebook Messenger & More: Use these ten templates to craft engaging, high-converting messages for SMS marketing and Facebook Messenger during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Don’t Blow Your Budget!: 10 tips to help you navigate paid media strategies this Black Friday / Cyber Monday (BFCM).