Want To Get More Signups On Your Website? Here Are 4 Tips

Conversions come in many forms, one of which is signups. If you have a newsletter or a list you want to populate with targeted prospects for your products or services, then you probably have an opt-in form on your site.

And I’d be willing to bet you’d like to increase your opt-in form’s conversion rates. Or I could be wrong. If you’re cool with your current list size, then please feel free to continue about your day.

But if you’d like to get more signups and probably earn more money or, at the very least, more exposure, here are four ways to accomplish that.

Offer An Incentive

People love getting stuff for free. “It makes us feel like we’re getting a better value,” says Cameron Chapman. So if you want to get something from someone (i.e. their email address), make it worth their while. A person’s email address is precious, after all.

Most people don’t want to have their inboxes bombarded every day. Therefore, they play it cagey when it comes to giving their email address out, and you, as a marketer, need to earn the privilege of having that address added to your list.

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Here is a list of items you can give away as an incentive to sign up:

  • eBook or whitepaper
  • Phone or email consultation or coaching session
  • Coupon code or a special offer
  • If you sell paid subscriptions, how about offering one month free or a free upgrade to a better plan?

Use Pop Up Signup Forms

People may perceive going to a separate signup form as an additional step they have to take, making the signup feel like more of a commitment and thus instill feelings of hesitation.

cameron chapmanCameron Chapman“By using a modal window for your signups, you’re removing one more barrier. It’s the equivalent of saying, ‘See, signing up isn’t a big deal, you don’t even have to leave the homepage to do it!’

When combined with a short form, using a modal window can increase signups by 50% or more (as it did for Visual Website Optimizer). The modal window also has the benefit of decreasing distractions on the signup page, as it shades out all content other than the form itself.”

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Limit Form Fields

Whether you use a modal window or stick with a separate signup page, keep the number of form fields to a minimum. Really, you shouldn’t need to collect anything more than an email address (and possibly a first name) to contact your subscribers, so don’t ask for anything more.

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Forms that ask for phone numbers are especially off-putting, as people are reluctant enough to give you permission to email them, never mind to call or text.

And if you are debating whether or not to include a form field for first name, CRO consultant Bnonn Tennant says, “Even two fields (name and email) is twice as many as one, and therefore represents twice as much friction—and thus potentially half the conversion rate. You have to wonder if it is really worth it.”

Swap Your “Call-To-Action” For A “Give-The-Payoff”

When you phrase the copy on your signup forms as a call to action, the stance you take is one of asking your customers to do rather than receive, which is backward.

“Prospects want to know what they get, not what they have to do. Rather than calling our prospects to action, we should be giving them the payoff we’ve promised. We should be emphasizing what you will do for them, not what they must do to get it,” urges Tennant.

You encounter this most often with button text. Check out the image below, which shows you how to turn a CTA into a GTP so you can boost your conversion rates.

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What do you think about these tips for increasing signups on your website? What other ideas do you have?