5 Steps to Creating a High-Converting Ecommerce Email List in 2019

If you’re doing email marketing for e-commerce, you might think that your most important KPI is conversion rate. But you can’t ignore the fact that your email marketing conversions are dependent on the number of subscribers in your email list. To make sure that your email campaigns are driving customers, you must build a high-converting email list.

When we say high-converting, we don’t only mean having a large pool of contacts in your email list. You could have thousands of email subscribers, but none of them are hitting the ‘Buy’ button. The quality of your email subscribers still matters over quantity when growing your list. So, target those who are more likely to convert into customers to reach your bottom line.

Make sure you’re growing your email list the right way and you’re using an advanced email marketing software to help you.
Here are the most effective list building tactics you could implement to capture subscribers that will more likely buy from your
e-commerce store:

Identify your target audience

It may sound simple, but you can’t get this wrong. Be clear when setting up the criteria for your subscribers to avoid filling it with people who won’t even open your emails. Building a buyer persona is a great start as it helps you define the characteristics of your ideal customer. You can use real data from your existing customers to create a semi-fictional representation of your target customer.

Here are the details you need to create a buyer persona:

  •   Demographic data
  •   Special interests
  •   Goals they want to achieve
  •   Challenges and problems they want to overcome
  •   Common objections

Understanding your target audience on a deeper level can help you create messages, deals, and incentives that encourage your ideal customers to sign up.

Optimize your landing pages and web forms

Now that you know who to target, your next step is to create a well-optimized landing page and web form. The good news here is that with ActiveTrail you can create a great landing page choosing from dozens of templates we offer for free.

Each landing page must have a single goal and should be designed with a specific call-to-action to make sure that your website visitors don’t get distracted. Use the following tips to optimize your landing page:

  •   Highlight what’s in it for subscribers
  •   Create a clear call-to-action with a noticeable design
  •   Optimize it for mobile users

On the other hand, your web form must be attention-grabbing and compelling enough to encourage sign-ups.

Incentivize sign-ups

Not all website visitors are easily convinced with your usual call-to-action. Give them the nudge they need. Offering them a discount or free shipping in exchange for their email address is attractive enough to give them extra motivation.

You can be more creative with your incentive based on what you think would appeal the most to your target customers. If it’s hard to decide, try running an A/B test to determine which incentive works best.

Check out this great example of a simple A/B test for colors and CTA:

sign up form ab testing

Turn social media followers into email subscribers

Having high social media following is great, but most of the time, you only post general deals and offers on your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Because these posts are intended to a wider audience, they’re not personalized. If you could make these social media followers your email subscribers, you could send them exclusive and personalized deals which can increase the chance of converting them into customers.

Here’s how to do this:

  •   Set up the call-to-action button on your Facebook business page to make it a Sign Up button, so your page visitors will have the option to subscribe to your email.
  •   Conduct a social media contest that will require registrants to join using their email addresses.
  •   Publish a social media post to invite your followers to subscribe to your e-newsletters. Be sure to highlight the advantages of being a subscriber such as getting exclusive and personalized deals.

Social media followers could be great email subscribers because they already know who you are, and they have shown interest in what you sell by simply following you on social media.

Add CTAs to strategic areas in your website

Start loving your CTAs and place them everywhere. You have several spots on your website to put them — navigation menus, footer, sidebar, pop-ups and even at the bottom of your blog posts. Don’t ever miss your chance to invite website visitors to be part of your email list.

Also, always check your data analytics in your email marketing software to determine which placement, design, timing, and message are giving you quality subscribers. This way, you would know which CTA to work on and which to push more.

Here’s a fun example of a small yet effective pop-up we use to promote our new ActiveTrail for e-commerce feature:

activetrail ecommerce popup

Remember, the goal is not just to grow your email list but to make sure you’re attracting the right people to be part of your database. Once you’ve grown your list exponentially, delight your customers with a perfect mix educational content and promotional emails so they could appreciate your value as an e-commerce business, and then all the great things will follow.