Email marketing: what it is and how to implement it

Newsletter popups

 Newsletters are still among the most effective and, above all, the most cost-effective marketing channels: they can largely be filled with existing content, require little or no budget as an owned media channel, and generally perform significantly better than other marketing channels.

However, for newsletter marketing to be worthwhile, you need a well-filled list of recipients - ideally with qualitative newsletter subscribers who you can then convince of your company or your products and convert into regular customers.

To achieve this, online shops and other websites are increasingly using newsletter pop-ups, which individually convince visitors to subscribe to the newsletter. Newsletter pop-ups proactively offer visitors a newsletter subscription and are best used as slide-ins.

There are a few things to consider here because you don't want to bother visitors with annoying pop-ups. Learn now how to use newsletter popups to expand your recipient list.

Through which channels do you gain newsletter subscribers

Of course, the newsletter pop-ups already mentioned are by no means the only way you can gain newsletter subscribers. Subscribers can be generated for your recipient list across all marketing channels.

You have to weigh up for yourself whether the individual channels make sense for this project and whether the time and costs invested are worth it.

For the sake of clarity, the possible channels for lead generation in owned media and paid media are differentiated below, each of which has its own advantages.

Generate newsletter subscribers via Owned Media

Owned media includes all of a company's own channels. Here you have full control over the channels. If there is a high flow of visitors to your own website, it is definitely advisable to make greater use of the owned media channels, since lead generation here entails little or no cost. Once implemented, you automatically gain newsletter subscribers.

Website (newsletter pop-ups, footer, navigation, top bar)

• Social media (in posts)

• Email signature (e.g. in transaction emails)

• Blog (as CtA in the text)

Generate newsletter subscribers via paid media

In contrast, paid media refers to all forms of paid advertising. On the paid media channels, potential subscribers are not as interested as on the owned media channels.

In return, you reach a target group that you would otherwise not be able to reach on your own channels. Sometimes channels can be referred to as both paid media and owned media (e.g. social media). It all depends on whether you pay for the leads (e.g. Facebook Lead Ads) or convince them with a post, example.

• Social media (lead ads)

• Partner network (blogs, online magazines, newsletters, etc.)

• Offline (fairs and other events)

Newsletter popups: a proactive and dynamic solution

The classic and proven way of gaining newsletter subscribers via your own website is the registration form. This is usually placed in the footer and is included in most templates of the content management or shop systems.

However, the placement in the footer is static and does not adapt to the visitors, which negatively affects lead generation. Either the visitor scrolls down to see the registration form, and is spontaneously convinced, or deliberately searches for the registration form in the footer. Both scenarios do occur but are rather rare.

To gain even more subscribers, you should therefore use newsletter pop-ups that appear discreetly as slide-ins at the bottom of the screen. With the use of newsletter pop-ups, the potential lead does not have to come across the registration form by accident but is shown proactively. Incidentally, you increase the length of stay while reducing the bounce rate. This sends positive signals to the search engine.

Newsletter popups are a dynamic solution in many ways - provided you use them correctly:

Time

The newsletter popup appears at the right time and is triggered by user behavior

Incentive

Since you don't statically embed the newsletter popup on the website, the incentives for a subscription can be individualized

Communication

Personalized communication is also possible for the same reason

7 tips for using newsletter popups

Of course, it is important to ensure that the newsletter pop-ups do not disturb the visitor's experience.

This is more important for online shops than for online magazines and blogs, for example, because here the visitor wants and should primarily look for products, put them in the shopping cart and then place the order

However, online shops do not have to do without newsletter pop-ups either. After all, there are always visitors who are interested but not ready to buy. It is precisely these prospects that are the target of newsletter pop-ups, which optimally use the traffic on the website for a company.

With these 7 tips you can use newsletter popups efficiently on your website without disturbing the visitor:

• 1. Choose the right time

• 2. Show individual incentives

• 3. Reduce data requests in the registration form to a minimum

• 4. Design newsletter pop-ups to match the corporate design

• 5. Place newsletter pop-ups unobtrusively

• 6. Pay attention to multilingualism with an international audience

• 7. Use mobile-compliant newsletter pop-ups

1. Choose the right time

We all know it: We enter a website and are suddenly surprised by a pop-up. Such so-called “ interstitials ” form gaps in advertising messages between the user and the website.

What is quite conceivable for online magazines and blogs often means a loss of trust for online shops and irritated visitors who leave the website prematurely.

You can avoid such annoying pop-ups by choosing a different trigger (release mechanism). Instead of a scroll or time delay trigger, which only displays the popup after the scrolling behavior or after a previously defined time, a trigger based on interest is useful here.

This trigger plays newsletter pop-ups based on an analysis of user behavior (duration of stay, scrolling behavior, number of pages visited, etc.). The less interested in a purchase and the more interested in the content, the more likely it is that the newsletter popup will pop up.

2. Show individual incentives

Incentives, also known as incentives, are intended to trigger certain behavior in the recipient. In the case of newsletter pop-ups, the desired behavior is the voluntary entry of contact data, so that the unknown visitor converts to a known newsletter subscriber.

But what incentives convince your visitors to sign up for your newsletter?

It all depends because the needs and character traits differ from visitor to visitor. While you convince more price-sensitive visitors with a voucher code in the newsletter popup, other potential subscribers can be convinced with FOMO - i.e. the fear of missing out.

You should also use these different needs since the indiscriminate distribution of voucher codes reduces your sales and the lead quality drops significantly.

However, individual incentives require tools that are dynamic and respond to the needs of each individual recipient. Pop-ups with static content, which are displayed to each recipient regardless of interest and need, cannot guarantee this.

The following incentives can be integrated into the newsletter popup and ensure significantly more newsletter subscribers - provided they are individually incentivized:

• Voucher codes (in % and €)

• FOMO (Offers, News, Tips, and Tricks)

• Exclusivity (access to exclusive products, and product samples)

• Sweepstakes

3. Reduce data requests in the registration form to a minimum

Data retrieval is an extremely critical moment. This is not surprising either, because this is where it is decided whether the visitor is willing to pass on their personal data to you. So, the signup form is one of the crucial factors that determine the success of lead generation.

To optimize the registration form in the newsletter popup, you should think carefully about which data you actually need and which data you can initially do without.

The minimum of data requests is the e-mail address or, less often, the telephone number. First and last names and date of birth are also helpful for the further course of the customer relationship, but they can also be requested at a later point in time.

Remember: Each additional data query reduces the success and leads to you generating fewer newsletter subscribers. For this reason, you should reduce the data query to a minimum. For example, if you only ask for the e-mail address, you can gain further information about the lead as the customer relationship progresses.

4. Design newsletter pop-ups to match the corporate design

For a professional appearance of the newsletter pop-ups, all components should match your corporate design. Otherwise, it will be noticed quickly, since the popup will appear directly on the website and even small differences will immediately catch the eye.

A coherent overall picture of all elements on your website looks professional and inspires trust, which increases the success of lead generation.

Newsletter popups

Make sure to optimize the following parts of the newsletter popup for your website:

• background-color

• font color

• font

• button color

5. Place newsletter pop-ups unobtrusively

When using newsletter pop-ups, it is important not to disturb the visitor's experience.

Otherwise, it can quickly happen that they leave the website angrily and the pop-ups fail to have an effect and are counterproductive. The solution here lies in the correct placement of the newsletter pop-up.

There are two requirements for the placement: It should be unobtrusive and effective. The newsletter pop-up must not be disruptive, while at the same time it should be noticed quickly.

Newsletter popups

This means that the popup must not appear in the middle of the screen, but should ideally appear as a slide-in at the bottom right edge of the screen. This means that the visitor can continue shopping if they are not interested in subscribing to the newsletter.

The placement at the bottom edge of the screen also has the advantage that you can make the popup foldable and thus significantly reduce the disruptive factor.

6. Pay attention to multilingualism with an international audience

Sites with an international audience should make sure that the newsletter popup is not displayed in the wrong language and in the wrong currency for voucher codes.

If you have an international audience and still only use German-language newsletter pop-ups, you should definitely prevent them from being played out to visitors outside the German-speaking area. But you will be more successful if you use multilingual newsletter pop-ups that adapt to the respective national languages ​​and currencies.

Newsletter popups

For this, however, you also need a newsletter in several languages ​​and, accordingly, several recipient lists. In addition to the German newsletter, there is at least an additional English version.

7. Use mobile-compliant newsletter pop-ups

Every second online shopper has already bought via smartphone and every fourth via tablet.

The trend towards mobile surfing and mobile commerce is taking place in rapid steps: Within five years (2014 to 2019), the proportion of mobile online shoppers has more than doubled (source: Bitkom Research 2019). This trend has a major impact on online shops because a mobile-optimized website is essential today in terms of omnichannel marketing.

A mobile-optimized website not only includes a responsive design, but also the compatibility of all tools used with all end devices. In the case of newsletter popups, this starts with the user interface and the design and continues to the trigger and the analysis of user behavior, which differs greatly from device to device.

To win many mobile users for a newsletter subscription, you should use both the desktop and the mobile versions of the newsletter pop-ups. These are each subject to their own logic since user behavior differs greatly depending on the device type.

Significantly more subscribers with dynamic newsletter pop-ups

Newsletter popups help you to gain more subscribers for your recipient list and turn unknown but interested visitors into well-known newsletter subscribers for you. By using the newsletter pop-ups, you are proactively addressing potential subscribers on the website and not just waiting for the visitor to accidentally come across the newsletter form in the footer.

In order not to disturb your visitors, you should pay attention to the 7 tips mentioned above. Dynamic tools like “uptain” offer free newsletter popups

as slide-ins that are efficient and do not hurt the user experience.