Expert Tips from Leading Agencies: Maximizing Opt-ins

TVP NYC

Daria Rose, Managing Director at TVP NYC:

We’ve seen that there is no one rule across the board for every single merchant and every

single type of customer. Instead, what we see is that you really need to A/B test and see what sticks with your customers.

You can test different discount amounts to see what really pushes conversions or signups. For example, have one popup show 10% off while another shows 15% off and see which converts better! You can even test free shipping or dollar amounts to see what sticks with your audience.

If the tool you use isn’t able to do a true A/B test, you can run three different scenarios, each for a week or two and see which has the best results.

In addition to discounts, free gifts are incredibly enticing and are actually our preference. In my experience as an avid online shopper, the perceived value of a free gift (even if it is a tote bag) outweighs the few dollars I might save, especially once taxes are included in the final price! 

Webmefy

Gabriel Seijo Leiro, CEO at Webmefy:

We use different tools with our customers. The most effective that we have right now is popups on the website. So whenever you are browsing on the site, we display a popup with a discount.

We keep it very simple, you just need to include your email address and we segment you there by having two buttons: One for male and the other for female. You submit your email by clicking either the button that says male or the one that says female.

In the beginning, we had checkboxes, but nobody would click them and even the opt-in rates were very low. And when we changed it to just two buttons, we increased the opt-in rate by 10%.

Because, for example for clothing, it is very important if you want in the future send them an email campaign. This is one of the key factors that we use for segmentation.

The other thing that we do is we have an ad on Facebook where we collect emails for customers, and we have them in the same email list. Once we have the email for the customer, we can do a lot of things from there.

Some people come to the website just because they’ve seen an ad, and they might not buy right now, but they will give you their email, which means that you can in the future target them easily.

Stead Lane

Flynn McFarlane, Managing Director at Stead Lane:

There are a number of tools in the ecosystem that are specifically designed to help with opt-ins and building the database with good prospects. Recart and Klaviyo would be my preference, as they work really well together and have extensive integration with Shopify.

When looking at tactics, it’s really important to put yourself into your customer’s shoes and understand what motivates them. It sounds basic, but we see this missed all the time.

For example, we find opt-ins increase when you explain what the customer is going to get by opting in. Are they going to get helpful information on subjects that are important to them, or are they going to get exclusive discounts and promotional offers. When asking them to opt-in, literally spell it out “By opting in, you will get X and Y and we’ll only send to you twice a month. Even better, let them choose what they opt into and segment your customers into categories to make sure the content is tailored to them.

Timing is also really important when asking someone to opt-in. For example, no one really wants to opt-in one second after they have visited your website for the first time. Instead, let them get a feel for who you are and how you provide value to them, then trigger an offer that will benefit them.

Zoronto

Abhishek Patra, CEO and Co-Founder of Zoronto:

There is no single best thing, it depends on the kind of business you run. Suppose you run a business that has a community angle to it, where buying things from you makes people feel like they are part of a larger thing. In that case, you can use that community angle.

You can say “join our community”, or “be an xyz girl”. It makes the people connect with you not just for a discount, but to be a part of something larger and it makes them feel more included.

Also, we have seen that exit-intent triggers work best, because when they come from different channels to your product page, they are already in the process of figuring out whether they want to buy or not buy from you. And we should let them take their own time understanding your brand and products. If they are about to leave, you can say, be part of this community and have a sweet small discount to top it up. So that’s like they are going out the door and you’re pulling their hand in and give them something really valuable and make them feel part of the community.

Suppose you do not have a community. In that case, you have to put the value of the product first.

Then also add a discount based on which kind of niche you are in. If you are in fast fashion, you need to give a higher discount, but if you are, let’s say, a high-end boutique, where it’s more about the quality, you can cut down on the discount.

And for every popup, you must do 2 designs: One for desktop, one for mobile. Because mobile devices have less width and more height, you have to design the popup that way, so that it looks good and it does not cover the entire page. Don’t just blank out the product page of the website.

Be more involved, understand your buyer persona, see what you have apart from just selling the items. Test with Welcome and exit-intent.