4 Types Of Incentives To Offer Customers To Get Them On Your Email List

4 Ways to entice website visitors to subscribe to your mailing list

I'm sure you have heard that capturing email addresses from your website visitors is really important. But for many of the e-commerce business owners I speak to, list building has slipped to the bottom of their never-ending 'to-do' lists.

Don't let this be the case! List building should be an ongoing priority for your online store.  Let me share 3 reasons why it should be at the top of your list!

• Email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective (and successful!) marketing tactics we have at our disposal. Those contacts inside of your database, mail chimp or Klaviyo list have willingly handed over their precious email address because they are interested in what you have to say or sell.  Many of these people may have not purchased from you before, but they are most likely considering it, otherwise, they wouldn't have signed up in the first place.  Your email database list is a group of warm leads just waiting to be enticed to buy.  If you neglect to capture these leads, you are missing out on a huge opportunity!

• Got 50K Instagram followers? Good for you. But do you realise you have built up an audience on borrowed land? That land (i.e your account on their platform) could be removed in the click of a button, without any warning.  That would really suck, wouldn't it? All those leads, gone forever. And there's nothing you can do to get access to them again.  Email addresses, however, are not and you can export them at any time (and I recommend doing this regularly).

• Your email database of warm leads is an asset of your business.  Should you ever wish to sell your business, the bigger and healthier your list, the greater the dollar value you can ask!

Now you know why building up your newsletter list for your e-commerce site is so important, lets talk about how we entice your online store visitors to subscribe!

In today’s post, I’ll be sharing with you the top 4 incentives you can offer your potential customers to get them on your email list.  These have all been tried and tested by me in my own online fashion store, www.ilandco.com and I encourage you to test them out too.

1) Email List Incentive: 10% Discount

Offering a 10% discount in exchange for an email address is a great incentive and is one of the most common you will see on many e-commerce websites.

Everybody loves a discount, especially if they are new to your store & products, and are wondering whether to purchase or not.

Having the option of getting 10% off their first purchase might just push them over the edge and into purchasing from you.

Also, as you’ll find with all of these incentives, it’s not going to cost you too much to offer this as an incentive.

2) Email List Incentive: Free shipping

Shipping can be expensive and might cost you more than offering a 10% off code for their first purchase but it is another great incentive people like to make the most of.

Again, with all of these incentives, you only need to offer it as a one-time deal.

They give you their email address in exchange for free shipping on their first purchase.

This might work out to be more expensive depending on where you ship to, so it’s worth keeping that in mind before you offer this up as an incentive.

And if you do decide to offer free shipping, make sure you make it clear that it is only for their first purchase.

3) Email List Incentive: Free gift

Who doesn’t love receiving a free gift?

The great thing about offering this as an incentive is you have two ways to go about it.  This could be a free downloadable gift relevant to your target customer, or it could be a free gift with their first purchase.

A second option is surprising them with a free gift that you’ve chosen from a selection you have with their first order - a 'mystery gift with every purchase'.

If you’re worried about giving away your products for free, you can always bulk buy gifts that are related to the products on your website and only use them as free gifts.

Things that appeal to your ideal customer, so in my case for my fashion store, www.ilandco.com, perhaps a pair of statement earrings free with their first purchase.

4) Email List Incentive: Spin to Win

If you’re using Shopify, then the perfect list building app is Privy.

Potential customers love the gamification aspect of it as they can ‘win’ a discount once they’ve entered their email address.

You can have the Spin to Wheel app appear on your homepage based on the timing settings you select. You also have the option of customising the prizes up for grabs.  I use the following on my online fashion store:

• 10% off
• Free Shipping
• $10 off
• $5 off

You can also add in options like ‘better luck next time’ or ‘so close’ so visitors to your site aren’t always winning a discount.

It also has a great conversion rate for those who win a discount as they usually go ahead and make a purchase using the code they receive once they have won.

I hope you found these tips helpful and good luck with your online store!