In this episode of “Do This, NOT That.”, host Jay Schwedelson talks about how to grow your email list using contact capture forms (also known as popups). He makes the argument that while some people find popups annoying, they are a highly effective tactic for capturing leads and growing your list at no additional cost. Jay also shares stats on the high conversion rates of popups. Plus, get ready to discuss holiday films as Jay shares his favorite picks, including the ultimate holiday classic, ‘Elf.’
Main Discussion Points:
– Why you should use popups/contact capture forms even if some people find them annoying
– How easy it is to set up popups
– Stats on high conversion rates of popups: 7-9% for first-time site visitors, up to 14% for return visitors
– Why popups work especially well this time of year with increased site traffic
– Getting internal buy-in can be the biggest obstacle
And MASSIVE thank you to our Sponsor, Marigold!!
Marigold is a relationship marketing platform designed to help you acquire new customers and turn them into superfans with their best-in-class loyalty solutions. Don’t take my word for it though, American Airlines, Honeybaked Ham, Title Boxing, and Notre Dame University are also customers!
Regardless of your size, check out Marigold today to get the solution you need to grow your business!
Transcript
Welcome to do this, not that, the podcast for marketers. You'll walk away from each episode with actionable tips you can test immediately.
You'll hear from the best minds in marketing who will share tactics, quick wins, and pitfalls to avoid. Also dig into life, pop culture, and the chaos that is our everyday. I'm Jay Schwedelson. Let's do this, not that. All right.
This episode is one I'm excited to do because if you ask me what is a question that I get about marketing almost more than any other question, it is this. It is, how do you grow your list? That is a question I think every marketer has on their mind always.
And a lot of times when you ask somebody that question, you get vague answers. You know, I'll put out compelling content and ask people for their address. I'm like, really great. How does that help me?
Okay, like, what can I actually do that will actually grow my list without spending a billion dollars? So there's a tactic that I don't think that most marketers are doing enough that really, really works.
And it really works right now, especially this time of year. So what I want to talk about is contact capture forms. Try saying that fast. Contact capture forms. Maybe you call them pop ups.
Okay, whatever you want to call them. Now, some of you may be like, oh, no, I'm not listening to this episode because I would never do that.
Those pop up forms, when I go to a site, they annoy me. I don't like them. Okay, well, then you shouldn't be in marketing.
And let me break down why I say that when you go to Nike's website, and by the way, this is for business marketers and consumer marketers. I'm going to give you the stats on why it's so powerful in a second.
But let me get this out of your head, that you shouldn't do it and that you need to do it.
When you go to Nike's website and they use this tactic a lot as an example, and you go there and before you can get to see whatever sneakers it is that you want to buy, they pop up one of those pop ups. It says, hey, you Want to get 10% off? Give us your email address.
And we're hit submit right here and we're going to send you a 10 off coupon code or whatever. Now you may see those pop ups like, oh, I hate these. I hate when I get those. I can't stand them. And that's fair. But let me ask you a question.
Have you ever gone to A site that you wanted to get onto that site and they pop up one of those things and what do you do? Do you say, I'm so offended.
And then you leave the website immediately without ever going to the site because you're so offended they pop something up? Or do you click the little X in the top right corner and.
And then you go onto the site and you literally do not remember that there was a pop up there. Which one do you do? I would say 99% of humanity just clicks a little X and they move on with their day.
So the fact that you don't like it is meaningless. And there's a reason these major brands all do it. And you're not going to lose prospects or customers or whatever because you did this pop up.
It is a slight inconvenience, okay? That can change the growth path of your company if you do it. All right?
And in general, in marketing, you should never apply the well, I don't like it, so we're not going to do it.
The moment you hear yourself saying, well, I don't like it, so therefore we're not going to do it, that is the moment you have to hit pause on whatever that thing is that your team is trying to get you to do or that you're considering. And then you should do it because you're not your database, you're not your entire audience and it might actually work. And that's called testing.
That's called marketing. Now, why does this all matter for pop up contact capture forms?
First of all, setting up a pop up contact capture form, that little form that pops up that says, hey, you want a discount? Hey, you want access to this free guide? Put in your email address, hit submit.
It could not be easier to do if you're on Wix or you're hosting on GoDaddy, or you're hosting on Constant Contact or Eye contact or Marigold platform or anywhere. And it could not be easier. Doesn't matter what platform you're on, it takes like 10 minutes to set up.
I don't care how big of a company you are, it's just that easy. It's like a simple webpage. It could not be easier. All right? But here's why it matters. Especially this time of year.
On the B2B side, your traffic to your website is actually not ridiculously high this time of year. We know that on the business side because you know you're in this fourth quarter time period, right?
But the traffic that is coming to your website from director level and above from Decision makers, director level and above titles is about 30% higher in the month of December than throughout the rest of the year. Because this is when executives have time to explore new stuff, explore different platforms or services they want on board.
So you have the right traffic coming to your site. Now on the consumer side, your traffic is way higher than normal. It's like 70% higher this time of year than other times of year.
Why does that matter what your traffic is to your site? Because if there's more of the right people coming to your site, this is the time you have to capture their information.
Here are the stats that are going to blow your mind.
If you have a pop up contact capture form, first time visitors to your site, assuming it's incentivized, you're giving out a free piece of content or you have some sort of discount offer.
First time visitors, first off on the business side that come to your site and they see that pop up contact capture form if it is providing a free piece of content. The free guide to this, the seven pitfalls for that, the checklist for that. A free piece of content.
You will capture about 7% of the first time unique visitor traffic to your site by using one of those forms. That is a lot of the right people for free. They're coming to your site right now and they're just perusing around, then they're leaving.
I have this form you're going to capture. 7% of those people are going to fill out that form. That is a lot, a lot of people.
Now on the consumer side, same thing, give a discount code, 10% off your first purchase. Whatever, whatever. First time visitors, you're going to capture about 9% you are going to grow your database for free for the exact right people.
Now if you layer on people that keep coming back to your site and now you go to five time visitors to your site, five time visitors to your site, the capture rate goes up to about 11% on the business side and about 14% on the consumer side. This is a tactic that costs you no money. It doesn't take a long time to set up.
You don't need to be technical to do it and you can grow your database at no additional cost. The biggest obstacle to doing this tactic is the internal sell. It is getting people on board with the idea of this might be annoying. Who cares?
Who cares, right? You have to grow your data, but it's annoying for a split second.
I want you to prove to me that by having a pop up form you have lost business, you have lost revenue. Something horribly negative has happened. Other than somebody in your organization saying, that's annoying. Well, guess what?
It's more annoying not to have sales. It's more annoying to go out of business. So, yes, I get aggressive about it because so often marketers impose their own feelings. Stop.
Stop the nonsense. Who cares? Who cares how you feel? No offense, but really, who does care? So do pop up contact capture, please forms at least test it. Test it. Why not?
What's wrong? Just test it. Right before we get into do this, not do this, not that. That's the name of the podcast. You're in the middle of it.
How could you not be involved with it before we get into. Since you didn't ask, which is the chaos part of this podcast, which I will get into in one second.
I wanted to share about the awesome company Marigold. Marigold is super awesome. This podcast is presented by Marigold. What is Marigold?
Marigold is a platform that I use, my company uses to send out emails. We do billions of emails and we love the platform, Marigold. They also have a loyalty marketing platform, a relationship marketing platform.
If you're not familiar with Marigold, you need to take a pause and check them out.
And if you're thinking about a new sending platform or some sort of loyalty marketing platform, if you're not considering Marigold, you are dropping the ball. And so to find out more about them, you go to meet marigold.com, that is meet marigold.com. i'm telling you, it's worth the time to check them out.
All right, now let's get into. Since you didn't ask. Since you didn't ask.
All right, this time of year, if somebody said to me, listen, dude, you could stay home and not talk to another human, especially some of the annoying humans that I have to talk to this time of year, I'm not even going to get into that. But you can stay home and just watch TV and watch holiday movies. I would sign up for that, like, yesterday.
So what's very important that none of you care about is what my opinion is about. What are the greatest holiday movies that you must be watching? Because my opinion is really not important at all. But I need to share it with you.
So I'm going to tell you right now what I believe are the greatest holiday movies. And if you don't agree, well, you can probably hit me up and tell me why I'm a doofus or which is fine. All right, here's what I think.
Number one holiday movie, all time. All time elf. It's Elf. I don't even know how that's debatable. Will Farrell is the funniest dude on the planet. It is Elf. That's it. Love that movie.
Now close second is Christmas Vacation. Chevy Chase to me is one of the funniest dudes on earth. Everything about that movie rocks. I'm all in on Christmas vacation.
Although that, that the line of the vacation movies really went to the toilet when they did Vegas Vacation or whatever that was called. I mean that was has to be one of the worst movies of all time. Christmas story, 100%. I mean, that is the best movie.
I like when the kid puts his tongue on the pole every time you're like, is this tongue gonna fall off? And I've seen it 4,000 times. I love that movie. Now the other thing that people debate is what are holiday movies and what are not.
Now to me, I'm gonna give you examples of what I say are holiday movies. If people aren't gonna. Number one, Trading Places. Eddie Murphy. That's a holiday movie. It's a. I mean, it's all about Christmas. It is a holiday movie.
Trading Place is a great holiday movie. Gremlins. Yes. Sure. It's a little scary. Hate horror movies. Gremlins. All about the dudes wearing a Christmas hat. It's a holiday movie. Gremlins.
If you don't know what Gremlins is, don't watch it. It's scary. I don't like scary movies. You know what? I'll tell you how far I go in my belief of what is a holiday movie. Iron Man 3 is a holiday movie.
Yes, it is. You're like, wait a minute, I don't even remember Iron Man 3. No, you have to go back. This is where my mind goes because I have no brain. Okay?
In Iron Man 3 they go to a town, if you remember, and there's a whole Christmas and holiday stuff going on. It is a holiday movie. Yes. Iron Man 3 qualifies as a holiday movie.
And anything where a central component of the movie takes place during the holidays is a holiday movie. Don't at me. You're wrong. Oh my God. I get worked up. Listen, I hope you're doing great. I hope you're having a wonderful holiday so far.
And try contact capture forms and leave us a five star review and hit me up on LinkedIn and yeah, let's do it. Thanks for being here. You did it. You made it to the end. Nice. But the party's not. Not over.
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