Summary:
This blog post shares reasons why offering website visitors a way to subscribe to your mailing list can and does increase sales. The reason is because over 50% of first-time website visitors won’t buy or enquire. If you don’t offer a way for visitors to subscribe to your mailing list, and then keep in touch with them via email (and/or SMS), many website visitors will never become customers. They will instead: forget about your business and never return to your website. In this blog post I also share strategies to convert leads into customers.
Websites most directly benefit businesses when the owner and managers of the business (and website) understand:
- Over 50% of first-time website visitors will not send you an enquiry or buy from you, (and many will never return to your website)… UNLESS you provide a way for them to connect/subscribe with your business.
- Offering a way for people (website visitors) to subscribe to your mailing list from within your website is key. If you have been in business for any amount of time, you know this is referred to as a ‘lead’.
- If you want the highest number of leads, offer something for free, to further entice website visitors to subscribe. This is called a ‘lead magnet’ offer.
- Nurture each lead using automated email sequences (and SMS messages if you are able).
Always remember: Not everyone is ready to buy from you straight away (or the first time they visit your website).
You need to ALWAYS remember: Just like in real life, not everyone is ready to buy from you straight away when they visit your website for the first time. Many are purely in the ‘research stage’ (or the ‘consideration’ stage). In fact:
- Only 2% – 7% of your first-time website visitors are ready to buy from you.
- 60% – 80% are in the research stage (or the ‘consideration’ stage); they may then be ready to buy in a few weeks time, or 3 months time, or sometimes even longer. By this time, they may have forgotten about your business, unless you find ways to remain ‘top-of-their-mind’. To further stress this point: There is no guarantee they will buy from you, unless you heed everything I am saying in this email and implement it.
- The remainder are typically seeking free information (from within your blog posts) that might have appeared when they searched Google, or used another Search Engine (like Bing or DuckDuckGo), or AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview or the newer Atlas AI Web Browser.
The 20+ Touches Rule
Are you familiar with the old marketing rule called “the 7 Touches Rule”? Because of how competitive most industries are, this rule is now ‘the 20+ touches rule’. It states that a person needs to ‘touch’ (see and/or connect with) your business (your brand) at least 7 times (and these days it can be 20+ times) before they will buy from you. THIS is why offering a way for people to subscribe to your mailing list, and then send them regular automated emails is SOO important!
Businesses that do not include an opt-in subscribe system in their website miss out on MANY sales and/or growth opportunities. However, those who do offer this on their website, build their ‘leads list’ and increase their conversions by:
- Sending automated emails (called ‘auto-responder emails’) that include things that build authority, trust, offer value and remind the recipient that the business exists. This can include but is not limited to: Content that shares your expertise, content that provides ‘hard to find’ insightful information, special offers, coupon codes, resources, low-cost offers, etc.
- They build a connection with the recipients
- They build trust
THEN when the potential buyer is ready to buy what the business offers, the business will be ‘top of their mind’.
From a ‘buyer consideration’ point of view, when you send these emails weekly or fortnightly, the potential buyer will decide by this stage that they should buy from you, not some other business. #buyerpsychology.
This aids with MANY other things as well including: buyer loyalty long-term (repeat customer sales), reduces customer churn, reduces returns (or refunds). reduces buyer remorse, increases the chances of the buyer becoming an advocate (and referral source) for your business and many other great things that everyone in business strives for: Google “buyer value journey” if you are not familiar with this business growth principle.
This technique can also be used to re-activate non-active customers. Electrodry and other businesses use this method. Every month or so, they send out an automated email to non-active customers.
Always also remember this:
- Authority leads to trust, trust leads to sales.
- An informed potential buyer is more likely to become a customer.
- “How do you build a business? One relationship at a time.”
An example Subscribe offer and Automated Email Sequence Funnel Flow
At the bottom of this blog post is one of our subscribe opt-in offers titled: ‘Make Digital Work for You’.
Each week the marketing automation funnel flow software that makes it work sends an email (based on a pre-programmed triggered sequence) to anyone who subscribes. The software we chose to use for this opt-in funnel flow autoresponder email sequence is MailChimp.
We could have used GoHighLevel or any of the other similar software tools that exist for this funnel, however MailChimp suits our needs for now. You can see an image screenshot below of the funnel flow map (click the below image to view it at larger size):
When planning your next website, consider all I have shared in this blog post
Many website designers fail to share any of this information with their clients.
On the other hand, we make sure our clients are aware of this information, so their website works hardest for them. It is also of course why I have written this blog post, so you too now have this information.
You might be thinking: People can simply ‘like’ my business on Facebook. They will stay connected with me via Facebook. Once upon a time, this was true, but then in 2018 Facebook changed their algorithm. Now, only a very small percentage of people who ‘like’ your Facebook business page see your organic posts. Facebook is a ‘pay to play’ marketing channel now, and is why many businesses run Facebook ads.
When planning your next website, consider all I have shared in this email. Also, a subscribe opt-in system can be added to your existing website at any time. Just ask your website person to set this up (or ask us to do this for you). We work collaboratively with you to ensure:
- A great lead magnet is selected and created
- It has ‘brand consistency’ (ties in with your branding)
- We help you write excellent automated emails
- We set up the subscription system in your website, and test it
- We help teach you about ‘marketing automation’, funnels (flows/email dripping)
- Help with SMS marketing, if you want to give this a try as well
- And a lot more
If you effectively implement everything I have spoken about in this blog post, and your website is very attractive to your ‘ideal customer types’, you will gain more leads. If you nurture them correctly, you will gain more customers and more sales.
Additional Tip:
You can have more than one lead magnet opt-in subscribe system within your website too btw. You can create a variety of resources for one or more ideal customer types. All your lead magnets should help your potential customers in some way. Search Google for “solving the biggest common denominator problems of potential customers using lead magnets and free offers” to learn more.
As mentioned previously in this blog post, below is one of our mailing list opt-in offers. I invite you to join/subscribe to it:
Make Digital Work for You
In this digital age, the correct digital marketing strategies and their correct implementation is proven to help grow a business effectively. Many old methods are outdated, no longer work and should be ignored, but current methods yield results. Join our mailing list to receive:
- Correct and up-to-date digital marketing methods
- Highly useful information and resources direct to your email each week.
- Exclusive special offers
- Information about how to achieve a website that converts (and becomes successful)
- 5% off our 6 month Growth Roadmap service
- Marketing strategies to help grow your business