A quick conversion optimization hack that will eliminate abandons in your email capture flow
It’s not often we can tell you about a conversion optimization tip that will offer you an immediate improvement in your email capture rates, but there is one we are currently adopting with all of our new clients, and we just can’t keep it to ourselves.
Your email capture rate (ECR) is calculated by dividing the number of new email subscribers your website captures each month, by the number of unique new visitors passing through your website in the same 30-day period. Your goal is to capture email contact permission from your website visitors by making generous offers that include free incentives, and improve this metric month over month.
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As you must know, Google threw publishers a curveball back in January that caused our best-performing conversion architecture asset, the Floater, to be removed from mobile pages. In the meantime, we’ve adopted what footer ads that take about 1/4 of the screen on mobile devices and in turn have been able to save email capture rates, for the most part.
Another way we’re not only saving email capture rates, but are actually improving them, is through a new technique that eliminates a step in the registration flow, which reduces the abandon rate on data collection pages.
The technique? Remove the data collection pages.
Typically a visitor comes to your website and sees an ad for a free download. Most of the time, they are asked to register, and are brought to a data collection page. Rarely have we ever seen sites that accept an email address right within the ad, without asking the user to fill out more information.
But unfortunately, data collection pages increase abandon rates, and even though you might have gotten the user to fill out their email address on the first page, they often leave before it’s actually submitted.
The goal to increase completion rates is achieved when you eliminate the need for a data collection page. So instead, the email is collected on the same page where it is entered. This means the user doesn’t need to click to a different page to subscribe to an email newsletter or download a free report, thus eliminating any dropoff rates on the data collection page.
The downside is, of course, you may find that the response rate to your double opt-in emails is lower than before because the effort to sign up is less significant. However, in general we are seeing overall website to email conversions improving dramatically.
Mequoda Systems clients have access to an enhancement called Ultra Registration Manager, which offers the ability to bypass the Data Collection Page for “free” report signups. It was first created in March for a client who was looking to include email input fields in Floaters and OFIEs. It now also works in text ads.
If you’re not a client and looking to build this functionality yourself, here is how it should work:
- If the user’s email is not present in the system, a new account is created and the user is redirected to the thank-you page.
- The user is created with the default first and default last names set in the Registration settings page.
- The user is signed up for the default newsletters and receives the download report email along with login email.
- Users are not auto-confirmed in your email system until they open the confirmation email, at which point they are double-opted in.
- If the email already exists, the data collection page is returned with a “please login” error message.
- If the email is bad, not formed correctly or missing, the data collection page is returned with an email error.
Our strategy for building and maintaining Mequoda Systems includes a combination of best-of-breed third-party software and the proprietary components necessary to support the Mequoda Method. Our Mequoda Haven CXMS supports more than 100 system components including dozens of third-party plugins and applications that have been tested and vetted by our engineering team.
To discuss how we can help you grow your audience, revenue and profits with a Mequoda System, schedule a free introductory conversation with Don Nicholas, our Chairman & CEO.
How have you improved conversion optimization?
