Many new eCommerce businesses focus on capturing many customers, but a subscriber holds as much value as well. Subscribers can easily be converted into sales every other month.
By getting feedback from these subscribers, you can gather some data to improve your products, and you can even test your new products with them before launching officially. So, what is a customer, and how do you turn a customer into a subscriber, read along.
What Is A Customer & What Is A Subscriber
How to Turn A Customer Into A Subscriber
A customer is an individual who bought a product or service from a business, paid for it, and then went on their way. They might or might not come back.
A subscriber is a person who has agreed to receive marketing and other informational emails/newsletters from your business. To follow up with a customer, you need specific permission every time, but a subscriber opting to receive emails is a whole different ball game. You don’t need permission after the initial opt-in from them.
Here are some ways you can encourage your customers to become your subscribers:
#1. Optimize Your Ecommerce Store
The best time to get your customers on board is when they are already engaged with their website. The best places to get your customer’s attention are your homepage and the checkout page. One other place to add your sign-up subscriber form is the head and footer of your site.
One of the things that people often forget while setting up their eCommerce store is informing the subscriber what they will be receiving. This could include product sales, access to early deals or discounts and coupons, etc.
Some eCommerce stores offer plugins to add a newsletter section to your online store. Another easy way is to add a checkbox for receiving emails while completing a purchase.
The significant advantage of getting more subscribers is free data. From these subscribers, you can receive and analyze user data of your Ecommerce store to make informed decisions on what products to launch, when to do it and how to do it.
#2. Exclusive Deals And Coupons
One of the most exciting ways to engage your customers is deals, discounts, and sales. To convert your customers into subscribers, give them access to exclusive discounts and sales 12 hours before your usual customers, and voila! Everyone will run to subscribe to your email list.
One way to get your customers to subscribe is to add coupons when they receive their order confirmation email.
But here is the twist: you can only use the coupon if you subscribe to our mailing list. Not only will this incentive help them connect with your business more but also keep them coming back for more and more
#3. Sign-up Buttons On Social Media
More than websites, people follow and look for things on their favorite brands’ social media. Customers usually get their updates, news, events, deals, and more information via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
We would recommend paying more attention to your social handles, don’t let these opportunities slide. You can use your bio and add links for a subscription there. For Facebook, a separate call to action button for “sign up” is provided. Whereas for Instagram, use a link tree to add multiple links to your bio.
#4. Add More Than Just Information
A recent trend of using email marketing to keep your customers engaged has emerged. This trend shows that the whole purpose of these emails is to keep the customers connected to the business. So instead of sending them information about discounts and sales emails etc., send them emails about things they might be interested in.
This requires categorizing your subscribers either by explicitly asking them for their hobbies in the form or analyzing their shopping patterns. E.g., was sending emails about the latest fashion trends, latest tech gadgets or latest furniture collection or thrift stores in your area, etc.
One more way is to gamify the whole experience of the email rather than simply including text and pictures. This will not only keep them engaged, but they would want to read and wait for your emails.
#5. Social Media Contests
Social media contests are a great way to get your customers to do something for you. Before you start, the critical part is to choose a platform and the way you want to pursue this, whether with the help of an influencer or independently. Influencers collaborating with brands for giveaways to get more subscribers have been around for quite a while now.
This is an excellent way for both the parties, the influencer, and the brand to get more followers/subscribers out of the deal. Also, this is a perfect option for startups that don’t have enough marketing money at the moment. Brands can also opt to do these giveaway contests by themselves by simply incentivizing their email subscription.
Most businesses wait till they are up and running smoothly to build their subscribers list, but we recommend not wasting any further time and starting now.
The earliest subscribers can be incentivized, and their experience can be converted into valuable marketing assets for the company in the future. Let us know how your mailing list has helped you scale up your business below: