Mastering Email Marketing Engagement with Email Pop-Ups and Welcome Campaigns

Despite some people claiming to dislike them, email pop-ups have become an essential eCommerce marketing tactic these days. Pop-ups are those little surprise messages that appear when you visit a website, often containing a warm greeting along with a special offer in exchange for your email address.

In the age of exciting new social trends, it can be tempting to overlook email marketing as the most powerful channel for conversions offering an ROI rate of 4,300 percent. But to increase your customer engagement, you need to combine your email pop-up strategy with a welcome campaign.

In this post, we’ll cover why and how you can leverage this powerful eCommerce marketing duo: Email Pop-Ups and Welcome Campaigns.

Grow Your Subscriber List With Email Pop-Up Forms

Most consumers don’t complete a purchase during their first visit to your online store. They are usually looking for information, like price comparisons or special offers, resulting in an average bounce rate of 40.5 percent. To turn these casual site visitors into new customers, you need to nurture them through your email marketing.

For that to happen, you’ll first need to collect their email address. You may have a few reservations about using email pop-ups, but studies have shown that they are extremely effective at capturing email signups.

Of course, they can be a disaster if you don’t get the timing, placement and message just right. Here are a few data-driven tips that will maximize the effectiveness of your email pop-ups:

• Segment your pop-up viewers. Segment visitors based on their number of visits, whether they are new or returning customers, which pages they interacted with, etc. This will make your messages targeted and less disruptive to the shopping experience.

• Implement an exit pop-up. When visitors decide to leave your page, an exit pop-up can be used as a last-ditch attempt to collect their email.
• Mention an incentive. Dangling an incentive to join your list increases their chances of both subscribing and returning to your site. We love this example below from Virgo Boutique:

• Don’t ask for too much information. Email pop-up forms should be short to increase signups. You can ask for more information later once you’ve earned their business.
• Test, test, test. Use A/B tests to see whether certain elements of your pop-up perform better than others. Dive into your analytics to monitor your visitor’s time spent on certain pages to get the timing of your pop-up right.

Using these tips will help you make the most of your email pop-ups and increase your customer engagement. Plus, you can easily put these tips into practice with Springbot’s pop-up functionality.

Combine Email Pop-Ups With a Welcome Series

Once you have successfully captured new prospective customers, it’s time to make smart use of your email marketing strategy. Without a doubt, the welcome campaign is one of the most important messages your brand will send new subscribers.

These days, people have come to expect a welcome email. They offer a chance for your company to capitalize on a new subscriber’s increased interest before it disappears. Plus, it gives you a chance to introduce your brand identity to new subscribers and make a lasting first impression.

For example, check out this Welcome Email from Happily Ever Aften:

Happily Ever Aften highlights a special 10 percent off discount to new subscribers. The online clothing boutique also includes a special free shipping incentive to encourage that first purchase.

You can similarly take advantage of welcome emails with these tips:

• Send the welcome email ASAP. Every eCommerce store should leverage triggered emails. Make sure your welcome email is sent quickly to get their attention while it lasts!
• Encourage new subscribers to take action. New subscribers are most engaged the moment they sign up. Take advantage of their captured attention by making your call to action (CTA) prominent and consider offering a special discount (like free shipping) to encourage a quick purchase.
• Highlight popular products. You probably don’t have much data on new subscribers acquired from email pop-up forms. That’s normal. Put your best foot forward and showcase your most popular products to your new subscribers.
• Reinforce the value of subscribing. Remind new subscribers what value they can expect from your emails and set their expectations for future messages.
• Track email behavior immediately. New subscriber interest can dwindle within a matter days or weeks. Don’t wait to win them back! Segment any new subscribers who didn’t open your first few emails and develop a win-back strategy just for them.

Final Thoughts

Email pop-ups are an important part of any email marketing strategy. When combined with a data-driven welcome campaign series, they create a powerful way to engage interested visitors without disrupting the shopping experience. Together, email pop-ups and welcome campaigns can yield incredible results and capture the lifetime loyalty of your customers.