Email is the top channel for delivering marketing messages. Let's look at 7 ways that you can increase your email opt-ins and get more subscribers.

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A) Overlays: Here are a few overlay and pop up plugins and services:

• Pop Up Domination
• Hybrid Connect
  PadiAct
• Pippity
• WPSubscribers

B) Advanced Overlay: A new technology by BounceExchange is getting significant traction recently. The service will display an overlay on your site when the user moves their cursor to the top of the page to click a back or close button. Neil Patel reports that he increased his leads by 10-20% as a result of using this technology. I have found, but not tested, a free code set that a SEO forum user called ‘GoForJacob’ wrote – and supposedly gives you a similar result. A search for “goforjacob popup” will bring up the page.

C) Inline: Conversion Voodoo shared a case study where an overlay on the Shoemoney blog increased its signups by 36% simply by adding “Enter Your Email Here” inline the form field.

D) Avoid Distractions: The overlay had a line of text below the ‘Signup’ button that read “Not Ready to take that step? OK, Why not just Subscribe to the RSS Feed?” Removing that single line generated a significant 28% increase in subscribers.

E) Bars: Another popular option with marketers is having a colored bar that sits at the top of your website and asks visitors to take a specified action. Two companies that offer this technology are HelloBar and ViperBar.

F) Your LP: Every landing page should have 5 key elements.

1. Headline
2. Benefits
3. Call-to-action
4. Opt-in form
5. Social Proof

G) Single vs. Double Opt In: I can offer you several recommendations about whether single or double opt-in is better for you. But the reality is you need to test it yourself.

Our latest eBook, The Autoresponder eBook for B2B Marketers, is written for B2B marketers who want to learn how to best use one of online marketing’s neatest tools—the autoresponder.

We recently published the Marketing Automation Best Practices: 2013 Autoresponders Study, which uncovered some very interesting facts about autoresponder usage (or lack thereof) among 500 top B2B companies. In case you missed it, you can download the study here.

Summary...

Shorter Forms Increase Conversion Rates

What we do know is that the less we “charge” for access to an asset, the more likely a visitor will be willing to the information exchange. There are many studies available that demonstrate how reducing form fields on a landing page improve conversion rates. Marketo ran a study that concluded that reducing form fields from nine fields to five improved conversion rates by 34%.

Progressive Profiling

Progressive profiling is by far one of my favorite features of marketing automation. For those who may be familiar with this feature, progressive profiling simply allows marketers to update a prospect’s information over time, dynamically updating forms to reflect information that may still be missing for that individual. In essence, rather than gathering all of the information about a prospect up front, information is gathered over time and the prospect’s record is continually updated.

Conversion Paths

Conversion paths involve using multiple landing pages as opposed to a single landing page to convert visitors. Often with search advertising, keywords may not clearly define a searcher’s intent or requirement. Conversion paths, or a series of landing pages connected on a path, can help searchers drive down through pages to a more specific result.

Social Form Fill and Social Login

Finally, the newest tool in the collective marketing automation toolbelt is social integration. The social form fill option makes it easier for landing page visitors to complete forms with just a click of a button.

How to Get Started

When clients ask me which of these approaches they should employ, I recommend them all! But as marketers, we must often prioritize these initiatives.

• First and foremost, if you’re not already doing so, implement progressive profiling on all of your forms.  Progressive profiling provides a “quick win” for marketers to begin gathering much more information over time about prospects, and no salesperson has ever complained about having too much information about a prospect! As you implement progressive profiling, begin reducing your landing page form fields so you can put more prospects into the pipe faster and begin that nurturing process.
• Second, consider how you can begin integrating conversion paths into your current conversion process. This requires mapping out which assets can be used, like progressive profiling, to gain more information about prospects over several pages in a path.
• Third, begin by planning to add social form fill and social login to your landing pages. While this may require greater initial effort, the benefits in the end will be better conversion and more accurate prospect data.