By Katherine Andes
Are you capturing your website visitors’ email addresses?
This may seem elementary to most, but many furniture retailers fail to even try and capture their visitors’ email addresses.
Once a visitor comes to your site and stays awhile, it shows he or she has an interest. Many of your visitors may not be prepared to take action just now, but perhaps they will want to in the future.
But if they forget about you, what good is that? While they are on your site, see if you can capture their email addresses and then follow up with helpful emails sent out in regular or periodic intervals.
When asking for email addresses, it’s very important to do four things:
- Ask for as little information as possible.
You can ask your visitors to simply provide their email address. This meets the least resistance and you will collect more names. However, some studies show that if you personalize emails with a first name, they are read more. So you might want to also ask for a first, and even last name. Gathering the last name can help you manage your list as it grows larger.
- State how you will be using the information.
Just tell simply what you intend to use the address for, whether a newsletter or periodic sales announcements. Describe these in a way that sound particularly appealing for the sender. For example, email announcements might be special deals only for the email list. Emphasize that you will not inundate with junk mail. And note your privacy policy.
- Encourage signing-up with a premium
Another help is to offer some sort of premium for signing up. An e-book on designer tips, a free in-home consultation, or even a 10% off coupon for a dinner at a local restaurant will do the trick.
- Note that unsubscribing at any time will be easy.
The point of all of the above is to overcome any resistance your visitor may have to signing up.
Of course, once you get that address, do not abuse it. If you promised helpful emails, then send quality emails. If you promised special sales, then deliver those special deals.
Easy Furniture Web Tip #20: By capturing email addresses you will be able to plan a consistent program to keep in contact with visitors to your site. And don’t forget to capture the email addresses of your in-store customers, too!
Katherine Andes is a consultant who specializes in web copy writing, including search engine optimization, and landing pages — especially in the home improvement market. You can contact her at kathy@andesandassociates.com.