#44. Sign Up Forms Best Practices | Podcast

Vira  0:00  

Today, we will be talking about some of the best practices for signup forms, and we’ll basically talk about how to help you improve your overall customer experience and increase conversion. 

Alissa  0:35  

Alrighty. Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of email Einstein, Vira and Alissa. Here we are two email marketers at an email marketing agency called Flowium. We are so passionate about email marketing, and because we love what we do, we want to share our insights with all of you. Flowium, the company that we work for is one of the fastest growing email marketing agencies in the world. We specialize in providing a premium, full service e commerce, email marketing experience for all of our clients. And our service is tailored specifically for your business and designed to help increase your online retail revenue by 20 to 50% we deliver the right message to the right person at the right moment. That’s what we’re all about here at Flowium. And as always, just a really quick side note. If you like what we do, please give us a review, and we’ll remind you that at the end of this episode as well, Vira, take it away, because this episode is actually inspired by a listener, Robin. So Robin, thank you very much. Special shout out to you for all your amazing emails and your inspiration.

Vira  1:43  

Shout out to you, Robin. That was actually what I was about to say so you like literally stole it from me Alissa. Well, anyways, thank you, Robin for this topic idea. And guys, if you ever have anything that you’d like to learn more or you want to us to do some digging and some research let us know we love doing this kind of thing. So today we will be actually talking about signup forms, different ways to do signup forms, and actually we’ll be talking about some of the best practices for signup forms.

Vira  2:16  

And let’s face it, getting people to actually subscribe to your email list or to your SMS list is not easy, especially today, like an overwhelming amount of emails already, like flooding our inboxes today is harder than ever to get those people into your list. And actually, here’s the an interesting statistic from Sumo. They said that the average email opt in rate across like all different signup forms and all verticals, is only about 1.95% out of say, 100 people, only two will subscribe to your opt in form. Obviously, it’s an average across all of verticals, and for most of our clients, this number is much, much higher. But on a positive note, 89% of consumers say that they are actually willing to share their personal information, like email or their phone number in exchange for clearly defined benefits. That was a very, very promising number, 89% after seeing that conversion percent, which made me really sad, seeing that 89% of people are actually like willing to share their personal info, as long as you’re sharing some sort of value with them. It made me very, very hopeful. So today we will be talking about some of the best practices for signup forms, and we’ll basically talk about how to help you improve your overall customer experience and increase conversion. But before we go there, I know that Alisa has prepared some really cool Pro Tip of the Week, Alissa.

Alissa  4:06  

I’m all about this. And also I love the on a positive note, 89% of consumers said they’re willing to share their personal information in exchange for clearly defined benefits. Because I was like, Wow, 89% of people are going to give me their personal info. But there’s that little caveat at the end, right? You have benefits, yeah, so that makes a lot more sense to me. But anyway, so Pro Tip of the Week. I actually stole this from our very own technology director. He is in Mexico, so his name in English looks like Angel, but his name is actually angel in Spanish. So Angel, thank you very much. Muchas gracias. So Pro Tip of the Week we he and I were actually talking about signup forms on an audit that he was doing, which is another service that we provide here at Flowium, but we’re talking about signup forms. And he was explaining to me, which it’s pretty common sense, but I was like, wow, now that angel has said it. To me, it makes a lot more sense, which is usually how it goes here, internally for us anyways, we think one thing, Angel says it, and then we’re like, okay, that makes sense. So he was saying that different visitor behavior onto your website should trigger different kinds of messages or offers or discounts. 

Alissa  5:15  

So today we’re going to be talking about signup forms and their best practices. But you have to remember that one best practice won’t apply to every single person in your audience when, because you have different kinds of audience members within your audience, you have to understand that segment of your audience and understand how to trigger a different message that’s either going to provide a different incentive, a different benefit, a different message to those people. So for example, the message that you have on your product page, the pop up that you have on your product page, the signup form that you may have set up on your product page cannot be, and really should not ever be, the same as what’s going on in the home page, because the person who’s on your product page is at a different cycle or stage of their customer journey with you, versus someone who’s just on the homepage. So that’s something to keep in mind as you listen today. We’re going to give tons of different ideas, tons of different insights, tons of different best practices, but you have to remember that you may need to implement a little bit of everything in order to have a very robust and complete signup form strategy that matches with your email marketing strategy. So just something to note as you listen to this, take note of everything. Don’t just pick and choose, but pick what’s going to make sense for all your audience members, not just a small segment of them. So that was pro tip of the week.

Vira  6:28  

There is no one size fits all marketing, and there is no one size fits all approach with email marketing as well. So that’s a good one. Alissa, let’s go back to the basics. Can you like explain to those of our listeners who are very new, like, what are signup forms, and what types of signup forms are like, the most popular ones, and what types are we using internally in Flowium? 

Alissa  6:52  

Yeah, totally. So a signup form, as most of you can imagine, based on the name, is a form in which you have a potential customer or a current customer sign up on so what does that mean? They’re typically putting some kind of personal information within that form so that you can gather more data about them, whether that’s how to contact them, what they’re interested in, what they want to know about, where they’re at in life, who they are. That kind of information is probably what you’re going to be getting from a sign up form. And there are so many different types, right? So there are the opt in forms that we use internally, which is either like a pop up or a footer section of your website where you’re actually going to subscribe. And that’s a form that’s embedded into your website. Checkout is also considered a sign up form, because when someone starts the checkout process. If they don’t finish the checkout process, the information that they’ve submitted in there triggers an abandoned cart, email or flow. 

Alissa  7:47  

So that is also considered a signup form, not about it, at least. Yeah, it’s really interesting, actually, a signup form, yeah, technically it is. Technically it is. So any landing pages that you have, like if you have Facebook ads that are running, and you want people to make do on an offer or anything like that, and they click on that, and it takes them to a landing page that requires name, email, whatever it is that’s also a sign up form too. So there are so many different ways for you to kind of fix the signup form to do and be where you need it to be or need it to do. So the types are kind of endless. So we’ll kind of narrow in the scope of what we’re going to talk about when it comes to signup forms. So you have your inline forms which are actually within a web page, which, like I mentioned, can either be at the footer of your website. So that’s at the very bottom, usually at the very bottom of a website. If you look, I’m not sure how many of you actually ever scroll all the way down to the bottom of a homepage of a website. But when you’re on the homepage, if you go all the way down, usually there’s like a little blank bar there where you can type in your email address and then opt into their emails. The another inline form would again be the checkout process, where people have to plug in their email and everything. It’s interesting because we kind of see that as like a little sneaky, right? Like, Oh, we’re getting their email because we need to send them Order Confirmation stuff, but usually there’s a checkbox underneath that most customers overlook, that’s already pre checked that says, like, yes, I would like to receive marketing emails. 

Alissa  9:09  

And so now we’ve had them opt in, sometimes unknowingly, to our marketing email. So then that way, we can start to engage with them. That’s another form of an inline form, but you can also have, like, a separate page altogether on your website that’s hidden. When you have a link from an ad or something like that, it takes them directly to that inline form that’s embedded in your website. Anything that’s embedded that doesn’t just appear off the page, right? So then that’s the first kind, and then you have your pop ups as well, which can really appear in any way that you want them to. So you have, like, the fly out pop up form that’s kind of like always hanging in this on the side of the website, on the web page, and then it kind of pops out when you first visit the website. You also have the pop ups that literally pop up so you’re on the website and they actually just appear. Those are the ones that we tend to focus on a bit more here in Flowium, as well as that footer. Subscribe, opt in at the very bottom. Of a website, but the pop ups are kind of where we like to hang out, right So, and there are different ways to set up those pop ups that make them all kind of different to each other. So you have time delayed pop ups that are that appear based on a time delay. You have scroll delayed pop ups where you can actually set this feature on in Klaviyo, where someone goes on to your homepage and they have to scroll to at least 60% of the page in order for that pop up to come up. And then we also have our exit intent pop ups just a couple of like quick benefits to all of them. Time delays are really good because they help you understand whether or not the subscriber or the potential customer that’s on your website is actually committed to being on the website. 

Alissa  10:39  

So usually we set it for like 10 to 15 seconds. So then that way you know that they’re not on your website by accident. They’re actually there intentionally. Once that 10 to 15 second time passes, then a pop up comes up, and usually it says something along the lines of, hey, welcome. Please join our email list. So then that way you can stay up to date on all these cool, fun, amazing things. Going back to what Vira said, there has to be some kind of clearly defined benefit, right? For someone to actually feel comfortable enough to plug their email in. A lot of people these days are using that pop up to offer an initial discount. We in house don’t recommend that as a best practice, because that is too similar to proposing on the first date. We’ve talked about this in the past, but that’s why we just stick to the Hey. Why don’t you get engaged with us? Versus here is a discount right off the bat, because the person doesn’t even know about your brand, and you’re automatically devaluing yourself and your product, really from the get go. So that’s the time delay, the scroll delay side of things. That’s also another way for you to kind of gage the commitment level of this potential customer. Right? 

Alissa  11:37  

If they’re scrolling down on your homepage, it’s because they’re probably reading through, or at least perusing through the content, looking at what you have to offer. So a lot of times, we’ll set it for like 60% once they’ve hit like past that halfway point, then the pop up will appear, providing some kind of incentive. At this stage, you might want to look into providing a discount, possibly because you’ve gaged a little bit better. And then we also have our exit intent pop up, which triggers the exit intent flow that we have that we usually put in place for our clients, and that exit intent pop up is specifically scheduled or set to only appear on product pages. So now you know that the potential customer is definitely very interested because they’re on a specific product page, and then as they maneuver their mouse to exit the browser, then the exit intent pop up appears, which most often than not, provides some level of a discount. So those are some different kinds of forms that we use in house. Again, you can get really funky with all of these. One of the things that’s becoming very, very popular now, as SMS marketing starts to kind of gain even more popularity, is having a pop up form that appears to already pre existing subscribers in Klaviyo, and then now you have this pop up that’s asking people for their consent to SMS, that kind of thing. 

Alissa  12:46  

So you can use the pop ups to really obtain any kind of information that you want. I know there was a maternity brand, or, like, a motherhood brand that was either like, the pop up appears and then it asks for your name, your email, and then it basically says, like, are you expecting? Are you currently a mother, or are you a grandma, or whatever it is, so they understand what stage you’re in in your life, so they know what kind of emails to send to you. So it’s almost like a mini mini, mini Preferences page, like right at the beginning, which can be helpful depending on what kind of thing you sell and the kind of customers that you’re trying to target with specific emails. So all different things to think about when it comes to types of forms and yeah, so now we’ll get into like, really, like, true best practices.

Vira  13:27  

Yeah, and I really like that you mentioned like them all. And it all comes down to who are your customers, when, where they hang out, and what do they value, what do they want to get from your brand. So you start with a customer in mind first, like always, always. And there are actually many factors that go into creating a perfect high converting signup forms. You definitely need to take into consideration who you create. The form for the design, the copy, what will work for them? Like visually, what image would perform better, the information you ask and even like some things like location or where they are in their life as well. But some of them, some of the best practices, are actually common for everyone. 

Vira  14:12  

And the first one, and we sort of talked about it already, but the first good practice is to be offering something of value. And I can tell you how many times we had this discussion with our clients, we always try to provide the value first before like asking the customer for some sort of action. And the majority of today’s Internet users, they know that giving up their email address may actually result in being bombarded with emails or being bombarded with those SMS and in some cases, even spam. That’s why people are very careful with giving up their emails. And you can even think of the information that you’re asking from a customer as a sort of like a form of currency. Actually, users want to get something just. Of equal or bigger value in return for giving their phone number or their email or their email address or any other information. So think about it as a currency, and always try to give some sort of value to customer in return for giving that information. And your signup forms definitely should communicate that value very, very clearly. So you should communicate what will they get in return? Of course, you can do a good old subscribe to receive our promotions email, but maybe there are better things for your brand. And depending on what you’re selling and who you’re selling to, the value can actually be very different, whether it’s like a good old discount. Maybe you can offer a credit to spend in the store. Maybe you can promise a really good newsletter to be delivered into their email inboxes. Maybe you have some helpful tips and tricks on how to use the product, or guide on how to use your product, or some sort of value. 

Vira  16:00  

Always have this like value in mind, and when building a signup form, whether it’s like an inline form, whether it’s a pop up embedded form, just like ask yourself, If I were a customer, if I were a new customer, would I actually subscribe to that form? If the answer is no, well, you’re doing something wrong. And definitely, on that pop up forms, or on that opt in forms, you can collect all kinds of information. I have the client who we are doing them. They are selling supplements for dogs, like the probiotics and different supplements for pets. But basically, depending on how big of a dog you have, you might use either like one pill of that probiotic or like two pills per time. And depending on how big of an animal you have, you’ll need to have like a different supply of the product per month. And that’s something that we plan to implement in our opt in forms so we can target different customers with different needs. Because, as yo Lisa mentioned already at the beginning, there is no one size fits all marketing, and we want to make it as relevant and as valuable as possible. So that’s the information that we plan to collect in that signup form. And another information that we plan to collect is dog’s birthday, because that’s another that’s another fun flow that we’ll be implementing for this client. We’ll see how it goes. But I’m super excited about this one, because we are doing it with people, right? Very often we’re collecting birthday information to start a birthday flow for a person. But with dogs, I’m really looking forward to it. I think it might be fun, actually. Yeah. So always, always, always think about providing the value first. That’s like the first and probably the most fundamental good practice for the signup forms.

Alissa  17:46  

Yeah, no, I couldn’t agree more, the dog birthday. That’s so funny. I love that. I know right? It’s what my best friend is, like, obsessed, obsessed, obsessed with her dog. I’m also obsessed with her dog. Her name’s Nala. She’s so cute. So this is definitely something that my friend likes, you would have no problem filling out. 

Vira  18:03  

Definitely. I can give you, I can give her a link. Yeah, for the for the client, and I already know that they will actually be sending a freebie. It’s not even going to be a discount. They will actually send a free product to their clients. And I think it’s super cute and super thoughtful.

Alissa  18:20  

So wow, that is, yeah, let me send me that link.

Vira  18:24  

Yeah, I’m pretty sure you know what client I’m talking about. 

Alissa  18:27  

Very useful, very useful. So kind of the next best practice, right? Is having some kind of follow up or sending a kickback email after someone submits that form. So you’ve gone through all this hard work of creating a form, deciding what works best for you and your different segments of audience, but then, once they submit the form, what’s next, right? And obviously, because we’re all up in the email marketing world, the next best thing is to send a follow up email. So there are a couple different places that we do this. When it comes to post, signup, form submission. There are three flows that I can talk about specifically, but then also other things that maybe you want to look at doing as a company with the homepage pop up, for example that I mentioned earlier. Usually what that does is, when someone submits that form, it triggers the pre purchase or the welcome flow. And basically what you want to do is, you want to make good on your promise, right, that you’ve offered in that homepage, pop up. Hey, sign up. You’ll stay up to date, blah, blah, blah. You’re part of our company. Sometimes it’ll be a discount if you like proposing on the first date. 

Alissa  19:28  

That’s totally up to you, but that first email has to make good on the promise that you made in the signup form. So if they’ve opted in because they want to know more about you, or they want to get more information about your company or stay up to date, you should probably send them some kind of thank you or welcome saying, hey, thanks so much for signing up with us. We’re super excited that you’ve joined our brand, and this is what we’re all about. And then now you can actually go ahead and trigger the entirety of a welcome series flow. That’s a really solid time to create that kickback. Email experience, right? The other one is on the exit intent pop up that we mentioned before as well. That’s a flow in and of itself. So once someone actually submits the form on the exit intent pop up, then the discount that you promised in that exit intent form. You need to find a way to deliver that, and the way you’re going to deliver that is via email through the exit intent flow. 

Alissa  20:18  

So usually what we’ll do, and this is kind of getting into the exit intent flow strategy briefly, but we’ll send that email. It’ll have a discount in it. It will be time sensitive, so there has to be a sense of urgency for the customer. And then we’ll send a follow up reminder. Sometimes we’ll include some kind of welcome email, or some welcome information or FAQ or about us plugged in there in the exit intent as well. But then usually, we’ll follow up with another discount if the person still hasn’t purchased with that initial incentive that we provided. So that’s one. And then obviously, with that inline abandoned cart form that we were talking about, where someone starts the checkout process and they don’t finalize it, well, that would trigger, obviously, an abandoned cart flow where we go back and we remind them, hey, listen, you left your cart hanging. We provide them a link that takes them directly back to their cart that whole deal to make sure that they actually convert on the cart that they had originally created and were super, super, super close to purchasing. So those are kind of the three major kickback emails that you would get. And they’re really kickback flows, because ultimately what you want is you want to create a sense of like continuity when it comes to engagement, post submission. The other thing that you can do is just send, like a generic thank you email that’s automated as well. Anytime someone signs up for whatever kind of form it is, you can send them a thank you email. 

Alissa  21:29  

We have some clients who have, like, a content based pop up where it’s a pop up that appears on, like the blog page that’s offering the new customer a freebie, whether it’s a free PDF or a free workout, if you’re like a nutrition brand, or whatever it is, and then that gets sent over to the customer. The kind of biggest takeaway from these kickback emails after submission is making sure that you’re making good on the promise that you originally made to this person. So you’ve had them exchange their information for an obviously explained benefit. You have to provide that benefit, because if you don’t, you’re really going to take some people off, and then you just kind of lose your credibility as a brand. I mean, nobody wants to do that, and you don’t want to start breaking promises right off the bat. That’s not a good way to start a customer relationship. So making sure that you’re just making do on the promises that you made and you will be good to go. The other thing, just to kind of touch on really quickly. So on the SMS side of things, when you’re asking people to consent for SMS, it’s usually a pretty good idea to send some kind of SMS follow up. So you basically send a message to their phone saying, like, Hey, thanks for signing up. Remember, you can always text stop to opt out that standard, generic kind of jargon at the bottom, just so people know, like, hey, the text is working. But also I have the option to hop out of here anytime I want to, because SMS is a little personal. I know we all have our opinions on SMS, but it tends to be a little personal. So you just want to make sure you’re a little more courteous and careful when it comes to that side of things, especially when people are submitting their actual telephone number to you. That’s just a next level.

Vira  23:02  

Agree, and you wouldn’t believe how many times I like subscribe to someone’s newsletter and nothing happened after that. I’m like, Have I subscribed? Did I do it correctly? And very often people even like, don’t connect their inline forms to like clavier or to whatever service they are using. So those emails, they go basically nowhere. And that’s probably one of the most popular rookie mistakes that we have seen with our with some of the people who are coming to us, with some of the clients. And yeah, just even if you’re using the standard Shopify template or something, don’t forget to connect that form, because you are basically leaving the money on the table. People are subscribing to your list, and they are going nowhere. So that’s the number one thing to do you guys, yeah.

Alissa  23:48  

For sure. And it’s funny, because as I was talking about it, I’m like, This sounds so Elementary, like, I hope this actually makes sense to people, like, in the sense of like, this isn’t just like, yeah, we know, we know, we know, but it’s true. Like, now that you mentioned that, I’m like, gosh, there’s so many things that I’ve signed up to in the past where I’m like, eagerly awaiting the PDF, or eagerly awaiting, like, the first email, and I get nothing, and I’m like, Hello, is anybody there? So yeah, I’m with you on that.

Vira  24:14  

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So another good signup forms practice, and it’s a bit of a controversial one as to be using a double opt in for better quality leads. And just to be clear, for those of you who are new to the world of email marketing, let me briefly explain the fundamental difference between the double opt in and like a regular opt in. A single opt in is basically a one step process, the process that probably, like 90% of the brands are using, and that’s basically when you are asking someone to enter their email address or their phone number or whatever information that you’re collecting in that sign up box on the website. And they basically click that submit button and that’s it. No confirmation is required, and they immediately. Become a subscriber. Now there’s another type of opt in in the email marketing world, and it’s called a double opt in form. And I’m sure you guys have seen it, have experienced it before, and basically how the double opt in works. 

Vira  25:14  

A double opt in it involves not one, but two steps process where a person, first, she or he enters their email address or whatever information you collect in the sign up box, but after that, they have to go to their email, they will receive a confirmation email where they must confirm their opt in. Again, that’s why it’s called double opt in, because first you confirm that you want to be a part of the list on your website, and then you receive another email. Now there are clear pros and cons to both, but perhaps the biggest reason to use a single opt in form versus like a double opt in form is that this is probably like the fastest way to grow your email list. And in fact, I found this information, this statistic, on the internet, that marketers generally see about 20 to 30% faster list growth when they are using single opt in, so regular, like regular opt in, 20 to 30% it’s like a lot. It’s like one 30% 1/3 of the list. It’s it’s a lot, it’s a lot. It’s a big, big opportunity. However, you don’t necessarily need more signups. Sometimes you just need more, like a better quality signups or better quality leads. And depending on where you are with your email, depending on where you are with your list, it’s like, ultimately, your decision to make, and if you need people who actually, genuinely interested in receiving your emails, more is not always better. 

Vira  26:47  

So ensuring this like quality signup means that you will probably less likely will have to deal with different spam issues in the in the future, that you will not end up in the spam folder or you will not be blacklisted. So definitely, if you want to have like a top notch quality leads, just consider using a double opt in form. Just remember that by requiring email confirmation. You know for a fact that people are like, serious about your brand, but you know for a fact that the opt ins will be probably like much, much lower. So the decision is yours, but definitely consider double opt in confirmation if you want to have, like, a high quality leads on your on your list. So what are your thoughts about double opt in? Alissa, love it. Do you hate it?

Alissa  27:40  

Yeah, I’m like so back and forth about it. I think it really just does depend on the client, because double opt in, obviously is great, because you get more leads, but you’ll get more legit leads, if that makes sense. And sometimes I get concerned about where some people, some subscribers, are coming from. So you see, like, tremendous list growth, and you’re a little suspicious about whether or not your emails are actually going to be successful. And one of the things that we’ve seen internally is with our clients, is the more like hyper segmented an email is, the better the revenue, and the better the open rate, and the better everything. So it’s kind of like, I don’t know. I’m always on the fence about this one. I never really know, because I want legit leads. But list is also very, very exciting for people. I would say probably the list growth side of things makes more sense when you’re a newer company, because you’re just trying to get awareness across. But then as you become more seasoned and you’re a little more of a vet in the industry, then you can probably go back turn on double opt in. So then that way people who are starting to opt into you’re actually interested in more of a legitimate lead. 

Vira  28:50  

Agree. And if you guys had issues with like spam in the past, or if you had or if you’ve been, like blacklisted, or how it’s called, definitely, definitely look into double opt in. Because moving forward, if you use this strategy, you will likely, just like yo Lisa said, you will likely see higher open rate, increased engagement, and it will definitely help you with your sender’s reputation as well. So yeah, it’s an interesting one. It’s an interesting one, and I’m always like a debate in it. But I guess it depends on where you are with your business, and what are your business goals. So it all comes down to your goals. Honestly, yeah.

Alissa  29:26  

I have a hard time believing any of our clients would ever be okay with double opt in, though.

Vira  29:30  

Funnel, no, I actually had a client. I had actually had a client who wanted to have a double opt in and, and I mean their list, and, yeah, it’s a skincare brand, and their list performs amazing. They have like, 50 plus percent open rate. Have you heard of this open rates before? 50 freaking plus percent, and the click through rates are through the roof. And even though their list is not very big, it’s very engaged, and it brings, like, a lot of revenue. So there’s always, like, pros and cons. So just like, consider them both before getting into one or the other, and you always can change it. It’s not so hard to, like, change your OPT in methods. So like, experiment and see what works for you and what doesn’t.

Alissa  30:12  

Yeah, which, speaking of experimenting, the very last best practice that we would suggest for your signup forms is to always, always, always AB test. And we love split testing here at Flowium, I know Vira and I do it very often with our clients. Just cool to see, like, what can actually alter the results that you’re getting on certain emails and signup forms. So just a couple things that you can consider testing when it is that you are ready to do some split testing or AB testing. So one of the things that you can try is the signup form length. So what you would basically do is you would reduce the number of total fields, or even the number of required fields that a consumer would need to fill out in order to complete the signup form. 

Alissa  30:54  

So that’s one thing. So does it work better when it’s just name and email? Does it work better when it’s first name, last name, email and gender or date of birth. That kind of thing is something that you can test. And I would recommend testing smaller, making the test smaller. So if you’re looking at the length and you test just name, and then email versus name, email and gender, and the longer one works, then you can look at expanding on that and just leaving the name, email, gender, and then testing something a little longer. But don’t go from like two fields to 15 fields, you know, all at one. Little heavy. The other thing that you can test is phone numbers. So now that SMS again, we mentioned this before, but now that SMS marketing is getting more popular, you can do is you can create a signup form, two versions, one that asks for phone number and one that doesn’t. Obviously, people hold their phone number very, very close, but you can start to gage the kind of customers that you’re attracting if people are willing to give you their phone number because it shows that they’re really pretty engaged and feel comfortable sharing that highly personal information with you. So that’s one thing that you can test. 

Alissa  31:58  

The other thing just to note, when you do do that, is making sure that you are specifying that you’re asking the person for permission to text them, and just making that very, very clear that you’re not just asking for the phone number, just to kind of hold on to it in case you need a Valentine’s Day date or something. You know. The other thing that you can test is the intro copy. So usually whenever you see a sign form, you will have kind of like a big headline or an image or something like that, and then also there’ll be copy underneath that kind of explains, like what they’re going to be getting in exchange for their information. So you can test different copy on the signup form, whether you want to test something that’s a little more witty, something that’s more straightforward, something that’s a bit more on brand. There are a ton of things that you can do to test that, the CTA verbiage, CTA color, that big button at the bottom of the assignment form, is something that you can always test out as well. I would suggest testing one or the other before you start to move on to the next. But definitely testing that out and seeing what is going to increase your OPT in rates. Again, you can also try to test the location. So where is this pop up appearing. Is it a fly away? Is it one that just pops up in the middle? Are you testing one that’s time delay, and then one that’s a percentage scroll? You can test those kinds of things too, pretty easily, and seeing what works better with your audience. And then also, you could even try and plug in some social proof. So this kind of goes back to the intro copy, but if you want to stick in, like a review or something like that, versus not including that information and seeing if that encourages people to opt in a little bit easier. That is something that you can also test.

Vira  33:30  

Yeah, we are the kings of AB testing. Flowium that’s like, that’s something that we’re constantly, constantly doing. And when I say constantly, I mean, it like every day there’s like a one little thing that we are testing, and even that thing Alyssa that you mentioned about testing email versus SMS opt in forms, like having Email field versus SMS field, that’s something that I’ve been doing for my client. And I was like, surprised how differently the same opt in form acts on different pages of the same website. So just like you mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, depending on where your customer is with their customer journey, the way they act, the way they respond to your pop ups, it’s completely different. So that’s something to keep in mind as well.

Alissa  34:18  

For sure, for sure the signup forms that I mean, obviously we’ve gone through an entire episode of talking about best practices, but you really have to figure out, as a business owner what’s going to work best for your company and for your audience. And there’s only so much that we can tell you, you have to go in and test it for yourself and see what works best for your people. So those are our best practices when it comes to signup forms. Thank you again, Robin for the inspiration behind this episode. Guys, don’t forget to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. If you do have any questions at all that you’d like us to feature on our podcast episodes, send them in at flowium.com/ask, or if you have mine or Vira’s email, feel free to reach out to us directly in the same way that Robin did. For this episode specifically, and again, like we mentioned before, if you like what we do, please leave us a review. We read all of them and we smile, we laugh, we cry. We love hearing from you guys. So please leave us a revie.

Vira  35:15  

And come back next week, because next week we will be talking to a very exciting guest. She’s a former journalist, she’s a rock star designer, and she combines those two superpowers into copy and design, and she actually is a badass website conversion expert. So something that we briefly touched upon today, we will be talking about, like in depth. We will be talking about the websites, conversion secrets of design and yeah, yes and nays when it comes to the website and design. So definitely come back next week, because we will be talking to Reese Spykerman. So I’m super excited about this one, and I can’t I just like, can’t wait for her to be on our podcast.

Alissa  35:59  

So her website is dope as well. Like, I was like, Oh, this is the stuff.

Vira  36:06  

This. This is the girl we need on our podcasts. Yeah. Well, anyways, thanks for listening, you guys. And if you have any other specific topics you want us to discuss, just send us an email. Send me an email vira@flowium.com or alissa@flowium.com and we’ll be super happy to feature you or one of your questions and our podcast. 

Alissa  36:31  

For sure. Thank you guys so much, and we will see you next week. 

Vira  36:35  

See you next week.