Spike’s secrets to building a customer database

Your customer database can potentially be very lucrative, as email offers a higher ROI than any other form of digital marketing.

If you are not actively building a customer database, you’re missing out on the best way to generate digital conversions, increase ROI, and create a meaningful communication channel with your prospective and current customers.

Use colour to distinguish your signup box
Is your email signup distinguished from the rest of your site? If you answered no, something needs to change.

Distinguish your email sign up form using colour. In a study conducted by Visual Website Optimizer, they found that by having a red button with white text as the signup box, there were 5% more conversions. Something as simple as changing the colours attracts the attention of potential viewers, giving you the opportunity to achieve more conversions.

Using red as a primary colour for your email sign up box will demand attention, as it is the most emotive of all the colours.

Using orange also demands attention, as Unbounce declared that orange is the future of all call to action buttons.

Be bold with your choices when using signup boxes as this is your opportunity to capture a viewer’s attention, turn them into a potential customer, and convert them through email.

Include a signup method on every page
Give the website visitor every chance to signup to receive your email. Add a link on every page, and make it visible to the viewer. This doesn’t need to be a large pop-up window on every landing page but could be a button in the dashboard, a signup form in the sidebar, or a signup box in the footnote of the page.

By inviting the visitor to join at different steps of the way you have a much greater chance for them to sign up and of turning them into prospective customers.

This helps to link your website viewers journey, as there will be an underlying link between all of the pages.

However, it isn’t wise to have a large signup form on every page, as it may distract from the message you are trying to create with your content and get in the way of your immaculately prepared content.

(The footer of a website giving the opportunity for viewers to again sign up)

Integrated Marketing Communication
It’s important that you integrate your goal of creating a larger email mailing list throughout all of your communication channels. This includes your website, your social, and any other digital communications.

Allow for email signups to take place through your Facebook, as this may be where your customers are most engaged and willing to sign up to your database. Add a button at the top of your Facebook, and produce content that will lead to a signup.

This also lets the viewer know that you have other aspects of the digital presence, and may lead them to checking out your ecommerce store as it gives your brand an air of professionalism as the digital presence is well constructed.

Social media can also be a great way to promote specials and content that will be featured in your newsletters and emails, as you can link the viewer to the email signup form.

Although this shouldn’t be the primary use for your social media, it is a great way to capture those who are interested, and turn them into prospective customers.

(Our Facebook page gives the opportunity to email us, and signup to the Spike newsletter)

Add a descriptive and compelling call to action
Without a compelling call to action, your goal to build a larger mailing list will fail. The call to action will be the last line of communication between you and the consumer; so sell them. It is imperative that you have something that can offer to the viewer that can help to sell them on why they should receive emails from your business.

There are different forms of call to action that you can implement on your email signup forms. Here are some examples:

Giving a coupon in exchange for signing up, i.e.

• “Sign up to receive 10% off your next order”,
• “Sign up to receive free shipping on your first order”
• Offer a “free” issue of your monthly newsletter, reminding them of what they will be receiving. I.e. “Sign up to receive your first issue of (monthly newsletter name) for free”
• Explain exactly what they will receive from signing up. If you are producing quality content, that will interest the consumer as they will opt to want your regular emails.
• Make the consumer feel as if they are joining a club. I.e. “Enter your email to join the exclusive club of members….”. Better yet, make the consumer feel as if they are getting this exclusive membership for free!

Also, make the consumer feel safe in the fact that you will not send them spam. Form anxiety is a real thing, and many consumers avoid filling out forms and giving away their personal details because of this.

Content is king
Give teasers of your content on your various social media channels. This will help reach your followers and give them a reason signup to receive more of your content. If you put your more interesting and compelling content as a teaser with a call to action at the bottom, it will engage your followers in a way that will turn them into prospective customers.

This will help build an interest in your monthly newsletters and will allow for you to create a communication channel between you and your valued customer.

With features with Facebook and LinkedIn, you can format your content to make it seem native and organic to the medium. With this, you can link an email signup form and allow people to receive more of your content via email.

Or, you could get in touch with us here at Spike.

With our industry partnerships and our in-house email marketing software, we can build your database and create conversions using the most efficient form of digital communications – email!

Contact us here if you’d like help to grow and convert your customer database.