Using Squeeze Pages to Encourage Registration
By: Cody Moya | Posted: 25th March 2006
It's being seen more often these days: you go to a website, but before you can do anything an opt-in form page pops up. All they want is your name and your email address, but it slows you down and annoys you. Why do these people persist in serving up these pages?
In the case of these – squeeze pages – it's because, according to those who use them, you can get as much as a 40% increase on the number of signups in comparison to the number you get without a squeeze page. This is a significant change to your newsletter circulation, and can make a huge difference in customer retention and in your newsletter circulation.
But how do you get them to sign up? Simple: you offer something of value in return for their email. For instance, if you run a natural-health website, you can create a report – basically a small e-book – that informs your customers about the properties and benefits of herbs that you sell. (If you're not a writer, that's not a problem; you can buy private-label rights articles that you can build into an ebook.)
The Trick to Using Squeeze Pages
There are two basic types of squeeze pages, and if you want to use them on your website, you should experiment with both to see which gets a better rate of signup. The first is a small, undersized interstitial. These are often used by newspapers and magazines to get people to subscribe; but you can turn it to your own purposes. It can pop up every time, and say something like: "To get our free monthly newsletter, enter your name and email address here." This kind of squeeze page is by its nature optional; it's open in a second window with your regular website beneath, and it can be easily bypassed.
The second type of squeeze page is more intrusive, but according to many it works very well. This is a regular page that comes up and won't let you bypass it – much like a required registration page for a newspaper. With this sort of page, you can put in a short note about what the customer can expect to get from his or her experience on your website, and ask them to please register – for free – in order to use your site.
The second sort is much more intrusive and demands much more trust from the customer than they may be willing to give. Though sites promoting squeeze pages claim that they dramatically increase the number of people registering on your page, it's probably a good idea to experiment with it, perhaps on a secondary site, before dropping it on your page. It's possible that it works for some communities and not others; it's also possible that sites promoting squeeze pages are exaggerating the potential for their own purposes.
What you can do with a squeeze page is "personalize" the visit of your visitor – refer to him by name at the tops of pages, pre-enter name and email on any forms you'd like them to fill out past the squeeze page, etc. This, too, is of dubious universal value. It's possible that certain communities would eye personalization like this with distrust and loathing, sort of like the salesman who's too friendly, pats you on the back too many times, and makes a point of using your name too much.
Squeeze Pages Versus Building Trust
Squeeze pages are probably an adequate solution if you're building websites that probably serve one-time customers; for instance, if you're selling a single piece of software, or if you're running a quick one-time promotion. However, if you're planning to have a long-term relationship with your customers, it's probably better to captivate them with excellent content and an opt-in signup for your emailed newsletter.
Great content builds trust, over time. A squeeze page may force limited trust, but it's so annoying that it may damage your ability to initiate trust with your customer.
After You Capture Your Audience
Getting your potential customer to sign up for a newsletter is only the first step. You really want to turn them into an actual customer. One way to do this is to use a serial, or pre-planned series of articles, to market to them, instead of a normal periodical newsletter.
The difference is a newsletter is sent out to all your subscribers at the same time; each subscriber sees the same articles each week. A serial is more like an e-course; the customer first receives Article 1, then at a pre-planned interval subsequent articles until you're ready to close the sale.
This means that the first article each customer sees, whether they subscribe in December 2005 or August 2006, is the same article. It's similar to a tutorial; you're "educating" your customer into purchasing your product.
Alternatives
Nevertheless, the concept of a pop-up window trumpeting, "Sign up here!" is a seductive one. It's easy for your customers to miss the link to their newsletter page. It's also easy for them to procrastinate signing up until later – and then forget, clicking off your page to go elsewhere and never returning. A happy medium might be a small interstitial or pop-under that requests your customers to sign up for a free newsletter.
Or you can have the sign-up form prominently displayed on your home page. If your customer signs up from there, a cookie is deposited to tell your site not to generate a pop-up page. But if they leave your site without signing up, a small interstitial pops up, asking, "Thank you for visiting Buck's Popsicles. Did you forget to sign up for our newsletter?"
By popping up at the end, you don't alienate a customer who just got to your site. And when the pop-up does appear, your customer has probably done one of two things – not signed up for your newsletter because he or she is not interested, or not signed up because they didn't see the registration form or they simply forgot to. A polite reminder at the end of your customer's visit is a good way to catch the absent-minded customers while not irritating anyone at the beginning of the visit.
About the Author
Cody Moya writes about Article Marketing in his free 50 parts course on Internet Marketing. You can sign up for his
Free Internet Marketing Course and get additional information at his website: http://www.marketing.us
Printed From: http://www.articlealley.com/article_38329_3.html
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Tags: email address, ebook, e book, newspapers, magazines, customer retention, squeeze, private label, natural health, free monthly newsletter, herbs