Optimizing Email Signups for Gift Buyers

Email signups are an important part of marketing strategy for most brands. However, it’s not always that easy to get users to voluntarily sign up for emails. No one wants extra noise in their inbox, and while you know your emails provide value, it takes the right copy and design, displayed at the right time to convey that to your customers. This can be an even bigger challenge for brands where a major portion of sales come from gift purchases, and users may be less likely to make repeat purchases, and therefore less willing to sign up for ongoing marketing emails. This UK based retailer specializing in one-of-a-kind gifts sought to crack the code, and used SiteSpect to A/B test several versions of their email sign up module.

Effective Email Registration for Gift Givers

When a user purchases an item from this store, they are prompted to register with an account if they wish. During this process they have an option to sign up for marketing emails. The original version of this prompt had the copy, “Yes, I would like to receive marketing emails,” with a checkbox. But, the brand’s web team suspected that email signups were lower than they could be, so they conducted their own customer research to better understand barriers to sign up. Research showed that a third of customers don’t sign up for emails because they don’t see themselves purchasing from the brand again. Based on this research, the team hypothesized that rewriting the copy for email signups to emphasize product and sales trends would be more appealing to users shopping for gifts than general marketing content.

A/B Testing Signup Copy

The brand A/B tested four variations of copy for their email signups, each focusing on a different theme.

1. Favorite Products: “Get your favourite products straight to your inbox – treat yourself and the ones you love.”
2. New Products: “Discover new products.”
3. Sales Led: “Be the first to know about our discounts and sales.”
4. Trends: “Receive the latest trends.”

Each variation saw a significant increase in submissions against the control, ranging from a 21% to 46% increase in signups. The least successful variation was the trend based copy, and the best was the sale led messaging at 46%. Across devices the sale themed messaging saw a 52% increase for desktop and tablet users, and 41% increase for smartphone users.

Based on the brand’s estimated value per email signup, the sale led variation is projected to generate over £50,000 over the course of 30 days. Based on this success the team is reviewing other areas where signup copy could be optimized, including for existing customers who have not opted in being given another chance to subscribe to communications, and how this signup should be presented in a new checkout format.

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