Last episode we talked about the exit-intent signup form. There are a few different approaches you can take with that strategy.

This episode discusses using them to offer freebies, discounts and special offers:

00:22 Andy Shore: Welcome back, everybody, we’re gonna continue our ongoing conversation that’s been kicking off this whole podcast about talking about growing your list and the different ways to do that. This group of episodes right now is really focusing on exit intent pop-up forms, and the first one is really the most common one you’ll encounter, it’s probably what you’ll see more often than not if you are seeing an exit intent form, and that’s one that’s promoting freebies, discounts, special offers.

00:51 Daniel Miller: Exactly. And the benefit of this is, as we’ve been talking in the last couple of episodes, is this is your last line of defense. If somebody’s about to leave, you have that chance to show a pop-up to try to engage with ’em one last time. Maybe they missed that piece of information on your site, maybe they were looking for something else, and in that pop-up form that’s exactly what you provide. Freebies, discounts, or PDFs, downloads, all of that you can offer, as well as videos. You can give them access maybe to a specific link that has a video or an audio file, something that they can download. Really, the possibilities are endless onto what you can provide with the pop-up form. The benefit is it’s an exchange of their email address.

01:36 AS: Yeah, so really what you wanna do is they’re on their way out the door, I’m gonna spare you guys a Marlon Brando impression, because I can’t do impressions, [chuckle] but you wanna make ’em an offer you can’t refuse because they’re already leaving, you gotta get something to turn ’em around and keep ’em right there. So it has to be something good that they’re gonna want, you can’t just be like, “Hey, sign up and hear more from us.” They’re already leaving, they felt like they had heard enough, so it’s gotta be something, those previews, those discounts, that’s gonna have value. And Daniel mentioned a PDF, and it’s just like if you have a one-sheet that’s really good, valuable information that’s… Maybe it’s a checklist for doing something, or a worksheet for solving a problem, or whatever that is, that if you can give ’em that free thing, that’s a lead magnet. And it’s gonna keep them coming back, and it’s gonna make them remember your brand because you’re gonna put your logo on it, and every time they go to use that and every time they share it with other friends and other businesses ’cause they’re finding it immensely helpful, it’s gonna continue doing that marketing for you, and it’s all from that last-ditch effort you took with the exit intent pop-up form.

02:46 DM: Yeah. And one thing that I can say is try to be funny with it, but also know your place, in the sense of make sure that whatever the pop-up form is also matches your brand, your brand voice, tone, and so forth. And one thing that I’ve been seeing a lot lately… I’m sure it works because it hits you in the feels, but be careful when you use certain wording like “Sign up or you hate us,” things like that where it’s very extreme. I don’t know, it plays with the emotion, and I can see it getting a lot of sign-ups, but also remind yourself this: Do you just want a lot of sign-ups, or do you want qualified sign-ups that are potentially gonna buy? And really try to have your pop-up form really do the action that you’re looking for, not just get sign-ups. Whether it’s buy or just subscribe, whatever that is, make sure it’s pushing one step further to that rather than just getting tons of sign-ups because, like we’ve said in previous episodes as well, tons of sign-ups may skew your numbers later on. You may actually have a higher engagement rate than you think, you just got a bunch of junk sign-ups that really didn’t care to sign up anyway, and they just haven’t gone through the effort of unsubscribing yet. So keep that in mind.

04:00 AS: Yeah, that’s a good point. It’s like when you’re running contests on social media, you offer a really good prize, sign up and win an Apple Watch.

04:06 DM: Everybody’s gonna…

04:07 AS: Everyone’s gonna sign up, but it’s just ’cause they wanted an Apple Watch, not ’cause they ever wanted to hear anything from you. So stay on brand with what that is that you’re offering because that’s the way you’re gonna attract the right type of leads. And like Daniel said, maybe you wanna use humor or maybe you don’t if that’s true to your brand. In the book we’re gonna release, there’s an example for this kind that’s got the sad puppy dog looking back up at you, but it’s not just in a pathetic way. It’s pretty funny, it’s just like, “Oh, where are you going?” Daniel and I are both dog owners, we know that look when you put your shoes on, or about to head out the door, that you get those sad puppy dog eyes about leaving. So play around with the messages, stay on brand, but stay true to you, and do what’s gonna get them on your list, but the right people on your list, and make sure you’re not losing ’em without that last-ditch effort.

05:00 DM: Exactly. And I’m sorry, but just to clarify, the one thing that that puppy thing does is it shows your brand personality, too. And I think that’s what people are looking for now ’cause most anything, there are a ton of competitors out there. Unless you have a very unique business, you probably have a competitor. And when it comes down to that, I need to decide why am I gonna choose you versus someone else? If your pop-up talks to me the way that I see, huh, you made me laugh, you made me feel something, I’m gonna wanna sign up. But like we were saying, don’t try to just do it just to get sign-ups, because then you’ll just blur your actual subscriber list.

05:35 AS: Yeah, there’s so much automation out there today that whenever you can give those human touches to really just humanize your brand and make ’em feel like there’s people behind it rather than algorithms, it’s gonna help you go the extra mile with that. So thanks everyone for listening. We’ll continue talking about different types of exit intent pop-up forms next time. Thanks for listening.