Improve email opt-in rates through the wisdom of crowds?

We all like the comfort of the crowd. The knowledge that others went here before us tells us we're on the right path.

You see this concept of social proof applied all the time by online retailers, who use testimonials, customer reviews, bestseller lists etc. to help drive conversions.

A new sign-up to your email list is also a conversion.

So why not apply the same approach to your sign-up forms and sign-up page copy? It makes intuitive sense, yet hardly anybody does it.

Try testing testimonials, text and display widgets:

Add testimonials to your sign-up page

Whenever you get positive feedback about your email, ask the sender if you can use their comment and name in a testimonial and post it on your sign-up page.

Unsolicited testimonials come across as more genuine and less contrived than those you get when you ask for them. (See this post for excellent advice on online testimonials.)

Add indicative text

At its simplest, using social proof just means changing a line or two of copy. Here's what I added to my sign-up page a while back:

"Over 3,000 marketers, agencies and businesses already benefit from their email subscription...join them:"

I've not done A/B tests yet, but since adding that line of text, sign-up rates have increased. Coincidence?

Add dynamic social proof indicators

I made that term up. It means any automated display that gives people the feeling that others believe signing up is worth doing.

See whether your IT folk or ESP can come up with any of the following to test out:

1. A small icon displaying real-time subscriber numbers:

Last year, AWeber published a case study showing how displaying such an icon lifted sign-up rates by over 30%.

2. A self-updating display widget stating how many people signed-up recently:

436 visitors signed up for the newsletter in the last 24 hours

3. A scrolling display widget which updates every time someone signs-up:

mark@**********.com signed up to this newsletter 5 minutes ago
jamie@*******.de signed up to this newsletter 15 minutes ago

(Obviously you'd need to disguise the actual email address as above for privacy reasons.)

4. An interactive map:

Zappos just launched a map page with a real-time display of new purchases and the location of the purchaser. It's fun.

Why not do that for email sign-ups? Let people watch new subscribers appearing in real time on a map of the world or your region.

One argument which might make the social proof tactic backfire is that of exclusivity. If your list is positioned as an exclusive club available only to the lucky few, then mentioning all those other subscribers might take some of the shine off that selling point.

And, of course, you need to have enough existing subscribers or regular new sign-ups to have the desired impact. Otherwise you might actually discourage opt-ins when your widget says you have 23 subscribers and the last one signed up in 2007.

Hence, as always, these ideas are for testing before simply implementing.

Any other thoughts on using social proof to drive opt-ins?

More on list building | Tags: email marketing, list growth

Tags: email, email marketing