How To Turn Website Visitors Into Subscribers

website visitors

What’s the best way to get your website visitors to subscribe?

Freebies are usually the best. An ebook, a checklist, anything that relates to the core topic (even better when tailored to the given piece).

Email series, of course, work even better. They combine recurring knowledge with a legitimate reason for readers to share their email. It doesn’t have to be too comprehensive – a listicle broken down into an email series often works.

Why Website Visitors and Readers Are Hesitant To Share Their Emails

If you write regularly, weekly recaps (or even monthly) may incentivize one to sign up. Most readers are hesitant to share their emails because:

  1. They don’t want to receive tons of spam — for every single post that goes live, along with other promotions, event notifications, webinar invitations.
  2. It isn’t really clear what goes into a subscription. Do you offer anything extra that a regular reader won’t get otherwise? Any discounts? A personalized newsletter of sort?

It also depends on the regularity of your readers. Popular or niche magazines report a high percentage of returning visitors. Those would be more likely to subscribe. Otherwise, consider why would random hits from Google sign up for your newsletter.

Brand awareness is a key signal here — which often entails a broad suite of activities performed by the business. Most online brands maintain their social profiles, collaborate with others, post interviews, create podcasts, and try to keep their audience longer on the site.

Loyal readers would be more likely to support the business – through subscriptions, sharing articles, recommending to friends, linking back (if appropriate). Most people forget that and think backwards – aiming to grow their list organically without reverse-engineering the reason that initial brand supporters have signed up.

It’s a combination of content strategy, understanding (and targeting) your rightful audience, providing real value through your newsletters. The best combo wins the high conversion rates.