Almost all ecommerce sites are using some form of PPC (pay per click) advertising. It’s an effective way to reach individuals on many different channels and drive traffic to your website. But is increased traffic really the goal you want to achieve? Of course not. You want your PPC traffic to turn into leads and customers. I’ll review the basics of PPC landing pages and how you can use incentives to convert more of your paid traffic into email subscribers, social fans, and most importantly, sales.
Traffic is nothing, unless you find a way to convert it. On average, 98% of people that come to your website don’t convert. This means that the majority of your website visitors leave without submitting an email address or completing a purchase. This puts more emphasis on email marketing and social channel marketing. Your goal, at the very least, should be to acquire your visitor’s contact info and, if possible, get them to buy from you. By using incentives, you can influence them to do both.
The Landing Page
Make sure your landing page has information that is consistent with the ad the the visitor clicked on to get to your site. For example, if your ad is displaying a sale on winter jackets, you would want to have content about winter jackets, not your upcoming spring line of clothing. It’s simple, direct the shopper to what they’re looking for.Engage these visitors by presenting them with an incentive to join your mailing list. Typically, I see retailers offering visitors “access to exclusive emails with news, deals and sales” or something to that effect. Yes, your newsletter probably offers great value to shoppers but it does not provide instant value. I’d recommend offering visitors an incentive that they can immediately receive by entering their email address or performing a social action. This could be a promo code, entry into a sweepstakes, or access to some an ebook or other piece of valuable content.
Using the Right Incentives
Certain promotions may be more well suited depending on your landing page content and your end goal for your PPC campaign. Here are three potential incentives to use in unison with your paid traffic campaigns.Coupon Codes: You already have a coupon/discounting strategy. Acquire new email and social leads with these same coupons. Offer visitors a coupon that they can instantly receive on your site by entering an email address or performing a social action. Consider percentage discount, free shipping, and gift with purchase promotions. These incentives tend to work best on sale and specific product landing pages. The added benefit is that coupon codes can drive a customer to purchase within the same visit! Chemical Guys presents a 10% discount offer to new visitors coming from PPC ads:
Sweepstakes: This is by far the best way to rapidly build your email list through your PPC campaigns. Simply ask visitors to enter their email address for a chance to win one of your products. The key here is to offer something of higher value that your ideal customer would have great interest in. This way, you get leads who are likely to buy your products. I’d recommend this promotion on any PPC landing page, especially if your goal is to acquire new email subscribers. Tower Paddle Boards, had tremendous success with building their email list by running a sweepstakes. They offered visitors a chance to win an inflatable stand up paddleboard. Their promotion is pictured below:
Gated Content: If your product offerings present an opportunity to provide shoppers with additional information, you may want to consider gating some content. Offer visitors an Look book, recipe book, video or another piece of content that they can instantly receive by submitting an email address or performing a social action. Content has become a great way to add value to the shopping experience and it could make sense for your store if you offer the right content. Garlic Shaker offers 40 delicious recipes in a free e-book to new email subscribers. In the last month, Garlic Shaker acquired an average 92 new email subscribers per day with a gated content pop up!
The most effective way to do this is with an incentivized opt in pop up. This puts your clearly stated promotion in front of every set of eyes that comes to that landing page. It also makes your email opt in form accessible and creates a need to subscribe to your mailing list. Finally, offering instant incentives on site can rapidly increase the number of new email subscribers and drives sales conversions.
To add an incentivized pop up to your PPC, email or sales strategy check out Justuno, a versatile on site marketing tool that seamlessly integrates with your Volusion site and email marketing service.