Wish your website captured more quality leads? Set-up email capture forms based on Intent!
You’re in luck. I’ve been using website forms to capture thousands of leads across many different verticals. I’ve done testing everywhere and anywhere.
Now, I won’t tell you to use a scroll matt or a pop-up. I don’t promote lead capture that interrupts a visitor’s experience. In short, I’m not a fan of interruption marketing. In one test I ran, I found pop-up leads were 1/12 as likely to convert as someone who organically opted-in to my forms. I was ruining my best visitors’ experience to capture poor leads. Not smart.
Your number of leads don’t matter. Your number of customers do. That’s why I only use intent-based lead capture forms. After focusing on only intent-based forms, I’ve seen the quality of my email list increase, higher open rates, more customers, and more return visitors. I can’t complain.
Here’s an example of an intent-based lead capture form I have on the homepage of my website that takes the visitor to a landing page. Why does it work well? It answers these five crucial questions:
- What? Free growth tactics.
- Who? You.
- Where? In your inbox.
- When? Every week.
- How can I believe you? Influencer testimonial.
The Tactics
Notice how the opt-in has a strong contrast to get you to focus on the button. It helps to increase the conversion rate. Also, I use the verb on the button, “Give.” Verbs help prompt the reader to take action. Next, I use the word “Me.” Because I start the opt-in with a question, their natural response in their head is “I want it” or “Give it to me.” It’s in the first person. This is why you don’t write “Get Your Free eBook” on buttons. You see this everywhere, but most times it performs worse.
The software I use to create all my lead forms is Thrive Leads. They enable me to A/B test all my lead forms with statistical significance. They also show me which forms capture the most leads so that I know where to optimize.
One of the ways I use Thrive Leads is to segment my audience with intent-based forms. In the picture below, I’m using several intent-based forms with different value propositions. This helps me get an understanding of what my readers want. I can produce tons of different content, but it’s important to know where I should focus; otherwise, I’m wasting my time.
Thrive Leads allows me to segment my forms based on posts, categories, and tags. The possibilities are almost limitless when it comes to the personalization for your visitors. Moreover, I’m a huge fan of the drag-and-drop editor similar to what Autopilot uses. It makes the learning curve smaller and provides an ability to iterate my design quickly. I think all marketers and founders can appreciate faster validation for their tests.
What next?
It’s time to change the forms on your website. You’re competing for time. That means your website is a small army man against the large army of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Quora, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Those platforms don’t use interruption marketing, so why should you? Focus on intent. This way your customers will thank you for their experience rather than leave after the first pop-up. In turn, they’ll spend more time on your site developing a stronger relationship with you.
Give your visitors a memorable website experience. They want it.
