How to use video to grow your email list

Your audience craves video. It’s why Snapchat is so popular. It’s also why Instagram copied Snapchat’s video features to allow users and brands to create and share video content. And it’s also why Facebook users watch an average of 100 million hours of video on mobile every day.

But they’re not only craving video on social media platforms, but in emails as well. In fact, simply adding the word “video” to your subject line can:

• Boost email open rates by 19%
• Increase click-through rates by 65%
• Reduce unsubscribes by 26%.

What these stats tell you is that video is powerful because it helps to tell a story, to explain a complex idea, to entertain. And it also requires minimum cognitive effort as our brains can process video 60,000 times faster than text.

So why not take advantage and use it to engage and delight viewers and turn them into email subscribers? Here’s how.

Offer educational videos as a lead magnet

Your audience is tired of reading. Reading seems hard, at least to our reptilian brains as they browse through the information tsunami that is the Internet.

Video seems to make things easier. That’s why explainer videos are so effective – because they take all the hard thinking out.

So if you have tutorials or any type of educational content in text format, consider turning them into a video or a series of videos. They can be anything from a video tutorial to a recorded webinar and even a Q&A.

For instance, if you’re a fashion designer and want to teach your audience how to make their own dress, you could write a long article like this one, or you could shoot a video where you show exactly how it’s done. It’s much easier for users to see step-by-step instructions applied in action instead of having to read pages of text.

Once you have your video ready, you can create a landing page for it and add a call-to-action asking for their email address in exchange for access to the video. When a person signs up, simply email them the link to the private video.

For example, Social Marketing Writing has a nice content library of resources for users, including a video tutorial on how to market a business on Pinterest. This is the landing page for the tutorial:

To get access, you need to enter your email address and then you’re sent the video to your email:

If you use video as a lead magnet, make sure the topic is both relevant and interesting to your audience, otherwise you’ll have a hard time getting them to sign up.

Add an opt-in directly into your videos

One other way to collect email leads is by adding an opt-in form inside your video.

Wistia is a cool video hosting service that allows you to do just that. When a user watches your video, the video is paused at the moment you choose, and the opt-in appears (referred to as turnstile). To continue watching the video, viewers have the options to either fill out the opt-in form or close the opt-in box.

Here’s how it looks, and you can watch a video of how it works here:

Wistia’s got some very useful data on where in the video to place the opt-in box to get the best results.

As you can see, placing your opt-in form at the beginning or the end of the video doesn’t yield the best results. The placement for the highest conversion rate of 43% is in the 10-20% range.

They also have some interesting data on whether you should make the opt-in optional or compulsory in order to continue watching the video.

Here’s what they discovered:

So it seems you can get more users to sign up if you make the opt-in compulsory instead of optional.

Now, if you don’t want to restrict access to the video and interrupt the viewing experience, Wistia also offers the option to add annotation links. These ones appear in the upper right corner of the video while users are watching the video and it’s a good opportunity to ask them to subscribe.

Here’s an example:

Add a sign-up pitch to your YouTube videos’ description

If you’re on a limited budget and are already using YouTube to promote your business, why not also use it grow your email list?

For example, when you upload a video on YouTube you can use the description section below the video to also include a pitch encouraging viewers to subscribe to your mailing list if they’d like to receive great videos and content via email.

On our 123 Reg YouTube channel we add links to our blog for viewers interested in other great resources.

But you can add any link you like, including a link to your email subscribe page.

And here’s an extra trick. YouTube only displays a small part of the description and users have to click “Show more” to read the rest of it. So if you want to make sure users see your sign up pitch, make sure you place it above the fold, like in this example:

Facebook lead ads with video

Did you know that you can create lead ads on Facebook with videos instead of images? Here’s an example of how a video ad looks:

While in this ad you’re taken to a landing page where you can learn more about the course, you are free to link to any page you like, including one where you entice users to sign up for your mailing list.

If you’re not familiar with Facebook ads, take our free course on social media advertising where you’ll learn everything you need to know about getting started with Facebook advertising.

Also, here’s where you can learn more about video adverts on Facebook and how to create them.

In your emails

If you’ve created some very useful videos, why not email them to your current mailing list? Not only are emails with videos more engaging, but you can also urge subscribers to forward them to anyone else who might benefit from them.

Don’t forget to also include a “join our list” call-to-action in your email’s footer so people can subscribe to your mailing list.

Wrapping up

So these are five ways to grow your email list with videos. Are you using videos to grow your list in any way we didn’t mention? Tweet us your ideas @123Reg.