To be successful in business you constantly need to focus energy on growing your databases. Particularly when you consider that on average between 20-30% of database contacts will churn away after 12 months.
But what’s the best way to grow your database? Whilst I think the answer varies based on the nature of your business, there are some tried and tested growth tactics you really shouldn’t ignore.
According to a market survey conducted by MarketingSherpa, the most effective email database growth tactics are:
- Registrations during purchase
- Registrations for downloads
- Online events / webinars
Behind every great list growth tactic though is a webform capturing information and adding it to your database. And even the most effective list growth tactic will fail if you have a dud webform.
The many email service providers such as Australian company Vision6 include a webform designer that allows you to easily create a branded webform and embed it directly into your website. But not all webforms are created equal and there’s a few things you need to know if you’re webform is going to do its job properly.
What makes a good webform?
The secret to a good webform is to capture relevant information with minimal fuss. By keeping webforms super easy to complete, you’re able to reduce the friction and anxiety people may feel when providing personal information to your business over the internet.
Tips for creating effective webforms:
- Brand your webform consistently with your other marketing material
- Make it super easy to find the webform on your website
- Include a link to your privacy policy near the submit button in the web form
- Keep the webform as short as possible by only asking for the most important information
- Make it easy as possible to provide information with appropriate field types like dropdown lists, checkboxes, text fields and comment boxes
- Direct people to a confirmation page that thanks them for submitting their information and advises any next steps if necessary