How Pat Walls Optimized Starter Story To Capture 10x Email Signups in 3 months
We talked to Pat Wall from Starter Story to learn how he went from collecting ~200 to 2k emails a day, 10x in 3 months.
How?
- Deliberate email capture widget placements
- Thoughtful value propositions
- Placements throughout different stages of the funnel
- Tailoring it to different audiences.
Here's the proof:
Let’s break it down from top to bottom.
1. Top Menu Bar
Audience: Site visitors
Placement: Top menu bar
Value proposition: Join the starter story community
Pat placed an always-on email collector on the top menu bar. Wherever they are on the site, visitors have a way to join the starter story community by giving their email.
2. Above The Fold
Audience: Visitors land on the home page
Placement: Above the fold, front, and center.
Value proposition: For free, access 4,329 case studies with founders to learn how they start their successful businesses.
It exists above the fold and leads with a strong value proposition, prompting a visitor to exchange their email for a library of case studies.
3. Within The Content Blocks (Lead Magnet)
Audience: Visitors scroll down the home page
Placement: Below the fold, within content blocks
Value proposition: Find your next business idea
For visitors not convinced to sign up above-the-fold, Pat tests a different value proposition with a below-the-fold email widget that blends into his case study catalog page.
4. Within The Content Block (Feature)
Audience: Founders
Placement: Below the fold, within content blocks
Value proposition: Get your business story in front of thousands of readers
If the visitor is a founder, Pat also ensures an opt-in funnel for them.
5. Exit Intent Pop-Up
Audience: Visitors with exit-intent
Placement: Full-screen takeover
Value proposition: For free, join 90k other subscribers to learn business ideas, marketing strategies, and money-making opportunities.
For visitors with exit extent, Pat uses a full-screen takeover to get them over the hill and on his email list.
And he uses all the convince elements:
- Clear headline (Want to discover ideas to make money?)
- Social proof (Join 93,457 business starters)
- Objection Tackling (5 Minute (Saves time), Free (Doesn’t cost money))
- Re-iterates the value proposition (Business ideas, marketing strategies, and biz opportunities)
6. Embedded Within Case Studies
Audience: Readers of a case study
Placement: Embedded within case studies
Value proposition: For free, join 90k other subscribers to learn business ideas, marketing strategies, and money-making opportunities.
Within each case study, Pat places email capture forms giving readers easy access to sign up for the newsletter, and works as a bridge for readers who are enjoying the content.
7. Email Gated Content
Audience: Readers of multiple case studies
Placement: Email-gated case studies
Value proposition: Get a 15% discount for unlimited access to case studies.
For high-intent visitors having reached the limit of free case studies, instead of forcing them down a conversion funnel, Pat opts for collecting their emails first and offers 15% in return.
The redirect page after email submission gives people more information on why they should become paying members.
8. End Case Study Floating Bar
Audience: Case Study Readers
Placement: Bottom menu bar
Value proposition: Specific lead magnet offering 52 businesses you can start with $1k
Quality email subscribers are engaged, readers. So, when someone reaches the bottom of a Starter Story article or case study, Pat gives them a frictionless way to join their email list with a strong value prop.
So, How Does Pat Do It?
- He doesn’t ask readers to sign up - he gives readers a reason to sign up
- He doesn’t just give readers one reason to sign up, but different reasons to sign up (multiple value props)
- He makes it simple for readers who want to sign up - to sign up by placing email capture all throughout the site
- Each email capture form includes the “sign-up secret sauce: Value prop, objection tackling, social proof, specificity, call to value
- Each form has a clear value proposition that speaks to the audience's motivation at different stages of the funnel.
Needless to say, it’s a masterclass on building an email list:
