Are you focusing on email list building, but you’ve heard such great things about SMS marketing (high open rates and click-through rates) that you’re seriously considering getting started with SMS marketing?
Asking for a phone number and an email address at the same time could lower your conversion rates. And this is probably what’s stopped you from collecting phone numbers so far.
Luckily, there’s a solution! It’s called the Trojan Horse method, developed by the founder of E2 Agency and Klaviyo Expert, Jason K Williamson, where you start by asking for an email first, then offer an extra incentive in exchange for a phone number.
Depending on the incentive you offer, you can expect 30-80% of your email subscribers to become SMS subscribers, too!
How Nexus Nutrition used this formula to grow both their email and SMS lists
Nexus Nutrition, an Australian wellness brand, struggled to grow its email list with traditional popups. E2 Agency helped refine their strategy: first, they collected emails with a mystery discount, then offered extra perks for joining the SMS list. This two-step approach led to a 11.78% email conversion rate and 4.28% phone number conversion rate.
Step 1: Choose a template
The easiest and quickest way is to choose from our pre-made Trojan Horse templates (see below). If you choose to go this way, you can jump to the 4th step to target and activate your campaign.
If you would like to create a campaign from scratch, you’ll have some extra steps. First, choose a regular sign-up form and fine-tune it to your style.
Step 2: Add extra pages to your campaign
A regular sign-up form consists of two pages. A Main Page where the visitor signs up and a Thank you page where we display the coupon code/ebook link/etc.
In the Trojan Horse campaign, you will need to have 5 pages:
- Main Page: where the visitor will sign up.
- 2nd Page: where the visitor can choose if they would like to sign up to your SMS list as well (survey).
- 3rd page: where the visitor can sign up to your SMS list if they have chosen to sign up to your SMS list on the 2nd page (SMS signup).
- 4th page: where that coupon code is displayed if the visitor has only subscribed to your email list (Email Thank you).
- 5th page: where that coupon code is displayed if the visitor has subscribed to both your email and SMS lists (SMS Thank you).
It is practical to rename your pages so that it will be easier to set up your button actions.
Step 3: Set up your campaign
3.1. Main Page
The Main Page should only contain an input field where your visitors will be able to add their email addresses.
The button should be reported as a conversion and should take the visitor to the next page on your popup.
3.2. Survey
You will need a survey with two options. Here, you can ask your visitors if they would like to upgrade their discount codes (sign up for your SMS list).
If they do, they should be taken to 3rd page on your popup — where they can subscribe to your SMS list.
If they don’t, they should be taken to your 5th page on your popup — where you display the coupon code that you give, in return for the email-only subscription.
This step shouldn’t be counted as a conversion.
3.3. SMS signup
This page should contain an input field where your visitors can add their phone numbers.
The button should take the visitor to the SMS Thank you page and it shouldn’t be reported as a conversion (so there will be no duplicated conversions).
3.4. Email Thank you page
Here, you will need to display the coupon code that you give to your visitors in case of email only subscription.
3.5. SMS- Thank you page
Here you will need to display the coupon code that you give to your visitors in case of an email + SMS subscription.
Step 4: Target and activate your campaign
