How to: Use Outpost smart calls to action

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If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they hate pop-ups and they don’t think they work, I’d be rich as hell!!!!

I’m sorry to tell you this but…pop-ups work.

Pop-ups are the direct mail of the internet. Everyone acts like they hate them, but when it comes down to behavior, they are super effective at getting your—or somebody’s—attention.

Not just pop-ups though.

Putting action blocks like “join the newsletter” and “become a subscriber” all around your website will get your readers doing those things.

It would be so cool if your audience poured over your website looking for ways to support and amplify your work. But they need in-your-face reminders, because let’s be honest, a bunch of people aren’t even scrolling past the headline.

So how do you manage all these calls to action across your site?

With Outpost.

Outpost is a marketing and monetization tool for Ghost publishers. We’ve talked a lot about how they help you convert, keep and expand revenue, and today, I want to show you how you can use Outpost for smart, personalized calls to action on your site.

Because you can't just post a story and hope people find your newsletter.

Driving action on your site with Outpost

One mistake I see a lot of you making is TOO MANY CALLS TO ACTION.

Not all actions are of equal importance, and also, it’s not always the right time to make an ask. Know the difference between a soft and a hard call to action. You’ll want to throw easy tasks at new readers (sign up for the newsletter) and build up to more involved asks (become a member).

Start by making a list of actions you want people to take and then, prioritize them.

For example, your action list could look like this:

1. Join the newsletter
2. Subscribe to our podcast
3. Become a paying contributor
4. Send us a cash tip
5. Follow us on social media
6. Share this story
7. Leave a comment

Then, bucket them by soft and hard calls to action.

You’re not going to show all the actions on the same page. You need to choose 1 or 2 per story or per page.

For newer readers, you want to use softer actions. For regular readers, you can use harder actions. But how do you know if someone is new or returning?

Outpost uses member status. All your subscribers are labeled in their system automatically and if someone is a “free” reader, you can show a different action than if they are a “monthly” or “yearly” supporter.

You can also lead with a soft call to action and close with a harder action. Meaning that if I’m reading an article on your site, the first request I get is to join your newsletter and the second is to send a cash tip.

An Outpost-injected action on Hell Gate’s site

Put actions inside your articles

Once you’ve connected your Ghost publication, Outpost can plug actions into your pages, dynamically.

There’s two advantages to this over using actions built into your Ghost theme.

1. You can swap them out easily, and have them take effect across the whole site.
2. You can exclude posts by tag or pages by URL.

Plus, depending on your theme, you may not have very good action blocks.

Head over to the Autodisplay section of your Outpost account to find these action spots.

You can have up to three actions per post. Go back to your list of prioritized actions and choose the top priority SOFT action for Slot 1. Slot 2 can either be soft or hard. Slot 3 can be a hard call to action or a repeat from earlier asks.

When you open each slot, you can personalize the ask even further by member type.

Unknown = logged out, anonymous readers (could be members, could not be)
Free = logged in newsletter readers or website users who have an account
Monthly = monthly tier paying members
Yearly = yearly tier paying members

What can you do with this? You can adjust the actions based on your relationship with this reader. Unknown readers can get “join the newsletter” but monthly tier members might get “upgrade to annual.”

Outpost has already created templates of these calls to actions for you.

Tab over to the Library and skim through your options. Then, select one to add to each slot. You can also style these however you like.

Add some beloved pop-ups!

Pop-ups are truly great for newsletters and event promotion. With Outpost, you can fine tune the timing based on how far someone scrolls or how long they’ve been on the page.

If you’re on Tangle and you scroll 50% down into an article, you’ll see this newsletter CTA.

Tangle’s pop up is delivered using Outpost

Web designer Christy Price, who is a longtime blogger, told me that her newsletter pop up works significantly better than her sidebar or in post newsletter boxes.

You can choose a different pop up action for your homepage and your posts or it can both be the same. Newsletter is a good one, but other options here might be promoting your podcast or livestreams or your event calendar.

If you made it down here, but you’re thinking this sounds like too much work, JUST ADD A POP-UP. It will get more people on your mailing list or over to your podcast.

Test your call to actions

Try out different actions. See if readers take you up on the them. Swap out the ones that don’t work.

Outpost makes it easy because you can control them all in one place. Start your free trial and get more readers taking action on your site this week.

I wouldn’t launch a Ghost publication without Outpost (unless you don’t want to make money.) I’m about to relaunch one of my newsletters with Ghost and setting up these action blocks with Outpost is high on my list for launch, along with the Autoresponder—a non-negotiable!