Even the top-performing Facebook Ads have relatively low conversion rates.
Think about it. When was the last time you bought a product right after seeing an ad? Most of the time, that’s not how it works, right? We do our research, read reviews, and we shop around before making a purchase.
Your customers operate the same way.
The typical e-commerce website converts fewer than 3% of visitors into customers.
That means over 97% of the people who click through on your Facebook Ads will leave your website…
And never come back.
Unless… you make one simple addition to your advertising process.
Add an exit-intent opt-in form to your product landing pages.
A strong exit intent offer can help you increase your conversion rates by 10, 20, or even 50%.
What is an exit intent opt-in?
An exit intent opt-in is an email subscription form that pop-ups right before your visitors are about to leave your website.
Now, I know just about anything that pops-up is super annoying. Ads, email opt-ins, clowns, snakes… there aren’t too many good things that pop-up.
But exit intent pop-ups are the lowest on the scale of visitor badgering email opt-ins. These savvy little list building tools don’t interfere with your visitor’s browsing experience.
Exit intent opt-ins are triggered by your website visitors’ cursor movement. The opt-in form will only appear when your visitor is about to navigate away from your site.
So, you don’t have to worry about your opt-in form covering your landing page while your visitors are trying to buy your products.
The three types of exit intent offers that will increase your conversion rates
There are three common types of exit intent offers.
Exclusive content
Info products are well known for using free guides or special reports in their exit intent offers.
But you can also use exclusive content to help promote physical products. This strategy can work wonders for increasing your ad conversions on high-ticket items.
Take, for example, one of my favorite fascinations – building a backyard ice rink.
It’s highly unlikely that a visitor (like me) would be willing to plunk down that kind of money after clicking through on their Facebook ad.
Yet, there might be another way, a better way, to win a customer here.
If this merchant were to offer a complete DIY rink building guide in their exit intent opt-in, they would likely capture a lot more traffic on their landing page.
This ad is promoting a $1400 DIY ice rink.
Also, that type of exclusive content would position this brand as the trusted authority on outdoor rink building… which in turn, should result in more sales.
Discounts
Discounts are, without a doubt, the most common type of exit-intent offer.
You can deliver a discount via an exit offer in a few different ways.
First, you can make your discount available immediately when your visitor clicks your pop-up.
Or, if you believe your potential customer isn’t likely to take immediate action, you can deliver your discount via email.
Then you can use email marketing to nurture their interest in your product. And you can remind them about the discount you offered.
Using exit-intent discounts to reduce cart abandonments
You can also use exit intent discount offers on your check-out pages. The e-commerce merchant Nicehair found that offering an exit intent discount on their check out page reduced cart abandonment by over 40%!
Talk about making an impact!
Imagine what a 40% drop in cart abandonments would do for your advertising ROI?
Free gifts
Free gifts are another way to try to entice Facebook visitors to opt-in to your email list and shorten their path to purchase.
Exit-intent freebies usually include things like free samples, free shipping, or a buy-one-get-one offer.
Say “thank you” to increase engagement
Most email opt-in tools allow you to redirect your visitors to a “thank you” page after they sign up for your list. This page is another often overlooked yet critically important piece in your advertising funnel.
After all, you just spent your hard-earned ad dollars convincing your customer to click through on your ad and check out your product.
And then, you interrupted them at that critical moment when they were about to leave your site and head back to Facebook.
If you want to hold their attention, you need to tell them what to do next.
So, use your thank page to show your new subscribers what to do after they opt-in to your list.
For example, if you gave away a free guide, tell them which email address it’s coming from and how to find it in their inbox.
Or if you offered them a discount, tell them how long that discount is active for, and how to redeem it.
Also, there’s a good chance your first email will wind up in your new subscriber’s promotion tab or junk mail.
If you want to avoid the trash bin, explain how to go find your email and move it to their primary inbox tab.
Every 1% increase in deliverability can have a big impact on sales. So use the real estate on your thank you page wisely.
Use the Over-The-TOP + The PESO to produce sales
After you use your exit-intent offer to stop your potential customer from wandering off back on to Facebook…
And you get them onto your email list…
… What do you do next?
How can you convert your new email subscriber into a customer?
Well, first things first. You need to stand out in their inbox.
The Over-The-Top welcome email 
Your customer is most likely to open the first email they receive from you because they’ll be looking for the free guide, gift, or discount you offered them. This means your welcome email is your first and best chance to make an impression.
The best way to make this email count is by using what Chris Orzechowski refers to as the Over-The-Top welcome message.
Essentially, you want to send an email that’s so different and unforgettable that your brand immediately stands out from everyone else’s.
Building desire using the PESO sequence
After you’ve planted your flag in your new potential subscriber’s inbox, you want to nurture their interest in the product.
To do that, you can use an email onboarding sequence I call the PESO.
The PESO consists of four emails.
The first of the four is your proof email.
The Proof 
In this message, you want to provide proof that you hold the solution to your potential customer’s problems.
You can do this by sharing one of your happy customers’ “transformation stories.” Or by talking about notable influencers who your product has helped. The goal here is not to directly sell but to help legitimize the value of your products in your customers’ minds.
The Explanation
The next email is your Explainer. In this message, you’re going to explain, in plain terms, the technology or unique solution your product provides. And you’re going to keep that solution rooted in the benefit to the customer. This is your opportunity to show why your product is really the only viable solution your customers should consider. If you have an “explainer” style video for your product, this is the perfect time to share that content.
The Solution
Your third email is your solution email. This is where you can share your discovery story. You want to talk about the problem that inspired you to create your product. And how your inspiration to create a solution led you to want to help others who experienced the same problem.
Sometimes this type of message is referred to as the “hero’s journey.” Through solving your customers’ problems, you establish a bond with them and become their champion.
The Offer
Your final email in this sequence is your offer. You can include subtle offers in any email you wish. But it’s good to have a dedicated offer email that you deliver after you’ve built up interest in your product.
You can also use this email to counter your customers’ objections. For example, you could call attention to your free return policy, trial period, or free shipping. Most important of all, you want to ask for the sale directly.
Optimization is a numbers game
All right, so we covered a lot of ground. And we even got into the weeds of email marketing.
The most important thing to remember is that increasing your advertising conversion rates is a numbers game.
For example, let’s say 3 out of 100 people who click on your ad make a direct purchase.
Yet, 15 out of the 97 people who didn’t purchase right away take your exit intent offer.
And out of those 15 people, 3 buy from you over email… well then, you just effectively doubled the conversion rate of your advertising.
Those numbers may sound a little on the high side if you’re advertising an expensive product. But once you start optimizing your Facebook Ads funnel, you’ll likely find they’re well within reach.