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 8 Opt-In Offers Your Visitors Can’t Refuse
Derek Gehl: E-Business -
Entrepreneur.com
Look beyond newsletters
in your online marketing efforts to find
customers for your e-mail list.
These days, consumers know that their
personal information is gold, and they won't
give it to you unless you give them a really
compelling reason to opt in to your list.
And it’s definitely worth your while to give
them the incentive because a good opt-in
e-mail list will start generating profits
for you immediately--and continue to do so
well into the future.
Your opt-in incentive should:
There
are tons of different incentives you can use
to encourage people to give you their
personal information, but not every offer
will suit every website or business.
Most people think of newsletters right off
the bat, for instance. But for some
businesses, a free newsletter just won’t
work. Suppose, for example, that your site
sells washers and dryers. You're going to be
hard pressed to come up with interesting,
relevant information about laundry for your
free newsletter every month.
Before you start a newsletter, think about
how much relevant information you can
deliver to your audience and how much time
you have to put it together so it can be
delivered regularly. If it turns out that a
newsletter isn't a good fit for your
business, here are eight other ways to
collect your prospects' e-mail addresses:
1. Offer a free course.
If you have a lot of know-how in your field,
you can turn your "expert" status into a
free multipart course. Ask yourself what
kind of information visitors are seeking
when they come to your site and what you can
teach them.
Your course can contain text, audio,
graphics--even video--whatever suits the
material you're delivering. Just send your
subscribers a link to the web page where
your course can be found. Unlike e-mail,
your website doesn't put any restrictions on
how much rich media you can feature.
Once you’ve developed the course, you can
use delayed autoresponders to e-mail it to
your subscribers at specified intervals,
exposing them to your business and your
offer repeatedly. And the best part is,
you’re contacting them with information
they’ve specifically requested.
2. Offer a free e-book.
An e-book doesn't need to be hundreds of
pages long to be useful. An
information-packed e-book can be as short as
eight to 10 pages and still provide major
value for your opt-in subscribers.
You can also make your e-book viral by
encouraging your customers to send your
e-book to others. Your message can spread
like wildfire--and help you attract tons of
highly targeted, potential customers.
3. Offer downloadable articles.
If your site contains a lot of useful,
original, content-rich articles, one of the
best ways to collect e-mail addresses is to
require that visitors to your site opt in to
your list if they want to download those
articles in full.
As long as you offer useful information and
as long as the downloadable articles contain
something that people can't get for free in
the version you've posted on your site, you
can expect to get a ton of sign-ups using
this strategy.
Now maybe you're not comfortable writing, or
your business isn't suited to a written
opt-in incentive. The following opt-in
offers don't require much writing at all:
4. Offer other "downloadables."
Articles aren't the only items you can offer
for download on your website. Why not offer
e-cards, screen savers, desktop wallpapers
or templates that your visitors can use in
exchange for their opt-in information?
For instance, if you sell books about pet
care, you can offer e-cards or printable
greeting cards with photos of cute animals.
Or if you sell beach home rentals, you could
easily create a screen saver with pictures
of some of your most beautiful destinations.
You can even offer a free monthly
subscription or members-only area for these
special items.
5. Offer a regular contest, puzzle or
game.
Depending on the kind of business you run,
there’s a multitude of different options for
this type of opt-in incentive. Some examples
include:
A contest to win one of your products. But
remember, don't offer to give away the
primary product you sell. People will enter
the contest hoping to win--and leave your
site without considering an actual purchase.
A contest to win an item (or a coupon for a
percentage off an item) related to your
product. Say you sell party favors--hats,
toys and streamers. You could hold a contest
to win a free birthday cake from a bakery in
your area or a coupon for a party rental
place.
A weekly puzzle, game or quiz. The type of
puzzle is up to you. You can set it up as a
contest and draw a name from the winning
entries to award a prize, or you can require
that people give you their opt-in
information to get the answer.
6. Take a survey.
Surveys give you a good excuse to appear in
relevant newsgroups, forums or related
newsletters and provide a link to the survey
page on your website. Let participants know
you’ll send them the results if they give
you their name and e-mail address. Because
participants have to come to your site to
fill out the survey, you should be able to
take advantage of all that new traffic and
generate a significant number of new
opt-ins.
7. Offer a members-only forum or
discussion board.
Members-only forums and discussion boards
can be a major draw for people in niche
markets. You can step in and provide a place
where like-minded people meet and discuss
their hobbies or their concerns.
Besides attracting opt-ins, this will also
give you a great opportunity to learn more
about your customers and what kinds of
products or services you can develop to
further meet their needs--and grow your
business. You'll need to establish some
community rules and moderate the forum, but
in the meantime, your subscribers will be
creating valuable content for you.
8. Offer members-only specials.
One of the easiest ways to encourage
visitors to opt in with their personal
information is to offer them a chance to
save money. It can be as simple as something
like this: "Do you want to receive our
special MEMBERS-ONLY offers? Every month we
bring exclusive deals to our subscribers
that you can't get anywhere else! To start
saving now, just sign up below." This is a
great way to drive opt-ins and sales and to
make your potential customers feel
appreciated before they even buy your
products.
There are many different opt-in incentives
available--you just need to apply a little
creativity to choose the one that's right
for you and your target market. The first
step in creating a solid opt-in strategy is
to consider the people you want to opt in to
your list. Just as the best businesses are
created in response to the needs of a
specific niche market, so are the best
opt-in offers. With some customizing, any
one of these ideas could build you a highly
targeted opt-in list.
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