Even though you are prepared to manage your opt-in mail lists, and have your sign-up box ready to go, it doesn’t mean people will automatically provide you with their e-mail addresses. You’ve got to give them something in order to get something. This is one of the biggest barriers many people foresee when considering this very valuable marketing tool.
People value their privacy and their personal information in light of today’s increasing attention to protection again invasion of privacy and theft identity. You will have to offer them something compelling in return for their information. Perhaps a newsletter aimed at their interests, or an e-book on a subject they’ve told you they’re interested in. Let’s assume you’re already offering something valuable in exchange for their e-mail addresses. If you’re still not getting many sign-ups, it’s likely your incentive that needs polishing.
To convert more of your visitors to subscribers, you’ll need to write a really compelling subscription offer. This is much like the marketing strategy I discuss in E-Mail Marketing Techniques. You first have to attract their attention, create interest, educate, demonstrate, and provide a call to action. So how do you persuade them that your newsletter is worth signing up for? You have to promote it!
If your site sells sporting goods, you need to provide a newsletter that has an obvious relationship to your field. Here’s an example of some copy that’s sure to get a great opt-in response: “The Hoop and Cup is a weekly newsletter jam-packed with all the week’s hottest sports news, stats and stories. It also features interviews with your favorite players, an inside look at next week’s competition, plus a chance to win an autographed photo of the competitor of your choice. Click here to subscribe now!” That’s a little more compelling than just “Subscribe Now,” isn’t it? And the best part is that it takes just minutes to pump up the copy! Here are some other powerful ways to boost your opt-in rate:
Sell benefits instead of features.
If your copy states: “Download our FREE e-book, written by a certified career counselor,” you’d be advertising a feature; telling your visitors a fact about your free newsletter, rather than demonstrating what they would get out of it. Let’s try this: “Certified career counselor John Smith reveals the 10 things you must look for when doing company research, to avoid wasting time pursuing the wrong opportunity. Click here to read this FREE e-book!” That’s a dramatic difference! You’ve educated your visitors and demonstrated how they’ll benefit by signing up for your offer by helping them avoid a delay in finding their next opportunity.
Prominently display your Opt-in Option.
Devote a significant position on your homepage to promoting your free offer. That’s the only way you’ll draw in subscribers. So what’s the best location? Website designers will tell you that the “prime real estate” on each of your web pages is “above the fold,” in the first section that’s visible without scrolling. People’s eyes are generally drawn to the top left-hand part of a page first, so the top or left is the obvious position for your opt-in box. But, what if it doesn’t fit your overall design, or just doesn’t look good there? This is not a question of where your opt-in form looks best. It’s all about where it works best. Test a few different locations. Maybe a new location with each of your regular site redesigns or updates. Whichever position pulls the most opt-ins is the best place for your box.
Display your privacy policy.
Devote a significant position on your homepage to promoting your free offer. That’s the only way you’ll draw in subscribers. So what’s the best location? Website designers will tell you that the “prime real estate” on each of your web pages is “above the fold,” in the first section that’s visible without scrolling. People’s eyes are generally drawn to the top left-hand part of a page first, so the top or left is the obvious position for your opt-in box. But, what if it doesn’t fit your overall design, or just doesn’t look good there? This is not a question of where your opt-in form looks best. It’s all about where it works best. Test a few different locations. Maybe a new location with each of your regular site redesigns or updates. Whichever position pulls the most opt-ins is the best place for your box.
Display your privacy policy. Include a small link to a page that contains your privacy policy when you ask visitors for information. This lets people know that you’re committed to protecting their privacy and makes them feel safe leaving their e-mail address with you. It may seem like a small thing, but is very important to visitors who are skittish about their privacy or identity theft.
A number of large successful websites utilize a powerful third option, pop-up windows. As I have stated in other articles, I don’t believe this is a good option for most websites, particularly those just getting started in building their business. Most anti-virus programs and some browsers provide pop-up window protection. If a visitor uses one of these programs, your pop-up window won’t appear on their screen, and you’ll lose a potential subscriber.
Promotional Options.
Remember, there is always more than one way to achieve the same result when marketing your e-tail website. And, it may be prudent for you to occasionally change the method you use to make sure you cover all the bases. For example, you could make your initial newsletter marketing test an offer to your existing customers for a free subscription to your newsletter. This is a quick way to expand your subscription list very quickly.
If you’ve offered a free subscription to your customers but received a poor response, consider making things a little more interesting by offering them a “special gift” like a free article when they subscribe. This extra incentive should dramatically boost the number of new subscriptions you receive. If your first test doesn’t deliver the volume of subscriptions you had hoped for, try the example of the sporting goods store above, which offered a more attractive incentive, “chance to win an autographed photo of the competitor of your choice.”
Just as promoting your website to search engines is important, so is promoting your newsletter. You can do this by using the informal setting of newsgroups, discussion groups and forums that relate directly to your industry. Simply post a brief description of your newsletter and a link to your subscription page. This is a great way to connect to others who have an interest in your industry and are searching for timely information.
There is another option that you need to go into with your eyes wide open. That is having your newsletter distributed to a third party mailing list. This is called “Renting e-mail addresses.” It is an option some marketers use because they’re given quick, one time, access to a list of thousands of people who have “opted-in” to receive e-mail on topics that interest them, usually at a cost of less than twenty-five cents per deliverable message.
If you choose to use a service like this, it’s essential that you determine that the e-mail addresses have been collected ethically and responsibly. There are a growing number of shady operators who have mined e-mail addresses illegally, and this means you are not going to get the solid quality addresses of people who are directly interested in your product, industry or field of expertise. Furthermore, they probably have not given their permission and “opted-in” to the list. If you distribute your subscription invitation via a list illegally harvested from resume posting boards, newsgroups, and other similar sources, you’ll be accused of spamming! These people have not given you permission to contact them, and you can get into a lot of trouble this way. I can’t overemphasize the importance of making sure the e-mail addresses you rent have been collected ethically and responsibly! I recommend browsing the sites of E-Target, Focalex , Postmaster Direct, YesMail, Targ-it and TargitMail to get a feel for how this lists are developed by ethical third party providers, just so you’ll be more aware of these considerations when considering renting a list for your business.
