by Want to grow your email list? Wondering what type of opt-in offers convert best?
In this article, you’ll discover three types of assets you can use to attract new email subscribers and how to validate your email opt-in offer through market research before you launch it. You’ll also get benchmark conversion rates to assess whether your email opt-in is working and learn what to tweak if your conversion rates are too low.
To learn how to create an effective email opt-in asset to grow your email list, read the article below for an easy-to-follow walkthrough or watch this video:
#1: Develop an Opt-In Asset That Adds Real Value
Growing an email list is an important part of growing an online business so you need to have opt-ins that will entice people to give you their email address. So how do you make sure your opt-in will convert? Here are three ways to get it right.
Simplify Something for Your Audience: For starters, create an opt-in that will make your audience’s lives easier. Think scripts, a behind-the-scenes view of how you do something, or templates. People want something that won’t take a lot of time to implement.
Show Your Audience How to Do Something: Many times, businesses will just want to give their audience more content via an opt-in. After all, isn’t more content better? Not necessarily—often more is just more. You want to help people get a result fast so use a framework that shows them the steps to take to get from point A to B as quickly as possible. They’ll thank you by sharing online how wonderful your opt-in was and what great results they got.
Make a Big Promise: While you can’t guarantee results for everybody who uses your opt-in, it’s important to tell them what those results will be. Be bold. Tell them you can save them time or money, help them generate more money, or alleviate stress.
#2: Perform Market Research to Validate Your Opt-In Idea
Once you have an idea in mind for the type of opt-in you’ll create, you need to do some market research to validate your idea. To do this, I recommend turning to Facebook groups—whether yours or somebody else’s—to validate your concept.
First, come up with three opt-in ideas and ask a relevant Facebook group which one of the three they like best.
Once you’ve gathered feedback, brainstorm three titles for that opt-in idea. Test which one of those titles your group likes best.
The last step is to ask group members to choose which cover design or type of content they prefer.
By doing this market research, you’re not only getting valuable feedback but also building buzz for your opt-in.
#3: Design Your Email Opt-In Page
Now you’re ready to create the page that will get people to opt in so let’s talk about what you should include on that page.
Start with a headline that states your big promise.
Then add three to five bullet points that clearly convey the benefits of getting your opt-in and what it will do for them.
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Next, design your opt-in form and decide what information to ask people to provide. This might include first name, last name, email fields, and a submit button. Don’t actually call the button “Submit,” though. Instead, say something like “I want this!” or “Yes, give it to me!” or “I can’t wait!”
The last element to include on your opt-in form is a bio. If you’re the face of the company and super-famous, maybe you could get away without having a bio. But nowadays, people want to know who they’re getting products and services from before they’ll give you their email address.
Include a nice headshot with your bio, preferably one that feels organic and real—not one where you’re just sitting and staring at the camera.
Pro Tip: Your bio shouldn’t just be about your credentials. It should be relevant to the opt-in. For example, if your opt-in is about how to use Trello as a tool, tell people why you love Trello.
#4: Use Benchmark Stats to Assess Your Email Opt-In Performance
Once your opt-in goes live, you’ll be able to track how well it converts.
Thirty percent is a good marker for conversions. If it’s less than 30%, you’ll need to make some tweaks. If it’s 30% or more, it’s a scalable model. You could run Facebook ads to it and do a variety of other things. Read this article to learn how to run Facebook ads to help grow your list.
The general rule is that you want at least 50 people to opt in before you make changes so you’ll have some significant statistical data to work from.
If you’ve had at least 50 people opt in and your conversions are less than 30%, you’ll want to change two things first. Note that you only want to change one thing at a time so you can measure what’s working and boosting conversions.
Start by changing the headline first. Then after you test the headline, test your bullet points. Make sure they’re even more enticing and highlight the benefits, not the features.
In addition to the headline and bullet points, there are many other tweaks you can make to your opt-in page to test your conversions but I would try those two first because they’ll make the most significant difference.
Conclusion
To entice people to give you their email address, start by brainstorming what type of opt-in you want to create—something that makes life easier for your audience, shows the steps to get from point A to point B quickly, and/or makes a big promise.
After you have an idea in mind, validate it with your audience and then design a page that will drive conversions. Once you have at least 50 opt-ins, see if you’re getting the conversion rates you’re looking for. If not, tweak the headline and bullet points to improve your conversions.
What do you think? Which of these tips will you try when creating your next opt-in offer? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
More articles on social media marketing:
- Learn four ways to collect emails from your Facebook group.
- Find out how to use Instagram Stories to drive traffic to an opt-in form.
- Discover how to promote your email opt-in via your Pinterest profile, boards, and pins.
