Opt-in: how you can grow your email list and skyrocket your conversions

You probably already know that email marketing is the most effective way of connecting with your customers.  That said, you don’t want to be a spammer (trust me, you really don’t).  So, how do you persuade people to sign up to receive your pearls of wisdom directly into their inbox?

Answer: offer some bait.  That sounds awful, but it isn’t.  An opt-in, or lead magnet, offers your potential customers something that they’ll find useful in exchange for their email address.  There’s no obligation for them to buy, they can just get your freebie and walk away if they want to.  Hopefully they won’t.

How do I think up an opt-in?

Think about your customers.  If you’re already working on your marketing you should be developing a customer avatar anyway so you’ll have some idea of who you want to work with.  If you want to know more about customer avatars, take a look at my recent blog post on the subject here
What do your customers need or want?  What are you offering that will help them?

Be specific

The beauty of a good opt-in is that it’s specific.  It takes a particular need and provides a quick way to make it better.

Your customer avatar should get you thinking about their pain points.  Choose one thing that they find annoying or frustrating and focus your opt-in on that.  For example, say you’re an accountant.  You might have any number of customers who’ve left their tax return to the last minute and they’re panicking.  A opt-in offering 5 -10 tips on how they can make it less stressful next time is likely to be a winner as they’ll want to avoid experiencing that feeling again.

Ideally, your opt-in should offer advice that your potential customers can take away and use immediately.  Seeing quick results will make them think of you more kindly.

It doesn’t have to be painful

‘Pain points’ is a classic marketing term but you don’t have to focus on pain.  You might make something beautiful that will enhance their lives like my friends Emma Kirkham at www.emmakirkhamglass.com and Helen Howe at www.helenhoweatelier.co.uk.

If you offer thoughtful or unique gifts you could offer a short guide to making your partner feel appreciated, treating your kids or how to find a great present for the person who has everything.

A photographer could offer advice on how to take great photos on holiday.

If you help people to get organised and save time, what tools do you use? Sharing these can be a really simple way of helping your customers achieve a quick win.

I help people to create great content and I want it to be seen.  If my customers have taken the time to create a great blog post an excellent headline will help them to attract readers.  So, I offer a guide to writing headlines – you can pick up a copy here.

Be helpful

Remember, the aim is to offer people good advice that they can get working quickly.  Slow and complicated isn’t going to help anyone.

Once you have people signed up to your list you can carry on offering useful stuff along with a bit of marketing.  It builds your authority and allows your potential customers to think of you as helpful and easy to work with.

I’d love to know if you already have, or are working on, an opt-in.  Drop me a comment and let me know!

If you want some help coming up with your opt-in or try a new approach to your content marketing, I’m for hire! Get in touch or register here to receive regular updates, special offers and a free copy of my guide, ‘Marketing magic: your indispensable guide to creating amazing headlines’.

Further reading

Ryan Deiss at Digital Marketer is the king of the lead magnet and digital marketing – visit their site here