Question: Our B2B is looking to aggressively grow our email list. Any tips for getting more people to opt-in?
The first question I would ask any client who asks me this question is…
Why would anyone want to subscribe to your email list?
If you don’t have a good answer for this, then unfortunately a little ways away from building a lead generation campaign using opt-in.
Remember, we are in an era where we are constantly being sold to. People are getting smarter and they can better see the “Free Ebook and Webinar” as what it is, Lead Generation Marketing.
Unfortunately, much of the collateral being offered these days isn’t worth the paper it is (or isn’t) printed on. For the brands offering the freebies, once they have your email and other info they have what they need.
The point here is, to even consider opt-in you better have content and information that people really want. If not, you will be surprised how hard it is to get people to sign up for your list.
However, for helping those who are creating content, let’s assume you know why people would want to sign up. Your content is solid and people are reading it. Further, you have established trust with your reader community that you are a source of information and inspiration for them. At this point, it is important to make it simple for people to opt-in.
While there are many ways to go about opt in; be it giant popups as you are reading (annoying) or boxes at the top and bottom of every page, or a link from your email signature, the question here comes down to what is your action message.
More or less, what compelling collateral or data point do you have that will make people want to jump on board.
Here are a few popular methods for driving people to opt in.
One way to inspire people to sign up is the follower mentality. You will see many opt-in pages and boxes that say things like “Join 10k others who are getting our life-changing content in their mailbox.” This works, I don’t know how many of these businesses really have 10k email subscribers, but it is compelling.
Another very popular method is what I suggested above and offering what is referred to as “Premium Content.” This may be a book, a research guide, a white paper or some other give away. People will often trade their email and a few other details for a useful piece of content. However, buyer beware of what I said above, many people have seen enough of this so your message better be as good as you say.
Finally, I find when you limit the amount of data you request you will get more people to opt-in. Now I caution that this will also lead to more riff-raff as people will give you junk email boxes and fake names etc. However, if reach is more important than target then less is definitely more.
A final observation on Driving Opt-In’s
At the end successful inbound marketing is about trust. When people trust your voice, content and brand they will feel more comfortable joining your list.
Undoubtedly an email list can be a business weapon, however it is also a way to irritate and annoy your customers until they aren’t customers (or prospects) anymore.
Think about how you are earning trust, then build it, and then ask for the opt-in. While this takes more work, you will also see much better fruits from your labor.
What are the most successful techniques that your business has used to drive high levels of inbound leads and email list opt-in’s! Oh and don’t forget to opt-in to my email list below 🙂
Do you have a question for “The Mailbag?” Click Here to submit your question and have it featured in an upcoming Mailbag.
Daniel Newman is the co-founder of V3*Broadsuite and is an experienced C-level executive, serving as a strategy consultant for small and mid-sized businesses. He’s also an insight/analyst partner to four Fortune 50 enterprises and previously served as the co-founder and CEO of EC3, a hosted IT and communications services provider. Prior to that, he served as the CEO of United Visual, Inc. in Chicago Illinois.
He is a widely published writer who contributes weekly to Forbes, Entrepreneur, Huffington Post and industry publications such as Commercial Integrator, Sound & Communication and Corporate Tech Decisions. He’s also author of three best-selling business books including The New Rules of Customer Engagement, The Millennial CEO, and just recently Evolve: Marketing (^as we know it) is Doomed.
Daniel has established a reputation as a leading thinker in topics such as Social, Big Data, Cloud and Mobile. He has been named to many top influencer lists in all of these areas, including recognition by the Huffington Post as one of the 100 business and leadership accounts to follow on Twitter. He is also an adjunct professor of management at North Central College.