When it comes to people opting into your email list, you pretty much have one chance.
The unsubscribe button isn’t bigger than the subscribe button, but one bad experience and it’ll get clicked quick. Email inboxes are cluttered enough with junk that provides nothing but congestion.
If they open up yours, you better make it count.
We’re not being too dramatic are we? Ok, maybe a little.
But people are quick to hit that unsubscribe button and never give a second thought to your existence or the value you were attempting to provide. That is if you do it all wrong of course. We’re going to get rid of a few things. No more strange or complicated download processes. Away with the afterthought opt-ins. No more foggy experiences for your subscribers.
We’re clearing things up and getting started.
The Giveaway
Here’s where we see a ton of businesses doing it wrong, before we start on a rant, take a look at this image.
What’s wrong with this picture?
- They aren’t giving you anything, they are “promising” to give you something of value in the future.
- It says “special offer” in the corner, THIS ISN’T SPECIAL AT ALL.
Don’t make the same mistake this company did. If you’re trying to get opt-ins for your list, give away something and make it valuable. Here’s how to do that.
- Look at your competition
What is your competition offering? If your competition is giving away two free tickets to Disneyland, do you think you can get by with a 5% off coupon?
2. Add More Value
A potential customer has to see value in your offering. We suggest giving away some part of your secret sauce. Giving away something that has value ($3, $5, $7 your cost) is going to cost you money right? YES! However, you’re going to get that back in droves as you curate that person into a customer for life through email automation (the rest of this article).
Examples:
eBooks
Webinars
Video Training
Discounts
PDF’s
3. Everyone’s seen a Bruce Lee movie
This more of a tip than an actual #3, but don’t worry about giving away too much. Add as much value as possible, most of the people you’re giving things away to will try it and realize (whatever you’re offering) is best left up to the pro’s. As the saying goes “Everyone’s seen a Bruce Lee movie, but not everyone knows Karate.”
Deliver what you promised, with ease.
If you promised a PDF eBook download, send it. If you told them they would be getting a free webinar, give it to them. Simple enough, right?
If it were, this wouldn’t be a topic of discussion.
Because it’s not just about giving them what was promised, it’s about making it seamless, efficient and extremely quick.
If you’re going to be offering and delivering a resource, you can do one or both of these tactics:
- Send it immediately after they signup from the thank you page
- In the first email after signing up
Either way, the very first email they should get from you is their promised goods. If they receive another newsletter or email without their goods, that’s no good.
It shouldn’t be confusing or meticulous for them.
So how does this look in practice? I’m just going to make this up as I go, so fill in the steps with your own unique twists, opt-ins and CTA’s. But let’s look at a few examples of how this could be done:
Example 1
A ___________ Guide
Ok you have their email, now what? Let them know it’s on its way — it’s not only a professional touch but it also lets them know that you received their request for a deliverable.
After this, their PDF should be in the very first email they receive. If there’s a link involved, make sure that the link is at the top. Don’t make them scroll past more information to find it. Make it clear. Make it simple.
Simple enough right?
From there, they click the link and it takes them straight to download their new PDF guide.
We do an 12 page step by step guide for eCommerce SEO.
Example Instant Download
In this model, you get their email, but they receive an instant download. Their deliverable is immediately available to them, no email, no fuss, just simple.
Just like in the previous model, your very first email should be the deliverable — this time with a message like:
“Hey Sam, hope you didn’t accidentally close out of your eBook! If you did, here’s the download again!”
You can fill it up with perhaps another chance for a deliverable or whatever else you decide.
Sure, there are other opt-in options with Convertkit.
They give you single and double opt-in options tool around and play with. You’re going to have to weigh the pros and cons and decide what is best for your model.
The secret sauce of sequences
- Offer a deliverable for an email
- Email them the deliverable right away
Now you have their attention and their trust by delivering what you promised right away. Now it’s time to hook them in with more relevant and useful content while they’re engaged.
- Create a sequence of subsequent emails that provide more value
- Celebrate, Drink a beer, do whatever you want while your list is on autopilot.
Through our sequence with ConvertKit, we send 8-11 emails (depending on the sequence) over the course of 2-3 months (depending on the sequence). We don’t bombard our potential customer’s in-boxes, we just give them a light value add nudge every week or so.
The secret sauce
Every one of our emails adds a ton of value AND every one of our emails links to a well written (good) piece of content on our blog. Inside those blogs, as we’re providing value, we’re also saying “hey, if you don’t want to do this, we can do it for you.”
Ok, we never EVER say that outright, we just give a nudge like this.
We can also do the nurturing campaigns for you or your clients.
Check out our service page here, or just try it yourself, it’s super easy when you get the hang of it!
Email Isn’t Going Anywhere
Email is one of those services that seems like it’s going away, but the truth is it can’t. Just like mailboxes and the post office still manage to exist in 2018, email is now an ingrained part of communication and delivery.
There are new and exciting ways to take advantage of this service happening every day. And it’s never too late to put your email list on autopilot.
