5 Tips for Increasing Your Email Newsletter Opt-In Rate
by Larry Slusser on February 27th, 2008
You want to increase the email distribution of your email newsletter. Being front and center for potential clients or customers is your goal for increasing your bottom line, and what better way to do that but to be in their inbox when they are ready to make a purchase. But how do you do that?
While you are eager to get going on creating a website that will hopefully boost your visitors and email newsletter opt-in rate, below are some suggestions on how to improve your opt-in rates.
1. Offer something for free, such as special report, e-book, e-zine, etc. This entices the visitor to sign up-they are receiving something free, while you receive their email address for further communication. Putting a testimonial on your invite page will help to obtain the email sign ups.
2. Describe the “What’s-in-it-for-me”. Another way to obtain emails for your list is by using language that will capture the reader. Most people are just skimming through text when they read. Describing the benefits of signing up for your email newsletter will help to capture the visitor. People want to know what they will receive, not thinking how it will impact your business.
3. A little personalization goes a long way. You may want to consider asking the visitor for their first name, in addition to their primary email address. This will allow you to personalize the information you send out to them, which will make it seem less like spam and more like a benefit they are receiving. Be careful, however, not to ask for too much information on your email sign up form. The more information you ask for (beyond name and email address), the less likely visitors will be to sign up.
4. Make sign up as easy as possible. During the design phase, it is important to make the boxes and buttons to click on very clear, such as the sign up and submit buttons. If they are not obvious and a visitor has to hunt around for it, you will have potentially lost a client or customer. Also, if you have too many steps in the sign up process, you may lose these potential clients or customers. They are not usually going to back up or return to sign up for a newsletter after they have already left the site. Make it easy for them and you will receive their information.
5. Include your privacy policy. This will put most people at ease knowing that their information will not be sold or be given away to other companies who will send them spam emails.
By implementing these easy tips, your email sign up lists will increase substantially in addition to increasing the number of visitors to your site.