Building out your email list continues to be one of the most fundamental ways to grow your online business. Communicating with people through regular newsletters helps to build trust and draw people into your world.

But email addresses are a high commodity and a lot of people are wary of giving out their details. Today I’m talking about 9 elements to consider when creating your opt-in page so that your freebie actually works for your business to create conversions.

WHAT EXACTLY IS AN OPT-IN PAGE?

You may have heard of the term lead magnet, which is usually a freebie that people can get access to. The opt-in page is where someone can pop in their email address in order to obtain the lead magnet. The goal is to make sure that you are maximising the results for your business from that page. Here are some ways to do it.

CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?

The first point to consider is having a bold headline that grabs the attention of your target audience. It’s important to be really clear here about exactly what your promise is and what it is that you’re providing.

Underneath the headline, include a subheading to give a little more detail about what you’re providing. Explain the benefits of WHY someone should want this freebie. How will it help them and what problems will it solve?

Next is the call to action. This is the button people actually click to download the lead magnet. Make sure this is bright or in a high contrast colour so that it’s really obvious what people need to do in order to obtain your freebie. And be creative with the copy here. Make it really clear and enticing, like “Yes, give me it now!”

WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF DISTRACTIONS. KEEP IT SIMPLE

It’s tempting to want to include every little detail and loads of graphics on a page, but most of the time, less is more. Keep your opt-in page really simple so that you can minimise, or even better, completely eliminate, distractions. You just want to provide one really clear action for people to take, which is to submit the form and opt-in.

In terms of the actual form, keep this simple too. People don’t want to spend a lot of time filling out details so my advice is to stick to the bare minimum. This might vary depending on the needs of your business, but in a lot of cases, a simple first name and email address will do.

COMMUNICATING THROUGH IMAGERY AND CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

Think about how you can illustrate or represent your lead magnet through the imagery on the page. Make it tangible so that people can visualise what they’re going to get when they opt-in.

A bonus tip here is to make sure you create a level of consistency with your website aesthetics, ensuring that it makes sense with your brand instead of being really different or unexpected. This helps to build trust with your audience and leaves no surprises which might turn them away.

Another way you can really build trust and help people understand what your offer will provide is to include social proof through the form of reviews, comments and feedback you’ve received in the past. Social proof can be so powerful because it helps people see that other people trust you. It shows them that someone else opted in and had a good experience, which means they will too.

WHAT IS THE DATA SAYING?

When it comes to marketing, everything is iterative. Have a look at the statistics behind your opt-in page to see what the opt-in rate is. Think about how you can make it better and what you could do to create even more conversions. This is where you can test, refine and tweak the page to find out what works and what doesn’t work. Remember, keep it simple and do one thing at a time so you can really collect data on what is helping.

The most important thing is to put your offer out there, instead of holding yourself back while you aim for perfection. Connection over perfection is what it's all about!

LINKS:

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