Increasing Opt-In Conversions By Holding Your Subscriber's Hand To Completion

Do you have an opt-in form that you use to grow your mailing list? If so, it will become one of the most valuable assets you have, especially if you take the time to target your subscribers. To read more about finding targeted subscribers, read my post entitled, "Golden Nugget: Collect E-Mail Addresses."

But many people work hard at finding their targeted subscribers, giving them a great value in exchange for their e-mail address, and then drop the ball when the subscriber goes through the opt-in process. This post will help you see some simple, yet powerful things you can do to hand-hold your subscribers through the process of confirming their e-mail subscription, thus increasing your opt-in conversion rate.

Before we get to that, here are a couple of housekeeping notes:

1. If you have not entered my Twitter contest yet, make sure you do so now. You can win over $1300 worth of marketing books, classes, mailing lists, website memberships and more from 15 book marketing experts.

2. Check out my free video tips for authors. Just sign up for my free subscription and you will receive weekly video tips that walk you through some of the more technical aspects of marketing your book on the Internet. Reading how to do something is one thing; looking over the shoulders of an expert as he or she does it can make all the difference in the world. Visit my sign-up page to view a free sample video now before making your decision.

Now, on to the post...

When we talk about mailing list, there are some concepts and terms we need to understand. The first is Opt-In vs Double Opt-in:

Opt-In: When someone opts-in to our mailing list as a subscriber, they give us their e-mail address. We can then immediately start to send them announcements as our subscriber. The problem with opt-in lists is that anyone can sign you up for the list. If I have your e-mail address, I can sign you up to a list and you would start to get e-mails from the list owner. To prevent that, most lists now move to a double opt-in list.

Double Opt-In: With a double opt-in list, a subscriber provides an e-mail address and the list owner sends a confirmation e-mail to the subscriber. The subscriber MUST confirm that they want to be on a list, usually by clicking on a link provided in the e-mail. The subscriber is not "subscribed" to the list until they confirm that they, indeed, do want on that list.

So, here is a typical set-up that many list owners employ to grow their list:

1. They offer something of value if someone signs up on their list. It may be a free book, e-book, membership, tips sheet, or in my case, free video marketing tips.

2. They create an offer page. This page has two major components.
a. A description of the offer- "If you sign up, I will give you this awesome gift."
b. A sign-up form- At minimum, the form usually consists of a field to enter a name and a field to enter an e-mail address.
(There may be more than these two elements on the page (i.e., privacy policy, newsletter/e-zine description, etc...), but these two elements are the main ones designed to encourage people to opt-in to our lists.)

3. They create a "Thank You" page. Once the person signs-up for the list, they are redirected to a page that says "thanks" for signing up and the page usually encourages them to check their e-mail.

4. They create a confirmation e-mail message. The subscriber then gets an e-mail asking them to "confirm" their subscription request. They usually click on a link to confirm, thus the term "double opt-in" (Opt-In the first time when providing their e-mail address and the second time by clicking the confirmation link).

5. They create a "subscribed" page. When the subscriber clicks on the confirmation link in the e-mail, they are usually taken to a page that confirms that they are now subscribed to the list.

Look familiar? Chances are good that you have double opted-in to a few lists in your life and perhaps have your subscribers doing the same.

Too many times, however, when we as marketers create this process for our lists, we sabotage the confirmation process by making the language along the path confusing. This can easily result in many subscribers not finishing the process by confirming the subscription. Here are some tips to use along the way to hold our subscribers hands all the way to the confirmation process.

To illustrate, let's assume that you are offering a free e-book if someone subscribes to your newsletter. You create the offer page and add the sign up form. When someone subscribes, they are sent to a "Thank You" page while simultaneously being sent a confirmation e-mail.

1. Thank You Page- Not only do you want to thank them for subscribing, you want to remind them to check their e-mail to confirm their subscription. Let them know that after confirming their subscription, they will get their free e-book.

By tying together the free e-book and the confirmation e-mail on the "Thank You" page, you are reminding the subscriber that there is still work they need to do before they get their free gift. Here is my "Thank You" page for subscribers who sign up for my free video marketing tips; (or you can see it by signing up for my free videos).

2. Confirmation E-mail- If you stick with the e-mail template that your e-mail service provider offers, your e-mail may be overlooked as junk, or SPAM. I recommend adding these elements to your confirmation e-mail because they are probably what your subscriber is looking for:
a. Add their name in the subject line
b. Mention the free offer in the subject line and the body

Here is a sample confirmation e-mail:

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Subject Line:
Tony, please confirm your newsletter subscription to receive your free e-book

Body:
Hi Tony

You are receiving this email because you signed up for
my free weekly newsletter on my web site at:

www.marketingtipsforauthors.com

In order to complete your subscription and receive a copy
of the free e-book, Great Marketing Tips, you will need
to CLICK the following link:

$optInLink$

If you no longer wish to subscribe to this newsletter,
simply delete this email. However, if you would
like to try us out, you can cancel your subscription at
any time from the bottom of any newsletter we send to you.

Best Wishes,

$Signature$

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3. Subscribed Page- Once the subscriber clicks on the verification link, they will be directed to a web page confirming their subscription. You need to personalize this page with at least the following:

a. Thanks for subscribing
b. Here is the download link to the free e-book (or, if you are e-mailing the e-book, instruct them to check their e-mail for their free e-book)

Of course, you can have other items on the page as well (products, video, etc...).

By taking the time to personalize each step of the double opt-in process for your subscribers, you are holding their hands along the path, letting them know what to do each step of the way. By mentioning the free gift in each step, it let's them know that the requested action from them is important to complete in order to get the free gift.

Many subscribers take the initial step of giving their e-mail address out, but never complete the process by confirming their subscription. You can easily increase the conversion rate of your list with a little hand holding.

Tony Eldridge