Make the opt-in a logical next step
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Written by admin on September 29, 2008 – 11:36 pm
To grasp the concept of a logical next step, return with me to the metaphor of the museum where people go to find the love of their life. You’re standing next to an attractive person whom you’d like to know better, looking at the postmodern painting of a 12-foot-high piece of lined notebook paper.
The person glances in your direction, smiles, and says something like, “I wonder what music the artist was listening to while she was painting this.” You say, “I’ll tell you what I think if you give me your e-mail address.” End of conversation, no? The request for their e-mail address had nothing to do with the prior conversation. On your Web site, your opt-in will not work if it’s just a thinly veiled attempt to build your list.
If you need inspiration, consider the tech-support hotline model. Have you ever waited on hold for 20 minutes for tech support, listening to cheesy music or endless repetitions of “Your call is important to us, and we will answer your call in the order it was received”? And then you get a live person, start explaining the problem, and 30 seconds later you hear a click and a busy signal?
After years of this treatment, I finally got a technician who began the call by asking for my phone number and e-mail address “in case we get disconnected.” Boy, I was never so happy to give away my information before. I had been given a logical reason to share that information, so I did. Why do you need your visitors’ e-mail addresses?
What are you going to send them via e-mail? Why do they want it? If you ask for a phone number, how will they benefit from your call? Spell it out: “Leave your phone number if you’d like to talk about which perennials will thrive in your garden.”
