What is an opt-in?
An opt-in is a term used when someone agrees to subscribe to your marketing channels (generally via email).
Offering an opt-in to your audiences is usually how you can begin your lead nurturing process, so it’s incredibly important that this step is crafted with care.
A lead is any person or organization interested in your product or service. How to tell if they’re interested? Well, if a person visits your website, you can almost guarantee they are interested to some degree in what you’re offering.
Offering an opt-in is a surefire way to nurture their interest, harness the power of email marketing, and begin building a relationship with them. Whether you require a single email opt-in via a marketing form or require double opt-ins through an email confirmation, making this connection with your customers is essential.
Best practices to get website visitors to opt-in
It’s one thing to have a visitor on your website. It’s an entirely different ballgame to persuade customers to opt-in to your marketing after one quick page view. Learning the best practices to get website visitors to opt-in will begin creating value for the customer and prevent your emails from filling up their spam folders. Here are three key best practices:
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Educational content
Sharing educational content is powerful because it provides your audiences with value. Educational content can be offered if the viewer hasn’t purchased anything or just made their first purchase. Whether the content that’s being shared is a free guide, an ebook, or an explainer video, all of your communications should provide value.
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Offers/Discounts
Who doesn’t love a good discount? This is especially true for customers who are already interested in purchasing from you. Sending a coupon or discount via email is an effective way to pique their interest and redirect them to your website. A simple 15% off coupon could mean the difference between a customer buying from a competitor or from you.
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Free subscriptions
Many customers abandon their purchase or “cart” due to extra checkout costs. Some 60% of carts are abandoned at checkout once users face hidden costs. Offering a free subscription can be the extra push for your customers to make their first purchase.
Another way to look at this is to create an incentive to purchase (a loyalty program). This is when customers are rewarded with points that can be used toward additional purchases. As they earn more points, they receive more gifts and discounts. Implementing a complimentary subscription or loyalty program is a great way to reward customers and keep them coming back.
The power of email marketing
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to boost revenue for your business. Whether you’re trying to generate awareness, traffic, increase revenue, or nurture your leads more effectively, email marketing is the way to go. Email marketing is effective because it allows your company to share valuable, pertinent information that you have control over.
One way to see just how powerful email marketing can be is to look at some companies doing it right. Let’s take a look at some examples:
Hubspot
Hubspot is an inbound sales and CRM platform that helps businesses convert leads, attract visitors and leads to create a seamless customer experience. Their email marketing is powerful because it offers educational material that adds value to the customer and makes them want to return.
Not everyone who visits your site wants to be sent emails. Keeping a realistic list of interested customers will help your emails from becoming spam. Hubspot does this very effectively with its opt-out emails.
NerdWallet
NerdWallet is a website that offers financial products and educates users on all things finance, such as building credit ratings, credit cards, mortgages, and student loans. Because NerdWallet specializes in financial advice, their emails are chock full of helpful tips and expert guidance.
Not only do they contain advice, but there are plenty of attractive, eye-catching graphics and links you can’t help but click on.
Canva
Canva is a free graphic and digital design website that gives users the ability to design and create content without having much graphic design experience. From logos to photo editing to social media posts, Canva helps anybody create a professional-looking design.
Not only does Canva shine when it comes to providing tools for graphic design, but also when it comes to their email marketing. Because Canva is so simple to use, even “non-creatives” can begin designing something beautiful in just a few clicks.
Create better emails faster with Stensul
As already noted, email marketing is the most effective way to nurture leads, generate revenue, and continue building customer relationships.
To underscore its power, think about it this way: If you were struggling with something in your personal life you might contact a friend to meet up and offer support. You might relay to this friend something you’re struggling with and hope they can offer some support or advice. Chatting face-to-face means that a friend is willing to listen and is there for you emotionally. It’s important to have friends who are willing to chat and spend part of their day with you. However, if that friend follows up a few days later to check on you and ask how you’re doing, it shows just how much they care about you. Email marketing is the equivalent to that follow-up message.
Interestingly, while email – once it gets to your target – is highly effective, the process to create that email for the overwhelming majority of companies is pretty much the exact opposite. It takes a week or more to get just one email out the door for 80% of all brands. And it’s not uncommon for it to take even longer.
The reason is the way those marketing emails are created. The common method involves the use of single-purpose tools used by specialists operating in silos. This results in a complicated process, marked by lots of back-and-forth between those involved in the email creation, that’s prone to bottlenecks. There is a way to create better emails faster.
The Stensul Email Creation Platform™ brings all involved to a single environment that lets them create more effective emails in less time. Stensul has simplified collaboration and streamlined email creation. With Stensul you can cut email creation time up to 90% so you have the time to test, refine your strategy while efficiently creating more performant emails. What you send your email opt-ins is up to you, but if you’re re-thinking how you send it, Stensul can help. Click here to get started with a free demo.
