What happens if you don't have an opt-in offer?
Today, I want to talk about an experiment I've been running with my email list.
My email list is absolutely critical to the way I run my practice. It is my primary marketing tool, the way I stay connected with current, past, and potential clients. It's also a way for me to serve the practitioner community in general.
As you can imagine, inviting people to sign up for my email list is important to me.
Traditionally, the advice has been to offer a freebie or opt-in incentive in exchange for an email address. And I followed that advice for a long time.
Over the years, I started feeling less and less comfortable with it. I didn't want to manipulate people into signing up for my list. I wanted them to genuinely want to hear from me and be interested in what I had to offer.
So, last fall, I decided to try something different. I took all of my freebies and made them available on my website, no email address needed. And, instead of offering a freebie in exchange for an email address, I now invite people to sign up for my weekly practitioner notes if they want them.
It's working just as well. In fact, I've been getting more sign-ups than before (which may or may not be related to this particular change...).
The message here isn't that this is the right way to do things or that you should/should not have a freebie for your email list. Your audience may be different, and you may choose to one or more incentives to get them to sign up.
But, it's worth thinking about.
Do you need an opt-in offer? Do you want one?
Are you clearly articulating the reasons someone might want to be on your email list? Are you following through on those promises? And, how can you make all of this clear when you're inviting someone to sign up?
A bit of food for thought as you ponder your own email list & how you invite folks to sign up for it.
