Yesterday I spanked on open rates.
Today?
It’s gonna be opt-in rates.
Whenever I see people bragging about their 50, 60, 70 percent (whatever inflated number they throw out there) opt-in rates I almost have to shake my head.
I’m not saying high opt-in rates are bad.
But, they ain’t always what they’re cracked up to be.
Think of it this way:
Imagine two marketers selling the exact same product, get traffic from the exact same sources, and offer visitors the exact same bribe/gift/bonus if those visitors give up the goods and opt in.
The only difference is their capture pages.
Marketer #1 puts zero barriers up to weed out the losers.
Thus, he gets lots of freebie seekers.
Lots of drama queens.
And, lots of people who “hulk out” if you pitch anything.
Yes, he gets lots of opt ins — including lots of people riding the goo-roo carousel — going from one site to the next, downloading every “FREE!!!” offer they can, with no intention of investing in themselves — either financially or in terms of time.
Not so with Marketer #2.
He does things differently.
He puts barriers up.
He doesn’t want just “anyone” opting in. He values his time and what he has to offer his market far too much for that.
So he does things like:
- Doesn’t use hyped-up language (he goes the opposite direction — tones it down)
- Makes people check a box before they can opt in
- Clearly says they’ll be getting mailed promotional emails daily
- Even lets them bypass opting in altogether to see the content on the site, if they choose (i.e they are not forced to opt in, only if they want the bonus)
- Doesn’t even really highlight the bribe (it’s there, but it’s not the main headline)
Now, let me ask you…
Which marketer gets the best quality subscribers?
Which has to deal less with freebie seeking time wasters?
Which deals less with people complaining about getting “too much email” or too many offers being sent?
Which has people more open to being pitched offers?
Which has better sales “posture”?
Which has more peace of mind?
I rest my case, Counselor.
I couldn’t care less if I have high or low opt-in rates. What I care about is the quality of the people who opt in.
Yes, I want a bigger list.
But, I want it to be a qualified list first and foremost.
Marketing heresy?
I hope so…
Either way, I’ll leave you with this little ditty:
There was a direct response marketing company (I think it was MindValley, but don’t quote me on that) that did a test with their opt ins, tracking to the sale.
And you know what they found?
Their higher opt-in pages lead to LOWER sales.
While their lower opt-in pages lead to MORE sales.
Now, again, to be clear:
I’m not saying not to test your opt-in pages or that a higher opt in rate is always bad.
There are just too many factors at work.
Each site is different.
And, each marketer is different.
What I am saying is, if you’re going to test this stuff, and revolve all your offers, ideas, products, etc around the intel those pages fart out at you, make sure you’re testing to the sale — not just the opt-in rates.
Which leads to more sales?
Which leads to more customers?
(Who you can back end sell other stuff to — the whole point of direct response marketing.)
Opt-in rates are soft metrics.
Just like website “hits” are.
They have their uses.
But, they can be misleading.
And, keep you making less sales.
All right.
Enough of this.
Let’s move on to something else:
The next “Email Players” issue includes a bonus (call it a Christmas gift) packed full of great info for building lists. But, not just any old kind of lists… I’m talkin’ about lists with qualified potential buyers.
But, a caveat:
It’s very “newbie friendly” info.
So seasoned traffic guys won’t get much out of it.
(Maybe they’ll find a nugget or two, though.)
If you want in in time to get it, go to:
Ben Settle
