Lately, I’ve been seeing people having an opt-in box pop up in the middle of their pages. They usually have a reason such as, “Subscribe to my newsletter,” or “Give me your name and email address, and I’ll give you a special report (or video, audio etc.)” to compel the visitor to submit their name and email address in order to get this free “ethical bribe”.
Just because a bribe is ethical it doesn’t mean it’s OK to do it. I think there is a flaw in this system and I know there’s a better way to get to the end result faster and better.
I go by the notion that I don’t need to give something away to get a person’s name and email. Instead, I like to create curiosity. The reason why is because people will always be focused on what they believe they’re about to see.
When you’re bribing someone, they are thinking about the bribe not the message, which is what you’re selling.
Typically what happens when you go to one of my web pages, you have a fairly typical, average opt-in page.
Most of my opt-ins are videos and in the video, I tell them what I intend to show them, and then I ask them to fill in their name and email address to hear more about it.
When they fill in their information, I capture their name and email address, and then they are usually shown a very short video, “Try a special promotion for a buck. If you like it, keep it. If you don’t, cancel it.” That’s just one example, but it’s always relatively short.
Basically why they’re giving me their name and email address is because I created curiosity. Make them curious about what they’re about to see. That’s my secret. I make them wonder what they’re going to see on the very next page, and I make them want to see what I have to sell. Creating that curiosity is very important.
With my opt-in, their mind is not on the bribe; their mind is not on some free gift that I’m going to give them. Their mind is on what I actually have to sell. That’s key since that’s what being in business is all about!
