What to offer on opt-in form

14 replies
I have recently put an opt-in form on my blog which reviews popular music CD's through Amazon.

I now want to start building a list. What can I put on my form to entice people to give me their email addresses? A couple of ideas I had include:

- Enter your email address for a chance of winning *SOMETHING*
- Enter your email address and be the first to know when your favourite music is released

First one seems cliche and second seems a bit naff. Does anybody have any tried and tested "template" ideas that I could explore?

My target audience is young adults who love music (wide demographic i know!)

thanks
#form #offer #optin
  • Profile picture of the author ShawnPeter
    Its better to have something given out to them for FREE, when they opt-in.
    If not, people will not opt-in. A FREE report, vid or sample music/song.

    Just my 2 cents.

    Shawn
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by matt5409 View Post

    - Enter your email address for a chance of winning *SOMETHING*
    I agree with you that it's a cliche and a bit naff ... and it will also build a list of people who wanted win something. That's almost like buying "opted in leads" who actually "opted in" to a free prize draw. It devalues your list.

    Originally Posted by matt5409 View Post

    - Enter your email address and be the first to know when your favourite music is released
    Sounds better, in your context.

    I usually offer a "free report" and promote it just like a valuable e-book (which, of course, it is). But in your niche, an "alert service" for music releases might be good?

    How can you combine it with something that's effectively "free report" as well? "This week's information about the five best/most interesting recent little-known/unknown/unpublicised releases"?
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    • Profile picture of the author matt5409
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      I agree with you that it's a cliche and a bit naff ... and it will also build a list of people who wanted win something. That's almost like buying "opted in leads" who actually "opted in" to a free prize draw. It devalues your list.



      Sounds better, in your context.

      I usually offer a "free report" and promote it just like a valuable e-book (which, of course, it is). But in your niche, an "alert service" for music releases might be good?

      How can you combine it with something that's effectively "free report" as well? "This week's information about the five best/most interesting recent little-known/unknown/unpublicised releases"?
      actually thats a very good point about people opting in that just want free stuff. maybe I could offer a fortnightly update of releases, or upcoming releases in 2011. Thanks, you've kicked my brain into gear!

      I did toy with the idea of offering a 3 month Spotify premium pass as a prize draw as well, which might work better to get opt-ins, but will they be the right type of people... hmm..
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  • Profile picture of the author GreenMachine
    Perhaps try something slightly more specific... Target an artist or a genre... Then you can offer something valuable to the user in terms of that artist or genre.. for example you could offer them special wallpapers of Taylor Swift if that was your target artist.. This way your user can't wait to get more freebie related to your blog... (You could really just make your own wallpapers for this if you don't feel like being unethical..) Good Luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author matt5409
      Originally Posted by GreenMachine View Post

      Perhaps try something slightly more specific... Target an artist or a genre... Then you can offer something valuable to the user in terms of that artist or genre.. for example you could offer them special wallpapers of Taylor Swift if that was your target artist.. This way your user can't wait to get more freebie related to your blog... (You could really just make your own wallpapers for this if you don't feel like being unethical..) Good Luck!
      thanks. my personal music tastes are quite diverse so leaning toward a particular artist might not be the best idea, but i see where you are coming from.
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    • Profile picture of the author OutOfThisWord
      You would do well to develop a newsletter... so when you send it... you are reviewing many releases that link back to a sale.

      You could focus even more by having variations of the newsletter depending on the type of music they like... Jazz... Pop...Headbanger... etc.
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      • Profile picture of the author matt5409
        Originally Posted by OutOfThisWord View Post

        You would do well to develop a newsletter... so when you send it... you are reviewing many releases that link back to a sale.

        You could focus even more by having variations of the newsletter depending on the type of music they like... Jazz... Pop...Headbanger... etc.
        i like the idea of segmenting the list at sign up, i think i'll incorporate that - thanks!
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by matt5409 View Post

          i like the idea of segmenting the list at sign up, i think i'll incorporate that - thanks!
          Good move: for reasons not always apparent at the time, pending all sorts of unpredictable opportunities and developments, the more accurately you can segment lists while you're building them, the better. It's really very difficult to envisage any downside to doing this.
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          • Profile picture of the author vicone
            It isn't clear to me what you will actually be selling in terms of a product. Once a visitor has opted in to your list, it can be helpful to have a system set up so that they can then opt for more details, which will actually send them to a sales page.

            You don't need to wait for the double opt-in confirmation to do this.

            A useful strategy is the one Ryan Deiss advocates - offer to provide them with a significant piece of information NOW in exchange for their details. They are immediately taken to a page which contains useful information. As it is fairly brief (but of good quality), at the bottom there is a link for more details and this takes them to a sales page.

            This avoids having to write reports that you give away. I still do the short report - and sell it. The sales page they are sent to offers the report for $10, which gets them while they are hot, and tempts them to get their credit cards out. There is another, more extensive, related product which forms part of the upsell. Again, this is offered to those who are now in a buying mood.

            The traditional method of delivering a free report after they have confirmed their details, introduces a longer delay from the moment they provide details, confirm, download, read the freebie, and get followup emails to induce the new subscriber to go to the sales page. The process can improve sales conversions by getting them to the sales page when "they're hot and ready" - immediately after they've received the information (online) you promised them.

            Ivan
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  • Profile picture of the author JHC81
    For me a free report, training works great. In your case you might give away something every month or every few weeks and if you give you your email address they will be eligible for that.
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  • Profile picture of the author iceman365
    Maybe you could offer a ebook free video 7 week course or a free mp3 file of a song provide them with a choice of songs..hope this help
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  • Profile picture of the author Diane S
    I recently added opt-in forms at a site. I am giving a newsletter in one place and an ebook in another. I think you have got some good ideas going here in this thread. Love the idea of getting release dates out to people who want them. I found a wordpress plugin for building optin forms that would allow you to have a drop down list of the various genres of music or artists, so your folks could sign up for what really interested them. Let me know if you want to know about the plugin. You can build many different kinds of opt-in forms with it. There is a free and a pro version, and I am able to do what I want with the free version.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicole1116
    I agree that offering a free report is a good enticement to get an opt-in. People LOVE lists. You might consider writing a free pdf report of the top songs or cds or albums of 2010.

    I just checked the Google keyword tool and lots of people are searching for the top songs of 2010. I would test out a free report with this info.

    Top 10 Songs of 2010 - 6,600 (phrase) searches per month
    Top Songs of 2010 - 74,000 (phrase) searches per month
    Top 10 Songs of 2010 - 9,900 (phrase) searches per month
    Top 100 Songs of 2010 - 14,800 (phrase) searches per month
    Top Songs 2010 - 33,100 (phrase) searches per month

    I would create the pdf report of the top songs and hyperlink each song with your affiliate link to buy the cd. Also, because people are obviously searching for the top songs of 2010 I would submit a press release out to the top free pr directories letting them know you have a free report on the top songs of 2010. There is obviously interest in the top songs and you might get some great traffic from the press releases and at the very least some great backlinks.
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  • Profile picture of the author matt5409
    thank you for all the valuable information in this thread! i really like nicole's idea of a "top songs of 2010" download... so many ideas...

    will get on it today. thanks to all!
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