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Getting The "Good" Email.

by GuerrillaIM
8 replies
I have been doing a lot of work the past year on lead capture landing pages and have discovered it's not all about stats.

Pick up any direct marketing book from Amazon and somewhere it will contain the obligatory "round file" speech.

This is where a homeowner sifts through their post and decides whether it goes into the "to be opened pile" or into the "round file" (aka the waste paper basket).

Bringing this back to email marketing, people of course do a similar maneuver skimming through and deleting emails.. but.. I have noticed that more and more people (even the non tech savy) are having several email addresses so they can filter stuff out before it even gets to them.

I do this myself;

If I hit a hypey page offering a freebie, it goes straight to my spam email account so I can get the freebie and then ignore anything else that comes in.

If I am requesting a professional service and want to make sure I don't miss the reply, I give my main correspondence email address I check daily.

This thought, plus my conversion data, has lead me to some interesting findings.

Using a single squeeze page with a minimalist style gets me the highest lead conversion.. but.. the list is no where near as responsive as the list generated on my landing pages with more substance.

Both landing pages have the same follow up process and lead into my main site after submission, but I think the minimalist squeeze page does not generate enough trust to get the "good email" from the visitor.

The moral of this as I see it is to try and build as much trust with the visitor as possible on the actual page that they fill in the email address in order to get them to put in the email address they check often.

A few things I think help are:
  • Professional logo and template that indicates you are more than just a 1 page website
  • Good use of images that fit the product and are not over exaggerated (i.e. people rolling about in piles of money on a ferrari - bad. Captioned image of happy people demonstarting an obvious benefit in a plausible way - good)
  • Obvious email privacy statement
  • Plausible reason why they must enter email address (Why are you asking me for an email address and not just providing a direct link? You want to spam me eh? )
  • Testimonials about the free report from real people, not from other businesses in a similar niche with a link to their website

I think as people become more used to squeeze pages and the internet in general their behaviour is becoming more savy.

Do you agree or disagree? I realise there are a lot of other factors at play such as lead qualification etc.. but I feel making sure they trust you enough to give their good email is becoming important.

If you agree I'd love to hear some of your ideas for how to build trust on a landing page.
#email #good
  • Profile picture of the author RobertAxelsen
    Wow!

    Great thread, GuerrillaIM. And thank you for sharing.

    I haven't thought about this aspect before, and while I see your reasoning it's hard to say how many who uses different emails for different offers. I don't do it myself, but I am an active user of filters in my gmail account.

    One could also propose that the reason a squeeze page with a minimalist style get's more opt-ins is that it creates more curiosity and/or plays on the Zeigarnik effect, whereas a landing pages with more substance might demand more from the prospect and many will be overwhelmed by the amount of content presented.

    Factors such as opt-in box above the fold, placement of headlines etc can also be part of the equation.

    I like your argument, though, and will definitely give it some thought as I work on new squeezepages.

    One could also argue that minimalistic squeezepages as preferred as you get more opt-ins and can build trust with them through email follow ups. This could be falsified if your proposition that most people provide "second grade" email accounts, as opposed to their main, when it comes to these types of squeezepages.

    I for one will choose to (for now) assume that most people use one email adress only for all their email opt-ins. You got to remember that most of us are simple people with simple habits, and it demands some tech savvyness and/or thinking to come up with the idea to use several email addresses for several purposes.

    And it also depends on your target market. If your demographics are older women in the US for example, then I don't think multiple emails is a factor to worry about

    Again, great thread, and lot's to think about. Would love to hear if you do some more research/testing on the matter!
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    • Profile picture of the author packerfan
      I think this depends a lot on the niche you're in. If you're in the IM niche, then a lot of your buyers are savvy to things like auto responders, etc and they will have multiple emails.

      But most "regular" people in most niches just don't understand how all this works. They don't know anything about a "list". They just decided they want what you're offering. If you keep offering them value, they'll be back.
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      • Profile picture of the author GuerrillaIM
        Originally Posted by packerfan View Post

        But most "regular" people in most niches just don't understand how all this works. They don't know anything about a "list". They just decided they want what you're offering. If you keep offering them value, they'll be back.
        Sure. The first time they give their email out they don't know. Then after they get the follow up spam... they know.

        I think unless you are dealing with someone very new to the internet most people will connect giving their email out to receiving spam.
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    • Profile picture of the author GuerrillaIM
      Originally Posted by RobertAxelsen View Post

      One could also propose that the reason a squeeze page with a minimalist style get's more opt-ins is that it creates more curiosity and/or plays on the Zeigarnik effect, whereas a landing pages with more substance might demand more from the prospect and many will be overwhelmed by the amount of content presented.
      Even when I am adding more substance to a page to give a good impression of my company I still don't give anything away.

      The way I do it is to create a list of all the benefits of my product and my company in general and then write in an informative tone, not too salesy, letting them know about all these things that will happen to them.

      I try to make it all sound straight forward but there is a vital missing element that they have to put their email address in to find out.

      Basically it's all foreplay, there can't be any pay off on the actual page or it kills conversions. I tried this recently by having a page with loads of really good info on it and it didn't work well at all. I think people look at the page and go "ooh isn't this nice info, i'll come back here later some time and read it" and then never get round to coming back.

      I find it funny that I spend maybe a week writing an ebook as a giveaway and 90% of people will open it, have a glance, then close and never come back to it (if they even open it). Yet.. it accomplishes its goal! People just want to know the information is there incase they need it. My follow up sales process will be more fun for them. The majority will buy without even going through all the information and free stuff I send them, yet they wouldn't buy if I hadn't sent it. Makes me laugh anyway.

      Factors such as opt-in box above the fold, placement of headlines etc can also be part of the equation.
      I always have an opt in form above the fold. I want the first thing they see to be the opt in and what they get for giving me their email. I usually will have an opt in form below the fold as well.

      And it also depends on your target market. If your demographics are older women in the US for example, then I don't think multiple emails is a factor to worry about
      Very true. I mainly target IT professionals and job seekers aged 25-35. It means I get a mix of some super tech savvy people and some people who are not so savvy, but I guess the overall computer literacy level in my niche is a lot higher than most.

      Again, great thread, and lot's to think about. Would love to hear if you do some more research/testing on the matter!
      Thanks man. I am constantly researching landing pages as it has been the backbone of what I do for the last 10 years. I think in the last 2 years an amazing amount has changed (in my niche anyway) which is pushing me to get to the next level.

      I think 2 years ago people didn't really recognise squeeze pages and ebook sellers, but now people (even outside of the IM niche) are wise to it and getting a bit jaded. I think experimenting with stuff that looks a little different is definitely worth while.
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  • Profile picture of the author Coby
    Pretty much basic squeeze page common sense....

    At least to most...

    For me, I have found that a good cross between the two helps...

    Making it very minimalistic but still quality graphics and just enough info to know whats going on...

    I also have started implementing a video after opt-in on some pages (mostly to fight back against the Gmail slap) that tells and shows people how to find their email address and how to mark as "not spam" if they find it there (very likely with Gmail since they are hating on Autoresponders right now) and this has helped to increase the responsivenesss...

    I don't know if it is increasing it because they hear my voice and it helps them "relate" or what, but it's working like gangbusters...

    here is one of the videos... for example...


    and yes I know I have a "grammar" error :p
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    • Profile picture of the author GuerrillaIM
      Originally Posted by Coby View Post

      Pretty much basic squeeze page common sense....
      Not to me. The idea of having a page with lower lead conversion rate being more profitable is counter-intuitive. It's not something I had seen discussed before so I thought I would bring it up.
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  • Profile picture of the author YonghoShin
    Excellent, excellent point!

    In the world of marketing, many people track conversions from page to page.
    (For example, 36% of people who visit page A click the button to get to page B.)

    But what is seldom discussed is the long-term effect of each conversion. For example, in the example above, is it possible to design a webpage with copy that produces less response PERCENTAGE-WISE, but attracts all the right people?

    For a simple example, if you are selling a continuity program, here's two potential scenarios:

    Landing page A has 36% conversion with 2-month average stick rate
    Landing page B has 30% conversion with 9-month average stick rate

    If all you measure is the page-to-page conversion, it is tempting to maximize up-front conversion without giving much thought to long-term effects, like stick rate or future purchases.
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    • Profile picture of the author GuerrillaIM
      Originally Posted by YonghoShin View Post

      Excellent, excellent point!

      In the world of marketing, many people track conversions from page to page.
      (For example, 36% of people who visit page A click the button to get to page B.)

      But what is seldom discussed is the long-term effect of each conversion. For example, in the example above, is it possible to design a webpage with copy that produces less response PERCENTAGE-WISE, but attracts all the right people?

      For a simple example, if you are selling a continuity program, here's two potential scenarios:

      Landing page A has 36% conversion with 2-month average stick rate
      Landing page B has 30% conversion with 9-month average stick rate

      If all you measure is the page-to-page conversion, it is tempting to maximize up-front conversion without giving much thought to long-term effects, like stick rate or future purchases.
      Hi YonghoShin,

      You get it exactly!

      I have a 2 stage lead process. The squeeze page gets the emails, then the follow up series either gets the sale or a more detailed lead with telephone number etc..

      The list from my squeeze page with slightly lower conversion but lots of trust mechanisms in there that most experts would tell you to take out is a lot more responsive.

      It also helps with PPC traffic and Google quality score so it's a win-win.
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