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Are The "Gurus" Right About THIS Kind Of Opt-In Page?

by JP Wilson
32 replies
I'm curious. I've seen a lot of what I call "popup teasers" used on quite a few opt-in pages these days. These pages have a graphic of a video posted on the right-hand side of the site, and brief sales copy highlighting the benefits of the video on the left. When you click the video, however, you see a popup that compels you to opt-in. If you attempt to leave the site however, you are presented with another popup message that gives you the chance to see the video without submitting your details.

Check out a sample of this new (rather basic) opt-in template used on Jeff Walker's site. Here

My question is, are there any warriors who are having more success with this particular opt-in template than the traditional video squeeze pages that we've all grown accustomed to?

Any feedback on this would be appreciated.
#gurus #kind #optin #page
  • Profile picture of the author Shannon Herod
    I can tell you yes the template works. I am using a very similar template for one of my pages right now.

    And to be honest, it is the best optin percentage I have ever been able to achieve. I'm currently getting 44.2% opt in rate on this page.

    To me, that is amazing. Some people may say it could be better, but I think it's pretty darn awesome.

    So, to answer your questions... yes the template works. But, you still need to be compelling and what you are offering.

    You can check out my page here

    Http://YourVeryFirstDollar.com

    Talk soon...

    Shannon Herod
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    • Profile picture of the author JP Wilson
      Hi Shannon. Great page. I recognize the template from hotvideosqueezepages.com. I don't, however, see the popup feature that I was referring to in the opening post. Was that the right link?

      The main question that I have is referring to the "teaser popup" feature that's used when the visitor tries to watch the video and instead sees a popup message that compels them to submit their details. Are you currently using that on any of your sites?

      Thanks,

      JP
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      • Profile picture of the author Shannon Herod
        Sorry, I misread the comment. I do not actually use the pop-up feature.

        A little embarrassed

        Shannon Herod

        Originally Posted by JP Wilson View Post

        Hi Shannon. Great page. I recognize the template from hotvideosqueezepages.com. I don't, however, see the popup feature that I was referring to in the opening post. Was that the right link?

        The main question that I have is referring to the "teaser popup" feature that's used when the visitor tries to watch the video and instead sees a popup message that compels them to submit their details. Are you currently using that on any of your sites?

        Thanks,

        JP
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        • Profile picture of the author Networking_now
          Originally Posted by Shannon Herod View Post

          Sorry, I misread the comment. I do not actually use the pop-up feature.

          A little embarrassed

          Shannon Herod
          Dont be embarrassed, your page is nice and includes a simple small video- not a lengthy 20 minute one lol.
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          • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
            Originally Posted by Pete Egeler View Post

            I can tell you, as soon as I see one of those pages, I LEAVE!

            If your offer is so poor you have to go such extremes to get a sign up, it's not worth it. If you're going to show a video, show the darned thing, and cut the crap.

            Pete
            LOL I can't say Jeff Walker has ever been accused of putting together poor offers

            Anyone unwilling to give up something as trivial as their email addy for good info is probably not likely to fork out the money to buy PLF
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            • Profile picture of the author JP Wilson
              Hey gents! Thanks for all the responses. I'm curious though; have any of you used that particular squeeze page template or the general principal of the "popup tease" for any of your websites?

              What I'm trying to get at is actually what some of the disagreement is based around --whether the people who say they hate this method of generating the opt-in and claim that they would never submit their contact information on a page of this nature, actually throw all of that out the window at the last minute and are lured into submitting their details by the power of the very method they seem to hate... "the popup tease". After all, it's all about results not opinion.

              I remember when guys like Deiss and Walker first started using this method. There were quite a few people sounding-off in the various marketing forums, including this one. Despite the negative feedback, however, I continued to see more and more of these pages popping up (no pun intended ), which leads me to believe that they must perform pretty well for the marketers who prefer them over the standard format that we've all grown accustomed to. I know it's all about doing your own testing, but as a general marketing strategy, what do you all think? And what kind of results, if any, have you seen after putting this strategy to use in your own businesses?

              Cheers

              PS By the way, no worries Shannon! It's actually ironic because I was wondering how well that particular template performed. It's good to know that the page is converting well for you. It's very well put together.
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              • Profile picture of the author Johnathan
                It is sneaky and deceptive. Says something about the person promoting the offer. It's a fake video, disguised to look real. No better than those fake blogs.

                Originally Posted by JP Wilson View Post

                Hey gents! Thanks for all the responses. I'm curious though; have any of you used that particular squeeze page template or the general principal of the "popup tease" for any of your websites?

                What I'm trying to get at is actually what some of the disagreement is based around --whether the people who say they hate this method of generating the opt-in and claim that they would never submit their contact information on a page of this nature, actually throw all of that out the window at the last minute and are lured into submitting their details by the power of the very method they seem to hate... "the popup tease". After all, it's all about results not opinion.

                I remember when guys like Deiss and Walker first started using this method. There were quite a few people sounding-off in the various marketing forums, including this one. Despite the negative feedback, however, I continued to see more and more of these pages popping up (no pun intended ), which leads me to believe that they must perform pretty well for the marketers who prefer them over the standard format that we've all grown accustomed to. I know it's all about doing your own testing, but as a general marketing strategy, what do you all think? And what kind of results, if any, have you seen after putting this strategy to use in your own businesses?

                Cheers

                PS By the way, no worries Shannon! It's actually ironic because I was wondering how well that particular template performed. It's good to know that the page is converting well for you. It's very well put together.
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                • Profile picture of the author JP Wilson
                  Originally Posted by Johnathan View Post

                  It is sneaky and deceptive. Says something about the person promoting the offer. It's a fake video, disguised to look real. No better than those fake blogs.
                  "Sneaky and deceptive" or clever and effective...? Keep in mind, it's not so much about general opinion as it is what actually works. Often times, what we say we prefer in theory and what actually works best in practice are two different things altogether.

                  There seems to be a marked increase in opt-ins across the board for the marketers using this particular style of catching the customer's details. If nothing else, that within itself makes it worth further investigating. After all, it's not necessarily dishonest to use a bit of bait to catch the fish... Marketers have been doing it for centuries.
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                  • Profile picture of the author JP Wilson
                    The thing that's quite interesting to me is the fact that by using this template, you're still providing sales/pre-sales copy that clearly illustrates the benefits of the video. Therefore, apart from the use of the popup feature, it's not unlike most traditional "squeeze pages" that are being used in a variety of niche markets. It's pretty ironic that the aspect of the page that's more than likely responsible for the dramatic increases in conversions, is the very same feature that many people in this thread are speaking out against.

                    I'm curious to know if there are any Warriors who are actually using this template successfully or unsuccessfully. I would love to hear them "weigh in" on this discussion with their actual results --both, short-term with respect to their conversion stats, as well as long-term regarding their unsubscribe rates. Cheers.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Johnathan
                    Originally Posted by JP Wilson View Post

                    "Sneaky and deceptive" or clever and effective...? Keep in mind, it's not so much about general opinion as it is what actually works. Often times, what we say we prefer in theory and what actually works best in practice are two different things altogether.

                    There seems to be a marked increase in opt-ins across the board for the marketers using this particular style of catching the customer's details. If nothing else, that within itself makes it worth further investigating. After all, it's not necessarily dishonest to use a bit of bait to catch the fish... Marketers have been doing it for centuries.

                    It is still sneaky and deceptive, not clever and effective. It may 'work' short-term, and you may see some immediate results -- but to 'get' that effect you are in effect 'tricking' your potential customer and essentially saying they are dumb because they were fooled into clicking on what they thought was a link, but isn't really a link.

                    "Bait to catch a fish" and this strategy are two entirely different things. Bait is using a worm, this strategy is like having a "picture" of a fish that you only realize really isn't really a fish when you get up close.

                    It is exactly the same thing as "banner" ads designed to look like windows prompts with an "OK" button, or (earlier internet days) graphics designed to look like text links in banners, again to 'trick' people into clicking. Yes, initially a lot of people did, but then they started to get pissed off, and those types of ads are very ineffective nowadays. They work on "new" guys that haven't been exposed to it before.

                    But bottomline, it is still 'tricking' your user to get a result. Not a good way to start off a potential business relationship. If all you are looking for is a "hit and run" business strategy, where you might get some people coming after you later, then go ahead. But it is more like a one time sale then a 'happy' business relationship.
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                    • Profile picture of the author JP Wilson
                      Originally Posted by Johnathan View Post


                      "Bait to catch a fish" and this strategy are two entirely different things. Bait is using a worm, this strategy is like having a "picture" of a fish that you only realize really isn't really a fish when you get up close.
                      You've never heard of fake bait?
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    • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
      Originally Posted by Shannon Herod View Post

      I can tell you yes the template works. I am using a very similar template for one of my pages right now.

      And to be honest, it is the best optin percentage I have ever been able to achieve. I'm currently getting 44.2% opt in rate on this page.
      Shannon, add JS to make the name/email fields go blank when people put the mouse on them. It will probably bump you up a little more.
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      • Profile picture of the author JP Wilson
        Yeah. I've had pretty good success using popups to monetize exit traffic, so I suppose there's something to be said about it as a general principle.
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        • Profile picture of the author Christopher Hooper
          Yes this does work and it works very well. You have to think outside the box those those can't don't get it.
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          • Profile picture of the author ExRat
            Hi,

            On Jeff's page (from the OP) I notice how it's cleverly designed so that if you don't notice the scroll bar, you assume that the link to the privacy policy is the bottom of the page.

            If you do scroll down, you see the other four links to the legal stuff, and this disclaimer, which I found quite interesting -

            DISCLAIMER: THE PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCED BY THE USER COMMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS ON THIS PAGE AND/OR OUR WEBSITE IS NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT TO EXPERIENCE. COMPANY HAS NOT INVESTIGATED OR SUBSTANTIATED ANY OF THE USER COMMENTS OR CLAIMS. SOME OF THE USERS MAY, IN SOME CASES, BEEN INCENTIVIZED TO SUBMIT THEIR COMMENTS, AND COMPANY HAS NOT VERIFIED THE FIGURES QUOTED IN THEM..
            So according to that disclaimer, the testimonials could be made up AND the testimonial giver could have been incentivized.

            And it's a little confusing - at first it talks about 'user comments' and 'testimonials'. Then switches to 'user comments or claims'. And then finally refers to 'comments' and 'figures'.

            Interesting. I'm surprised though, as the testimonials for PLF1 seemed to be mainly real interviews Jeff had done at seminars - like J-mo, so I doubt such a comprehensive disclaimer was required for those.

            I think it's clever the way it is 'hidden' below the fold though.

            RE - the actual question in this thread - I would assume that if someone wants to see a video enough, this set up would work a treat for collecting email addresses.

            Your page looks great Shannon.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pete Egeler
    I can tell you, as soon as I see one of those pages, I LEAVE!

    If your offer is so poor you have to go such extremes to get a sign up, it's not worth it. If you're going to show a video, show the darned thing, and cut the crap.

    Pete
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    • Profile picture of the author Jason Moffatt
      Originally Posted by Pete Egeler View Post

      I can tell you, as soon as I see one of those pages, I LEAVE!

      If your offer is so poor you have to go such extremes to get a sign up, it's not worth it. If you're going to show a video, show the darned thing, and cut the crap.

      Pete
      Poor offer?

      Do you know how many millions that has made?

      I guess we should probably pay attention to the guy who sells $5 reports right?

      Quite often in this game it's a really good move to set aside personal likes and dislikes and focus on "RESULTS".

      Or you could just keep doing what you like and continue to sell $5 reports instead of $2000 packages.

      That's your call.
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      • Profile picture of the author Minisite Nerd
        These pages work because of the psychology behind them.

        It's a kind of "takeaway" method. The visitor clicks on the video expecting it to play and then they get the error message or pop-up that basically says, "Slow down there Sparky! Enter your email address first and then you can watch the video."

        There's a little bit of a "Zeigarnik Effect" here too. Clicking on the faux video begins a task - watching the video. That task can only be completed by entering your email to gain access to the video.

        That's a powerful motivator to get that email address out of you.
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        • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
          Originally Posted by Minisite Nerd View Post

          These pages work because of the psychology behind them.

          It's a kind of "takeaway" method. The visitor clicks on the video expecting it to play and then they get the error message or pop-up that basically says, "Slow down there Sparky! Enter your email address first and then you can watch the video."

          There's a little bit of a "Zeigarnik Effect" here too. Clicking on the faux video begins a task - watching the video. That task can only be completed by entering your email to gain access to the video.

          That's a powerful motivator to get that email address out of you.
          Kind of reminds me of a girl I once dated . Yeah you think it is funny now but it wasn't your pay check that got signed over to her
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        • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
          Originally Posted by Minisite Nerd View Post


          That's a powerful motivator to get that email address out of you.
          It's a powerful motivator for me to close the tab. But my result is not typical.
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    • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
      Originally Posted by Pete Egeler View Post

      I can tell you, as soon as I see one of those pages, I LEAVE!

      If your offer is so poor you have to go such extremes to get a sign up, it's not worth it. If you're going to show a video, show the darned thing, and cut the crap.

      Pete
      Wish I could get Jeff Walker to Fix me up a few of those poor pitiful offers exclusively .

      Guess I look at things different than most but I will go to extremes to get an email address .

      If they are not interested enough to give me an email address then They don't need my stuff .
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
      Pete,
      If your offer is so poor you have to go such extremes to get a sign up, it's not worth it.
      I don't assume the offer is poor, but I leave those sites, too. My operating assumption (which won't be true in every case, to be sure) is that they'll be just as intrusive/persistent in their follow-up.

      I don't have a problem with ethical aggressive marketing. I just don't care to spend the time or mental bandwidth on it any more.


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      • Profile picture of the author JP Wilson
        I just ran across a video that explained how Frank Kern manages to get a 52% conversion rate using this exact opt-in template. It's quite interesting.

        Copywriter Ray Edwards created the video to explain exactly why this format works so well.

        Check it out here

        Cheers
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        • Profile picture of the author Ram
          Originally Posted by JP Wilson View Post

          I just ran across a video that explained how Frank Kern manages to get a 52% conversion rate using this exact opt-in template. It's quite interesting.

          Copywriter Ray Edwards created the video to explain exactly why this format works so well.

          Check it out here

          Cheers
          Probably not the best example overall. Frank is well-known and a lot of the traffic to that page is already on his own or an affiliate's list and is warm, ready and willing to opt-in. Heck, Frank probably does just as well with his "sign up and make a million dollars" page!

          I would be more interested to see opt-in rates from cold traffic (adwords, banners, offline ads, etc.) to this type of page.
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  • Profile picture of the author ~Davor Debrecin~
    JP, I think this type of optin page will convert well only is the traffic is presold to some extent. The traffic should be sent by your affiliates that do a bit of preselling about you and the cool video they'll get for signing up. Or the people comming to your site have to know something about you. Jeff's a pretty popular guy, so his visitors will probably give him their email address without any useful content before hand.

    But if you are totally new to your visitors, they clicked on your ad or on a forum link, ie. they are not presold, then you should probably give them some useful content before they give you their email address. The reason is that their trust levels so you need to prove them you have something of value to them. Otherwise they'd probably act as Pete here described.

    Hope this helped, take care

    ~Davor
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    I can tell you the js or whatever they use ( I did not bother looking) does not work with netscape ..lol I get no popup or anything..

    So does it work ? well I know one thing for sure, it does not work with netscape ..lol

    It's very rare if I do signup for any opt-in list ...

    James
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  • Profile picture of the author OmarKhan
    Banned
    It seems highly effective and a pretty bright idea I might add. The pop-up could be worded a little better. If you tried to watch the video without entering your info first, a pop-up should come up and say:

    "Before you watch this valuable video, please provide us your email address in the box below so we can send over some more free powerful content."


    Something along those lines would make it seem less shady and would give more of an incentive to fill it out.

    Just my 2 cents.


    Omar Khan
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  • Profile picture of the author darrin_cooper
    I don't think they are that effective. At the end of the day, the person still has to decide if they want to leave their email. You went through the process, then ask yourself the question....did you feel more comfortable or a sense of urgency to put in your email? In this case i would say NO...because you knew about the extra page that stopped you AGAIN, after x-ing out of the page.

    So, I think you have your answer.

    overall, I think it's a waste of programming personally. You need to keep it simple.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    I wonder about the early unsubscribe rate going up markedly from this tactic. I'm sure it jacks up the initial conversion rate, and maybe some of the people using it have such good follow-up series in place that they don't see a big spike in unsubscribes. But that's the first thing I would find worrisome about this tactic. No sense getting a higher sign-up rate if most of them quickly unsubscribe. You may end up with fewer long-term subscribers. Just a surmise on my part, though. I have no testing to back up my theory. Does anyone else?

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author rohar
    Just a quick remark about the disclaimer - I suspect that that is there to guard against the FTC who have stated on their web site that the current disclaimers about income expectation are not strong enough. - one interpretation here
    The Associated Press: FTC plans to monitor blogs for claims, payments
    another here
    FTC to Regulate Social Media Marketing | ClickNewz! Internet Marketing Blog

    As for making me give up my email. When I see one of those things I give a fake one I precreated. Then I watch the first video and if I don't like it I unsubscribe.

    I also hate those message that say " go there its great" Why should I. Respect my time and give me a reason .
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    • Profile picture of the author JP Wilson
      Originally Posted by Ram View Post

      Probably not the best example overall. Frank is well-known and a lot of the traffic to that page is already on his own or an affiliate's list and is warm, ready and willing to opt-in. Heck, Frank probably does just as well with his "sign up and make a million dollars" page!.
      You would think so right? But according to Matt Trainer --his go to guy when it comes to opt-in pages-- Frank wasn't able to get higher than 18% conversions on his opt-in pages prior to switching to the very basic video template seen here, which gave him an average conversion rate of about 48%.

      Apparently now, after having switched to the popup style "squeeze page" that I mentioned in the above post, he is seeing a consistent opt-in rate of over 50%.

      I do wonder how other forms of targeted traffic from various sources would perform though.
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  • Profile picture of the author jakesellers
    Any invasive technique to compel action will be more likely to compel an action, it just may not be the desired action. I think about the sidewalk hasslers on the Vegas strip, if they put a stack of fliers on the ground nobody would take them, waving them in tourists' faces gets people to take them, but it also occasionally gets them shoved, spit on, and verbally abused.
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