Let’s say a potential prospect is on your website. Just how do you persuade them to opt-in to your email list?

Well, the best way is to make sure you’ve got a compelling headline in your opt-in box. You haven’t got much space and many words to play with here. So you need to concisely state the benefits people will get from opting in and receiving your free “ethical bribe”.

An ethical bribe is simply something you give away for free, in exchange for someone giving you their email address so they’re added to your email list. A free report, free e-book, or a free 20-minute telephone consultation could be good “bribes” for you to use in order to grow your email list.

So, do you want an example of a compelling headline which you could use in your opt-in box?

You say you do want an example? Okay then…

If you were in the fitness industry selling personal training sessions in London to over 40’s men looking to lose weight, you could use the headline:

“London Men’s Weight Loss Expert Gives You The Blueprint To Losing Your Beer Belly In 90 Days”

(This could be describing a free report you give them which tells them what exercises are good for weight loss etc.)

Anyway, that headlines from the top of my head but it will do.

Let’s break it down shall we?

First, it’s got a “social proof” element in there where you say “London Men’s Weight Loss Expert”. People know exactly what you do and that you’re good at it.

Then, it gives a very specific benefit of what people could achieve by opting in to the list – a 90 day blueprint to losing their beer belly (which is a term that generation of men would use.)

If you can fit both a social proof element and state a specific benefit in your headline, then you should get a lot of people opting in to your list. Though of course, this is presuming your ethical bribe is something your market actually desires. If it’s not, then it doesn’t matter how good and persuasive your headline is – you still won’t get many people opting in.

Usually, there is space to write a sentence or two (or a sub-heading) below the headline. What I suggest you write here is something along the lines of: “As well as receiving a free (whatever your ethical bribe is), you will also get daily email tips.”

Saying this achieves two things. First, it just lets people know they’re going to be receiving daily emails. If they don’t want this, they simply don’t opt-in. If they do opt-in, they know what to expect in terms of how often they’ll receive emails from you. This will ensure you don’t receive many spam complaints, as well as the fact it almost pre-qualifies the quality of the people who join your list. After all, if they want daily email tips, then they’re going to be a very genuine prospect who will be more likely to buy from you.

The second thing saying this achieves, is that it lets people know these daily emails will be helpful tips, as opposed to flat-out sales pitches. If you didn’t mention this, people might be sceptical about opting in. But by saying this, you put their minds at ease. So you should get a lot more opt-ins to your email list. This really is a great email marketing strategy.

In the “small print” below the opt-in box, you should probably mention again that they’ll be receiving daily emails. Also mention that they can easily unsubscribe from your email list at any time they wish, by hitting the “unsubscribe” link which will appear at the bottom of all your emails (your email marketing software provider will put the “unsubscribe” link in your emails automatically, so you don’t have to worry about doing this yourself).