AWeber Email Marketing Tips
Learn The First of 3 Critical Opportunities to Create The Right Subscriber Expectations
One of the first posts on this blog talks about the importance of expectations in your email marketing campaigns and presents consistency as the key to expectations.
Consistency matters – but before you can consistently meet expectations, you have to set them! If subscribers don’t know what’s coming, it doesn’t matter how consistent the formatting and frequency are – those emails will still feel inconsistent with whatever preconceived notions subscribers had about them.
So how do you create expectations that you can then meet?
As I see it, you get 3 critical opportunities to do so.
Today, let’s discuss the first one:
Create Subscriber Expectations Before The Opt-In
The minute potential subscribers become aware that you’re even offering something by email, they begin to make assumptions about that offering, like:
- What they’ll get from you if they sign up
- How often they’ll get it
- The value/benefit to them if they sign up (or the lack of it)
- The cost to them if they sign up (their time and privacy, plus: are you going to share their email address with someone else?)
If you don’t replace these assumptions with expectations that match what will actually happen, then these potential subscribers either won’t sign up, or they’ll be confused/dissatisfied/angry when what actually happens doesn’t match those assumptions.
Clearly Explain, In or Near Your Opt-in Form:
- What kind of content you’ll be sending (you may even want to link to a sample email)
- How they’ll benefit as a subscriber (this is your email’s value proposition: why should someone subscribe?)
- When/how often the subscriber will hear from you (estimate if need be)
- What you do and won’t do with subscribers’ information (this may not be necessary in all cases – especially if you already have the visitor’s trust – but in general it’s a good idea)
Mark Brownlow has more on this plus an example. The form below (hint hint) also gives you another example:
Print This PostComing Soon: The Next Critical Time to Set Subscriber Expectations
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Subscribe to This Blog by Email11 Comments
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Ghazal Alvi
Great information Justin!
You’ve shared list building tips in a more meaningful manner. Implementation of this information helps in building list of subscribers who are more willing to open the emails.
5/17/2009 2:26 pm -
Justin this is excellent information! being new to internet marketing, especially running email campaigns, just this one point demonstrates a huge improvement I can make for my visitors! Thank you!
5/19/2009 10:13 am -
Nice form, how appropriate to put it there. I’d be very interested to know how well this form, on this article, converts!
5/19/2009 10:27 am -
Avi,
Thanks – you might also be interested in an article we published a while back on getting more blog readers that way.
5/19/2009 10:30 am | Follow me on Twitter -
Justin, this is a great form, but honestly, I think it way too long, I personally wouldn’t take the time to read all of that.
Also, italics is difficult to read in some browsers, I suggest never using italics in copy that is to be read, headlines are okay.
I think the information in your emails is outstanding! I really am learning so much, thank you.
5/19/2009 11:53 am -
Incredible. Thank you very much. This information is excellent, I feel more confident that my opt-in rate will go up (it’s already very high). I can’t believe this information is being offered for free.
5/28/2009 3:53 pm
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That was a great article. Especially the part about putting more explanation near the opt in form. I’ll have to go back and redo my web page to include this.
1/11/2011 12:57 am
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