What are optin lists?
Optin lists are lists containing the contact details of people who have agreed to receive information from you.
These details usually consist of the persons first name and their email address.
Optin lists can be:
- A list of subscribers to an ezine.
- A list of subscribers to who are interested in a series of articles.
- A list of subscribers who want to be informed of updates to a website.
- A list of customers who want to be informed of new products.
Is sending information to optin lists effective for increasing website traffic?
Very!
Providing the information is useful and only sent to those people who have requested it.
For example - one of the quickest ways to get visitors to your newly added webpage or to your new website, is to send the details to your list of subscribers who have asked to be informed of any new developments.
It is often stated that the most useful resource of any internet marketer is their optin list and for this reason, most internet marketers have more than one list.
How do you use optin lists effectively?
There are five rules for using optin lists effectively:
1. Make sure that is is easy to subscribe to your optin list.
You will have noticed on the preceding pages of this website that most if not all of the methods of promotion have been geared towards getting people to join an optin list.
Particular emphasis has been placed on using simple and quick loading webpages (called splash pages) that are designed to enable people to join an optin list quickly and easily.
Here are some tips for making it easy to join your optin list:
- Put the subscription form for your optin list on every page (note how it is done on this website).
- If you want to use a splash page, popup, popunder or a popover for the subscription form to your optin list, use the following tips to help you design it:
- Use a heading/headline, in a larger font and of a different color to the rest of the text, which includes a major benefit. In other words, in as few words as possible, explain how your reader will benefit from subscribing to your optin list.
- In as few words as possible explain one or two additional benefits (in bulleted form) and how your reader will benefit from subscribing to your optin list.
- Your primary objective is to get your reader to join your optin list, so ask them to subscribe and use a different color font (e.g.blue).
- If you want to use a graphic, use one that is small in size, simple and does not detract from the rest of the form.
- Keep your form simple and quick to fill in by only asking for the subscribers first name and email address.
2. Make sure the subscribers to the list have truly opted in.
It is very important to make sure that the members of any list have opted in and have not been added without their knowledge.
The only way of ensuring this is to use what is known as a double optin procedure which has the following sequence of events:
- The person enters their contact details into an online data collection form.
- The person is sent an email which contains a confirmation link that must be clicked in order to activate the subscription.
- Only if the person has clicked the confirmation link will they become an active subscriber and their contact details added to the optin list.
The best way to manage an optin list is to use a paid autoresponder service. The two best autoresponder services on the internet are
GetReponse
and AWeber.
Their optin list management systems are easy to use and foolproof. They also allow individual subscribers to manage their own contact details, which removes a major administrative headache from the optin list owner.
Important - Using the double optin procedure will result in less subscribers than other methods, but the subscribers are generally more responsive.
3. Only send information that the subscribers have requested to receive.
The only reason that somebody would join your optin list is because you have promised to send them information on a particular theme or topic.
Do not abuse this privilege.
Make sure that all of your email messages contain the information that you have promised.
Your ultimate goal is to form a relationship with your subscribers. You want their trust.
Do not send advertisements unless you have stated that the subscriber will receive advertisements.
4. Only send information at the frequency that you have stated.
One of the quickest ways to annoy a subscriber is to bombard them with email messages.
But...
If your messages are too infrequent, your subscribers will forget who you are.
Both of these will result in people unsubscribing from your optin list.
5. Always honor "remove" requests.
If a person asks to be removed from your optin list, make sure that you remove their contact details from the optin list.
Important - If you are managing your optin list manually, you must maintain a list of every person who has asked to be removed from your optin list. You must remove these contact details from every future mailing that you do to the optin list.
If a subscriber removes themselves from any optin list that you run using GetReponse
or AWeber, their contact details are automatically removed.
If you want to run your list manually, Group Mail Pro is excellent for maintaining lists of people who've asked to be removed from your mailings and it also scrubs these names from any future mailing that you do (the free version does not do this).
Are there any tips for running optin lists?
Making a good first impression is very important.
This means that everything to do with running your optin lists must seem to be professional.
When writing emails use the following tips:
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