It's not a secret. The more comfortable you make it for people to respond to your offer, the more likely they will do it. This is one reason that the combination of direct mail and email is so powerful. It provides more opportunities for the recipient to say "yes." But unlike direct mail, email requires the recipient to opt-in. So how do you get people with inboxes already full of marketing communications to opt into one more — yours?
Here is a complied list on ways you can reduce the barriers to email opt-in and make it easy for your target audience to say "yes."
1. Don't overdo it.
When asking people to opt-in, limit the amount of information required. More questions mean more data, and more data means better targeting, but there is a trade-off. The more questions you ask, the more risk that people will bail. Consider removing fields that might cause anxiety. For example, asking for a phone number can be a big turn-off. If people think opting in will result in getting unwanted marketing calls, they are less likely to do it.
2. Focus on fields that increase list quality.
For example, if you are a landscaper, the presence of children in the home may be less significant than how much sun or shade the yard receives. We recommend gathering an address, direct mail paired with email has the highest paired ROI.
3. Make less essential fields optional.
Let respondents skip some if they desire. But understand that most will either let their computers auto-fill, or will only give what is required.
Gather the most critical information upfront. Then use a drip campaign to collect more data over time. Emails are meant to be an opt-in to go through a channel set up to find their level of interest in your product.
Following this simple checklist will make it as easy as possible for people to say "yes" to your opt-in invitations. Once you start building your email list, you can crank up your multichannel marketing plans, especially direct mail because it works.
