An opt-in page is a type of webpage set at the beginning of the sales funnel whereby you allow your site visitors to “opt-in” to get frequent notifications from you. This means that they will get frequent messages such as promotional emails, newsletters, special communications, and so on from you. For your site visitors to become a part of the opt-in list, they will need to provide their names and email addresses.
With an opt-in page, you can get your web visitors to sign up or opt in for offers, news, updates, and so on. It is generally thought that when they opt in, you can communicate regularly with them. This allows you to get them to buy your product or service.
The primary reason behind an opt-in page is to easily convert site visitors/users to subscribers. In ideal cases, many websites usually entice users to “opt-in” by using a lead magnet that is usually a well-packaged offer. With the use of a lead magnet, a business can easily encourage visitors/users of their websites to share their details (name and email address) with them.
Whenever these visitors reveal their details, businesses can gain useful information on how to target each user with their promotional campaigns. This means that each user will be able to get a well-personalized and quality promotional email based on their information.
The difference between an opt-in page and a landing page
Opt-in pages and landing pages are some common types of pages that many online websites use to collect information from web users/visitors. Opt-in pages and landing pages have the same purpose: to gather all marketing leads as possible. But an opt-in page can be different from a landing page in different ways.
In terms of the structure of an opt-in page, it usually comes with a lead magnet. This means that users are offered a gift for free when they opt-in by providing their names and email addresses. Opt-in pages come with highly visible boxes and fields meant to be filled in with authentic information.
A landing page is usually longer than an opt-in page. They come with a lot of details, elements, CTAs, images, and other important stuff. Landing pages are designed specifically to help online businesses sell their products and services. Also, another primary difference is that an opt-in page is created to generate leads from ordinary users. In the case of a landing page, it is usually created to generate customers from leads.
Building an opt-in page the right way
When it comes to opt-in pages, there is no particular format that works for all businesses. It differs across different industries and brands. Different brands offer different services/values, need different user data in exchange to offer that value, and employ different styles of communication.
To create effective opt-in pages with high conversion rates, they should be properly optimized according to the goals of your business. Also, they should come with these three important elements. They are:
- Promise to offer value: You want your web users to share their information. To get this, you will need to let them know what’s in it for them. Let them know the value of the total package that they will be getting if they shared their contact details with you.
Also, while your opt-in page should be attractive and professional, it should have a lead magnet that offers a very useful freebie such as an ebook, a free webinar, a free ticket to a valuable event, free trials/subscriptions to your products/services, and so on. Make sure that you offer a relevant value proposition.
- Create an apt lead form: The lead form is the field that you provide for the users to fill in their personal information before they can be able to access the value proposition that you are offering. You should look for a good balance between the value that you have on offer and the amount of information that you want people to share. If you offer more value, then you are more likely to get more information from the user/visitor such as phone numbers, locations, company name/employer, job position, and so on.
- Add a clear Call to Action: Your opt-in form should come with a clear CTA after obtaining the necessary information from the user. This could be “Get your free ebook now” or “Download your free guide.”
What is an opt-in list?
An opt-in list is a list showing all the contacts/user information that you were able to collect by using the opt-in page. An opt-in list shows all the names and contacts of all the users that have willingly given you their information. This means that they are aware that they are part of your opt-in list and should expect to receive promotional emails about your brand/offers regularly.
An opt-in list is usually different from a mailing list that contains contacts of prospects. It is to be noted that an opt-in list contains the contacts of all the users who signed on by using the opt-in list or a subscription form on the website. An opt-in list is not any of the following:
- List of contacts from business cards at a trade event
- List of past customers
- Members on a forum or website community
- Social media followers
- Email contacts
- Rented or purchased lists
The lead capture page
A lead capture page is a landing page that is designed specially to help collect important information from your leads. The information captured this way includes name, phone number, email, and so on. A lead capture form is used to collect this information. The leads are then added to a list where you regularly contact them to start a relationship.
The result of capturing this important information about your leads is to make them buy your product or service. They are then taken through the different stages of an elaborately-designed marketing funnel. There are several ways that you can build an effective lead capture page to be able to collect important information about possible leads for your business.
The squeeze page
A squeeze page is a specially designed page that is created to quickly obtain email addresses from your visitors by offering them in return, a valuable item or product.
Visitors usually sign in on squeeze pages if they want to get more information about a service or product which is featured on the primary squeeze page.
