I'm just wondering what you guys have had the most success with as far as collecting emails from people that come to your site.

Do you start off with a squeeze page?
Or do you use a small pop-up?
Or do you just have a link to the subscription form?

Which one generates the most subscribers? Which one generates the most targeted leads? Or does it all depend on the situation?

Popping up with what I'm guessing will be the outside-the-norm answer, right at the start: A link to the subscribe page.

Why -- because I'm not in the business of irritating people with pop-ups and squeeze pages.

My viewers are repeat shoppers (this is referring to a gift shop website) so the key is keeping them HAPPY with their surfing experience. The happier they are, the more they spend, and the more likely they will come back to spend some more in the future.

Also, squeeze pages are not valid opt-ins for mailing lists, unless we fully divulge to the visitor that they are signing up for a list & what they should expect from that subscription. Understand this isn't a judgment call... this is from the upstream/backbone/data center level. I deeply value my servers, so I don't tempt the wrath of my data center nor my upstream providers.

And, many internet shoppers are reluctant to divulge personal data about themselves before at even browsing the product selections. I know I am no exception to this; when I was camera shopping last November, for example, I visited easily 20 different websites. Only 2 were given my personal information though. Sites which tried to force information out of me prematurely, while I was still in the "shopping around" stage, were quickly crossed off my list. I left and never came back.

So that leaves pop-ups, or links? People are much less irritated by links. So, links it is.



...just explaining the reasoning in-depth, because I know the high marks that pop-ups get simply because of the high subscription rates -- which is totally cool. In many instances I think pop-ups are great, but I also think there are some instances where they are probably not the "best" method.

Bailey

All that said, I recommend testing to see where the best results are.

=> What gives you the highest subscription rates?

=> What are your exit stats like for the different methods? Are your exit numbers higher with pop-ups? You should be able to see this easily in your hosting account stats.

=> What do your repeat visit numbers look like? Do you get significantly fewer repeat visits, or shorter visits, when the pop-ups are being used? Do people come back more or stay on your site longer with pop-ups gone? You should be able to see this easily in your hosting account stats too!

=> Finally, ask your visitors. Put up a survey and invite them to leave comments. Ask them what they like or don't like about the website. If something bothers them (like a pop-up) they will be happy to tell you!

Bailey

Lots of ways:

- Squeeze pages
- Opt-in imbedded in sales letters
- ezine ads
- articles
- forum postings
- various offline methods
- joint ventures
- teleseminars
- blog (this is new)
- viral marketing/word of mouth
- free reports and other lead generation devices

...off the top of my head. If I had to choose one method, I'd pick joint ventures, but offline does very well for me as well.

John

jdrits,

I'm curious about optins embedded in the sales letter. Here's what's going on.

I wrote a letter for a client and the letter is pulling pretty well. Almost 4% around 3 times what he was pulling without. But... that's only on those who get to the letter. Most are being stopped by the squeeze (almost 80% never get to the letter.)

It could be my squeeze page sucks, but I'm thinking it might just be a simple case of most people just not wanting to give out their address that early in the process.

So, how does an opt in embedded in the page work? Where does it go? Does the letter go away? I'm lost.

I think it was the "Nitro Boys" interviewing Mark Joyner. No, it was Alex Mandossian. Then Alex turned on them and pointed out the one-two punch they were using and they confessed it was pulling 60% optin conversion and they hadn't plann on spilling that. Its worth tracking down again.

They were using (I think it was..) an ASK campain INSIDE of a pop-up. So, a pop-up or slide in comes in with an ask campain to GET THEIR OPINION on the topic. Then a second pop-up comes in after that offering to give the updated opinion poll results in the newsletter. And I think the first pop-up had a clear opt-out that kept the pop-ups away for the session so aggrivation was minimal. Let me see if I can find that...........No luck, my memory will have to serve. So there you go, tens of thousands worth of info......slowly fading into the past.........

Vin,

I do it several ways, but I've found through testing that I get a higher optin rate for some markets when the optin is in the middle of the page, but you should also test moving it around, as there are some "sweet spots" that seem to pull better (to see where I ended up putting my optin for my copywriting/marketing site, check out www.marketing-medic.com).

I also have a dedicated squeeze page for that site (see www.marketing-medic.com/money.html) as well, but my squeeze pages tend to have longer copy than most you see out there. I've found that longer copy is almost always needed nowadays for competitive niches, such as marketing. To see an even longer one I did, check out www.million-dollar-roundtable.com.

I also have sites that require them to optin before they get to the sales letter, as you have. Basically when I design such an approach, I consider what I'm primarily trying to accomplish with the site. Do I want to primarily build a list? Or are front-end sales more important? Also, I've found that generally you have an easier time selling after they've already opted in because they qualify themselves better. Plus you can continue to sell them via the autoresponder.

Really it comes down to testing. If you suspect your squeeze page is turning them off (or even if it is performing well), you should split test another one, with a different headline to start. Then you keep challenging your control, always trying to better your optin rate. You may also want to split test a squeeze page versus straight sales letter (where the optin is imbedded in the sales letter like my marketing medic site).

Just some suggestions. Let me know how you make out.

John

jdrits,

Thanks for the info.

Is there any way to put that opt in in the middle of the page, and have it go nowhere except lower on the page, back to the copy after hitting enter? I'm trying to see if I can keep them reading the one page while still getting their info.

Vin

John...would you mind sharing some off-line methods you have found to give good results on your own online business? Are we talking about copywriting only or all sorts of online biz?

Thanks.

Nadin

I'm not sure what you mean here, Vin. Maybe I've had a few too many beers tonight (relatives are staying here and they like beers, as do I!)

Nadin, Here's a great resource I created and use for offline markeing (this comes from Michel Fortin, JP Maroney, David Garfinkel, Yanik Silver, and myself).

http://www.marketing-medic.com/pubs/...ys-offline.pdf

John