We often hear that “the money is in the list” and many misunderstand this to be that “the bigger the list, the more money you’ll make”. Not necessarily true.
It’s your relationship with your community (a.k.a. “list”) and audience. When my business first broke $100,000 in revenue, there were 82 people on my list. It’s completely possible and totally doable.
That said, you do need more than your family, friends and pets in your community (or on your list).
Whether you’re holding a “list building” event, participating in a teleclass/telesummit, offering a complimentary training or participating in a giveaway, here are a few tactics and strategies (a.k.a. “how and why” ways) to handle things on the backend:
1. “Here you go/Pay it forward” Extreme Client Care™ Option: Create a page on your site and give them the link of your report, giveaway, gift. Invite them to sign up for your list/updates/newsletter, but don’t require it (sample “here you go/pay it forward” page).
Why you would use: Shows visitor that you’re more about providing information than list building and makes assumption that if you “do your job” by providing visitor with relevant, helpful info that she’ll want to sign up and learn more/receive more. Great for building relationships and credibility with those who resonate with you. Has the added benefit of confusing those with a skeptical mindset of “why would you give without receiving”. 😉
2. “Soft Squeeze” Option: Create a page (sample soft squeeze page) and request visitors share their name and email address information in order to receive “the thing” (report, giveaway, etc.). Allow them to enter your website or click through to other pages if they choose not to give that information. They may not yet know/trust you enough to share.
Why you would use: When combined with a graphic representation of your giveaway, studies show that this has a higher opt-in rate than #1 as you’re requiring the info in exchange for content: visitors come to the page and decide if what you’re offering is something they’re willing to exchange their info for.
3. Shopping Cart Option: Create a zero cost product within your shopping cart. When promoting the giveaway, use the cart’s product link. When people sign up to receive, they’ll enter their mailing address as well as name and email. With this option, you don’t need to create a full page unless you wish to/need to extol the benefits of your giveaway. You can see a sample of how I did this in the current Learning Survey (need to take Survey, then go to Gift page and scroll down to my name to see).
Why you would use: There are several strategies behind this option, including: No double opt-in needed as the cart considers these individuals “customers” since they went through the “product door”; you now have the ability to send snail mail since they shared their mailing address, this is great to surprise them with a special non-selling item in their mailbox (creates a feeling of Extreme Client Care™ while building credibility); you can add them to multiple nurturing sequences simultaneously, great for Client Care when done properly (never bombard new readers with too many connections/emails and easily allows for nurturing through segmentation).
This option works great for bonuses on other people’s websites/with their products, as part of telesummits, etc. Just be sure to either use a link shortener (such as http://tinyurl.com) or a redirect link as the shopping cart links are long, ugly and likely to get broken.
Can you see how tactics without strategy are meaningless and strategy without the right tactical info is a waste of good strategy? It’s not enough to know what you’re doing — you need to understand the “why” behind it.
If this information resonated with you and you’d like to know more, including the strategies (and tactics!) behind how my business created over $100,000 in revenue with a tiny list, join me on Friday, May 10th for a 3-hour session on Creating Engagement, and Paying Clients, through Nurturing.