“Why Should I?” How to Sell Your Signups

An email signup box on your home page won’t grow your in-house list. At least not by much. But many companies rely solely on that one box on that one page and then wonder why their list grows so slowly.

Getting someone to subscribe to your newsletter or sign up for your emails is akin to selling them something. People must be sold on signing up for your emails just like they need to be sold on your products or services. The first mistake we must eliminate is relying on a signup box alone. Even if that box appears on every page of your 30-page website, it’s not selling. It’s just a box. No pitch, no reasons to enter an email address, no reasons to pay any attention to it whatsoever.

To get past that common mistake is simple. Add a page to your website that tells people why they should sign up to get emails from you.

An email address is an item of value. It will only be surrendered over to you if the giver receives something of equal or greater value in return. This page sells your email program to a prospect so they will be willing to part with their email address in exchange for what you are offering.

But wait. Let’s back up a step.

Before you add that page, think long and hard about why someone would want to subscribe. What will you offer them in exchange for their email address? What do you have of value that they might want?

How do you answer the question, “Why should I?” when you ask for someone’s email address?

Here are some possible benefits to consider when selling your email signups to potential subscribers:

• Special pricing
• In-depth information
• Exclusive tips, tricks or techniques
• Advance notice about events, new releases or sales
• Special access to online content
• Exclusive sales, or pre-sales

And, of course, we always recommend that you test multiple offers to find the one that resonates best with your audience.

How do you answer when a prospect asks, “Why should I?”

Now put that on your website, and watch your list grow.

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Marco Marini

Marco Marini is the CEO of iPost and an acknowledged expert in email marketing with over a decade of experience in the field.

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