The Best Strategies to Make the Most of Email Opt-Ins

Visit any website, perhaps including your own, and within 30 seconds of landing on any page you are likely to receive a pop-up prompt asking for your email address in exchange for some sort of tempting freebie like an e-book of valuable content relating to the website’s subject matter. This strategy is currently one of the most popular ways for online companies to increase the number of people on their email subscription lists and thereby improve the chances of attracting new customers.

However, today’s digital world lends itself to web users who are on the prowl for very specific information, and these people will simply x-out of any prompt or box that doesn’t help them reach their end goals. So how can websites fight against that trend to still attract new email subscriptions? The answer is upgraded content, and it has worked miracles for stagnant businesses of all kinds.

What is Upgraded Content?

Upgraded content uses the same premise of a prompt asking for a viewer’s email address in exchange for a freebie generally related to the website as a whole. However, upgraded content differentiates itself because it offers a freebie that is content-specific to the exact blog page that a viewer visited.

For example, a college student named Alex visits a car repair website looking specifically for information regarding how to check if his brakes need to be replaced. After 15 seconds, he is prompted with a box asking him to enter his email in order to receive a special e-book all about the inner workings of a car engine. Since Alex is only seeking help about his brakes, he’s likely to ignore the freebie and decline to enter his email.

On the other hand, an upgraded content strategy would offer Alex a freebie specifically related to a car’s brakes, since he is viewing a page relating to that content. This makes Alex interested in the freebie and more willing to take the time to enter his email.

Though upgraded content does admittedly take more time and effort, it can result in 400 or 500 percent increases in email subscriptions, so it is absolutely worth the investment!