At this stop, you will learn about the essential role that an opt-in incentive has for the success of your online information business.
Done right an opt-in incentive will help attract the right people and position them to purchase.
Creating an information product and offering it as an opt-in incentive site-wide or tied to a specific page or post, plays a huge role in supporting your online information business to grow and thrive.
What is an Opt-in Incentive / Lead Magnet / Freebie?
An opt-in incentive, freebie, lead magnet, bonus download, freemium or sign-up incentive are all names for an irresistible offering. An offering you give away to your potential customer for free to capture their attention. It must be valuable enough that they will exchange their email address or contact information to receive it. Lead Magnets get their name from their nature of attracting leads into the sales and marketing funnel.
An opt-in incentive is also a digital product (although not always eg discounts). Aside from being free, it provides a valuable 'taster' of what your prospective customers can expect from your paid offerings.
The best opt-in incentive / lead magnets are highly specific and provide tangible value. They seek to answer a specific customer question, solve a specific problem and provide a quick result. Rather than a generic 'Guide to Parenting' think instead of a 'Parenting Guide to potty training 2-Year-Old Boys'.
By providing a highly specific opt-in incentive you will attract the 'ideal customer' that you identified earlier at the first stop - identify your playing field.
Opt-in freebies need to be closely aligned to your paid offering to be an effective 'lead magnet' that attracts your ideal customer.
What is the Purpose of an Opt-in incentive / Lead Magnet?
The purpose of an opt-in incentive / lead magnet is to deliver value to your potential customer. It also provides you with an opportunity to follow-up with the view of building a profitable, mutually beneficial relationship.
After confirming their subscription to your email list you are able to continue the conversation and deepen the relationship.
For an online information entrepreneur, the ability to connect with your potential customer / prospect directly enables you to build trust by helping them navigate a problem, implement a strategy to achieve a gain or eliminate a pain.
By providing an irresistible opt-in freebie you are starting your relationship on a positive note as well as piquing their interest in your paid offerings.
Unlike social media platforms, you own your email list and you will no longer be constrained by their changing whims and algorithms.
Being able to connect via email with your 'ideal customer' is extremely valuable to an online information entrepreneur, as it enables you to engage directly and gives your customer the opportunity to get to know, like and trust you. This privilege should not be abused nor squandered.
Last Stop - Consider Your Opt-in Incentive / Lead Magnet / Opt-in Freebie
A great opt-in incentive / lead magnet accomplishes two things above all else:
- it attracts the right people
- it positions those people to purchase
At this stop, we will introduce you to the huge benefits you can obtain by designing an opt-in incentive / freebie / lead magnet. Opt-ins play a key role in attracting customers to your business and supporting your paid products.
Why Do You Need an Opt-in Incentive / Lead Magnet / Opt-in Freebie?
You need an opt-in incentive / lead magnet because it makes the job of marketing your online information business and your offerings easier and more effective.
The paid information product you create and your free offering should be closely linked. Opt-in incentives serve as the bridge between attracting potential customers and converting them into paying customers. Followed by nurturing them so they become loyal fans who will sing your praises from the rooftops.
An opt-in incentive provides the opportunity to introduce yourself to your prospects. Think of it as your 'Welcome Mat' to your online business. It needs to be attention-grabbing, appealing, offers high value, be quick to consume and provide a solution that will help your prospect make a transformation that they desire.
Your competitors are investing in creating irresistible opt-in incentives that offer promises of amazing results. To be a successful online entrepreneur you need to embrace opt-in incentive / lead magnet creation with both hands and create something even better than your competitors.
A popup or sidebar sign-up saying "come join me and get my newsletter" just isn't going to cut it anymore. There is no visible value proposition.
I know you can do a lot better. You are all about giving value and you want to succeed in the online information industry.
Benefits of an Irresistible, Targeted Opt-in Incentive:
When Designing Your Information Product Consider Your Opt-in Incentive / Freebie
For your paid information product to be a sales success you need to consider what opt-in incentive / lead magnet you will create to support your product once completed.
Not everyone who visits your website is ready to buy immediately the amazing product that you've created. They need to get to know you first, like what you have on offer and trust that your solutions will address their pain points or get them their desired result.
When designing your information product, take some time to consider what you will offer that will support your paid product and your online business.
It's like when you visit the supermarket and you stop by the product stall. The server prepares smaller pieces to offer you as a taster to entice you to buy their product. Once you have had a chance to taste the product you are more likely to purchase the full product.
Simply put ... an opt-in incentive is a digital information product that is simple to create and well worth the investment
Where Does The Opt-in Incentive / Lead Magnet / Opt-in Freebie Fit In?
The opt-in incentive is the first step on the value ladder. As you build a positive relationship with your customer you are then better placed to offer increased value at differing price levels, depending on where they are in their customer buying journey.
The first step is for your prospective customer to accept the invitation of engaging with you. This is done by your audience providing their email address and name in exchange for your valuable opt-in incentive / lead magnet. They need to get to know you and build trust that the solutions you offer them will alleviate their pain point or get them closer to their desired situation.
Content Upgrades - Another Name for an Opt-in Incentive
Content upgrades are also another form of opt-in freebie. Unlike 'site-wide' opt-in freebies a content upgrade is an opt-in freebie that is created specifically for a particular blog post or page. It is tightly linked to the specific content within the page or blog post. Because of this, the opt-in rate for content upgrades is generally a lot higher.
Big players in the online information industry like Brian Harris from Growth Tools, Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income, Brian Dean from Backlinko and Clay Collins from LeadPages all have reported significant increases in email opt-ins as a direct result of using content upgrades. Pat Flynn saw a crazy 500% increase in email opt-ins just by experimenting with well placed opt-in incentives.
What Makes an Opt-in Incentive / Lead Magnet / Opt-in Freebie Great?
What to Offer as an Opt-in Incentive / Lead Magnet / Opt-in Freebie?
When selecting which format to create your opt-in incentive choose a format that works for you, your audience and your schedule.
Keep in mind who your opt-in is for and the value proposition you’re promising them.
Remember: Brevity + Depth + Specificity = Awesome!
Smaller opt-in incentives take less time to create and also take your audience less time to consume. Translate the useful information you have discovered during your research on your topic into a quick-win that enables your audience to experience success using your well thought out solution.
Creating and Opt-in
To create an opt-in incentive you will work through the same process road maps you have travelled to create your paid product. You will need to identify your opt-in offering, plan and organise the opt-in then work through the product creation road map to create your valuable opt-in incentive.
The purpose of your opt-in may be different in terms of its objective. The scale of your opt-in will be different, but it is still an information product in its own right.
The difference is you are not offering a full-blown solution but a taster of the solution you're offering. Leverage the work you have already completed throughout the development of your paid product. Remember you are only offering one piece of the puzzle.
Good things really do come in small packages 
Congratulations!!!!
Follow the information product roadmaps and undertake the activities within each stop along the way.
Once you complete the online information product creation journey, you will have successfully created an amazing digital product.
You are well placed for online business success.
This is not, however, the end of your online business journey, it is just the beginning. From here you need to take the product you create with blood, sweat and tears plus a whole lot of heart and release it into the wild.