So what are the most successful ways to get prospects to opt-in to your email list?

The table below, based on Marketing Sherpa’s new Best Practices in Email Marketing Handbook, ranks opt-in methods based on the number and quality of opt-ins received for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets.

Free trials and downloads

People love to sample what you have to offer, so ebooks, audio recordings, or any kind of relevant content the visitor would be interested in is a great incentive.

Surprisingly, sample newsletters (they recommend having a link directly under your opt-in box) can boost conversion as well.

Sales alerts and product announcements

If you’ve ever joined a pre-launch list for for a big internet marketer, you’ll understand how powerful this tactic can be (especially if the sale only lasts a few hours).

But everyone hates to miss a good deal, so offering announcements of sales and new products can be a motivator for any business.

Trade shows

Collecting cards in a fishbowl is a clear winner for the B2B market. The quality of leads is rated lower than the tactics above, but may still be worthwhile.

While it’s ok to add their mailing information to your database, adding their emails to your list is a no-go unless it’s clearly expressed on the form that they’re opting in for email communications.

Instead, segment your leads and send them an email invitation for your newsletter and an appealing free download.

Newsletter offers

Notice how far down simply offering a newsletter in exchange for an email address ranks. In most cases, it’s just not enough to get an email address anymore.

So your best bet is to offer your newsletter in conjunction with something else.

Sweepstakes

This tactic was great at getting a ton of emails for B2B marketers. But it didn’t rank in the top 5 because fewer than half of the resulting opt-ins turned out to be real prospects. Obviously, it fares much better with consumers.

If you go this route, check with a lawyer because there are extensive legal requirements for running a sweepstakes event.

Checkboxes on registration and order forms

I thought it was brilliant when I recently left a comment on a blog and saw a checkbox to sign-up for their newsletter.

But make sure to leave the box unchecked.  Doing otherwise, known as opt-out marketing, is an annoying practice that will certainly boost your complaint rates.

So next time you’re considering how to grow your email list, consider one or more of these options to boost your opt-in rate.

(By the way, the checkbox is done with Action Comments, which I will be adding as soon as I change over the blog design!)

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