by Ben Francia |Last Updated: May 22, 2012 
An opt-in form is that precious aspect of your landing page that allows you to build your email list. If you’ve been following my blog long enough or if you’re into Internet marketing, you’ll know well that creating and nurturing your list is what helps you keep your Internet business alive.
What dictates your list success? Why, the opt-in form, of course! Besides the content you bring, if your opt-in form isn’t stellar, you might lose your chances of getting them into your list. In this article, I’ll talk about the 6 elements that your opt-in form needs to succeed and how you should make each count.
Check it out:
The Headline
The headline acts as your opt-in form’s hook in a sense that it catches the users’ attention.
Just like how newspapers feature today’s best news, headlines are supposed to catch attention in the most minimal way possible – in 6 or 10 words tops. It should also be noted that they need to be factual and not misleading as it could lead to subsrcibers falling out simply because you didn’t deliver what they expected.
Here’s a little tip: Keep it simple.
Make sure that you present headlines that respond to your audience’s most immediate needs. Here’s an example:
“Shocking Secrets to Building Massive Traffic Revealed” or “Top 20 Internet marketing WordPress Themes that Convert”
Notice how simple the words are? They’re pretty high converting too in terms of getting attention (clicks).
The CLEAR Call to Action
After your headline, give your users what they should do next. This should be very specific and if possible, keep the action insanely simple.
Here’s an example:
“Click here”, “Get access” or “Click to join”
The Email Field
This is where your users are supposed to put in their email address. The text “Enter your best email here” is often found inside the email field and is considered best practice.
When modifying email fields, always make sure that the default text inside disappears once the user clicks on it. This may require some basic javascript ninja skillz, but you can hire a web developer to do it for you.
The Incentive
I often call this the heart of the opt-in form because this is the value that you give to your users –specifically, “value-incarnate”. It’s also called a lead magnet. This may come in form of a White Paper, a Video, a Webinar, a WordPress Plugin, MindMaps, etc.
Make sure that your headline and your calls-to-action manifest the importance of your incentive. Make sure that your opt-in forms always have their respective incentives to increase your chances of getting highly motivated subscribers whom you want to work with and for.
The Benefits
Speaking of the incentive, make it a point to communicate what it does to provide value to your subscribers. If they’re not convinced by the headline enough, your benefits should be able to back your incentive’s value enough. Keep benefits short and simple as well. Make at least 3 to 5 bullet points that describe how awesome your lead magnet is.
The Privacy Statement
Finally, the privacy statement reassures your subscribers that their email will never be shared or sold to any third party. Privacy is a big issue to anyone and that rings true when it comes to email addresses. Just make sure you have one visible on your opt-in form.
That’s about it for the 6 essential elements of an opt-in form. Take note that you need to have your elements clean and specific enough for your ideal audience to join your list.
Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Shandi
great site!2012-08-30 14:53:00
6 Essential Elements of An Opt-In Form | Ben Francia : My Exit Splash Review And Bonuses
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