We know social platforms are great for finding your tribe, but there’s no guarantee of continued access to them.
Enticing people on to your email list gives you the security that you can continue to engage them, regardless of rule changes on any social platforms.
But people are much more guarded with their email address than they used to be.
So how do you convince people to leave the social platform they love, and join your list?
Maybe five years or so ago, you could just say “join my email list” and if they liked you, they probably would.
These days, people’s inboxes are already overflowing with spam. The last thing they want to do is invite someone to send them more emails that they’re only marginally interested in.
So to get them to part with their email address, you need to offer them something they can’t resist.
The question is – what?
The good news is given you’ve been engaging with your tribe, you probably already know what drives them.
What are their biggest fears and pain points?
What are their wildest dreams and biggest desires?
Provide a solution for their problems, or a path to their desires, and they’ll gladly give you their email address.
It also pays to remember that people are usually more driven to solve their problems and reduce their pain than they are to move towards pleasure.
So if you’re tossing up what to offer, go with something that solves a big problem.
The more specific the problem, and the more targeted the solution, the more likely you are to be able to make a big impression.
But that doesn’t mean you should solve all of their problems in one go. Nor should you even try.
Go deep on one particular problem and demonstrate the value you can add.
There’ll be plenty of opportunities down track to address all the other problems.
Remember, this “ethical bribe” (as it’s often called) is about more than just getting someone on to your email list.
If you can wow them with what you provide for free, they’re more likely to trust you when you offer a paid solution to their wider problems (which, of course, you will at some point).
Treat this as your chance to create a great “first impression” that keeps them hanging out for your future emails.
And that should be your ultimate goal – people on your list who actually want to read what you have to say.
Because you can’t hope to sell anything to anyone if they aren’t interested in reading the emails you send them (not that all your emails should be just trying to sell something, but definitely some should).
So take the time to create something that is awesome.
It doesn’t have to be a massive ebook, or a full on course.
But it should show that you really understand the topic.
And it MUST provide the solution that you promise.
It could be delivered as an ebook. It could be a workbook. It could be a series of templates. It could be an audio file. It could be a video. It could even be a combination of these formats.
Just make sure it is easy for your new subscriber to access, consume and action.
All three of these points are very important.
If your new subscriber has to jump through too many hoops just to get access to what you promised they are likely to get frustrated, and probably won’t stick around long.
If they can’t understand and action what you have provided they are unlikely to consider any further solutions you offer.
But get it right and you have the opportunity to create a dedicated follower, or even a raving fan.
And we can all use a few of those 🙂
PS – If you missed the last article in this series, where we talked about engaging your tribe, you can catch up here.
