October 23rd, 2009
You’ve probably found long copy vs short copy can make a big difference when it comes to online lead acquisition.
In working with new clients I’ve discovered a great deal of confusion and misperception about this issue.
I can tell you after writing and testing many different acquisition pages over the years that answering some key questions beforehand is vital to success:
Are you looking to get people to call? Or to fill out a form? Or enter their email? Or some combination of these? How many fields in a form do they have to fill out?
Is it for a product or a service? Or a product leading to a service?
Will they receive a free report, free consultation, or some other premium? Do they have to take out their credit card (even if it’s for a free trial)?
Is the prospect coming from an ad? Where was the ad placed? An article? A press release? Some place else?
Even the lingo used makes a difference in setting expectations about the length of the copy. Sales page or opt-in page? Or squeeze page? Or lead capture page? Or landing page?
When you are working with a copywriter or marketing person be careful of the terminology used and make sure everyone is on the same page, so to speak.
It can all factor in on the length of the page. And length makes a difference. I’ve created tests where changing the length doubles response.
It would be interesting to hear your experience when it comes to copy length for lead acquisition. Why do you think one worked better than the other?
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Tags: copywriting, lead generation, optin copy
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March 1st, 2009
I came across a very simple opt-in landing page where I couldn’t resist signing up. The headline was simple. “Free! Buy these stocks before Obama takes office.”
This optin landing page does an excellent job of combining curiosity with urgency to attract signups. I came to the page on December 26, 2008 from a text ad with the headline “3 stocks you need to get into before Obama takes office. ” The date is obviously important because it is just a few weeks before Barack Obama’s inauguration. Urgency is explicit in the timing.
It’s worth taking a look at why it is so effective
The headline is to the point and compelling to investors (I like the headline of the text ad even better because of its specificity). The design of the landing page is clear and spare. You see the headline then “Enter Your email” and just one field to fill out – your email address. It sits there in the middle of the screen surrounded mostly by white space like a tempting piece of candy to someone with a sweet tooth. Hard to resist. See screenshot below:
There are many examples of spare opt-in pages. But this is about as spare as it gets, depending on the strength of the headline and the simplicity of the layout for its power.
A small logo in the upper left corner tells you it’s from the Motley Fool, a brand name in the investment newsletter field. It’s all that’s needed to tell you this is coming from an authoritative source.
What happened after signing up
It’s also interesting to see what they did post-signup. Once I signed up I came to a detailed 3 page article/report. It goes into the historical relationship of stock movements and presidential administrations.
It then transitions into talking about the sectors that should benefit from Obama’s policies. The report then revealed all 3 stock picks. There is certainly good marketing reasons to give away this information.
1) It follows the give-away free information model on the Internet. The idea is to get people thinking: if I get all this for free, imagine what I’ll get with their paid product.
2) Theory of Reciprocity – one of the principles developed by noted social psychologist Robert Cialdini. The premise is that when you give people a gift (e.g. valuable Free Report), people feel obligated (and may pay for your newsletter).
Still, I wonder . . .
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Tags: landing page, list-building, opt-in page, squeeze page
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