I always believed that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line. When it comes to list building, I’ve pretty much stuck to that theory. However, there are some other theories going around that I’ve had time to chew on and think about. In this article, I’m going to present one and then give you my opinion on it. Naturally, you will want to test this yourself.

Okay, so what’s this theory that I’ve been chewing on for the better part of a day? Well, I’m going to give you the Reader’s Digest version of it. In a nutshell, what you do is you present the prospect with a piece of content. At the end of it, you tell the reader that if they want to get the second part of that content, they simply need to opt in and they’ll have it delivered right to their email box. A variation of this tactic has multiple followups. The thinking behind this is that the prospect will be waiting for your emails and thus, you’ll have a responsive list.

On the surface, this sounds like a reasonable method that should work. But there is a downside. With the normal opt in process, you present the prospect with an opt in page telling them that they’ll get a free report or newsletter in exchange for their email. If they’re really interested in the info, they’ll opt in…sight unseen. However, by using the variation above, what if they didn’t like part one? They are unlikely to opt in for part two. In other words, by letting a little of the cat out of the bag, you risk losing the opt in before you ever get it.

Truth is, none of this should come as a surprise to you. With any marketing tactic, there are pluses and minuses. Nothing is 100%. The question is, which method works better? The answer to that, unfortunately, is only going to be revealed by testing. If you take what other marketers say, and you really have to take it with a grain of salt, many swear by this method. Interesting though how I don’t see all that many use it. Could it be because they’ve thought about what I revealed above? Yes, there are downsides.

My personal belief is that you don’t want to make your prospects jump through too many hoops. If you’re ultimate goal is to get them to sign up for your newsletter or free report, then make that clear up front. Don’t send them to a page of content, with their expectations that it will give them everything they need, and then pull the rug out from under them and tell them that they have to opt in to get the rest. You might end up ticking a few people off.

But like I said…the only way to find out is to test it yourself.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of not getting your emails delivered, read or opened? Sick of not making any sales from your email marketing efforts? Visit my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/emailmarketing/index.html and get your hands on 5 years of my personal experience with email marketing…experience that has earned me tens of thousands of dollars yearly.