R3 for Email - S1 Step 1: The Opt In
R3 for Email - S1 Step 1: The Opt In
R3 for Email I guardianmarketing.substack.com I ExperienceR3.com
We've arrived! All the way back to the very beginning. This is where the journey of your prospect starts, but it's also where the journey of your email strategy development ends.
We began all the way back in Stage 4. With your best customers. The ones you always want more of. The ones you dream of. The ones who buy everything you make and tell other people about what you are doing.
If you are coming to this fresh, see links in the footer to navigate the Stages of R3 for Email12345.
We figured out what drove your best customers to arrive to that point, through the philosophies and principles, through the problems and challenges they needed help with, all the way to the point where they first discovered you, to understand why …
Why did they chose you? Why did they step in your direction? What desires, problems, and solutions were they searching for when they found you in the first place?
It's this understanding which you'll use in Stage 1, Step 1 - “The Opt In.”
One thing you'll discover as you work through this, is that when you backwards engineer your email strategy like this from Stage 4 all the way to the beginning, is your efforts hardly need to be perfect in order to get an effective outcome.
That is, you don’t need 40%+ opt in rate to have excellent and effective lead generation. That can be done. But you can also have highly profitable lead gen on just 10%.
Think about how we're building this - we already know the path that our best customers have walked, and we know how to build that path for new people, so we can surmise that anyone who starts walking on that path *is highly likely to proceed and ultimately buy.*
IF,
and only if,
You already know the path they need to walk to inevitably become your customer, and hopefully stay with you for years to come.
What Step 1 is all about is the transition from being out there, to coming in here. From not knowing who you are or what you can do for them, to them believing you are the one they need to follow.
Step 1 is about speaking to your prospect in the place where they are and giving them a reason to chose to move in your direction,
AND
Critically to do so in a way which is congruent with the experience and messaging you're going to be delivering to them once they have signed up.
That means either making decisions about your front end (your ads, your opt in) such that there's an alignment of expectation for the prospect once they are receiving emails,
OR
Making changes to the emails themselves to create that alignment.
Since we know from Step 2 of Stage 1 that the email series they are going to receive will be based in principles and philosophies, we want to keep in mind the bridge necessary to go from ad to opt in to that email series.
To do this, we're going to use a combination of Allegiance Capital and capitalizing on the HFM opportunities, to transition them from "I'm interested in this for ME" to "whoa, I'm interested in YOU."
Remember, once someone sees you and starts taking a step forward in your direction, a lot of your work is managing expectations.
We'll get into that.
But first,
I want to unravel the idea of lead generation for a moment. In my observation and experience most people think of this from a selfish perspective. That is, they approach lead generation from the thought of "how can I get their email so that I can sell to them?"
And we need to break that perspective - to change how we think about the lead generation process - in order to create the most effective inevitable outcomes.
What is the point of lead generation?
I'm going to, for the moment, loosely wrap up the initial contact into the lead generation. That initial contact is typically an advertisement - whether that's a paid ad, or an ad or CTA of some kind contained within some bit of content you placed.
Your prospect is having this experience:
First time exposed to you and your brand/business. Awareness is planted. Interest is possibly begun. What do they do next?
If they have an active interest in you from that first point of contact they'll be actively asking themselves that question (what do I do next?), possibly even looking for a place to sign up with an email for more information, or just looking through your website, your social media, your youtube, etc, to learn more about what you're doing, who you are, and how you can feed their interest or desire or solve their problem.
They are THEM focused at the beginning.
(We're always driven by self interest, but a real honest good relationship alters that dynamic in powerful ways - in the sense that 'what's in it for me' evolves)
They may need many more touches after that point before they take the active interest to move forward. Often times that first touch is awareness and a seed planted.
But at some point the momentum shifts and they will start coming toward you, into your world.
How you manage that energy and that transition is where the lead generation comes in.
Structurally (or tactically) speaking ... as far as getting someone onto an email list you can go as simple as a plain form that essentially says "sign up to get our emails," to the more involved "lead magnet" style of lead generation which seeks to use their self interest in order to kick that momentum forward more actively, all the way to complex lead generation systems like webinars and quizzes, which effectively make the email signup a necessary step in the experience they are seeking in the moment.
That's all very brief - there are seemingly endless tactical ways you can have people sign up to your email list and start this path into your business's internal world, and through the different stages.
The specifics of how to build your tactics are largely preferential, with the greatest weight in consideration being who do you want to be speaking with, and how do you want their experience to unfold?
Many businesses run their email lists like churn and burn meat grinders.
They pull in as many people as they possibly can on the front end and then use email to grind out buyers, which they keep grinding until there's nothing left to grind. They'll throw money at this system until it stops being profitable.
But some people would rather have an email list which interests and engages people for many years, allowing you a platform and channel of communication which provides you a ton of leverage throughout the growth and lifetime of your business.
In the meat grinder version, businesses are typically looking for the cheapest lead at a high volume. They don't really care how they get on the email list as long as they get on the email list. (And many will go to the extent of buying other email lists to add to theirs - but that's not something I'm going to discuss here)
In the second example, where the person running the list desires engagement and interest from their readers for many years, where they want a responsive email list that buys all of their products and is a valuable leverage-able asset to the growth and expansion of their business, how that person comes onto the list matters.
Think from their perspective
Someone who signs up to an email list in order to get a free download is in a very different position than someone who signs up to an email list for the specific intent of receiving your emails.
The former having a greater likelihood of disconnection and failing to progress (since their transaction is complete with the opt in being delivered), and the latter being far more likely to have significant growing interest and connection with you and your business (since they have joined the list specifically for that connection and interest).
People's behavior isn't black and white, and there are no bad ways to get someone onto an email list (except the illegal ones, where you put them on the list without their willing participation) - you just must be aware of the dynamics at play.
You can be interested in long term growth, having engagement of readers for years, building their relationships, leading to a highly inevitable outcome of your prospects and customers buying everything you have ... AND get them onto the list initially with a typical free download offer.
The most important thing for you to be aware of when building out the initial email strategy is the perspective and expectation of the person signing up to the email list.
If you use a "lead magnet" that is a free download, just be aware of the experience that lead is likely expecting. They probably have some level of interest in you and the things you can do for them since they are going to the effort of getting the free download, BUT their interest may rapidly stop at the transaction and they may never read an email from you, because what they are actively interested in is the thing they are giving you their email address for (and not necessarily YOU).
Since we are aware of this dynamic, when it comes to free download lead magnets we do a couple key tactical things:
We force them to go into email to get the free download. This doesn't have to be a poor experience, in fact this can feel like a really good experience, you just have to clearly communicate using Allegiance Capital - as soon as someone puts in their email, explain to them their download is being delivered by email and they have to go get it ... and then ...
We use that delivery of the free download to create a bridge into the rest of the experience - in essence having them psychologically re-opt-in (and sometimes literally having them re-opt-in by clicking a link) to shift their focus and interest towards thinking "yes, I do want to receive more email and see what they have to say."
Most people fail to do these two things.
The first failure is to not intentionally bring them into your email experience. When someone opts in, if you deliver the download on the next page, they have no reason to go read your email. They might anyway, by happenstance. But they give their email and immediately get the thing they wanted, transaction complete, they are gone.
By guiding them into their email to get the thing they want, it forces them to read at least one email from you. (Anyone you see boasting about 80+% open rate on the first email is doing this - it's a simple tactic that just makes a lot of sense)
The second thing people fail to do is transition that initial interest and shift their focus and expectation from "give me the free thing" to "I want to see what else they have to say about this."
Again, there're seemingly endless little tactics and tools for making this happen, it depends on your business, your goals, yourself, what you have to say, etc.
And as always, we want to remember that we're building a path all the way to Stage 4.
How to start that path
I often like to bridge directly into the principled content, starting with the most intriguing principle which serves clearly their most immediate desire or problem.
As a quick example (NOTE: This will be easier to see in the final R3 for Email as there will be swipe files from emails to connect to), in my Yoga client's series, we went effectively from new lead opt in to bridge email which communicated "here's why yoga is not about physical exercise for us" - that was the B message of the content. The reason for this start is because every single Stage 4 customer (their biggest fans) came to them originally and resonated with them because of how they talked about yoga on a deeper level beyond the physical - even though the physical aspect is still important and appeared to drive initial desire (people searching for guided yoga, techniques, etc).
Ad -> Lead Gen -> Delivery and Bridge Email -> New Lead Series (The Great Filter)
So in that case I knew if I could strike that chord of deeper meaning, it would resonate very strongly with like minded people and they would be compelled to read more.
It doesn't always work to go directly to the point like that.
Sometimes you want a longer pathway into your world, a way to engage people who are brand new to you, in a way which is interesting to their personal motivations while also still connecting the deeper principled understanding. This is a little more finessed, but typically involves stringing out communication focused on the thing they opted in for.
Tactics for this can include:
Building a supplemental series to the lead magnet, often one focused around how best to implement the content and get immediate results. This is a more literal bridge connecting the lead magnet into the rest of the email world - it gets people reading and building a habit reading.
Using the email series itself as the lead magnet - instead of being a download, delivering the content over a series of emails.
When I use the above, I either build "The Great Filter" series, which is philosophically and principally based, into the email series which is also focused on the thing they just got their hands on OR I send them through the filter series after the initial series.
Again there's no best answer.
It often depends on what resources you have available. If you're building an email list and lead magnets from scratch, you might be more particular and deliberate to construct them in a way that really gets people into your email world. I like using email series as the "magnet" - but this is more challenging to build ... your audience needs to want whatever it is you're delivering by the series (or what getting that series can reveal to them) enough to go in knowing it's going to take several days to unravel.
You might even discover email ends up being a perfect environment to deliver that content, because it forces separation of ideas (from one email to the next), begins a more intimate connection, builds the relationship, and is an effective structure for specifically directing action.
An excellent example of the above is the "Experience R3" email series6, which brings people through an experience of R3 itself while also guiding people towards buying the R3 book.
If you already have a list and emails and free downloads and magnets and such you've developed, just start with what you have. Apply Allegiance Capital7 during the lead gen process to get people into the first email and then build a bridge from there. This is often more than enough impact to completely change the downline game for you.
AC applied in email is effectively going through each step where someone takes an action, is moved from one space to another, or even just receives an email from you, and answer the questions - "Why am I here/receiving this?", "Am I in the right place?", "What do I do next?".
Make sure it's clear what's going to happen next for them, what they can expect and look out for, etc.
If you need to develop an email series, I recommend one of two approaches:
The easiest, if you already have the right content available, is to take something like a course you already have, a book, or even an extensive informative article or article series and build that content out to be shared one idea at a time through the email series.
That requires you to have the content, but if you do, you can get a solid email-series-as-lead-gen going quickly.
The second is to use what I recommend in Step 2 of Stage 1 to build out a Great Filter Series based on your principles and philosophies.
(The level up move is to weave principled communication into your email-series-as-lead-gen device - as exampled in Step 2 of Stage 1)
Always always always ...
Bring it back to your prospect, and where they are in their problems/interests/desires.
What content to focus on at this step
Remember all the way back to Stage 4. When you learn everything about your raving fans and how they got into your world and ultimately became raving fans, there were problems/desires/solutions they were searching for and trying to figure out when they discovered you to begin with.
This understanding should feed whatever you make your ads and your lead gen - and in these situations think about Tools and Tactics.
If you're running a coaching program teaching people how to improve in their business negotiations and deals, you might discover that your biggest fans originally came to you at a point when they were trying to solve a particular recurring situation where they'd experience a loss of control when the other party in the deals would make demands that were not reasonable.
You might even know that these fans started following you because of a particular answer you had, perhaps in a video somewhere, an article, a book, which they found quite useful.
So you might test out a lead magnet - since you can make it from the content you've already done. "The 4 Words Which Can Turn Around Any Stuck Negotiation." It's tactical. It's actionable. It promises something simple to implement that can have an immediate impact.
What is it NOT?
Philosophical. Principled. That comes next.
You get people to take action in your direction through something more easily digestible. When they are in your world, that's when you start building belief bridges, connect the dots, and creating the shift from "I'm interested in this for me," to "wow I'm interested in YOU."
(And that's what Step 2 of Stage 1 is all about)
There is an advanced consideration which I'll touch on in a moment.
But first,
Because I know from first hand experience that there's a TON of opinions out there about how you should build your lead gen, and what makes good and bad lead gen, and whether your lead gen looks like it sucks, etc ...
You can't know until you test.
You might have the most brilliant sounding idea that makes all the logical and emotional sense in the world. You might have something that just sounds really pointless but because of the conversations you've had makes logical sense for where they started.
It doesn't matter what someone else tells you about your idea, or your landing page, or your opt in or emails.
It doesn't even matter if you are unsure about your own idea.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter how good or questionable it sounds. All you need is a reasonable argument to TRY an idea. To test it out. To see how people react.
You need to test.
And you need to give it time.
Because human behavior is not something you can rely on for immediate understanding. You need to give time for your system to take whatever components you are testing and give you data that is full and actionable.
Because on average your first buying window is 90 days, it doesn't make sense to judge your system on anything less than 90 days. Even at 90 days you still won't have a complete picture, but you'll be able to have clarity on enough trends to determine if you should keep going, or what you might shift or adjust.
You might start at test and it looks like you’re getting NO results in the first two months, and then in the third month suddenly you have an influx of buyers.
You’ve got to look at the behavior and the entire system and understand what’s really happening.
And you must know:
Your data is the only data that matters8.
Remember that when you aren't certain about the idea to test.
Remember that when someone else questions what you're doing, tells you that your landing page sucks, or your opt in could be improved, or your emails are terrible.
Remember that your data and your reality trump everyone's opinion.
And remember that the outcome of the system is what you're after.
I say this because sometimes a 10% opt in rate will look bad on paper, but actually produces a crazy ROI in your system because you made the inevitable path all the way to Phase 4.
Come up with your idea.
Then test it.
Now,
One last part of Step 1 to consider:
Setting the Stage
There's one more component to this which is too broad of a subject to go into detail here, but which must also be mentioned - and it does loop in with what has already been discussed.
How someone ends up in front of your ad and the doorway to your world (your lead-gen) matters.
If you don't think deeply about your prospects perspective and experience as they discover you and come into your world it can be easy to think that it's a black and white situation. Where one moment they have no awareness of who you are and what you do and the next they are on your email list and moving forward.
But human behavior is not black and white.
How someone ends up in front of your opt in can play a HUGE role in how their path and experience unfolds when they are on your email list.
You can definitely go directly from ad to landing page onto an email list with a classic problem/desire/solution focused lead magnet, giving some tactic or tool insight that is immediately actionable ...
But you can also apply all of the philosophical and principled understanding to the content you put out into the world which most prospects would naturally come to before they ever reach your email opt in.
And you can combine the two.
Because you can start building belief connections, you can start building relationship interest, you can start building trust all before someone ever reaches your email list.
It's a longer road perhaps ... but someone who understands who you are, feels a connection with what you believe and why you do what you do, and believes you can help them achieve the life they desire, will sign up to your email list simply because they want to hear more from you - for no other reason, for no exchange of information, no transaction.
That's most definitely the ideal scenario because this is someone signing up to your email list with the purpose and intent already to read everything you send them.
But as I said, that's an entirely separate conversation.
And it's quite possible to build a highly effective email strategy working with a cold audience directly into an email list with a classic lead magnet.
However, you can still consider how you present and frame yourself to "the rest of the world" as an opportunity to begin those stronger connections and seed interest in getting closer to you before your prospect is presented with an opt in opportunity.
Laurel Portié9 does a fantastic job with this through her ads program and calls the concept "Pipeline Equity."
If you want some actionable guidance for building your front end to lead into your email strategy, Laurel's program is my #1 recommendation.
We finish at the beginning
As you can see, Stage 1 is complex, and in essence encompasses every foundational aspect to your email strategy.
(And now here, with Step 1: The Opt In)
Who you speak to. How they discover you. Why they sign up to your email list. How you transition them from cold to warm to hot. How you transition them from "what's in it for me" to "I need to have more of YOU."
You can play the numbers game if you want.
But I prefer inevitability.
I prefer building a system I am certain is going to achieve the outcome I desire. And I arrive at that certainty by starting all the way at the end, at Stage 4, to understand deeply who I serve best, how I serve them best, why they are so deeply connected and involved, and to then use that understanding to build out an Inevitable Email System.
This concludes on Man Bites Dog, the core Stages of R3 For Email. Consult the footer links below to navigate back through the other stages and steps.
Keep an eye out for more tidbits as I finalize the first draft of the book, and then of course we will make extensive announcements once that is available.
I plan to include many examples, swipe files and detailed breakdowns along with the final version.
The implementation of R3 for Email, being based in philosophy and principle, ends up uniquely applied in each scenario. Yet despite that uniqueness, there are consistent repeatable tools, tactics, and strategic structure to apply this to any business, with any audience, in any market.
If you have questions so far, please don't hesitate to comment below. The more questions I get before completing the book, the more I can assure the answers are clarified for you :)
Be Useful. Be Present. Love the Journey.
Joseph Robertson, CMO Man Bites Dog
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Thank you Joseph, I am looking forward to use these strategies and examples with my yoga school - thank you for all the examples, now is my turn to do the work :)
Lots of golden nuggets in this episode and many more throughout the series. Many thanks, Joseph!