5 Tested And Proven Ways to Increase Your Opt-in Form Conversions (without creating a new offer)

Is your opt-in offer not converting at the signup rate you wished it was?

And you don't have time to create a completely new offer?

Then read on to learn 5 proven ways you can quickly upgrade your existing offer to start growing your email list faster.

Tip #1: Try a Different Angle for Your Existing Offer

While it might sound simple, promoting a different benefit of your existing opt-in offer can often be the key to boosting your conversion rates.

When considering new angles to promote around your opt-in offer, jot down both your target audience's pain points (things they want to avoid) and desires (things they want more of).

In his book, Who Am I?, Steven Reiss breaks down 16 human desires that can help you frame your opt-in offer within terms of pain points and desires:

As an example, let’s look at our own free Thrive University opt-in offer within Stephen Reiss’s 16 Desires framework.

After signing up, Thrive University gives you access to a wide range of free online courses to help you build both your website and online business.

So which of Reiss's 16 Desires could we use to better position our Thrive University opt-in offer? Here's a few ideas...

Power - The Need for Control of Will

Reiss defines Power as:

"The desire for influence of will. Power drives hard work, determination, and the need for achievement. It also can motivate the desire for leadership."

An online entrepreneur who desires Power will set his or her eyes on achieving specific goals or receiving recognition and reward (money, fame). So, we could position our free Thrive University offer as a resource that helps aspiring entrepreneurs achieve their online business goals with the following copy:

“Finally create a successful online business by going through the courses at Thrive University.”

Or what if we use another desire on Reiss’s list...

Curiosity - The Need to Gain Knowledge

Reiss defines the Curiosity desire as:

"The desire for understanding."

With the Curiosity desire in mind, we could position our Thrive University opt-in offer like this:

“Finally feel like you know what you’re doing” or “Become part of a community of online entrepreneurs when you join Thrive University”.

But those are just 2 of 16 desires you could create new angles around to promote your existing opt-in offer.

Use the 16 Desires framework to generate as many new angles as you can and then use Thrive Leads to run opt-in form A/B tests to see which one performs best at getting you new subscribers.

To learn more about A/B testing your opt-in offer value propositions, check out our How to Convert Any Opt-in Offer into a Marketing Multi-Tool article.

Tip #2: A/B Test 1-Step vs. 2-Step Opt-In Forms

To 1-step or 2-step? That is the question.

To know whether a 1-step or 2-step opt-in offer will convert better for your specific opt-in offer, you’ll need to run an opt-in form A/B test to find out.

Watch our Thrive Leads Tutorial video below to see just how easy that is to set up and run:

Tip #3: Create a More Specific Opt-In Offer

It’s not always necessary to come up with more or new opt-in offers when you take the offers you already have and position them better on your website.

For example, if a visitor to your site is busy reading a blog post about list building, then the opt-in offer that appears while reading that post should be related to list building. Doing this means such an opt-in offer will match the visitor’s interest, improving the chances they'll sign-up.

Learn more about how you can target your opt-in offers with surgical precision inside Thrive Leads by clicking here.

Tip #4: Offer Something "Less Valuable"

Yes, you read that correctly.

Though it's a typical human desire to want more, offering up something "less valuable" or at least something that is less of a commitment can actually boost your signups.

New online entrepreneurs often believe in going above and beyond when creating their free opt-in offers (e.g. creating comprehensive online courses or 300 page eBooks), when the truth is that people who just arrived on your site don’t have the time or interest for such a big investment in your content.

To avoid this problem, here are some low-commitment, high-value lead magnets you can try offering instead:

• A checklist
• A swipe file
• Just a single example of something valuable instead of several examples

These low commitment opt-in offers will help your visitors feel like the investment required is small, meaning they'll be more inclined to sign-up to check it out.

Tip #5: Add a Segmentation Question To Your Opt-In Form

Adding a segmentation question to your opt-in form can boost its conversions because this tiny modification makes your offer feel custom-tailored to each visitor. 

Personalization is everything.

Think back to the Thrive University opt-in offer mentioned above, what if a visitor was also asked:

“Where are you in your WordPress website building journey?”

To which the visitor could select:

A1: “I already have a WordPress website.”

A2: “I’m currently building my first WordPress website.”

A3: “What’s WordPress?”

This simple self-segmentation question not only gives you the chance to learn something important about your visitor, but will also make your visitor feel like the lead magnet you present them with is custom-tailored to their specific needs.

Now It’s Your Turn

If you’re keen to boost conversions with the opt-in offer you already have, it’s time to fire up Thrive Leads and use one of the tips mentioned above.

And if you're not familiar with our lead generation plugin, watch our Thrive Leads tutorial video first to get yourself oriented.

Do you know of any other ways to increase your conversion rates without needing to create brand new opt-in offers? Let us know by leaving a comment below!