Your opt-in page doesn’t need to be the most beautiful or comprehensive page on the internet. But it does need to be created with clear intention. Like any good landing page, every element must work together to take visitors from curious about your offer to convinced that they need to be on your email list.
Whether you’re trying to improve the performance of your existing opt-in page or create your first one from scratch, here are some crucial best practices to keep in mind.
What is an opt-in page?
An opt-in page is a type of landing page focused on a straightforward call-to-action: “Join our email list.”
Not only will your opt-in page have an opt-in form where people can enter their email address, but it might showcase an “opt-in offer” — a freebie you’ll give them upon signing up.
The effectiveness of your opt-in page hinges on clear messaging that promises value and resonates with your audience. Remember: You only want emails from people who fit your target persona so thoughtful, highly specific messaging is crucial.
Why is an opt-in page needed?
Think of your opt-in page like the front door to your email list — a list with limitless marketing and sales potential!
Once someone is on your list, you can serve, nurture, and convert them time and time again, creating a list of loyal leads and customers you can always reach, at any time, independent of third-party platforms like social media.
In an ideal world, your entire audience would be on your email list — and your opt-in page is the gateway for people to discover, share, and sign up for it. Your page will help you:
Grow Your Email List: Feature your opt-in page in the menu bar of your website. Link to it from your blog. Talk about it on social media. Use ads to drive traffic to it. However you get people on your opt-in page, it’s a crucial element in the signup flow.
Filter Your Audience: By using highly relevant messaging on your opt-in page, you’ll build a targeted list of people who better fit your ideal customer persona (that is, people who are most likely to engage with your content and pay for your premium offers).
Kickstart a Good Relationship: Through your highly targeted messaging, an opt-in page shows visitors you understand their needs and have something of impact to offer them. This notion helps build trust and positions you as a credible authority.
Improve Conversion Opportunities: Once your opt-in page has convinced a qualified lead to join your email list, you can nurture them with personalized content and guide them to paid offers that best fit their needs.
How to Create an Opt-In Page
Many people visiting your opt-in page will know little to nothing about you and what you offer. So, targeted and precise messaging that expresses value and builds trust is crucial to reeling them in and convincing them to fork over their email address.
#1 Quantify Your List's Value
In Creating an Irresistible Opt-In Offer, I share a short list of questions to ask yourself to narrow in on a specific value proposition that you can build a freebie around. Whether or not you plan to create an opt-in offer, these same questions can help you get ultra-specific with your opt-in page messaging.
Ask yourself:
- What results does your target reader care about the most right now?
- How will being on your list help them attain these results?
- What challenges and hurdles might stand in your audience’s way?
Say you’re a virtual physical therapist offering sessions via Zoom. Your target audience cares about reducing pain, improving mobility, and avoiding injury. But they’re super busy, often tied to a desk all day, and don’t think they have the energy for physical therapy.
Aim to describe each feature as a benefit in the context of your audience’s biggest hurdles. So, if your list offers a weekly video-guided stretch, it’s a “60-second video-guided stretch to help you address pain each week without leaving your desk.”
Write out the quick wins and actionable resources your list offers, then consider a few ways to phrase them based on your audience’s perceived challenges and hurdles.
#2 Showcase Your Opt-In Offer
If you have an opt-in offer, make it the star of your page. Not only will it immediately capture attention, but it promises instant gratification in exchange for their email address.
To make your offer truly shine, feature a compelling mockup. These help visitors quickly understand what they’ll receive. Plus, they make your offer feel more tangible and credible, adding a touch of professionalism.
#3 Write Your Call-to-Action
At its simplest, the call-to-action (CTA) for your opt-in page is simply, “Join our email list!” But you should wordsmith it to make it more targeted and compelling.
A great CTA makes taking action (i.e., handing over their email address) feel like the obvious and exciting next step. Words that emphasize speed, ease, or exclusivity reinforce the notion of “unlocking” immediate value.
Use action-oriented, benefit-driven language that speaks directly to what your audience will gain. For example: “Download The Free 30-Minute Workbook,” or “Get Instant Access To My Cheat Sheet.”
Place your CTA prominently at the top of the page (even in the hero section) and repeat it strategically throughout.
#4 Design Your Opt-In Form
The opt-in form is arguably the most crucial element of your opt-in page.
The best practice is to place your form on the page, making it fully visible. However, many people use a button that will open a popup containing the opt-in form when clicked.
Design matters. Use a bold, contrasting color for your form’s button to make it stand out, and ensure the text is large and readable. Also, add a small privacy statement below your form, like: “We’ll never spam you. Unsubscribe anytime.” This reassures visitors and makes the action feel safer.
Your opt-in form can be reused throughout your website, like embedded at the bottom of your blog posts.
You’ll design your opt-in form within your email marketing tool and then embed it onto your website. I recommend Klaviyo, which has many pre-built opt-in forms and pop-ups that you can customize to fit the style of your opt-in page.
- Klaviyo 101: My Favorite Email Marketing Tool
#5 Perfect Your Page's Layout
A well-designed opt-in page has few distractions so go with a clean, focused layout. You can design a minimalistic header menu for your opt-in and landing pages to further streamline the user journey.
Keep your headlines bold and compelling, clearly communicating the value of your offer at-a-glance. Use larger subheadings and subtext to expand on benefits strategically, since most people won’t stop and read your page word-for-word.
Use contrasting colors and ample white space to guide the eye to the most important points and your CTA. Incorporate images and mockups to add visual interest, but make sure they add to the story your opt-in page is telling and stay away from stock images that feel generic and boring.
Place your opt-in form (or button) strategically, ideally above the fold, so it’s visible without scrolling. On longer pages, repeat your CTA frequently and use a button that opens the pop-up or auto-scrolls to the form on your page.
Best Practices
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Target a specific problem and promise a solution.
No matter how many solutions you might offer, pick just one primary problem for your opt-in page messaging. Think about the most pressing pain point your audience wants solved, and craft your copy around it. -
Make sure everything is mobile-friendly.
You absolutely need a responsive website that looks (and works) great across all devices — and a page as crucial as your opt-in page deserves extra attention to detail when it comes to mobile performance. -
Reinforce value and gratitude, again and again.
As soon as someone joins your list, they should be met with a thank you message (or an entire thank you page!) along with instant delivery of any opt-in offer you promised them AND a welcome email that gives them warm fuzzies.
Where To Place Your Opt-In Form
Your opt-in form obviously needs to go on your opt-in page, but finding other places to feature your form across your website will help you grow your email list that much faster.
Exit Intent Popup
This exit intent pop-up appears when you try to navigate away from the Coffee & Compete page without subscribing. It’s worth noting you could use this same pop-up across your entire website — so, any time someone visits your blog or other pages, they’ll get the chance to join your email list before leaving.
Exit intent pop-ups work great for capturing leads who might otherwise be lost forever. Consider how many thousands of people visit your blog or website every year from search engines or social media and never return again. An exit intent pop-up can help you capture them.
On Your Blog
This colorful opt-in form appears at the footer on every single one of Jenna Kutcher’s blog posts, giving readers the opportunity to “sign up for more” before they navigate away.
Jenna is also the queen of placing opt-ins — more specifically, opt-in offers — on every single page of her website, including in the sidebar of all her blog posts and the mid-point of most pages. If you build up a large library of opt-in offers, you can do the same thing!
Across Your Website
Also consider placing an opt-in form on your:
- Main Menu: Add a link to your opt-in page in your main menu or, if you’re advanced, add your opt-in form directly into your mega menu so they don’t have to navigate to another page.
- Contact Form: Add an optional tick box to contact form so people can sign up while sending you a message (since they just entered all their contact info anyway).
- About Page: What better time to ask people if they’d like to be on your list than when they’re learning all about you? About page opt-in forms (pop-ups or otherwise) can see very high conversion rates since they’re nestled into a page that authentically represents your value.
What's Next?
The newsletter is not dead — and don’t list to anyone who tries to tell you it is! I don’t know about you, but my inbox remains the first and last thing I check every day. And when I see a newsletter that I know consistently delivers value, I always click. That could be yours!
If you’re ready to create an opt-in funnel (or, better yet, a sales funnel!) I’ve got plenty of resources to help you. Check the links below for more inspiration and info.
