Normally, a sale or promotion is designed to do one simple thing — generate an increased number of sales and revenue.
But most businesses completely overlook the second reason why you should run a promotion…
A promotion is one of the best ways to grow your email list.
In this case study, we’re going to show you how OnlineChessLessons.net ran a promotion that both increased revenue and added 6,000 new subscribers to their email list in just one month.
You’ll see:
The specific landing pages these marketers used to drive opt-ins and sales
How they achieved an 80-90% opt-in rate
The ad strategy OnlineChessLessons.net used to drive more traffic to their opt-in page
How they converted a large percentage of their new subscribers into paid customers
OnlineChessLessons.net’s Step-by-Step Process for Running a High-Converting Promotion That Builds Your Email List
You don’t generate 6,000 new leads by accident. OnlineChessLessons.net created and executed a very specific strategy for this promotion, which we’ve laid out step-by-step below so you can implement it in your own business.
Step #1: The Opt-in / Sale Landing Page
Typically, when you run an online sale or special promotion of some type, it goes like this:
You send emails about the sale to your list.
You promote the sale on social media.
You pay for ads that link to your store or sales page.
Instead of this typical strategy, Freddy Lansky (founder of OnlineChessLessons.net) opted for an unconventional approach.
Rather than sending all traffic directly to their online store or product pages, he funneled these potential customers through a series of landing pages that did something unusual: offered them a 100% free product that OnlineChessLessons.net usually charges for.
The first landing page told people about the sale, and also offered them a free digital download of a chess lesson DVD. He then sent his email, social media, and paid media traffic to this landing page.
As you can see, rather than immediately asking for the sale, this page leads with pure value — an offer to get a free item that typically costs $25-30.
Then, almost as an afterthought, he mentions the sale about halfway down the page:
“Please don’t forget that we are doing a major sale as well. 50% off all Empire Chess DVDs. Just use the code EMPIRECHESS50 for your 50% discount. Click here to get shopping, but hurry the coupon also expires on December 18.”
This paragraph is repeated two more times near the bottom of the page to remind visitors that the sale is happening.
Throughout OnlineChessLesson.net’s promotion, this landing page got them an 80-90% email opt-in conversion rate. Why? Two reasons:
1.They used a landing page template that was specifically designed to generate the highest conversions possible. The countdown timer, structure, and social proof section at the bottom all contributed to the high conversion rate.
2.Freddy emphasized the giveaway rather than the sale in his copy.
The copy also played a major factor in this page’s success. Before writing the copy for your own page, consider the following tip from Freddy:
“In our original page we tried to explain all the things they could do with the sale, and explain all the stuff they were going to get out of the DVD. We even had this long explanation on why we were throwing the sale. THERE WAS TOO MUCH TEXT. It intimidated people and it also made the call to action unclear.
“If you want them to learn more about the product you’re giving away, have a link on the landing page. I recommend having a link to the product anyway, so they can open it (in a new window) and see that the product is usually $20 or $30. If what you’re giving away doesn’t have a product page then make one, it will add value to it!”
Now, I know what you’re thinking…
This sounds like a great way to get opt-ins…but how does this page actually get sales?
The answer?
It doesn’t get sales. Primarily. Although the links to the sale on this page did receive some clicks, the majority of sales generated during this promotion came during the next three steps. So let’s check them out.
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