On Wednesday I was at Strand in New York City. As I was paying, I heard another customer ask about giving his email to receive a free tote bag. Sure enough, a sign hanging behind the registers announced just that.
Now, I’m a sucker for a good free tote bag. And all I had to do to get it was give my email to one of my favorite stores. Yes, please!
Online or off, having a freebie is a great way to encourage more people to join your email list.
If you’re selling online and trying to capture emails on your website, your freebie won’t be a physical product. But it should be something that will entice people to join your list.
Often, I see people trying to get email sign ups with the offer of a coupon code. But this isn’t always the most effective method, because the customer only gets the benefit if they make a purchase.
The best freebies provide something of value to the customer – information, entertainment, or education – usually in a downloadable PDF or similar format.
If you sell cleaning products, your freebie might be a guide to easy household cleaning.
If you sell jewelry that’s perfect for the office, your freebie might be a free guide to dressing for success.
Of course, your freebie doesn’t have to take the form of a how-to guide. Illustrator Megan Eckman of Studio M. M. E. offers an illustrated storybook PDF .
Why not offer a free printable piece of wall art, ornament, or decoration?
The best freebies combine your unique voice or aesthetic with something your ideal customer really wants or needs.
Your freebie doesn’t even need to take a lot of time to put together. You can repurpose content from your blog, or modify an existing design. Just make sure it’s something your audience will love, and then promote it like crazy on your website and blog.
Do you offer a freebie to get people to sign up for your mailing list? If not, is there something you could create?
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Want to know more about email marketing? Check out the Marketing for Makers home study!
Thanks, love your site, always to-the-point concise information! Don’t know why I haven’t offered freebies yet? Suppose you could offer to gain more “likes” or readers for site or blogs, too. Think I’m worried no one will really want the gift, even though I usually go for them myself.
Thank you very much. I was thinking about giving a way a stretchy bracelet with each jewelry purchase online or at my booth, but your article has pushed me into a definite decision to go for it. Thanks again.
Interesting. We just did a pop up event over the weekend and gave out our very awesome vinyl stickers that people loved. Now considering whether we should ask for an email address in exchange for a sticker.
On one hand, having a mass of stickers out there with no strings attached has real value. The more of our stickers that go on bumpers, laptops, guitar cases, etc. the more advertising we get.
On the other, could be a way to encourage people to get on our list who might not otherwise.
Also, also… the bigger your list the more it costs to run. I only want people on the list who want to be on the list. Not sure if I want to extort subscriber addresses if they have less value because they joined only to get a sticker and don’t want the email.
Might have to test this out and segment those subscribers to see if they have the same open click and conversion rate as the other subscribers.
These are such great ideas. I am about to launch a giveaway and you have given me so much food for thought!
Great point about e-mail newsletters. The goal is to engage the customer on a long-term basis, so offering something more than a one-time coupon code is an excellent idea. I also think the key to finding the right freebies is finding out what you have to offer that is beyond the product you’re selling. You want to give the customer something memorable. The best giveaways don’t have to cost a ton of money. They can just tell a story.
Thank you for the write up. I manage Strands account where we manufacturer many of their totes. A good tote bag is never a bad idea for marketing. The ROI is huge when you think of how many more “impressions” a quality bag will receive versus the pay per impressions online.