Love to study brand engagement like I do? You have to go visit the WD-40 website! 

WD-40.com doesn't have an opt in offer.

But what it does have is a social site that sucks you in.

Did you know that WD-40 has a fan club? Did you know that it was sold out of car trunks before it was ever sold from store shelves? You can find out about this and more — including over 2000 uses for the stuff — on the WD-40 website. And did you know that WD-40 stands for "Water Displacement – 40th attempt" (The inventors failed at the first 39; Late bloomers love statistics like that, eh?)

By the way, I just told my husband about the WD-40 website and he chimed in with the unsubstantiated myth that only two people actually know the secret recipe for WD-40. (I thought that was Coke and my grandma's Christmas Pork Tenderloin Marinade!) He waxed poetic about how any "real garage" or "self-respecting man" (I think I heard him say that) owns/contains at least two cans of WD-40. He's not even a  true "fan" and he has an inalienable connection to the famous solvent.

What does this have to do with free opt in offers?

WD-40 touts itself as a "multi-use product." If WD-40 has 2000 uses for one product, your website needs one or more sign up forms with different offers assigned to each one. Heck, why not?

If you serve different specific niches, create as many free opt in offers as you need to speak authentically to each one? (Actually, no. Come to think of it, if you have 2000 different opt-in offers you probably need to focus a bit!)

I've taken several stabs at a new recipe myself. To be precise: nine different versions of  a new opt in offer for my website.

See, over the last few weeks I've been writing a new opt in freebie for new subscribers. I just finished last night. At first it was a hot mess — 6 pages of TMI — until I saw the light and sliced it into quarters. 

This chop job served two purposes:

1. Made the information easy to digest 
2. Gave me instant content for an autorsponder series of 4 emails to new subscribers… in easy-to-munch, fun-sized chunks.

In a recent blog post I showed how you risk alienating a prospective customer by telling them stuff they couldn't care less about. It's tempting to use your opt in offer as a one-stop shop to tell your prospect everything you know about (fill in the blank.)

Take heart; it's not your fault! Sometimes small biz folks are so passionate about what they know and how they can fix things, they forget the simple problems. (Just think, in the case of WD-40, there are over 2000 problems to fix!)

A similar disconnect occurs when you offer too many solutions to one problem. A free opt in offer should entice the reader with ONE solution to ONE problem. You reveal your value by showing that you know what you're talking about; NOT by teaching everything you know about it!

That's where my WD-40 "a-ha" moment occurred. 2000 uses for WD-40 (and counting)! Thousands of people who identify so powerfully with the product that they join a fan club, post comments and offer advice about squeakless hinges, grass-free lawnmower blades and rusty screws.

You may not have a secret formula as amazing as WD-40 but certainly YOU can come up with one or two interesting tidbits to offer your prospective customers! 

Here are some guidlines straight from MyTeamConnects' free report "Outstanding Connections:"

Creating an Awesome Opt In Offer

•        Must be good, well written, enthusiastic, even intense.

•        Something you feel passionate about – “Why is no one else talking about this?!”

•        Something important to your business or niche.

•        Something of true value.

•        Something new and fresh.

•        Something that your reader feels relates to them and their need/desire.

•        Something not everyone knows or has considered before.

•        Something your reader can use immediately – the same day or the same hour.

•        Something that reveals what you can offer your reader.

•        Something that intrigues and hints at what’s to come.

And finally — make sure it's not TOO LONG! If you have a lot to say like I do, simply break it up into bite-sized pieces and drip them out through an autoresponder series. 

 

Extra!

Not a writer? Need help crafting a free opt in offer with amazing copywriting? MyTeamConnects will do it for you.

Contact me and we'll discuss your business' marketing needs. We live for  that stuff.