Digital Marketing For Dummies. Ryan Deiss
alt="Illustration where HubSpot makes valuable information available that requires contact information such as name, email address, and a phone number."/>
Source: https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing
FIGURE 3-1: HubSpot asks for contact info in exchange for this yearly report.
Revisit the definition of a gated offer (“a gated offer provides a small chunk of value that solves a specific problem for a specific market and is offered in exchange for prospects’ contact information”) — and pay particular attention to the “specific” parts. Specificity is the key to a successful gated offer because it makes your offer more relevant to your audience. A lead form that simply states “Subscribe to our newsletter” is not a gated offer that will get you high conversions because it does not solve a specific problem. In the next section of this chapter, we discuss how to make your gated offer convert prospects by making it specific in terms of problem-solving, which will make your gated offer more relevant to your audience.
Zeroing in on what matters
In the previous section, we establish the idea that a specific and relevant gated offer works best for generating high opt-ins. But what does making the offer specific and relevant entail? High-converting gated offers include one, or a combination, of the following five aspects, in a specific form:
A promise
An example
A shortcut
A solution
A discount
Including at least one of these five items will help your conversion rates. The following sections take a look at each of these items.
Making a specific promise
Making a specific promise is one of the simplest things you can do to increase the number of leads you receive from a gated offer. Look at the offer that you’re delivering and think about how you can make the benefit of the offer more evident. Consider how you can speak to the specific desired end result of your prospect.
Craft a clear promise and then make sure that your promise is in the title of your gated offer. Generic or clever titles generally decrease the conversions on your gated offer. Many marketers are guilty of coming up with cutesy titles or using industry jargon in the title that your market may not understand. In your gated offer’s title, talk less about your product and more about your target audience. Specifically communicate, in the gated offer’s title, the benefit the gated offer will provide that target audience. Speak to the conversation that is going on inside the mind of your customer, not the one that you’re having around the business table. Ask yourself, what are your target audience’s concerns, fears, or desires? Think of the desired end result that your customer is seeking, and put that in the title. The gated offer shown in Figure 3-2 delivers a specific promise that resonates with its market.
Source: https://copyblogger.com/
FIGURE 3-2: Copyblogger’s gated offer clearly states what people can expect when they input their contact information.
Giving a specific example
In our experience, the best way to give a specific example in your gated offer is to deliver it in the form of a case study. If you have examples of real customers and prospects who have overcome problems with your product or service, these can work well as gated offers.
For instance, if your company sells surveillance cameras to universities, you might create a case study entitled “How State University Reduced Campus Crime by 73 Percent” that details how the university used surveillance camera technology to reduce acts of crime on the state campus. This headline clearly states the benefit and uses an example to add specificity to the gated offer.
Offering a specific shortcut
A gated offer that can save a person time is appealing and often converts well. For example, a gated offer that delivers a list of healthy snacks a person can eat throughout the day is a useful shortcut for someone looking to eat a more nutritious diet.
Answering a specific question
The fourth way you can make your gated offer more specific is by raising and answering a specific question. If the answer to the question is valuable, your prospects opt in to get the answer to that specific question. After you’ve answered the question, you will have delivered on your promise and helped to establish yourself as an authority on the subject, which in turn helps build trust and moves the prospect closer to becoming a customer.
Delivering a specific discount
Price discounts can be a great way to spur sales, and many companies offer coupons that slash prices in the hope of creating a buying frenzy. But instead of handing out discounts, consider asking a prospect to opt in to receive the discount. For instance, your gated offer might say, “Join our Discount Club and receive 10% off any order.” This wording is effective because it specifically tells the prospect how much she’ll save.
Generating leads with educational content
In this section, we discuss five forms that your gated offer can take. These gated offers deliver value by educating the lead on a particular topic related to your brand while also highlighting features of a solution, product, or service you provide.
