The other day, not too long ago, I was asked, whether a squeeze page or a reverse squeeze page performs better for generating opt-ins for a promotional type of email newsletter.
Of course my answer was, "It depends".
But let me start slowly here and tell you about some history first before I will explain what a squeeze page and what a reverse squeeze page is.
Squeeze Page History
The traditional squeeze page is said to be invented by Eben Pagan, who has become a perfect role model for the typical Internet marketing success story. Eben's original idea was to tease Web visitors with valuable information, but not giving it to them directly. Eben was the first one who asked for an email address in exchange (or the first one, who became famous for it).
I think it is important to note that we are not only talking about generating a list of email addresses here. The ultimate purpose is to sell valuable products. Preferably it should be your own product or it could be an affiliate product as well.
A little detour: You can make a good living from promoting affiliate products, but did you ever wonder, why so many successful affiliate marketers start selling their own "How to make money... " product at a later point in their career. The reasons can be summarized real quickly, but that actually exceeds the scope of this little treatment here:
- instead of working as an affiliate, you have affiliates working for you
- your product, your terms
- even more money
- independence
The Purpose Of A Squeeze Page
The point is, online marketers have learned -- as direct response marketers have learned before them -- not everyone who reads a sales message or advertising for the first time will buy the promoted product right away. You cannot just let them leave. The modern squeeze page on the Web resembles the post card attached in magazine ads. It's the same mechanism. The advertiser or Web site owner promises something that is useful for the readers. They will get it in exchange for their contact information.
Back then, when Eben had introduced this direct response concept on the Web, it seemed quite revolutionary and bold, because everybody thought all the information on the Web were free to access. Breaking that believe, made Eben succeed with his product in the dating niche.
It is reported that it takes 7 visits to a vendor's Web site on average before a prospect buys the featured product. An email list generated from a squeeze page shall make sure that the prospects indeed are there, back on the site, again, and again,... till they buy or opt-out. An email list makes its owner more independent from paid sources of traffic to their Web site. (Let's be honest here, even so-called "free traffic" costs money, unless one values time with 0.00$ an hour.)
Especially new online marketers forget the real purpose of their email list very quickly after they have started it. They very often fall back into the believe that those people want to hear from them. The truth is, when they signed up, they wanted the cure for their problem, otherwise they wouldn't have signed up to the list. They only care about what you have to say, what you have to write as much as it helps them to solve their problems. That's copywriting 101, isn't it.
That said, it makes sense to trade valuable information that helps your visitors with their email address. This allows you to stay in touch. That's exactly what the original squeeze page does.
After talking about the background of squeeze pages a bit, let's look what a squeeze page is
The Traditional Squeeze Page
- A single Web page that offers specific, valuable information to a certain group of people, like an ebook "How To Get Rid Of Back Pain Forever". It is important to drive targeted traffic to that landing page. In many cases this page will be the home page of a domain, like www.cureyourbackpainforever.com (That domain is actually a real one, but only parked, not being used.)
- The only 2 actions a visitor can follow are join the newsletter or leave.
- The copy on a squeeze page shall be persuasive, create trust and highlight the benefits of opting in. Most marketers have started to incorporate audio and video messages to make the sale on their opt-in form. There is a strong call to action.
- Some marketers even put opt-in forms in front of their sales letters. That means you cannot even buy the product before making the first step of giving away your email address.
Many people -- consumers and business owners -- feel that's going too far, they refrain from filling out such a from respectively refrain from using a traditional squeeze page on their sites. That brings us to the next step.
The Reverse Squeeze Page
It follows the same principle, but will allow the visitor to consume a chunk of free information, before they need to provide their email address. At the end of those messages, they will generally be told that there is much more free, valuable info in store for them, if they sign up.
Typically you would see it implemented like presenting a free report for download right away, or more recently a free video. At the end will be the call for action, "You like my info? Now, sign up to get more of it ...".
The difference between the reversed squeeze page and to a normal sign-up form on a Web page or a Blog is that the possible actions for the visitor are still very limited in case of a reversed squeeze page. It's about signing up or not signing up.
What works better
As I said in the opening, "It depends!". You need to test it for your market, for your audience, for your traffic sources. That's the only way, you'll know.
You can always check what type of squeeze pages are common in your market and start out with that model, but you might find that squeeze pages are not so common outside the "Money Making Niche" at all. In that case just introduce them.
The author John W. Furst provides first class articles and information about every aspect of Internet business and personal development on his Blog. His writings are the essence of 15+ years of experience with business in general and Internet in particular. Recently Mr. Furst shifted his focus towards Email Marketing. Read more at his E-Biz Booster Blog at http://blog.fcon21.biz and check out the Email Marketing Tips Blog Carnival
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