Papa Johns, a Kentucky-based chain of pizza franchises is building a mailing list. Offline businesses (and Internet marketers) know that’s a pretty smart thing to do. After all, your customers and potential customers are granting you permission to send marketing messages to their email inbox. What’s not to love?
Conventional wisdom says you need to provide an incentive in exchange for that email address. You need to offer something of value to get your readers to give up their private information. That’s what you’ll see a lot of companies do, too. Khol’s got me to part with my email address by giving me a $5 coupon. BD’s Mongolian BBQ gave me a free dinner on my birthday. I’ve also got a collection of eBooks and videos I’ve received from countless websites.
But there is a big difference between actual value and perceived value, and that’s what we can learn from Papa John’s. You see, they’re not actually giving us anything, they’re just making us believe they are. The deal? Sign up for their rewards program before midnight on February 5, and if this year’s Superbowl goes into overtime, you’ll be granted enough “Papa Points” to get a large, three-topping pizza at no charge. Sounds like a pretty good deal, doesn’t it?
What most subscribers don’t realize is that in the history of the Superbowl – all 45 years – not one single game has ever gone into overtime. The odds that Papa Johns will have to give their new subscribers anything at all are pretty slim, but I’m guessing they’ll find millions of people to take them up on their offer, because the perceived value is high.
Increasing Your Perceived Value
If you’re building a list, you probably offer some kind of incentive in exchange for an email address. Maybe it’s an eBook or special report, or an ecourse in your area of expertise, or perhaps a video. If your visitors feel your offer is valuable, they’ll subscribe. The more value, the greater the number of sign-ups.
So how can you add value without giving away everything? Simple. Change the readers’ perception, like this:
- Find the pain point, then fix it. No matter what market you’re in, your readers have a problem. Could be their dog is eating the carpet, or their sales pages don’t convert, or they can’t get their 87-year-old grandmother to give up the car keys. Solve your reader’s problem, and she’ll see a very high value in what you’re offering.
- Tell them how much it’s worth. “Get my free eBook (a $27 value) just for subscribing.” This works best if the eBook was once offered for sale, or if you have sold a similar eBook. Otherwise, you’re just pulling numbers out of a hat, and your readers will know it.
- Build your brand. If Brian Clark and I both offered an eBook titled “21 Copywriting Mistakes You Don’t Even Know You’re Making,” he’d get a hell of a lot more subscribers, even if we assume equal traffic. Why? Because he is a brand name copywriter, and I am just a plain old vanilla copywriter.
- Act like a pro. Get a real website, manage your list-building activities with professional tools, and stop trying to do everything for free. Readers will see more value in your offer when YOU see more value in your offer.
- Design counts. I’m sorry, I know it’s popular to say it’s all about the content, and content is king, and blah blah blah. Whatever. The design of your site is the first thing a visitor sees, so at the very least you need to make it appealing and current. White text on dark background is out. Dancing dog gifs are out. Auto-play audio is out. Go for a clean look with lots of open space and easy-to-use navigation.
Your Turn: Do you have a list-building incentive? How does the perceived value stack up against the actual value? How can you improve the perception?
I haven’t been doing much to build my lists expect for to offer a freebie. I really did to do something and I like the example you gave of Papa Johns. Ironically, we just ordered pizza from there tonight for dinner.
Hey Courtney, thanks for stopping by.
I haven’t done anything to build my list here either. Been concentrating on other sites, to be honest, but now I’m thinking long and hard about this one, and what I can do to increase not only the real value of my incentive, but the perceived value as well. When I saw that news story about Papa John’s it just struck a chord with me. I think we can all learn something from that.
Hope you enjoyed your pizza, and have a great weekend!
Cindy
Hi Cindy…:)
First of all, I had been over at Ana’s for Blog Audit Friday and saw your comment.
Secondly, love the image with cheesehead reference, as well as your timeliness (trends) with Super Bowl tomorrow.
Your post is actually very good, because everyone has seen the Papa John’s commercial and have probably signed up, not knowing the history.
You have very good writing skills and certainly a great sense of humor, love it!
If you (and your readers) would care to, I would appreciate it if you could go to this post, http://instantcashathomesystem.com/?p=301 read and leave your comment and favorite affiliate link.
Ana, Brankica and Lisa all have already done so.
Thank you, very nice to meet you and hope to see you at my place and at Ana’s again…:)
Hi Dan, thanks for stopping by.
I love Ana’s blog audit Fridays. That’s a woman who knows about adding value for her readers!
Thanks again for the comment, and for the very kind words. I appreciate you taking the time. Have a great weekend!
Cindy
Cyndy,
Perception is everything. We have become a very visual society. And of course we want the most we can get. I like your tips. I have used the value of my give always on my optin pages but not on my site. I will have to test that one out. I am redoing my recommends page and this post is very helpful.
And design does count. I love your PLR site! the design is so clean and nice. It makes me confident that your product is the same.
Hi Sheila, thanks for the comment – and the very kind words.
I believe the overall image you present makes a huge difference in the perceived value of your offer – whether you’re giving away a free report or selling a $2000 membership program.
I’m looking forward to seeing how you use this info to redesign your recommends page.
Thanks again for commenting, and have a great weekend!
Cindy
Cindy,
I had not thought of listing the value of the free products. I think it will make a big difference. And the page is not very user friendly and the design stinks.
Excellent post Cindy. You know what? Kohl’s got me too with that promotion! I also am on Bath & Body Works list because they constantly give me coupons for higher value than what they give to regular folks.
I haven’t been working on list building since I left my DS company last year.
Hey Shelly, thanks for stopping by!
I know you run several blogs, so I’m curious why you’re not actively list-building? If you need a little inspiration in that area, I highly recommend reading this post over at Steve Scott’s site: http://www.stevescottsite.com/affiliate-marketing-success-lessons. It might just get you excited about list-building again!
Thanks again for reading and commenting. I really appreciate it!
Have a fantastic weekend! (Did you get out for some fun?)
Cindy
Thanks for the info I will go look at it. I forgot I do have one active email list and that is for our TCC PR & GA blog (product reviews & giveaways) and we do have over 1,500+ subscribers on that.
I didn’t get out
The doc said to give it another week plus we have been getting more ice and freezing rain today. I am ready for spring and gardening!
I know what you mean about being ready for spring. I’m done with winter myself.
Hope the weather cooperates and you can get out for a bit next week.
Awesome Cindy! Thanks for the kick in the rear to work more on building my list.
Perception is everything. Great tips on increasing the perceived value and changing the reader’s perception.
You have a great weekend!
Hi Adam, thanks for stopping by!
I think we can all use a kick in the rear sometimes. Glad I was able to help!
Have a great weekend yourself,
Cindy
Anticipation
I know this is going to sound completely like a “you idiot” type moment but I’ve intentionally have been putting off finalizing my freebie because I personally find it very important to build a rabid community that’s behind your brand well before just having them on a list, ya know?
I’d like to know that people that come to my blog want to be there because they like my content and they’re open to talk to me – not just for a freebie.
For that reason, the freebie can be built up – it can be teased and hinted at – it can be built on expectation and, in the meantime, you’re creating these brand ambassadors that when the freebie drops, they’re very likely to share with others because you’ve had so much great things to give for the while they’ve been there.
Like I said – it’s almost a “you idiot!” approach because I realize that I could have been building subscribers in the meantime but it’s also a though that I may not want those subscribers if they don’t care, ya know? I want action takers and, in many ways, this anticipation to the freebie launch weeds out those that will fail to act.
(a bit vague but I think there’s a few nuggets of interest in there hah)
Hey Murray,
If there’s anything that’s true in Internet marketing, it’s that no one approach works every time for everyone, so I’m certainly not going to label you an idiot for putting off list-building until you’ve built a great community. Although I would say that that community is itself a list of sorts, so it seems you’ve already begun.
You are absolutely right that having people on your mailing list just to have them there serves no purpose. Better to have a very small but responsive list than to have thousands who don’t open your mail.
Thanks for the comment, Murray. You always make me think!
Cindy