How To Brainstorm Ideas For Your Opt-In Offer

I don’t know about you, but for the longest time I couldn’t figure out what to create for my opt-in offer. I had a few ideas, but none of them ever seemed right for my business.

So, I put off making my opt-in and setting up my e-mail list.

And if you haven’t read my post on My Big Business Blunders, head on over there now to see why you don’t want to make that same mistake.

Over time, however, and after signing up to countless e-mail lists myself, I finally found the best opt-in offer idea for my potential design clients. But that only happened after I did my research.

I had to research my ideal clients, as well as research what was already out there for opt-ins. As a result, I came up with something that may have some similarities as other designers, but that is unique and that it fits within my brand and my personality quite well.

I’m sure you’re probably wondering how to come up with ideas yourself and figure out which one to run with for your own business.

Here’s some ideas to get you brainstorming:

Ask Your Existing Clients

Your existing clients may be a great resource for your new opt-in (or for your new products or services). If you can send a survey out to your current clients asking them to answer a few questions, you will probably find a wealth of information about where the are at and where they have been. You can even reward those clients for their participation in the survey.

Or if you have a handful of clients who you’ve worked with closely for a longer period of time, you could e-mail them and ask them directly. This is the method I chose to pursue, and it worked out quite nicely for me because I chose to ask the individuals who I knew my offer would help the most.

Look At Comments and Questions of Blogs/Facebook Groups

Seriously it cannot get any easier than this. I’ve gone to the blogs of my business heroes and there’s always a gazillion questions lined up in the comment section. And not to mention the numerous amounts of questions within the various groups on Facebook. Just spend a little time researching in this way, and I am quite sure that you’ll have a few ideas of what to create for your opt-in.

Use Secret Boards on Pinterest

I love using secret boards on Pinterest to help me come up with ideas for my business. I’ve used it to come up with ideas for my branding and design, for ideas of what I wanted to offer for products, as well as ideas for blog posts. All you have to do is type your keywords in the search bar for whatever it is that you are wanting to do. For your Opt-In you could type in “opt-in offer ideas”, or to make it more specific you could type “opt-in ideas for…” and fill in the blank for your industry.

Sometimes you may not find any results when searching, but don’t give up. Try different searches and think outside the box.

Look At Your Top Three Competitors’ Opt-Ins

When thinking about my opt-in offer, I chose 3 different opt-ins to compare by other designers I admire. I looked at each of the opt-ins for ideas on things such as delivery method, length, topic, as well as overall design. I thought about how I felt when I opened the e-book, video, or took the quiz that was offered and I tried to think about how my potential client would feel if they received the same opt-in. What was the offer lacking? What could I improve upon or do differently? The trick here is never to copy, but to simply see how it’s been done and to make it your own.

Look Outside of Your Industry

I love to see what big brands outside of my industry are doing to communicate with their customers. I am currently a more service based business, but I do feel that I can learn a lot from looking at companies who provide only products to their customers. Looking at how they survey their customers, at how they capture emails, at the incentives they provide, etc. can give ideas of what to do when it comes to your opt-in. Like I said above, get outside the box because that’s where some of the best ideas are born.

Consider Which Format To Use

Sometimes thinking of the end result will help you to come up with ideas. There are various ways that you can provide an opt-in for potential clients, such as through video, PDF (whether that be e-books or worksheets), audio, quizzes, emails, or a physical item through the mail. The format you choose can be dependent on your target audience, but can also be what sets you apart. You can experiment here and maybe even do a mixture of formats. The sky is the limit.