You have to give people a reason to sign up. Those reasons aren’t difficult to come up with – all you have to do is put yourself in their shoes. People are generally sensitive about giving away personal information, so unless they have a compelling reason to take action, sign-up or opt-in, they’ll avoid it. You can’t coerce people to take action; it has to be their own will and decision. What you can and should do is make it seem like a lucrative offer – like a unique and valuable incentive. Like a one-on-one interview, backstage pass, ticket discount, etc.
Throughout your campaign, you should have call-to-action pit-stops at various steps to lead the prospect through your sales pipeline. However, please remember that if your email or website content sounds like a sales pitch, no one will respond to them. People will only opt-in when and if they can trust you.
Remember that whoever is already on your lists or email campaigns is already a lead. Leads are somewhat already prepared to listen to your value propositions, as long as they don’t sound like a sales call. To turn these leads into customers, you have to engage them in a real conversation.
Offering good value gives prospects an incentive to buy early tickets. So much so, that your event can be completely paid for even before the first attendee enters the gate. Our events have always broken records in attendance and revenue – which is why I know that these strategies work well. You don’t necessarily have to give discounts to increase sales, just work on improving your perceived value to prospects. By perceived value I don’t mean value that’s not there, until your audience knows you, the perceived value they will enjoy by listening to you will be low. You need to elevate this perception.