1. Make Sign Up Valuable
Most people want reassurance that if they sign up for a Newsletter, it will provide them with valuable information, not simply clutter their inbox with irrelevant content. Most are also wary of what information is delivered to their inboxes and fear being inundated with emails that are not relevant to them and also sent too frequently.
2. Make Sign Up Easy
Subscription to a website’s newsletter should be a two-click process in essence – enter your email address, click subscribe, receive an email and confirm sign up. Don’t make it unnecessarily laborious for your potential subscribers if you want them to sign up.
3. Make Sign-Up Prominent
This could be done via a sign-up box in your site’s sidebar (ideally at the top) which is then visible on every page of your website. On Soci@lite’s website I have provided the user with the ability to view a sample Newsletter so that they can see for themselves the type of content they will typically receive via email. This link also opens in a new window so that they don’t navigate away from the sign-up page.
4. Calls To Action & Ethical Bribes
Offer users with an incentive for signing up to your Newsletter, be it a free e-Book, download, Tips & Tricks on a certain topic each month, etc.
5. State How Often You Send Out
You should indicate exactly what they will receive by registering and how often they will receive those updates, i.e. at a set time each month, periodic updates with interesting topical news, how-to tips, links to resources, etc.? Or will they receive promotional emails that alert them of special offers and new products? Or are they receiving short messages that alert them of upcoming events, recent community activity, company news, etc.?
6. Provide A Link To Back Issues
On Soci@lite’s website I have provided the user with the ability to view all the Newsletter Back Issues so that they can see for themselves exactly the type of content they will typically receive. This link also opens in a new window so that they don’t navigate away from the sign-up page.
7. Consider your Target Audience
Technically, email Newsletter registration should purely function as a mechanism for collecting subscriber email addresses. Many organisations however see this as an opportunity to capture information about their target audiences and ask more questions than the potential subscriber may be comfortable with. As with every web form it is important for you to consider what you are going to do with the information you have collected from your subscribers. If you do not have a clear requirement or plan for the information requested then it does not belong in a registration form and should only be requested from your Captive Audience (see below).
8. Leverage Your Captive Audience
Also dd a newsletter signup link to any thank you page on your site, i.e. where visitors are sent after purchasing a product, completing a form, etc. They have already trusted the site for some form of transaction and are therefore your Captive Audience – they may well therefore be interested in receiving more information from you.
Regardless of how you decide to capture information and from whom, always ensure that you clearly state what you intend to do with that information.
Related articles
- A Pause on the Newsletter to Create a Better One (stateofsearch.com)
- 5 Tips To Make Your Newsletter Stand Out (theresesquared.com)
- 4 Guaranteed Ways of Capturing Potential Customer E-mails Using Your Blog (famousbloggers.net)
yoursocialmediator.wordpress.com 