Increase Your Opt-In Leads By Spicing Up the Sign-In Page
How you lay out your opt-in pages and forms determines the rate of list growth, the quality of your list and establishes subscriber expectations that subsequently drives email performance. Once someone is on your Web site, how do you get him or her to the opt-in page?
- Do not conceal the link. If your email newsletter/promotion is the primary focus of your business, make sure that it is easy and noticeable for Web site visitors to find the sign up page. Consider including links in main and secondary navigation and promotional boxes in side bar areas.
- Do not make your visitors rummage around to see if you offer an email newsletter. Include some form of link on every page of your site.
- Do not mask it. When referring to your email in links and navigation areas, do not use some name or term that is not clear to all.
- If suitable, on your home page endorse articles and news from the current issue on you home page then link to article/issue.
- For newsletter publishers, make certain you have an area of your Web site such as a “Knowledge or Resource Center” where you store archived issues and individual articles pulled from the newsletter. Then encourage subscriptions to your newsletter throughout this area.
- If you place your back issues on your Web site, make sure they include a “Subscribe” link within the actual email. For online retailers, consider including copy in a prominent spot.
The intention of your email opt-in page has one goal to transfer as many visitors as possible to subscribers. Its design, layout, and copy, as a result, should be similar to that of a landing page:
- The page should be configured in such a way that the images, copy, and form inspire confidence, trust, and value.
- Always include a link to a trial copy or copies of your email and think about including a hyperlinked small screenshot of your email.
- Use testimonials in pull-quote format, text or as an image, that emphasize awards or kudos that readers and third parties have bestowed on your email publication.
- Offering up an enticement or discount is a great way to boost conversion.
- Subscribers are glad to provide you their valuable email address, but only in exchange for something of value. It is vital that your opt-in page copy and descriptions communicate the core value of your emails.
- You can include a brief one or two-sentence email policy positioned near the form “submit” button and a link to your company’s more comprehensive privacy/email policy.
- The copy and layout should set expectations for the recipient. This includes the regularity of the emails, if they should expect other exchanges from your organization and again, truthfully communicate the value of the email.
The idea of course is that the actual form is to achieve the right balance of information that you need to send, personalize, segment, and optimize your email plan for each subscriber:
- Your email opt-in form is not the place to qualify prospects or make them jump through hoops.
- Plan for the future, while only asking for someone’s email address that makes the sign-up process very quick, you have not gathered information that will help you deliver more emails that are relevant to your subscribers.
- To make certain that subscribers enter their email address correctly, include a script that checks for syntax errors upon submission. Furthermore, consider a secondary box that requires them to re-enter their address. This will lessen invalid addresses due to input errors.
- In addition to your actual email opt-in form pages, there are other resources on your Web site of gaining new subscribers, including:
- Always contain an email subscription check box as part of your registration (download white papers, membership, demo request, etc.) forms. This method can produce a subscription conversion rate of 50 percent of more.
- Be sure to incorporate product/shopping preferences in your shopping cart form and a clear opt-in check box for your email. EmailLabs recommends that you do not use pre-checked boxes. If you choose to use this method, however, the CAN-SPAM Act requires that you include a notice of advertisement in the email.
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