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The Power of Newsletter Sign-Ups and How to Tap Into Their Potential

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

If you’re using email marketing in any capacity, you should have a newsletter signup form on your website to capture new data and grow your email list.

Email marketing continues to be the single most effective channel for E-commerce. Studies show that for every dollar marketers spend on email marketing, they average $38-$44 dollars in return.

If you’re not already using email marketing, the revenue potential should at least pique your interest.

Every successful email campaign needs qualified leads to email, and one of the most powerful ways to grow your list is through email signup forms on your website.

Here’s what you need to know about creating an email form for a wow-worthy email marketing strategy:

What Email Signup Forms Do and Why You Need One

The Power of Newsletter Sign-Ups and How to Tap Into Their Potential

Your email signup form has one goal: to encourage users to give you their contact information so you can stay in touch. Email forms usually come in two formats: as a popup window on your website or as a sidebar/footer opt-in.

In either case, if you want people to sign up to receive emails from you, you need to give them a good reason to do so. Many E-commerce companies will present an attractive offer in exchange for a signup to grow the list faster. For example, each person that signs up for your emails might get a 15% coupon to use on their next purchase.

The other way to collect emails and grow your list is by using the email addresses of paying customers. However, this method presents two major challenges:

For starters, you’re limiting yourself only to the customers who have made a purchase and disregarding those who have visited your website but didn’t convert. Also, last time we checked the allowed time frame was only customers you have done business with within the last 12 month.

And second, your customers will still need to opt-in to receive email marketing messages from you. This is in accordance with the CAN-SPAM Act, which requires you to obtain permission to email someone with commercial messages.

Adding an email popup form gives you a chance to capitalize on leads that visit your website and don’t purchase. This is an effective way to stay top of mind for interested customers who weren’t ready to buy. Sending offers and recommendations can lead them back to your site and encourage them to purchase.

Best Practices for Using Email Popup Forms

Most people loathe popup forms of any sort, especially those that are poorly timed and offer no value to the user. If you want to get the most from your email form, follow these three best practices:

Keep It Simple

Even if you’re offering an incentive for collecting email addresses, you need to make it easy for users to comply. Keep your signup form short by only asking for information you really need.

If you request more than an email address (such as first and last name), consider collecting the email address first, then showing the other fields in a second part. This way, if the user doesn’t complete the form, you at least have the email address so you can start to nurture your lead.

Build Trust

Nobody likes unwanted email junking up their inbox, which makes many people reluctant to share their email. You can earn their trust by promising not to sell their information, or simply by stating you won’t bombard them with marketing messages.

Even better, you may even let them choose how often they want to hear from you (daily, weekly, semi-weekly) so they have more control over communications.

A/B Test Your Popup Form

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to popup form timing and design. Take time to A/B test different forms to see which one gets the best response. For example, you might test different offers, calls to action, colors and test, or even when the form appears on your website.

Track your results to see which variation earns you the most signups. It’s not uncommon not to get it right the first time.

What Glendale Designs Recommends

In addition to the above best practices, there are a few other things E-commerce merchants should consider. Our team at Glendale Designs recommends the following:

Global Signup Form

If you’re trying to attract business outside of the United States, you’ll want to ensure your email popup form and content cater to those audiences.

Third party email providers like MailChimp automatically translate the form’s content so the user can view it in their native language. But you must also consider the content they receive once they enter your email list. For example, if you’re running a free shipping promotion and want to spread the word via email, you may not want to include your international customers as shipping costs are usually higher.

You might want to consider segmenting your audience by country to ensure you’re delivering relevant, helpful content. To do this, the user’s country will need to be a field on your signup form so you can filter appropriately. Of course you can also segment by interest, brand, etc. to make your email campaigns as targeted as possible.

Ability to Unsubscribe

To comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, users must be able to easily unsubscribe from your email list. Companies are required to add an Unsubscribe option to every email they send (usually in the footer). These rules apply to any business sending commercial email messages.

If you’re using MailChimp, this feature is already built in for you. Customers that unsubscribe from your list are automatically removed with no involvement from you. You will get a notification when someone leaves your list, but there’s nothing further you need to do.

Compliance with Google Rules

In 2016, Google announced that websites that had content that wasn’t easily accessible by mobile device might not rank as high. This is one of many factors Google uses to determine content quality and rankings, but website owners should pay attention.

Mobile friendliness continues to be a key ranking signal, and your email form should be easily accessible via any device.

Are Your Email Signup Forms Working for You?

If you need help getting started with an email form on your website, or you need to tweak the one you already have, Glendale Designs can help. Reach out today to talk to our team about what you can do to grow your list and maximize your outreach.

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