Top 10 Email Marketing Tips To Increase Newsletter Sign Ups
Newsletter Signups – Newsletters can be a great marketing tool when they are done right. When it comes to increasing the newsletter signups on your website there are several things you can do to better engage your visitors and entice them to surrender there oh so precious email address. It’s not rocket science, but it does take some time and effort to find the right combination of email marketing tips for your website. Here’s a list of the top 10 tips for increasing newsletter signups:
1. Make The Newsletter Sign Up Form Easy To Find
Email marketing best practices say subscription forms should always be on the home page of your website as well as the landing pages that people will see most often. It’s also a good idea to work your newsletter sign up form into every page on your site be it a side widget or at the bottom. This will ensure every visitor has the opportunity to sign up for your newsletter. It is also crucial that the newsletter sign up form is easy for readers to find. Positioning it above the fold of the page and denoting it with bright colors or buttons that make it stand out will get your sign-up offer noticed and entice people to subscribe! In our blog 5 Tips for Getting More Out of Email Marketing we highlight other ways to be smart about placement and usage of email marketing subscription forms.
2. Include a Value Proposition With Your Newsletter Subscription Form
People may indeed find your newsletter interesting, but a newsletter alone is often not enough incentive to get people to hand over their email addresses. A good marketing idea is to offer an incentive in exchange for them giving you their contact information. Some examples of great giveaways are free eBooks, white papers, and gift cards.
3. Address Privacy Issues Upfront
Nobody likes spam. Tell people upfront that you respect their privacy and will never sell or share their email or contact information. This is a critical email marketing step. A short statement in the newsletter subscription box will do the trick. Here are a few examples:
- “We will never sell or share your information.”
- “Your email is safe with us.”
- “We respect the privacy of your email address.”
- “Your privacy is assured.”
4. Require Email Address Only, Make Other Data Optional
The more you require of people in your newsletter sign up the less likely they are to oblige you and sign up. Their email address is the most critical piece of information for building your email marketing list so ask for that first and make it required.
That’s really all that’s necessary. If you’d like their name then ask for it second and make it optional. Once the form is processed and the lead is captured you can use the subscription confirmation page or email to collect other information without compromising the email marketing lead.
5. Set Newsletter Expectations
The first thing people will want to know is what they are getting. Why do they want a copy of your newsletter every month? Give them a short description of what types of things you offer in your newsletter and how it benefits them. The second thing people want to know is how often they are going to be getting emails from you.
Let people know how often you plan to contact them. This is easy to do by telling them it’s a monthly or weekly or bi-weekly newsletter. Being upfront in your email marketing communications will deter unsubscribes and limit bounce rates.
6. Have A Clear Call To Action
Be smart about what you ask people to do. “Submit” seems final and ambiguous. Great options are “Sign Up,” “Sign Up Now,” “Subscribe for Free.” Having a clear call to action in your newsletter sign up button will make people more willing to click! Not having a clear call to action is a common email marketing mistake.
7. Avoid Junk Email Addresses
An important aspect of email marketing and newsletter subscriptions is getting the right email address. So many people have “junk” email addresses. While you can’t ensure you get their real address, you can encourage people to give you the right one.
Small changes in wording on your form can make a big impact. Try asking for the “main” email address they use instead of just “email address.” This simple step could increase the quality of your email marketing list.
8. Consider Providing an Example Newsletter
It may be hard to convince people of the inherent value in your newsletter with a few short words. One way to bolster confidence in readers to ensure they sign up would be to provide a sample newsletter or archived newsletter download prior to sign up. This will help them see if the newsletter you offer is of interest and could decrease your bounce rate by weeding out unqualified email marketing leads.
9. Consider Social Media Proof or Testimonials
Including a link to testimonials from current/previous newsletter subscribers can also be effective in getting people to sign up. Another option would be to showcase your Facebook fan following as a way to increase your credentials and get people to jump on your newsletter subscription bandwagon. To learn more about how to use testimonials most effectively in your email marketing and newsletters check out our blog The Importance of Using Testimonials.
10. Split Test the Newsletter Sign Up Form
Testing your newsletter signup form against real time data is a great way to figure out what works in driving people to sign up for your newsletter. It’s a good idea to develop different sign up forms by changing colors, call to action and even the incentive offer. After a set period of time with one form, switch to the other newsletter subscription form for the same period of time and then compare the analytics data to see which form was more appealing and successful. Content testing is a fail-proof way to determine the right email marketing communications for your website and newsletter.
Want to learn more? Watch our new webinar, “From email newsletters to email marketing that drives sales”.