The opt-in form, or subscribe box, is one of the most important elements in building a permission-based opt-in database. It also ensures you capture subscribers during your viral marketing efforts and at the website.

Here are ten elements I think are essential for your opt-in forms.

1- Visibility – The ability to sign up should be on every page of your website and your emails. You’d be surprised how many people have a ‘forward to a friend’ feature and forget to build in a subscribe box. Include a plain text link on the home page of the email in case the script in the opt-in form gets blocked in the inbox – have the link go to the form on a secondary page in the email’s microsite or to a specific sign up feature on your website.

2 – Samples – Have an archive of past issues available so potential subscribers can see what they’re signing up to.

3 – Choices – Give subscribers as many choices as you have available, e.g. frequency, monthly mailings AND event alerts, or just monthly, etc. For marketers who want to remain a welcome presence in the inbox, the opt-in form of the (near) future will serve as a ‘preference centre’ where subscribers can update their preferences (frequency, content, etc.) every single time they get an email from you.

4 – Description – Tell people very specifically what they’re signing up to. Go for the WIFM factor – What’s In It For Me. Don’t be vague or hedge your bets in the hopes that everyone will sign up: “Sign up to get news” or “Hear about our products” won’t inspire. Here’s what I include in my newsletter’s sign up form: “the business of email is a free, monthly email newsletter offering relevant news, marketing articles and best-practice tips for permission based email marketing.”

5 – Frequency – Tell people how often they’ll hear from you. Keep that promise.

6 – Easy to sign up / sign off – Sign up should be easy. But sign off should be a breeze – and take only seconds to do. Don’t make them remember what email address they signed up with, don’t make it double opt-out (yuck), don’t put the unsubscribe behind a complicated password protected area, don’t ignore their requests and keep on sending emails to them (very damaging to your reputation), and do implement the suppress immediately.

7 – Tested & Functional - Test the form to make sure it works! Also plan to test all aspects of your form, such as number of fields, how much or how little you ask for, what you require, etc., to find out what gets the best results. You’ll be aiming to acquire not the highest number of subscribers, but the most relevant and most interested number of subscribers.

8 – Choice of HTML or text – Let people select. In an email experience council report on rendering, they found that up to 20% of people read emails in plain text. Also consider if the time is right time to provide a mobile phone version. (Read Mark Brownlow’s email mobile design article.)

9 – Privacy Policy Link – It’s in legislation, but it is most certainly best practice – and a trust building exercise. Tell people very clearly what you do with their data and the tracking information you collect. This is the business of email privacy policy.

10 -Welcome message – The virtual handshake-and-welcome-to-us email. Once they’ve signed up, it’s a good idea to send a note acknowledging that they are now on the list. Include a link to the current edition of the newsletter, and remind them when they’ll receive the first email from you. Ask them to add you to the safe sender list.

Posted on April 4th, 2008 under HTML email newsletters, email design .
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