5 tips to make your newsletter sign up convert

I use newsletters to give back to my target group. I send out a newsletter each week with a specific tip where they can act on it right away. It’s important to keep your newsletters light and edible. I’m no newsletter content expert, but I have learned a lot the last couple of years, and if you want inspiration you can sign up for my newsletter. It’s free, and you’ll only receive an e-mail per week, use it as inspiration and maybe you can use the tip for something on your website?

If you go into making a newsletter, consistency is extremely important. Or if you start, then you do it 100%, and you promise what you tell your visitors. If you don’t deliver you’ll see a huge pile of subscribers unsubscribe. Consistency is the key to success.

Analyse your newsletters. Every time you send out a newsletter, check how many unsubscribes on the specific newsletter. Why do they unsubscribe? Maybe reach out to them to hear their feedback, it’s extremely valuable. Often it’s because they simply don’t prioritise to read it, but other times you’ll get feedback such as your newsletters are too heavy, or the tips just don’t work. Reach out, it’s so powerful!

I can’t see any industries where a newsletter can’t create value. If you have a webshop you can use your newsletter to tell about new products, sales and even send out coupons. If you’re running courses or webinars, tell about what is happening, maybe send out a monthly calendar for what courses your subscribers can expect. Furthermore, you should use your newsletter to sell to your subscribers, BUT do it with ease. The newsletter is still for news, not for selling too obvious.

You should always measure your conversions. This is done by simply setting up a goal in Analytics, it can be either on the thank you page or just as a form submission. You set it up in Goals in Google Analytics, it can take up to 24 hours before your changes are in action.

Tip 1: What and how often?

When people sign up for your form, they want to know what they benefit from signing up. If you just make a form with a button and write “Newsletter”, people won’t sign up. They need to know what they will receive in the newsletters, how they benefit from it and how often they will receive the newsletter. You can see my newsletter form in the footer for inspiration.

Example

Sign up for my newsletter to receive weekly news about our awesome courses. And experience we once in a while, stick in a coupon code for you!

Tip 2: Simple form

The more information you ask from the visitor upfront, the bigger the chance they won’t sign up for your newsletter. Keep it simple, and if you can; ask only for their e-mail. You can always get more information from them later on in your newsletters.

For your CTA button, keep it simple and clear, don’t call it “Send” or “Submit”, use a specific phrase like “Sign up”. What’s even better is putting emphasis on the benefit they get. If you offer an e-book your CTA could be: “Get the e-book for free”.

Tip 3: Place your form multiple places

Many websites have their form in the footer of their website and can’t understand why they don’t get any sign-ups. How often do you think people reach your footer? You need to place your form multiple places and in multiple design forms. You can have the same form which acts differently. Place it in the sidebar of your blog, place it within your blog posts and make it look natural. If people like your content they’ll sign up.

Tip 4: Offer a bonus

Visitors need a carrot to sign up for your newsletter. It doesn’t have to be anything time consuming for you. You can offer them a free e-book that answers those questions they have. Or you can offer them a free analysis of their website where you give your honest opinion. You can offer them a coupon code to your services or webshop. This way both you and your visitor benefits from it.

Tip 5: Social proof

Social proof is another very simple and effective way of getting more sign-ups. You can do this in many ways, you can show how many sign-ups you have in your newsletter form. You can make small notifications that pop up on your website every time a visitor subscribes to your newsletter. If you’re using WordPress you can use a free plugin like NotificationX. It’s simple to set up and it will higher your conversion rate.

Conclusion

Iterating over your newsletter form is extremely important, and as you place it multiple places remember to always analyse on what type of forms converts best. It’s different from industry to industry, but if you start with the 5 tips I’ve given you, you will see a higher conversion rate by time. I always recommend my customers having a newsletter form, and it’s okay you don’t send newsletters in the beginning, but remember as soon as you start sending out, you need to be consistent.

Do you have any tips you would like to share?