You have a blog, you’ve been writing your content, and now you want to turn unique visitors into subscribers (and you’re smart enough to use an email marketing service like AWeber or GetResponse). So how does the subscription rate increase over the subscription form?

Anatomy of a subscription form

Let’s take a look at what a signup form typically contains and how it helps convince those visitors to sign up. Of course, there are other factors that affect your visitors’ decision to sign up or not (like your blog content, etc.), but let’s focus on the signup form for now.

ListDescription

Tell your visitors what the list is about when they sign up. Are they receiving an e-course? Are they subscribing to your blog (where they will receive all your latest posts in their email) or is it a series of tips to improve whatever it is you are offering them?

subscription benefits

What do your visitors get when they give you their data? Do they immediately receive some free products, such as a free eBook, reports, or videos and audio recordings? Tell them what they will get in exchange for their name and email address. This is sometimes called ethical bribery.

compelling images

Use compelling images of whatever you’re offering to sign up for your mailing list. This helps when visitors see a visual representation of what they are receiving. The word here is visual representation. Show an ecover or an image of a CD or something similar.

Required fields

Do you really need to ask them for their phone number? Keep it simple and not too personal. Request only the information you will need to communicate effectively with your subscribers. Never ask for more than just your name and email address.

Some have suggested asking for just the email address, but you’ll lose the benefit of personalization. This means you can’t greet them with their name in each and every message you send them. Highly debatable, but it’s totally up to you.

subscribe button

If the button just says Subscribe? What’s happening Please give me the free report now!? Think about it. Which one are you most likely to click when you see it? When you create a new signup form (or edit an existing one), consider changing the signup button text to something other than the default.

Privacy statement

If you can ensure the privacy of your subscribers’ data, why not? Secure them with something as simple as; We respect your privacy and will never sell, rent or share your personal data..

Unsubscribe Promise

You may be afraid to do this at the risk of getting a higher unsubscribe rate, but it can work in your favor. Telling your visitors that they can unsubscribe will also ensure that they don’t have to stay subscribed to the list if what they receive doesn’t meet their expectations.

free subscription

You may not have thought of this at all, but mentioning that subscribing to your list is completely free can also help. Those who are not familiar with newsletters, ezines, or blog subscriptions may not know them at all. Who knows, in the back of his mind, the word subscribe implies the payment of the subscription.

Omnipresent Form

Make your form ubiquitous on your site or blog. By that I mean you should make your signup form available on almost every page or post on your blog. If you don’t want it to show in the sidebar all the time, you can consider the lightbox, hover, or exit popup subscription form.

Just a few thoughts on the subscription form

These are the tips I can give you to improve your subscription form. It’s not saying everything and ending everything on the signup form, but I hope it gives you some ideas to make a better signup form and hopefully increase your conversion rate. Do you have an idea to increase the participation rate and share it with us?