Do Simple Opt-In Forms Build Credibility?

Email Marketing - Justin Premick - December 8th, 2006 - Permalink

I just read a great post by Jonathan Mendez talking about the benefits of making your opt-in forms and landing pages simple.

I’m a big fan of making opting in easy, but I’ve always looked at it as an isolated interaction between subscriber and site. Meaning that you make your opt-in form quick-and-easy to fill out so people don’t abandon it.

Mendez says there’s another benefit: “simplicity generates a comfort level and confidence in users based on the perceived ease of the landing page before they even engage.”

Simply put, the opt-in is likely the first contact your subscribers have with your site. The easier/more smoothly that goes, the more comfortable and confident they’ll feel on your site.

Put them at ease, they’ll feel like they’re going to succeed on your site — that you’re going to make it impossible for them to fail.

Make the opt-in confusing or difficult, and every future action they take on your site is going to feel daunting. If they sign up at all.

Thoughts?

This entry was posted on Friday, December 8th, 2006 at 1:20 pm and is filed under Email Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment response, trackback from your own site, or permalink.

7 Responses

  1. sally neill
    December 8th, 2006 at 3:23 pm

    Very helpful comments, Im just figuring out opt in forms etc etc and I found this information very helpful, I will keep this in my thoughts when I do a landing page, so thankyou, sally :)

  2. Chris Lockwood
    December 8th, 2006 at 5:07 pm

    I guess I’d have to see what his idea of simple is… most forms I see ask for name and email, not sure what could be NOT simple about that.

  3. Justin Premick
    December 8th, 2006 at 5:50 pm

    Hi Chris,

    There are a lot of things that might unnecessarily complicate an opt-in form or page:

    • Location of the form - is it “above the fold” (and not just for people on 1280 x 1024)? If it’s in a sidebar, is it prominent, or is it obscured among a mess of “Add To My Yahoo/Google/Bloglines” links and other content?
    • Size and color of the form headline, fields and labels: are they easy to see and read?
    • Lack of description in the form headline - is it immediately obvious to visitors what will happen if they opt in? Are the benefits clear and relevant to visitors?
    • Other content - does it draw attention away from the opt-in form? If so, is there a logical flow from that content back to that or another opt-in form, or to whatever action you want visitors to take after hitting your site?

    (I’m sure there are more, these are just the first handful that come to mind)

  4. Stan smith
    December 8th, 2006 at 9:27 pm

    I have been testing a variety of opt-in forms and it the results are showing that the headline is the #1 influencer and the "Benefit Bullets" are a clost second.

    The data is showing that clearly telling subscribers what they are getting and how they can benefit is the key to the success of an opt-in form.

    Stan
    http://www.topwebcopy.com/freereport.htm

  5. ralph elliot
    December 8th, 2006 at 10:09 pm

    For seminar marketing, a monthly drawing for a free registation at an upcoming seminar will increase opt-ins at the landing page up to 30%

  6. AnnaLaura Brown
    December 16th, 2006 at 8:57 am

    Offering a free ebook or set of articles or something similar works also.

  7. » How Not to Make a Signup Form - AWeber Blog
    March 20th, 2007 at 9:01 am

    […] We’ve talked a lot in this space about making it as easy as possible for your subscribers to get on your list. […]

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