Email acquisition is a hot topic right now at Listrak. With Twitter’s release of the lead generation card and Listrak’s recent whitepaper on the importance of acquisition, I felt it relevant to talk about implementing a proper email subscription point on your website.

Beyond a modal popup solution, the subscription point should be a mini form in the header or footer of your site. By positioning it there, you’re ensuring that the mini form will be on all pages of your website. The most common placement is in the footer, but including it in both the header and footer certainly isn’t  a bad idea. The bottom line is you want the mini form to be easily noticed. Don’t ask for lots of information. Keep the form short and sweet. Ask for  email address only. You can work on acquiring more info later via a welcome message that points to your preference center.

Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Here’s a great example of what a subscription point should be. This example was located in the footer. It’s a mini form that only asks for your email address and it was very visible and easy to find. Well done.

This example has the subscription point located in the header. In this case it’s a text link that upon click displays a pop up mini form. The problem here is it’s hard to find. I really had to scan the page before I saw it. While this example does display a mini form, they would be better served having the mini form directly on the page.

In this example the subscription point was located in the footer. This one had several things going against it. It’s a text link that wasn’t easy to locate. This link directs you to another page that explains the benefits of receiving their email. You then have to click on yet another link that takes you to the account login page. So basically you need to create an account in order to receive their emails. Like it or not, people tend to be impatient, which is why a quick and easy solution is vital. Also, asking the visitor to create an account feels like a commitment. If it feels like a commitment, you’re surely going to scare some potential subscribers away.

Finally, let’s take a look at an example that has all the right things going for it. This is a great example for retailers to follow. There are three subscription points in this example, a link in the header, a modal pop up, and a mini form in the footer.