Is Your Email Opt-In Out of Date? Here’s How You Can Tell

9 Signs It’s Time to Refresh Your Email Opt-in Form

A global survey of marketing professionals from B2B and B2C companies stated that targeted email campaigns were more effective than any other marketing technique. But you need permission from your target audience to send them emails so you want an email opt-in form that motivates them to sign up.


If you’ve been using the same email opt-in for a year or more, there’s a possibility that you need to improve, refresh or replace it. If you want more opt in email addresses, you’ll need to determine what’s going wrong with your current set-up so that you can fix those issues and improve your opt-in rate.

9 Signs Your Email Opt-in is Out of Date

1. Performance Has Gone Down 

Email Opt-In
When did you last check your email opt-in form?

If you’re not getting sign-ups at the same rate you were when you first set up your email opt-in form, then something is probably wrong. It may simply be that you’re not promoting it enough or it’s not obvious enough. Even if performance hasn’t gone down, that doesn’t mean it can’t go up with a few tweaks.

2. You Have Too Many Steps 

Some audiences don’t want to fill out a super-long form to get the freebie that you’re offering or access to the content upgrade you’re giving away. They get frustrated if they go in and out of their email to get your offer too and don’t follow through. If your method is long, try shortening it to see if that improves sign-ups. All you need is their email address. You can use email messages and other means to get more information over time.

How to get 1,000 new email subscribers in 30 days
 
3. No One Can Find Your Opt-In Form 

Many people are quite timid about their newsletters and their freebies. They hide them in the sidebar and no one ever sees them, since there is nothing that stands out about it. Today, you have a lot of technology at your fingertips to create email opt-in forms that truly stand out.

4. Your Opt-Ins Aren’t Targeted or Segmented

Email marketing success comes from a targeted email marketing campaign. Every segment of your audience won’t want or be interested in the same lead magnet. That’s why adding in content upgrades based on the content they’re reading is more helpful sometimes than an email opt-in form on the sidebar that offers a general freebie to your entire audience.

5. Your Opt-Ins Aren’t Forms

If you’re using links for your opt-ins without a form, then you’re missing an opportunity to make your opt-in look super-impressive and get their attention. You can use a variety of different types of opt-in forms, from lightbox pop-ups to forms that pop up when the cursor is pointing to the underlined word that you wanted to highlight for a content upgrade.

6. Your Opt-In Copy Is Non-Existent

The freebie you offer in exchange for someone’s email address is as important as your products. It could be a checklist, report, ebook or video series. It’s a product even though it’s free. When you think of it as a product, you realize you need to sell it just like you do a paid product. You don’t want to be long winded, but you do want to tell them why it’s beneficial for them to sign up and what they get when they do.

7. Your Subscribe Buttons Are Boring

Don’t just say “submit” on your email opt in wording. Say something that really hits your audience with the meaning of signing up. What will they get if they sign up? “Get more good news daily” sounds a lot better than “Sign up here” on a button.

8. You Don’t Offer Lead Magnets

If you’re expecting people to sign up for your email list without giving them anything, it’s not going to work. A promise of a free newsletter won’t get you sign-ups because they want to know what’s in it for them, and a gift immediately is what’s in it for them for now.

9. You’re Still Calling Your Email List a Newsletter

Sorry, but in most cases, no one wants your newsletter. They want great information that helps them solve their problems. If you’re still calling it a newsletter, you may want to change that to something more descriptive of what they’re getting. For example, “Don’t miss out on updates, exclusive content, and other opportunities” is better than “Sign up for my newsletter”.

The fact is, if you’re not proud of what you’re offering your audience, you probably aren’t shouting it from the rooftops. But, if you are proud, then you’re going to tell everyone you know about it in a proud way that makes people want to get your free offer, get on your email list, and open your email messages.

How To Get 1,000 New Email Subscribers In 30 Days

Email is the #1 marketing channel. It has been for over 10 years. But before you can reap the benefits of email marketing, you need to grow your email list with an email opt-in that works. In this free guide, you’ll see how to do just that. Discover how to grow your email list from scratch using 14 super-effective tactics and everything you need to hit over 1,000 subscribers in 30 days.

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