How much information do you ask people for, in order to subscribe to your newsletter?
I ask that question, following an experience I had yesterday after I discovered an interesting new blog and decided to subscribe to their newsletter. I clicked the ‘subscribe’ link and was taken to the sign up page. Here’s the information they required, in order to email me their newsletter.
They needed:
- My first name
- My surname
- My company name
- My profession
- My region or state
- My telephone number
- And finally, my email address
Slow down – I don’t even know you yet
I saw that pile of requirements and decided not to subscribe. It felt like too much information, just to have a newsletter emailed to me. As a new prospective subscriber, they had not earned my trust yet or developed any rapport with me, so it felt uncomfortable to be asked for more than my name and email address.
I have seen various statistics over the years, which suggest that after asking for a persons name and email address, every additional piece of information you request will lose you between 5 and 10 percent of potential newsletter subscribers. Regardless of the exact percentages, in an age where people are extremely busy and also very aware that some companies sell their data, the more information a newsletter provider requires, the fewer subscribers they are likely to attract.
As a result, there will be business owners out there today, who have lost hundreds or maybe thousands of subscribers, simply because they asked for more information up front, than a potential subscriber feels comfortable giving them.
Just what you need
If you are a newsletter provider, look at the information you currently require on your subscriber form and see how much of that data you really need. Think of what you want to achieve from your newsletter marketing and whether you can achieve those objectives, with people just giving you their email address or name and email address. If you need more information for some reason, make sure to ask for no more than absolutely necessary. Remember, if your marketing message is clear, those who subscribe to your newsletter will be targeted around your area of commercial interest, regardless.
In short: Ask only for the personal information you require, in order to provide a new subscriber with a great newsletter. Don’t risk losing thousands of prospective readers and future customers, by asking for too much information.