Email signup forms can be an effective way to grow your user base. Learn how to create one in just three steps!
Email can be an effective way to connect with your audience. Whether you’re advertising deals or just reaching out, this direct medium is a smart choice. However, creating an email signup form can be a tricky task.
Fortunately, the process can be simple. By picking powerful tools and following a few steps, you can start building your email list with ease.
In this article, we’ll explore why you might want to use an email subscription form. We’ll also talk about a few email signup form best practices. Finally, we’ll walk you through how to create one in three steps. Let’s begin!
Why you might want to use an email signup form
An email list can be a powerful marketing tool. It can help you spread the word about your website and stay in contact with your main audience.
This can benefit you in a few ways. For one thing, it gives you a direct way to advertise. You might use this to promote new content. Additionally, it can be a smart marketing strategy. The low price of email marketing means you’ll likely have an excellent Return On Investment (ROI), so it's also efficient.
However, it doesn’t all have to be about sales. Email marketing can help you give new users a personalized welcome. Alternatively, you could also reach out to current visitors for honest feedback. This can help you find ways to improve your site.
However, an email list doesn’t grow overnight. You’ll need to collect addresses and personal information first. The easiest way to do that is by using the best email signup forms. With help from a high-quality email service, you can start taking advantage of a mailing list.
Email signup form: best practices
An email signup form doesn’t have to be complex to be effective. In fact, a simple approach is often the best. However, there are a few elements that you may want to consider as you build it.
One option is to only request an email address. This is the most basic approach. As such, people may be more likely to fill it out, since it will be easy to do so.
Nevertheless, you may need more information. For example, asking for a first name and birthday can help you personalize your messages.
However, we recommend that you only ask for information you know you’ll use. That way, you can minimize the work each user has to do.
You may also want to consider developing a high-quality design for your signup form. A plain form may not catch the user’s eye, while one that stands out from the rest of your site can help attract more attention.
Finally, we highly recommend that you include a clear Call To Action (CTA). Consider mentioning what benefits your users can gain by signing up for your list. Ultimately, if they know the value you can offer them, you’ll be more likely to boost email signups.
How to create an email signup form (in 3 steps)
At this point, you're probably wondering how to get started. Here’s how to create an email signup form in three easy steps!
Step 1: Choose your tools
Before you get started with the form, there are two major tools that you’ll need: an email marketing service and a form-building plugin. These will work together to help you grow your email list.
Let’s start with an email service. The best email marketing plugins provide a powerful way to send messages. They also give you ways to analyze how effective those emails are.
When selecting a solution, you may want to consider ease of use. For example, you might want to choose a platform that integrates with a form-building plugin. That way, you can ensure that these two essential tools work together, and lower the chances of something going wrong.
For form-building, we recommend our own Formidable Forms plugin:
We’ve developed this program to be both effective and user-friendly. With visual editing, flexible uses, and a long list of integrations, it makes building your email list easier than ever. It's even compatible with popular email marketing services like Groundhogg.
To get started, you can purchase and download the premium version of Formidable Forms. Then install and activate it. When you have both tools set up, you can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Build your form
Now that you have your tools ready, you can start building the email signup form. All you need to do is include your desired fields, and then configure your settings to collect user information.
Let’s start with creating a new form. Go to Formidable Forms → Form → Add New. You can either select a template or start from scratch. We recommend beginning with the newsletter signup form template if you need a quick start.
Then add the fields you would like to include. You may also want to use the Preview function as you go, to make sure the form is looking how you want it to.
When you’re done with that, save your work. Then you can start customizing it even further. For example, if you want to include unique submit button text, you can go to Settings → Styling & Buttons to see that option:
After you’ve done that, it’s time to set up the email element. Go to Settings → Actions & Notifications. Under Form Actions, find the email service you chose, add it to the form, and fill in the fields:
We picked AWeber, but you can also learn more about MailChimp signup forms with double optin.
Save your form one more time. As you can probably tell, this process is similar to creating a normal signup form. However, this final step is what makes it a more advanced email signup form.
Step 3: Publish your form
Finally, it’s time to publish your completed form. This is perhaps the most important part of the process – after all, you won’t get new users if they don’t know there’s a mailing list!
First, choose a page you want to publish your form on. We recommend that you put it in a prominent location. This could be your home page or your main content area.
You could also put the form directly in the sidebar. That way, visitors see it constantly, which may help to boost the number of signups.
Once you’ve decided where it should go, find your shortcode. To do this, all you have to do is go to Settings → General and scroll down, as in the following example of a job listing form:
From here, you can simply put this shortcode on any post or page where you want the form to appear. If you decided not to include a CTA in the form itself, consider adding one in the same location. This approach can also be helpful if you want to update the message every so often.
However, you’re not finished after publishing. Staying on top of the email list is essential to reducing unsubscribe rates. You may also want to verify email addresses to cut down on spam.
Conclusion
Email signups are an essential part of your marketing plan. However, creating the perfect form can be a real challenge. Fortunately, you can get started with just a few simple tasks.
In this article, we showed you how to build an email signup form in three easy steps:
- Choose a powerful email marketing and form-building tool.
- Create a form with an email-sending action.
- Publish your form on your website.
Email signup forms are only one of the many things that Formidable Forms can help you do. Check out our premium plans today!
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