i’m wanting visitors who come by to my site to sign up to my newsletter. So I’ve got a sign-up-form on every page on the right hand side.
Since I’ll be sending out Newsletters with MailChimp I used their sign up form and tweaked it a bit for my site. Everything seems to work fine there.
However I’d like the sign-up-form to appear when a new visitor finds the site. The screen should fade to black and the sign up form appears in the middle of the screen. -Much like the lightbox effect for photos and videos.
I’m sure I’ve seen this feature on Mailchimp BUT I can’t find it for the life of me. You’ve got to dig around a bit within their site to find things. (trust me though I’ve dug.)
This feature can be seen sometimes on sitepoint.com for example. Sometimes they have a new book to sell and ask if you want to download the first 50 pages as a pdf.
Any help or leads would be more than grateful!
And secondly, what do you guys think of this feature? Is it annoying? I like it a lot. ON the other hand I can imagine some people would be a bit annoyed when it appears before the he/she has even seen a whisk of content.
Are you talking about the website in your signature? If so, I’ve got a couple of suggestions.
I hate to be a debbie downer, but I wouldn’t use the lightbox type effect you’re talking about. It will not get any more sign ups than what you would otherwise receive.
It does annoy potential consumers - I just wouldn’t ever recommend it.
The reason other websites offer the first 50 pages of an eBook is because that signup is providing the consumer something VALUABLE enough for them to sign up. If you want them to sign up, then don’t spam them, but rather provide them something more valuable than “Sign Up Below to receive free newsletter”. No one would ever sign up for that call to action. Change it to something like, “Signup now to hear about Andrew’s latest money-making designs his clients love” or something that gets them interested. Using the word “newsletter” is usually a bad idea.
Your website is 100% about you. If you want to increase your sales, and find new customers, I’d flip the script. I would make the entire website be about your target audience, and what they are looking for. I would change it to have 1 page about you and the rest of the information to be so valuable that they have no choice but to sign up to your newsletter because if they don’t, they’ll never have the chance again.
I’d move your signup form above the fold.
This is all IMHO, and I hope you’re not offended in any way, and that this all helps!
I’ve been a mailchimp user for a while now and love their service, but offering a signup form in a lightbox is something I’ve never seen offered by them. I’ve heard good things about http://www.popupdomination.com though and am currently considering them for a site or two of my own.
I’d have to agree with most of the following…
…with the exception of points #1 and #2 though
In regards to #1 - While this technique is something you need to test to see how well it works on your website with your prospects, in my experience something like this will almost always help you to get a greater number of signups on your newsletter.
In regards to #2 - While it may annoy some folks, those people are most likely not good prospects for your services and I would worry less about them and more about providing good, valuable content that ideal prospects are more likely to want to read.
Like blindacoustic mentioned, people need a good reason to join your newsletter though and are more likely to signup if you offer them some valuable, free info in the form of a short report, audio or video. Provide them with some helpful tips to grow their business while showcasing your expertise at the same time and it’s a win-win for you both.
