Fishing for Emails
For the past two weeks I have been signing up for as many email lists as possible. I’ve opted in to receive emails from companies that vary from video game publishers to car manufacturers to fast food restaurants. In that time, I have subscribed to a total of 270 lists. And I’m not stopping there… I am hoping to sign up for 1,500 separate lists before the end of the year.
From signing up for all of these lists recently, I’ve noticed a few things… the most glaring thing being the sign-up process. I was shocked to discover how some web sites actually make this a chore for potential users. In some cases it was really frustrating. It felt like I was begging Brand X to let me opt-in. Some sign-up forms were so buried within their sites that it took me minutes to find them. Although, I did feel accomplished afterwards. It’s the closest I think I’ve ever come to being Sherlock Holmes. But I digress… First let’s go over the logical ways to opt-in:
1 form on main page
2 register / become user
3 link in navigation
4 call to action
Example:
More often than not, however, I would dig and dig and dig in order to find something that resembled an opt-in form. Take Caterpillar’s site for example… I went to their main page and found nothing resembling an opt-in for email. So I navigated to their contact page... nope, no opt-in form there. Then I reverted to their site map page. Once there, I was bowled over by the amount of pages are on this site. So instead of eyeballing each link, I began searching the text (apple+f) for keywords such as newsletter, subscribe, mail & member. “Mail Alerts” was the winner. I was then able to sign up and proceeded to wipe the sweat from more forehead.
Another example of a botched sign up process was found on GM’s site. GM was unique in the fact that they didn’t even have an opt-in form. From searching through their site for “newsletter”, I came across their Corporate Responsibility newsletter. In order to sign up, you have to email them and request the newsletter. To specify your format preference, you had to include it in the subject line. Ridiculous. No wonder they’re going under.
Is it just me or is it shocking how these huge corporations show such a lack of interest in reaching out to their customers? Can anyone else out there comment on any sites where it’s nearly impossible to sign up for an eNewsletter?
Posted by Bryan Quilty on Jul. 28, 2009
Comments
Philip,
Although the actual sign up page is formatted well, the link to get to that page from your main page is a little unclear. I completely agree and I understand where you’re coming from with the point you made about precious real estate. I guess this issue cannot be applied as a blanket statement… it has to be dealt on a case by case basis depending on the company’s priorities.
The visitlasvegas.com site has an awesome sign up process which allows the user to pick one out of four email templates they’d like to receive… clever!
http://www.visitlasvegas.com/vegas/my-vegas/register.jsp?vegasrightnow=true
Posted by Bryan Quilty on 07/30/2009 09:56 AM
I agree - i am often amazed at not only how hard it can be to sign up (although i can understand how precious real estate on key web pages can be to E-commerce teams), but also at how poor the sign-up process is. I am surprised that more brands don’t take this opportunity of engagement more seriously - if they’re signing up to your emails, then greet them properly. They deserve that at the very leasst if they’re connecting with your brand. You wouldn’t give them a brochure in plain text in your store, so why send a confirmation that they’re successfully subscribed like that?
Check out our current sign-up pages at http://www.thomson.co.uk/editorial/ecrm/winaholiday.html - it’s not perfect, but it’s certainly not bad.
Posted by Philip Storey on 07/28/2009 10:31 AM