How can you get more email signups from your site visitors? This article shines a spotlight on the email signup process at 45 leading retailers. These suggestions can help you grow your email list. Email signup is simple–a few clicks followed by a handful of keystrokes–but the same process of close comparative scrutiny can also improve complex processes like cart and check-out.

For this study, I pulled 45 sites at random from the 2005 Catalog Age 100 and Internet Retailer 400 lists. I signed up for email at each using a fresh Gmail account. You can check out the full methodology and get detailed scores and notes for each site at www.rimmkaufman.com/email-signup-study. I conducted these tests in June 2006; some of the sites have evolved since.

Here are my 13 ingredients for the perfect email signup process. You should start the signup from the homepage, preferably above the fold. You should be told the benefits of signing up, and be reassured your email will be kept private. You should reach the email form in at most one click. You shouldn’t encounter confusion, bugs, or irrelevant choices. You should get clear confirmation of success, be thanked for signing up, and receive some immediate benefit. You shouldn’t be forced to provide extraneous data. You should be able to specify what content interests you. You should have the option of RSS subscription. And you should receive a fast email confirmation.

You might quibble with any of these 13 points. That’s fine. I suggest as a set they have predictive validity: when you score sites on this 13-point scale, you’ll find higher-scoring sites have noticeably smoother signup processes than lower-scoring sites. The best sites are worthy of study and emulation.

Start on the homepage, above the fold

37 (81%) sites place the signup box or link on the homepage above the fold. Most of the rest place email signup the bottom. On 6 sites–Lego, Headsets.com, Carrot Ink, Black Box, Amazon, and Best Buy–I couldn’t find anything related to email signup on the homepage after a reasonable search, and gave up.

Explain the benefit of signing up, before the signup

34 sites (77%) offer reasons visitors should share their email. Why doesn’t every site? Whether you use full sentences or just a few words, explain why someone benefits by signing up for your list. Seems obvious, but 1 in 3 sites don’t do this.

Provide in-line privacy reassurance

Only 11 sites (25%) provide privacy reassurance near the signup box. A few others offer a link to their privacy policy, but that forces the visitor to click off to a page of legalese and disrupts the signup flow. You don’t need many words to reassure. Danskin does it in ten: “Your information is safe with Danskin’s privacy protection. Privacy Policy” I’m sure your company handles emails appropriately, so remember to tell your visitors you do, right next to the signup box.

Reach the email signup box in at most one click

40 sites (91%) follow this practice, making this recommendation the most widely adopted followed. Many sites place an email box on the home page itself (0 clicks); others place a link from the home page to a signup page (1 click). There’s no need for additional intermediate pages such as encountered on Vermont Teddy Bear or PC Mall–two clicks is too long a path for such a simple process.

Eliminate bugs and confusion

Your signup process has to be clear and has to function. 33 sites (73%) meet these basic criteria. Only one site, Etronics, failed outright [screenshot]. But too many sites complicated this simple process. How? Calling it a “Mailing list” rather than “Email list” (Dresses.com, Danskin). Adding a redundant screen (Lillian Vernon). Placing “Sign up for email” links on the bottom of every screen, including the email signup screen itself (QVC). Each time a user has to think, that brief pause interrupts the flow, increasing the chance of abandonment.

Provide a dedicated signup process

On 37 sites (84%), the email signup process only handle email signup. This is good design because it reduces complexity for the visitor. A few sites–probably to save a few lines of code–recycle management screens (”manage your email” or “manage your account”) for email signup. This is bad design. When a visitor wants to sign up for email, provide her a dedicated screen to do exactly that, and just that. Recycling functionality leads to confusion. On the Swiss Colony site, for example, after following a link labeled “Sign up to receive emails about specially priced items; sign up now”, the visitor is left wondering why the next screen provides a “I do not wish to receive email” option.

Offer an immediate benefit

Only 6 sites (14%) offer an incentive for signing up, such as entering each new email in a sweepstakes (Gumps, Neiman Marcus, Crutchfield, REI). A few sites offer discount coupons (Zales, $5 off purchase over $25); (REI , 10% off next order). However, Zales mentions the coupon only after the signup, so doesn’t gain any lift in signup rates. REI mentions the 10% off offer before the signup, then provides the coupon via email, ensuring the consumer enters a valid address.

Say “thank you”

Your company benefits when a visitor signs up for your email. Saying “Thank you” is polite and appropriate, and 32 sites (82%) do. Skipping those two little words makes your company sound mechanical and rude.

Avoid collecting extraneous data

Visitors will happily provide you with data when doing so benefits them, not you. To receive email from you, visitors need to provide you their email address. They understand that. When you ask for additional data–or worse, when you require it–and visitors can’t see how providing that information benefits them, you’ll lose signups.

28 sites (64%) understand this, and request or require minimal data. The remaining sites ask for additional data, increasing user frustration. To get email from PC Mall, one must create an account, which entails filling out 16 fields, of which 11 are required. Neiman Marcus forces the visitor to provide a last name and a zipcode. Harry & David forces account creation to sign up for email, and uses unfriendly language if the address isn’t postal service hygienic. Tool King forces the visitor to provide both his name and zipcode (and if the visitor does not, the site generates both an error and a thank-you message–confusing). Crutchfield forces visitors to indicate if they’re more interested in electronics for the home or for the car–what about the people interested in both?

Offer choices of content, frequency, and channel

Only 11 sites (25%) allowed visitors the choice of email list and/or delivery frequency. Cooking.com offers four lists. Williams Sonoma
allows visitors to specify from which companies they’d like to receive email. PetSmart lets visitors join email lists customized for different types of pets (Dog, Cat, Fish, Bird, Reptile, Small Pet).

Among the sites in this study, Barnes & Noble is the clear leader in content choice. Bn.com offers 25 email list options, including “Bestsellers,” “Heart to Heart: Our Romance Newsletter”, “Ransom Notes: Our Mystery & Thrillers Newsletter,” and a “40% Off Bulletin.” The site also offers “Writer Alerts” on over 100 specific authors, as well as DVD and Music Alerts.

Not one of the 45 sites reviewed allowed visitors to specify their desired frequency of email messages.

Only 2 sites (5%) offered an RSS option: Home Depot and New Egg. As RSS grows in popularity, retailers should also offer their email content via RSS feeds. Best yet, as RSS is a pull medium, the channel sidesteps the deliverability and spam conundrums of traditional email.

Provide fast confirmation

A visitor should receive an email confirmation of their signup that same day–preferably within minutes. Only 14 sites (27%) met the same-day standard; the majority of sites confirmed the signup within a few days. A fast confirmation ensures the visitor didn’t make an entry mistake, and the fast feedback can reduce the chance subsequent pieces are flagged as spam. Use a “From:” address that clearly indicates your brand–too many retailers send emails from ambiguous addresses like “custserv” (Company Store) “support” (Cooking.com), “webteam” (B&H Photo), or “info” (Diamond.com). The most confusing confirmation came from info@ldproducts.com; the address and the email did not identify itself as an associated site with Inkjets.com, where the email signup occurred.

Conclusion

Five sites scored 10 or better on this 13 point scale: Barnes & Noble, B&H Photovideo, Cabela’s, Crutchfield, and Williams Sonoma. Visit these leaders. Sign up for their email and note how their processes compare with yours.

You may find small improvements to your signup process increase your signup rate, helping you grow your email house file more quickly.