May 13 2009
Point/Counterpoint: To Capture or Not to Capture?
Point: As consumer patience and attention spans decrease, asking for information beyond an email address (up-front) will most likely result in them not completing the sign-up process at all.
In my opinion, name and email address — or even just email address — should typically be the only information that marketers ask for in their email sign-up forms. Understandably, if it is completely necessary for your business to ask for more information, such as a zip code, then by all means do so. Otherwise, the usage of these two simple entry fields is my recommended maximum.
Take Casual Male for example — they’re doing it right. They ask subscribers to enter their email address and that’s it! Subscribers have the option of entering more info, such as name and address, but it’s not required that they do so. They can quickly and easily click directly through to the homepage, or to any product page they desire. Kohl’s is another brand leader that keeps it short and sweet, requiring only an email address (twice, to ensure validity).
Email marketing is all about building meaningful relationships with your subscribers. Think about when you meet someone for the first time – you don’t ask a plethora of personal, detailed questions right off the bat. You get to know them first, and learn more as time goes on. The same social expectations and behavioral norms should be applied between brands and subscribers online. Take every advantage to collect addresses that you can use to follow up with people – build opportunities later. After all, your competitors are only a click away.
Stay tuned for Ben’s rebuttal to Erin’s side of the story in the second installment of Point/Counterpoint.
I second most of the information mentioned in this post. I wouldn’t even want to complete a form if it was too lengthy!!
[...] following entry is a response to Erin Geoghegan’s piece arguing in favor of shorter email registration pages. [...]
I shy away from most sites that require registration. This particular site allows to post a reply providing needed information, but without a prior separate registration step.
To capture information you might present a registration form with multiple fields, with only a couple of required fields and several others that customize the experience, but are not mandatory. Some of them might be preselected to some default, but please make opt-out rather than opt-in to be the default.