6 Email Signup Form Mistakes that are Keeping People from Subscribing to Your List

So you launched your blog, created all kinds of fancy ways for your readers to subscribe to your email list, AND…

Crickets.

It’s frustrating to spend time on making sure you have all the right calls to action (CTA) but receive no response.

After all, the only reason you have email subscription forms in the first place is so that users will sign up for your email list.

So, what gives?

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon scenario. It doesn’t take much for an email newsletter subscription form to become a metaphorical stinkbomb that sends your readers running.

There are tons of common mistakes that marketers make in their email list building strategy, and making just one of them can be enough to drive potential subscribers away.

In this article, I am going to talk about the 6 most common mistakes that marketers make when trying to build their email list with on-site email subscription forms.

Oh, and I’ll give you tips on how you can prevent yourself from making these mistakes too!

7 Email Newsletter Signup Form Mistakes to Avoid

1. Timing your email signup form poorly

One of the absolute worst things you can do when setting up an email signup form is having them show up at the wrong time.

Picture this.

You just found a link to the perfect article that promises to answer all of the questions you have in life (or maybe it’s just an interesting-sounding marketing post).

You click through, and… instead of the article, you get this:

At this point, you might be so frustrated that you forgot why you even came to the site in the first place. Or, more likely, the site has lost an enormous amount of credibility because they solicit you for your email address before you even see their content.

A subscription form like this is pointless if you are really trying to build your list.

To illustrate this point, consider the Psych’d framework that was created by Darius Contractor.

Although Contractor created this framework to analyze full funnel conversions, the same principles can be applied to converting readers into email subscribers.

Essentially, Contractor states that users have a certain amount of “Psych,” when they enter your site. Every single thing on your site can either add or take away Psych.

Things that add Psych include endorsements from other trusted sources or content that directly addresses their pain points.

Things that take away Psych include “salesy” and inauthentic CTAs or excessive form fields.

In order for someone to convert, their Psych level has to remain positive, or else their interest will be too low to stick around.

Basically, you want to avoid taking away Psych from your readers by overwhelming them or coming off as inauthentic.

So, if you are coming to a site and the first thing you see is a salesy email signup form, you are probably not going to sign up for their newsletter. You may not even continue on to read the original post.

2. Including too many CTAs on your site

You know the classic saying, “like a kid in a candy shop?”

It’s usually used to describe the excitement you feel when you’re trying something new.

I’m pretty sure the saying should be modernized to say, “like a marketer with a new software tool.”

When we get new tools, we naturally want to try out all of the features.

After all, we aren’t paying for the tool just so we can use one piece of it. That’s like buying a pizza and throwing it away after only eating two slices!

But, when creating CTAs for your website, it is important to find a balance that doesn’t overwhelm your customers.

The best way to do this is to have clear goals for your CTAs and not have them overlap too much with each other.

If you have a subscription form for gated content, a slide-in to sign up for the newsletter, and a generic popup to drive users to your main site all on one page, your readers aren’t going to be happy.

It is okay to have some CTAs that link to other pieces of content or your main site along with an email subscription form popup, but everything is better in moderation.

3. Not making your CTA immediately relevant to the page content

In addition to overwhelming readers with too many popup, slide-in, overlay, and in-line calls to action, many sites also make the mistake of having subscription forms with messages that are unrelated to the content on the page.

Usually, this applies to websites on which content addresses multiple different topics.

If you want to see best practices, check out our 20 Newsletter Signup Examples to Take Inspiration From

Many sites like this create a generic subscription CTA that appears on every page regardless of content.

While these unrelated offerings or CTAs might convert get some readers to sign up, it’s not the best strategy for attracting new subscribers.

4. Failing to offer immediate value with your email newsletter signup

Another common mistake is having only generalized offers in the CTAs of your email subscription forms.

If all of your CTAs asking people to sign up for your newsletter are generic statements like, “Join 10,000 other readers by subscribing to my newsletter,” you’re not getting the most from your readers.

In order to give up an email address, readers want to know that they are getting something that they really want in return.

Without a tangible value proposition, it’s gonna be a hard sell to get people to sign up for your list

5. Requiring too much information to subscribe to your newsletter

Most users don’t like to give up personal information in order to subscribe to a newsletter.

Usually, this is due to privacy concerns.

Or, if my feelings are any indication of a broader trend, it may just be due to laziness in filling out multiple forms on a website.

Whatever the reason, many sites make the mistake of asking for too much information from readers in order to subscribe to their blog.

Their CTAs end up looking like this:

This drastically reduces the likelihood that someone is going to go through all of the trouble to actually complete the subscription process (remember the Psych’d framework).

So, you should try your best to stay clear of adding more friction to the subscription process.

6. Using a bad color scheme

Colors can have a lot more influence over people than you think.

Different colors are associated with different emotions, and these emotions can have a direct effect on how people behave.

Colors can also form a strong association with your brand.

Using a color scheme that isn’t consistent with your brand or complementary with itself can have a negative impact on the perception of your business. This will drive users away from subscribing to your newsletter.

Time to start building your list!

Now that you have a better idea of some the things you should avoid when implementing an on-site list-building strategy, you can optimize your CTAs for the best possible results.

Have you seen other mistakes that websites make with email subscription forms?

Share them with us in the comments below!