This week I attended a great webinar by Silverpop – Building a World Class Preference Page. Now generally this is not an exciting topic but I learned there really is some important and cool things to do with your email preference page!
The three main areas are: the opt-in, the update and finally the opt-out.
The Opt-In Page
Keep it simple and easy to use, yet consistent with your brand and website. Vertical multi-column form is the easiest on the eyes. Naturally our eyes track up and down, not left to right. Have your customer sign up their email address twice – one to subscribe and one to verify. It is amazing how many people type in the wrong address! Use drop down boxes for ease of use but don’t over use as some mobile applications don’t take kindly to them! Lastly, send a confirmation – a welcome confirmation! Once again, another opportunity to say “thanks” with an offer!
The Update!
Preferences – yes it is very important to get more information about your subscribers. You’ll want to get demographics, interests, list or publication designation, channels of distribution (email, text, mobile) and frequency. But the interesting aspect is that this doesn’t have to happen all at once. And actually can give you another opportunity to reach out to the subscriber.
Known as building a “progressive profile” of your subscriber, invite them back to add more information to their profile. Another great way to re-engage with the customer! Think about rewarding them with a special offer for updating their profile.
Include the email address – the average person changes their email at least once every three years. This is valuable data and needs to be kept current. Companies that don’t give customers a convenient are de-valuing their asset of current data!
Opt-out!
No company wants to lose a subscriber and there are ways to help lessen the chance. First make it easy to opt-out – that is part of the can spam laws. But ask them why – too much email, too much frequency? Remind them of what they will lose if they unsubscribe.
It can be time-consuming to build a good database of customers and their interests. And it is really easy and inexpensive to develop and maintain a good preference page. Call us if you need help!
