Getting Subscribers To Your Blog Or Newsletter

According to Caroline Jarret, in her sexy new book Forms That Work the days of bribing our customers are over. For getting people subscribe to our newsletters and blog alerts at least.

It seems that Jarret has spent way longer than anyone else would care to, studying forms and constructing forms that actually get results.

In a recent interview with the author, I learned that while on some websites the idea of saying ‘hey would you like this e-book’ or whatever, in exchange for an email address is not the most effective way of getting people on to your e-newsletter subscription list. And this seems to make sense from a psychological stand point too.

Thinking about it now, if someone comes to your blog and likes what they read they might want to subscribe to being alerted whenever you write a new article. However, if your ‘bribe’ to have them opt in is a PDF e-book thingy about 7 Reasons Squirrels Are More Attractive Than Prostrate Sucking, they may be turned off.

It also makes sense, in theory at least, that the people who sign up to a box that says ‘sign up receive my newsletter’ will stay on your subscriber list longer and is less likely to click the doomy SPAM button. After all, they asked for it, right?

So it begs the question, when is a ‘bribe’ actually worth doing? There is still a time and a place for it. Later this week I’ll share with you my Top 5 Bribes for you to steal and use to get yourself a few more sales online.

If you’re interested in forms, check out Forms That Work by Caroline Jarret