| 5. Give visitors a way to read past issues
A lot of people who consider joining your email list will appreciate the option to see examples of what you are going to send. John P. Weiss' signup page, shown above, does a great job of giving people this option without being too obtrusive.
6. Reassure prospects you will keep their email address private
Nobody wants their email address to be sold, shared or given to anyone without their permission. Make sure you make your policy crystal clear about this item. And just so I'm crystal clear: your policy must be that you never share email addresses. period. Use wording similar to the following:
"I will never sell or share your email address with anyone else. Period."
7. Reassure prospects that you make it easy to unsubscribe
Say things like, "I respect your control of your inbox. All unsubscribes are processed immediately."
(If you use FASO's ArtfulMail, unsubscribe links are automatically added to your newsletters and all unsubscribes are processed immediately).
8. Ask for Email Address Only
Artists often ask us to add additional input boxes to the signup form. They want to know people's name, their collecting habits, where they live, etc. I understand wanting to know that information. However, it's a bad idea. It's too much to ask for upon signup. You can get this information later, once the person "knows" you and trusts you.
At sign up, just as for the email address, period.
Every additional field you require reduces your conversion rate. In plain terms that means that every field you require on your email signup form will mean fewer people sign up for your newsletter.
Here's an example of sticking to just one field. This is our FineArtViews signup form: | 