Anyone know an easy way to insert a basic email subscription bar to a site?

UberTiger

UberTiger

UberTiger

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I've just made a site on squarespace (I know, I know), but I'm still learning to code and wanted to get something up fast.

Anyway, I'd like to insert a basic email subscription bar and I'm wondering if anyone knows a good simple way to do it or knows a good guide they can point me towards?

I just need it to gather info, the option to unsubscribe isn't completely necessary as I'll include an option in email to unsubsribe or they can just reply to any mailshots.

Ideas please? :)
 
Maintainting a mailing list and keeping it up to date usually isn't as simple as just taking email addresses. You get the wrong person adding themselves to your mailing list that then unsubscribes and then you accidentally send them an email could result in a world of hurt just in terms of the time you send dealing with this person.

My advise would be to setup a Mail Chimp account. Free to send out 600 emails a month and handles everything from subscription to tracking to removal. It will let you create a signip form for your website and allow you to create fantastic looking HTML or text based emails.

Roy
 
Nice one Roy, I've just had a look and the free plan seems a bit too good to be true for a small website or business?

Is it seriously free? I'll only have a few hundred peeps on my list and I only plan on mailing them at a maximum of once a month.
 
Have you tried mail chimp yourself? How well does it work? I looks like something that would find itself on a lot of spam filters very quickly from people abusing it.
 
I signed up last night myself, it's quite a comprehensive site.

I believe they put their signature or some kind of MailChimp branding on your emails if you use the free monthly service, which is fair enough and you can upgrade to a paid version to remove it.

They also seem very aware of spam and the potential for abuse and make you sign (or agree rather) to comply with some US spam laws, registering all of your details. They also mentioned something at some point about how to best prepare your emails to avoid spam filters and the like.

They seem to have quite a few good quality guides available for download in pdf to get the most out of your email marketing and even hold daily hour long webinars teaching you how to use their services. Hosted through GoToMeeting aswell which I've used in the past, so they should be pretty good, signed up for one this evening.

Looks good so far, will let you know how I get on.
 
Howday ho,

As you've discovered it is indeed really free and the only downside is the branding.

You'll find yourself maybe putting in a lot more information than you expected with regards to company information etc but again as you've found out this is to comply with international laws regarding mass emailing etc and is just there to protect you really.

If you start using MailChimp and it's tutorials you'll quickly realise the difference between your expectations of email marketing and how the professionals do it.

One point that sometimes people miss with regards to the free emails is:

You can send 600 emails a month. This can either be 600 emails to 1 person or 1 email to 600 people or any combination. I.e. 6 emails to 100 people a month.

Anyway, looks like you're seeing the potential already so have fun! :-)

Roy
 
Yeah, it looks good, should be an interesting learning experience to see how the big guns put their campaign together.

Also it's 6,000 emails a month at the mo, so 6 emails to 1,000 peeps or any combination thereof as you said. Pretty good deal!

Do you know how prominent the branding is Roy? I'm sure I'll find out eventually once I've gone through all the tutorials, but just curious.
 
Oooo sorry, must have been increased since I last checked the particulars of the free setup.

Not very at all. It's a small logo that's maybe only 200x100 max. At least it was last time I used a free account.
 
Well I attended one of their webinars tonight. Great idea, brilliant Q&A at the end, really knowledgeable and courteous staff. Will definitely be using one of their paid options to start my meagre mailing campaign, even just to see the stats that they can produce from it. Some really great features on their site to build awesome marketing emails. Can't wait to go live next week to send out my first mailshot. :D
 
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