Newsletter form on mobile

Question

I'm having a mobile version of my (fashion shopping) site built.

My team and I are arguing over whether, when and where the "sign up for our newsletter" prompt should appear.

We're looking to encourage users to sign up without nagging too much.

My team thinks a modal window with 100% width and 100% height opaque background is the best solution. I think it is a horrible idea, as people won't sign up without having visited the site and will close the modal window as soon as they can. in addition, I think it will discourage users from both browsing our site and signing up to our newletter.

My solution is a floating bar perhaps with css of position: fixed; bottom: 0; on the bottom of the page, maybe semi-transperant, which can be closed easily by clicking on close icon. One of my team members has signed it off as annoying.

It is important to note that newsletter recipients get a 10% exclusive coupon to our site which is unique to them, so there's an incentive for them to sign up.

Am I approaching this wrong?

Answer 1

You have to ask yourself the fundamental question: how does signing up to this newsletter benefit the user in any way.

That question is what users will ASK before entering their details.

Always remember to provide the benefits before asking a user to commit to a newsletter. Whether it's a popup modal (don't like those, no one knows you, so this approach is mostly an attempt to just put it in people's faces without outlining why they should do it in the first place), or a simple byline in the checkout area (this is a better place, because then at this point you can always have a promotion such as "Get 10% off on your order after signing up for our newsletter").

Where ever you choose to put it, you have to always remember:

1. Why should the user care
2. How does it benefit them
3. How can it be introduced without being obtrusive and still relevant to what ever action they are taking

Answer 2

I think you got it right. Floating in the middle of the screen kind of banners are thing of past. The sliding panel to the bottom (transparent is good) is what I would go with.

Or if there are any actions that user will make in the website, like "buy", "sign up for an account (not newsletter)" , "Contact" etc.. you can have a 'tag along' check box to sign up for newsletter .. basically making the newsletter sign up part of another user action on the website. At least giving them a chance there to sign up. You could do that, if you and your team are in deadlock with current options.

Or Another option :

Not sure if there is a mobile version of something like this.. you could put newsletter option to top right 'peel page' section.

http://www.advertserve.com/examples/pagepeel.html