How to create an attractive subscription form without a lead magnet?

Is it possible to get subscribers to a list without offering a lead magnet in return? There are many marketing experts who would say no, but the reality is that it can be done, as long as the subscription form is executed in an attractive way, both in terms of the design and the copy used.

It is no secret that the subscriber list is one of the most valuable treasures that any entrepreneur in the online world can have. It is the resource that facilitates the acquisition of data from people who show interest in the business and who express it by giving their email address to receive news.

But it is a fact that for all this to work, one of the main elements that must be working well is the opt-in form since it is through them that people who are interested in your product or services will leave their data and will be included in your list of subscribers.

It is normal for a brand to use a lead magnet to make people who want to be part of this list feel even more attracted and be included immediately. This is a free resource that is offered in exchange for personal data and can be a checklist, an e-book, a mini-course, among others.

Now, what happens when you don’t have this resource available, won’t it work to get subscribers to achieve the goal of building your list? The reality is that you can get a lot of data without having to offer anything in return, you just have to be very clear about the benefits that the subscriber will get.

Knowing your ideal customer

The first step to ensure that a subscription form message, or any other type of message, gets good results when it comes to selling is to understand very well the person to whom the message is addressed. It is necessary to define in detail what their problems are and what they expect to get when they enter the website.

With this information, it will be easier to write a message that sounds personalized and that attracts the customer’s attention so that they will want to be part of that list. When you are clear about the tone and words to exploit in your message, the result will be positive for both parties.

Features, advantages and benefits

Establishing a clear and targeted message for your perfect customer is the first step, but you still need to give it more teeth by identifying the features, advantages and benefits that subscribing to that specific newsletter will give them. This can be achieved quickly when the objective of each mailing is well-defined.

For example, if it is a blog of a specific niche where data on medical advances in cardiology are collected, it must be made clear to people that each newsletter will provide this information and that it will be useful for them because they will be able to improve their quality of life by following healthy practices, among others.

It is very important to tell the person on the other side how good it will be for them to be part of this list in words that are understandable to them and that mean something to their life.

Providing a solution

In this case, although it is not directly a lead magnet, you have a simple resource prepared that will serve as a solution to a certain problem of our target customers. It is best to deal with the main problem that is detected with respect to him/her.

Then, the idea is to create authority through this first email, persuasively informing the knowledge you have on the subject and how the problem can be solved, either by providing the result at once or indicating the general theory and presenting a product or service as a solution.

Main mistakes made when creating a subscription form

Now that we have seen the different elements that should be taken into account when creating a subscription form, it is time to assess the main mistakes that are made when creating one. Here are some of them:

• Bad design: design is the visual part and plays a very important role in the success or failure of a newsletter. You don’t need to be a designer to get a good form, you just need to choose an email marketing software that is friendly in this sense and allows you to organize all the elements by dragging and dropping. It doesn’t matter if the design looks simple, the important thing is that it looks tidy.
• Require too much data: A subscription form should be simple and quick so that people can fill it out in a few seconds. If they are asked for too much information, they will end up getting overwhelmed and leave. It is best to ask for their name and email address.
• Do not explain anything: forms that generally say a simple “subscribe to our newsletter here” tend to develop very little success in the number of people that arrive daily. The reason is very simple, they do not give any information that is of interest to the potential customer, and we saw above that this is the most important thing. In the end, it is not necessary to have 10,000 words, 4 or 5 sentences will be more than enough.
• That it does not work: the last aspect, which is more related to the technical part, has to do with the form not working. This is an error that tends to be more frequent than it seems because programming failures are generated and sometimes do not warn you at all. Therefore, it is essential to test regularly to ensure that everything is working properly and that no potential subscriber is left out.

The work of collecting emails to create a list of subscribers should never stop. In fact, many people recommend that the forms be placed in different parts of a website to achieve a greater impact. Later on, lead magnets can be developed to attract more people without the need for extra work. For example, by creating a mega-guide on a specific topic and making it available for download directly to their email inbox.