Email mailing list sign up space

[jessyclubsoda]

As part of our aim to increase returning users, we want to set up a mailing list specifically for Guide users in order to collect email addresses and direct people back to the site.

In order to do this, we would like to be able to collect email addresses on the front page of the Guide website by creating a submission box for users to put in their email addresses which will sign them up to this mailing list.

This will also have an impact on #661

[iteles]

We'll have to make sure this is GDPR compliant as well as we did with #53 through #82 👍

[nelsonic]

Hi @jussi-club-soda / @jessyclubsoda, I can help make progress on this issue as it appears to be high priority. Can you please provide a bit more detail regarding where you want the Email Addresses to go?

e.g. Are you going to be adding them to a list management service such as Mail Chimp? Do you want to send people a subscription confirmation email when they register? Do you have any preferences for the UI/UX of the signup form?

[jussi-club-soda]

We use MailChimp, and the link is actually already on the home page, further down in one of the diagonal boxes ("Get the Newsletter") - so I guess we only need a hyperlink to the sign-up page (http://eepurl.com/dvVXfX), but somewhere more prominent.

I would love something we can edit ourselves - could it be a button like the "Find One Near Me", but with an ability for us to edit the button text and the URL within?

Location - probably as prominent as possible, so maybe even just below the search section at the top?

[nelsonic]

@jussi-club-soda apologies for not making myself clearer above. What I'm trying to get to are precise requirements for the email signup.

As you say, at present there is a "Get the Newsletter" link towards the bottom of the homepage: https://www.clubsodaguide.com

The link is modifiable by editing the following line of code: https://github.com/club-soda/club-soda-guide/blob/49ac5a78b68477c232e71ce18585bf9f6053fcda/lib/cs_guide_web/templates/page/index.html.eex#L79

Clicking the link takes the person to the Mailchimp sign-up page.

Having this not very prominent link, which takes the person to another non-branded page with a lot of copy to read and 3 fields to complete probably has a very low conversion rate. 💭

Any solution that involves forcing people to click a link rather than having an in-line field and call-to-action button is going to result in a suboptimal conversion rate.

At present the home page has the drinks+venues search prominently above the fold:

Would the idea be to have a Newsletter Signup Field & Button immediately below the search. e.g:

or would below the drinks and venues (content) be better? e.g:

What is the relative priority of Newsletter signup on the page (and strategically for the organisation)? My understanding is that building the subscriber base is vital to continued funding. But this needs to be balanced with showing the person enough content for them to want to sign up. i.e. the page needs to answer the question: "is this relevant to me?" So that the reader can determine that inputting their email address is the best course of action for them on their quest to cut down on their alcohol consumption while still being social.

Note: this mockup of the potential email newsletter sign up including placeholder text and button copy is just what I made up on the spot (because there is not much detail in the issue description above). Ideally we would need to have very well worded copy to maximise engagement and conversion rate. @dwyl we have studied this quite a lot over the years working in e-commerce and the words you use really matters. You want want the right balance of "keep me up-to-date with all the latest news" and the "FOMO" inducing "don't be left out of the latest updates". Ideally someone on the CS team will come up with the copy but if you prefer we can make suggestions. You could just stick with "Get the Newsletter" for now and see how well it converts. 💭 ... simply having a single field on the page with a clear call-to-action will dramatically improve newsletter signups.

Still to be Determined

1. Precise placement of signup field. Please give exact location on the home page. e.g. immediately below "View drinks" button
2. How many fields of data do you want to collect? e.g: just the email address? or email + first name? (we suggest you don't ask for more than you need as it adds unnecessary friction. if last name is required by funders ... consider asking them for it after they have submitted their email. i.e. have a 2-stage form that ensures you capture the email first then you can ask them for more once that's "task" is complete.)
3. Should the data be stored in the CS database and then manually inserted into Mailchimp or should we use the Mailchimp API to automatically add the person to the list. (_this obviously affects our estimate of how much time/effort is required but is the best long-term solution for everyone. We could try the manual approach for a couple of weeks and if the volume of signups is high enough to justify the extra dev time, we can automate it. 💭
4. What should the copy of the placeholder text and button be? a. Should you have a small note below the fields linking to your privacy policy (for GDPR complianc)?

We can implement this feature relatively easily/quickly once the requirements are well defined. I just don't want to do the wrong thing and end up wasting time unnecessarily. I will document and comment the code comprehensively so you (anyone in the CS team) will be able to edit/modify/extend it at any stage with minimal effort.

Let me know the above at your nearest convenience so we can proceed. Thanks. ☀️

[jessyclubsoda]

I have put some thoughts on mailing list placement in #661 but I will keep some of my specific thoughts on the mailing list sign up in this issue

Collecting fields of data

I would prefer to only collect email address on the website itself as I agree that it would be best for this to be as frictionless as possible. If we decided we definitely wanted to collect more information (such as name, location, other email preferences) I would suggest we do that through an automatic follow up email when people sign up

Data format

For ease, I think it would be preferable for us to use the Mailchimp API to automatically add emails, providing that would work wtih @jussi-club-soda 's plans to integrate this list with our main one

I will have a further think about copy over the next day or so

[jessyclubsoda]

@nelsonic

In terms of automatic integration through the Mailchimp API, how easy would it be for us to change where emails were grouped after the fact?

One option we have been talking about is having email addresses collected from the Guide going onto a separate list but this means we could end up paying Mailchimp for a number of duplicate emails. Another option would be to have them automatically tagged as a group within our main list. However we think that we might change our minds about what the best option might be after we have some data from who is signing up to the Guide mailing list

How realistic is it for us to be able to change where emails go if we needed to once we had collected some data?

[nelsonic]

@jessyclubsoda it shouldn't be difficult to change where emails are stored and what group they are added to. I will document the code comprehensively so it should just be a case of changing one line/variable.

As soon as you have made a decision about Mailchimp, please add detail to this issue (ideally using a checklist in the issue description above). Thanks.