A newsletter form is the one-field form, and the only decisions left are the ones around the field: what the consent line says, whether a confirmation email is sent before the address is added, and where on the page the form sits. Get those right and the form is nine seconds and a tap; get them wrong and the list is full of addresses that never asked and a sender reputation that pays for it. This page builds the newsletter form for a small business site, keeps the consent in plain words, explains what the confirmation step buys, and reads the form against the free contact form design sheet so the sign-ups a month are worked from the page's own visitors.
The field, the line and the button
One field, the email, with the name optional if you will use it in the greeting and absent if you will not. Under it one line: what the newsletter is, how often it comes, and that they can unsubscribe with one click in any issue. The button says the thing they get, not subscribe. At nine seconds a field the form is nine seconds on the contact form design sheet, or eighteen with the name, and the finish rate of a one-field form is the highest of any form on the site, which is why it belongs on every page and not only on one.
The confirmation email, and why it is worth a lost sign-up
A confirmation email asks the address to click once before it is added. It costs a share of sign-ups, and it buys a list where every address is real and asked for, which is what the sending rules linked below and every mail provider's reputation system reward. The form's confirmation page says the email is on its way and to check the junk folder. In Shortcodo Pro each sign-up is an entry with a status from pending to confirmed to unsubscribed, so the list that is mailed is a filter and the unconfirmed ones can be reminded once.
Sign-ups a month, from the page
On a page with 1,200 visitors a month, 5% starting the form and 60% finishing, the sheet prints 36 sign-ups; a one-field form finishes far better than 60%, and the start rate is the figure the placement changes. Put the form at the end of the page's content and in the footer, and read the start rate the month after. The form's shortcode is kept with its entries so the same form goes on every page, and the consent line is kept with it, which is the record of what each address agreed to.
Questions people ask about newsletter form
Should the newsletter form ask for a name?
Only if the greeting will use it. Every field on a one-field form halves the reason it was one field.
Is a pre-ticked consent box acceptable?
The sign-up is the consent; a separate box is needed only where the same form does something else. The line under the field says what they are agreeing to, and the sending rules linked below say what every issue must carry.
What must each newsletter carry?
A way to unsubscribe that works with one click and a real postal address for the sender, per the guidance linked below. The form's job is to make sure everyone on the list asked.