Add an Email List Sign Up Form to Your Website

Sign up forms enable you to collect emails directly from your website and grow your list.

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Written by NamasteLight
Updated over a week ago

With our NEW NamasteLight platform, you can choose to use the traditional "Signup Embed Form" on to your website or install a "Lightbox Pop-up Form" which includes advanced time delay and customization options.

You can create as many signup forms as you'd like and sort alphabetically by name by clicking on the little arrow at the top of the "Signup name" list.

How to set up your Signup Form

1. From the main Audience page, choose Forms on the left.

2. Create a new signup or click the name of the signup form that you'd like to edit.

3. On the next screen, click Edit in the top-right.

4. Click the "Your image here" box to upload your logo.

5. Edit the message to add a custom welcome note.

6. Decide which fields of information to collect by deselecting hide beside any you want to be visible. Mark a field required to make filling it out mandatory.

7. Set the order of display for your fields by adjusting the numbers to the left of the fields.

8. Decide which groups you want new subscribers to be added to by clicking on the add or remove groups button to the right of your audience fields.

9. Click Save in the top-right corner of the form. You can also adjust the signup name in the About this signup section at the top.

10. From the main Audience page, select Add this to your site from the options menu to the right of the signup form's name. You'll see the block of code that lets you link to your signup form from any page of your website.

Once your signup form is created, it will automatically appear any time someone clicks the signup link at the bottom of your mailings. 

Helpful tips

Make sure that you point your signup form to an audience group! This ensures that your contacts aren't floating in limbo with no group association. Want to know how to let your subscribers choose which mailings they want to receive? There are two easy steps:

1. Create your audience groups (if you haven't already), and

2. Set those groups to "display" on your signup form

Give your contacts the option of what type of information they want to receive from you by editing your signup form’s language and adding groups so they can manage their own preferences. (The "manage your preferences" link in each mailing’s footer is actually a signup form. You select which signup form is used when sending the mailing or it’s just the basic default created in your account.)

To give your contacts those options, you’ll want to add groups for them to choose from, using group names that are clear as to what they are receiving, like Top Pet of the Week and Monthly Veterinary Tips. You can create new groups or rename groups you’ve already created. That way, whatever group the contact checks, he or she will then be a part of it. You can also automatically have them added to a group that isn’t displayed.

How to edit your thank-you message

When new folks sign up for your mailing list, they will be taken to a "Thank you" page after they submit their information. This is editable in the signup section.

1. Click on the name of the form you want to edit.

2. Click on the Thank you tab.

3. From there, edit the message to say whatever you like.

If you'd rather, enter a URL to direct subscribers to after they submit their information.

4. Click Save in the top-right (where you clicked to edit).

How to edit your confirmation message

After signing up, members will be sent a text-based "Confirm it" email that confirms the details of their subscription. This is editable in the signup section.

1. Click on the name of the form you want to edit.

2. Click on the Confirm it tab. 

3. From there, edit the message to say whatever you like.

4. Click Save in the top-right (where you clicked to edit).

Helpful tip

Want to welcome new contacts with a prettier HTML mailing? Click here to learn about creating an automated email to send when someone signs up for your list. If you set up a welcome email, you may decide that the "Confirm it" email is redundant. You can turn off the confirmation email by clicking the "Confirm it" tab and then unchecking the "Send confirmation?" box.

How to add Google Analytics to your form

1. Click on the name of the form you want to edit.

2. Click on the Track it tab. 

3. From there, add your Google Analytics ID.

4. Click Save in the top-right (where you clicked to edit).

How to edit your manage preferences message

After managing preferences or updating their information, contacts will be sent a text-based manage preferences update email that confirms the new preferences they have selected. This is editable in the signup section.

1. Click on the name of the form you want to edit.

2. Click on the Manage preferences email tab. 

3. From there, edit the message to say whatever you like.

4. Click Save in the top-right (where you clicked to edit).

How to publish your signup form to your website

There are a few ways to publish your signup form to your website, and which one you use is up to you.

Access signup forms by scrolling to the bottom of your Audience page. Click Add this to your site from the options menu to the right of the signup form's name. 

Or, click the name of the signup form to open it, and then click the Publish this signup form button.

A modal will pop up with all of the publishing options.

Once your signup form is embedded, any changes you make will publish live to the form on your website, no need to re-embed and publish the form.

Here's a list of them:

Link to it -Just copy the link and insert it into the HTML code of your site, and you're ready to go. This is also great for embedding in your email signature.

Use a pop-up - Insert this code into your website and visitors will get a pop-up window containing your signup form when they click a link.

Use an iframe - Embed the signup form directly on your website.

Use a JavaScript object - Build your signup form directly into your website and customize it completely using CSS. You can display the default styles in your choice of widths or use CSS to customize the styles to control the look of many form elements, including font, borders, buttons and more. There are two ways to do that:   

Option 1: Insert a style block into the code between the link tag and the script tag, and reference the styles you want to control. This is perfect if you just want to edit a handful of styles. In this example, the bolded text shows what the user is choosing to style:    

<link href="{sample}" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"><style type='text/css'>.e2ma_signup_form_label { color:red; }</style><script language="JavaScript" src="{sample}"></script><script language="Javascript">signupFormObj.drawForm();</script>

Use the signup ID - Add this ID to your custom form to send targeted welcome messages and automatic trigger emails to members based on the signup form they used to join your audience.  If you're a web designer or developer who would like to send automated welcome messages to new subscribers who join via a form or integration that you've created, you can include the signup ID in the parameters of the POST /#account_id/members/add call. You may see an opportunity to add a signup ID to your integration during the setup process of other web-based services, like CRMs, shopping carts and publishing software. This will ensure that new contacts that are gathered via this integration are sent the same welcome message as they would if they joined by signing up using a signup form you created in your account.  If you use this signup ID in an integration, we'll disable the default plaintext confirmation email. That way, you can set up your own trigger mailing and customize the experience for new subscribers.

Helpful tips

Be sure to consider all of the possible places where you can link your signup form. Drop that link in your email signature, on your blog or your business card.

Interested in putting your signup form on your Facebook page? Grab the how-to here.

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