Measure email opt-in conversion rate

You want to improve the likelihood of hooking a website visitor with an opt-in email subscription. Once you've set the hook, the elusive visitor or hesitant shopper becomes a prospect you can warm up over time, someone you can speak to via email offers. This pleasant thought ought be grounded in the cold hard reality that comes with measuring  your email opt-in conversion rates.

A System Update released yesterday includes small but important details to help you track whether that site visitor submitted your email opt-in forms. Use this information to configure your web analytics software, which for most of you is Google Analytics. (E-business Coach can help you do this upon request.). Here's what you need to know:

1. Did a site visitor click through the form submission of the Quick Sign-up form, embedded within your website's universal navigation bar?

If yes, they will have this URL parameter passed to the next page or URL:
http://www.yourdomain.com/profile/edit/name@address.com?source=quick_subscribe

2. Did a site visitor come to the Publications opt-in form at http://www.yourdomain.com/profile/signup, formerly known as the Mailing List Sign-up page at http://www.yourdomain.com/mailing-list-signup.php and subscribe?

If yes, AND if you have no follow-up demographic questions to ask of the site visitor, then the click-thru URL will look like this:
http://www.yourdomain.com/?source=publications_subscribe

Else, then you do have follow-up demographic questions to present to the visitor...

3. Did the site visitor submit the Publications sign-up form at http://www.urchin.co.uk/profile/signup, and then encounter your demographic questions form (because you created Public Demographics in the Admin Area for just this purpose)?

If yes, then he or she will see the series of questions you created when you established these Public Demographics fields to be displayed now.

If the site visitor continues through the web form, submitting answers to the Demographic questions, then the click-thru URL will look like:
http://www.yourdomain.com/?source=demographics_subscribe

Use these URL's and parameter strings to configure funnels and goals (assuming Google Analytics) that measure how likely are your site visitors to make it through the email opt-in process. Then you can measure conversion rates and see where you need to improve.