A Simple Fix To Grow Your Email List

Are you loosing your email subscribers right after they are signing up? If yes then you might be making a similar mistake that I encountered recently. Here is what happened to me:
I submitted my info on coolinfographics.com to download a free chapter of the book. After I filled the form, I got a message that I will get an email with a link to the download.  I eagerly waited for the email to arrive. As soon as I got the email, I opened it and quickly clicked on a very prominent and long link. I was expecting to see a page where I will either be able to download the chapter or my download will automatically start. Instead I got the following message:

What???? What just happened?
Turns out that the long prominent link in this email was not the link to download the sample chapter, instead it was an Unsubscribe link.  So I accidentally unsubscribed from the mailing list I subscribed only few minutes ago.  I am sure, I am not the only one who has done that. I wonder how many subscribers is this site is losing due the design of this email?

Here are two mistakes in this email

1. The unsubscribe link is bigger and more prominent than the actual download link (main Call to Action).  My eyes directly went to the long link and without even thinking twice, I clicked on it.
2. Transactional Emails do not require you to have an unsubscribe link (See http://www.spamresource.com/2009/12/is-unsubscribe-link-required.html). Since this is a transactional email so you don’t need give an option to unsubscribe.  You can argue that it is a best practice to provide an Unsubscribe link. Sure if you want to provide an option then make it a small in font and length.

Fixing the problem:

Simple solution is to remove the attention from Unsubscribe link and make the main Call to Action (Link to Download) stand out, see below for a revised version:

  

What do you think? Questions? Comments?

BTW: If you are interested in data visualization then go ahead and check the sample chapter or buy the Cool Infographics: Effective Communication with Data Visualization and Design at Amazon.