In a 30-day series, I’m reverse-engineering the signup pages of top newsletters. At the end of this series, you will have a better understanding of the dos and don’ts of your signup page.
Who are we learning from?
If you have even the slightest interest in marketing or business, you must have heard about Morning Brew.
It’s one of the earliest newsletters before newsletters were even cool. I mean it has become a verb (people refer to their newsletters as “morning brew style newsletters”).
It’s a pioneer and a giant in so many ways; and that’s exactly WHY YOU SHOULD NOT CREATE A SIGNUP PAGE LIKE MORNING BREW.
Breakdown in 200 words
Let me be honest. Morning Brew’s signup page is not that great.
If you give it to any average copywriter, they’d point out thousands of flaws and how you can optimise the page for conversions.
Irrespective of what strategies you come up with technically, you’d never beat the power of perception.
Think of how you discovered Morning Brew organically.
You saw the founders on the podcast. Your friends or colleagues talked about it. Your boss reads it daily. Or someone in your network posted. A creator recommended, etc.
So you already landed on Morning Brew’s page with a perception that is good.
Now that you’re on the signup page, here is why it works:
It is read by 4M+. You immediately know it’s huge. Social proof + validation.
“Hint of wit and humour” tells you it’s insightful but not hard to read/learn
“Start your day informed …and ready to go” perfectly suits a 9 am newsletter, and shows you will have some new knowledge to share with the world after you read today’s brew
But… this will not work for you.
The signup page lacks an incentive, testimonials, an attention-grabbing image, etc.
Morning Brew's perception is so strong that it doesn’t need much convincing.
But nobody knows you, and nobody cares.
At every step of the signup page, you should convince visitors that it’s worth giving their email address.
The takeaway?
Don’t follow popular newsletters blindly. They have put in the hard yards, and now reap the benefits of their distribution and branding.
You’re not there yet. Give more details, reasons, and benefits to your visitors.