Your email marketing ROI starts long before you ever send out and track an email marketing campaign. It starts with someone saying “yes” to being on your in-house email list. Because without a list, you don’t have anyone to market to!

Wouldn’t it be great if potential customers just surfed the Web, looking for email newsletters and campaigns to subscribe to? You could just sit back, put your feet up on the desk, and watch your in-house email list grow and grow and grow.
But we live and work in the real world. That means people aren’t sitting around online signing up for emails from you. In fact, the opposite is true: They’re probably ignoring your requests. You don’t have to be an email solutions provider like to know that people are extremely reluctant to give you that precious piece of personal information.

Growing your in-house email list can (and should) be a multi-faceted effort. But at its core, it is probably an option on your Web site, an option that has to work really, really hard. And that makes the wording on your Web site critical.

And what’s in a word? Everything. Keep in mind that different words have different connotations, and choose the word that will both most accurately reflect what you’re offering in exchange for that email address, and will most likely appeal to that Web site visitor. Consider the following possible words and their implications:

• If you ask someone to subscribe, that sounds journalistic, and implies they’ll get an email newsletter or something else wordy and content-oriented.
• If you ask someone to sign up, it begs the question, sign up for what? Are they signing up for specials? News? Spam? Be clear on that.
• If you ask someone to join, that might sound exclusive like you’re letting them into a community or club, but on the other hand, it might set the expectations high and you might not deliver.
• If you ask someone to register, that sounds like a real commitment, like registering for an event. On the other hand, it can have more perceived value.