I was at the Farmers Market yesterday and at one of the booth’s (okay it was a distillery) they had a newsletter sign-up form. They were good and I decided to sign up. As I glanced at the page I knew that half these people would never see the email since they had such chicken scratch for handwriting (as we often do these days…)

I asked the vendor if they use MailChimp for their newsletter system, and he wasn’t sure. I mentioned there’s a sweet app that you would save them time on their end. He said after an event they send the list to someone to decipher and upload it.

Here’s the deal – if you want people to sign up for your newsletter list, make it easy for them AND you. The majority of people are comfortable typing their name and email address into a tablet these days (and are they your target market if they can’t?). Make it easy on yourself, look like a technologically savvy business and save time and bounces by having newsletter sign ups handle themselves.

When I’m at an event and have a marketing table where I’m collecting email addresses, I often do a business card drawing. That way the email is legible. If you’re at an event where you have a marketing booth, make it easy on yourself in the long run! Do a drawing or have a download/something for signing up. Is your tablet going to get stolen? No. And if it does, that’s what your business insurance is for right?