As email superfans, we’re happy to admit that we’ve opted into more than our fair share of emails — and we’re always delighted to bump into a great sign-up page along the way.

So much thought and money goes into acquisition campaigns: social media ads and contests, discounts, website pop-ups, referral campaigns, the works. It’s a major win when all that jazz drives to a great sign-up page that clinches the deal, or even better, upsells a potential reader into opting in for more emails.

Not surprisingly, our team spends a lot of time deconstructing admirable sign-up pages, and one of our faves belongs to the Washington Post, which had us all opting in on emails we never knew we needed.

Here’s why it works so well.

1. It’s organized. WAPO has a ton of emails, but they’re clearly organized in an attractive thumbnail grid that’s easy to navigate. A user can scroll through all the sections vertically, and browse specific topics horizontally.
   
2. It’s engaging and persuasive. Each of the emails gets a short, digestible blurb that breaks down the content. We like the problem-solving, empowering bent of the descriptions, e.g., catch up quickly, approach life with curiosity, or never ask what’s for dinner again.
   
3. It tells you what you’re getting into. The blurbs tell you how often the email will land in your inbox and offer a preview link. Hit the link, and you can see exactly how it will look on your phone and scroll through a sample or two. No surprises!
   
4. It makes it super easy to sign-up. You can tick a sign-up button on the landing page, and it won’t navigate to another page. Instead, a pop-up appears on the bottom of the screen for you to enter your email address. This allows you to keep scrolling and select more WAPO emails — it even gives you a running tally!
   
   Bonus: If you return to the page, you can easily see what you signed up for and opt out of the emails you no longer want.
   
   
5. It only asks for your email address. Instead of pushing for more demographic info, a cell phone number, etc., WAPO only asks for your email address. That’s perfect for this stage of their relationship with you. Later, when they’ve built trust and you potentially have more time, they can hit you up for more information. (Want more thoughts on data collection? Meaghan Peters, our director of campaign strategy, has some for you — in fact, she has a video about it!)
   

A thoughtful, well-organized sign-up page provides a great customer journey — and, ultimately, that’s good business. If your audience knows exactly what you’re offering and they sign up for it, they’re going to be that much more likely to open it when it shows up in their inbox. They’re going to trust you to send them something useful and interesting. And that makes deliverability, retention, and conversion so much easier.

Want more insight on acquisition? Drop us a line at hello@wdgt.co.