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It’s almost game day. But before the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens suit up for Super Bowl victory, we wanted to see who would win in a head-to-head email matchup.
It’s the 49ers’ newsletter sign up process against the Ravens’. We’ll score them on how easy it is to find their sign up form, how simple their form is, what their thank you page looks like, what their welcome email says and how consistent their branding is.
Let the games begin!
First Quarter: Finding The Sign Up Form
firstquarter
49ers
Yards Gained: The link for their newsletter is clearly named.
Fumbles: Their email sign up is hidden as a menu option in the site’s header. The 49ers don’t have a web form or any mention of a newsletter visible on their main page.
Ravens
Yards Gained: The sign up form is on their main homepage at the bottom; much easier to find.
Fumbles: It’s better to place a sign up form higher up on the page where visitors are more likely to see it.
Touchdown: Ravens
Second Quarter: How Easy Is Signing Up?
secondquarter
49ers
Yards Gained: This form gets a lot of things right – it clearly explains what you’re signing up for, offers options for different newsletters and looks like they may even send personalized news based on your favorite player.
Fumbles: The form asks for a lot of information – first and last names, birthdate, etc. – that people might not be comfortable sharing. There’s no indication which fields are required and which ones are optional.
Ravens
Yards Gained: None
Fumbles: The Ravens’ sign up form looked so simple. But clicking “Subscribe Now” loads a new form that requires an account set up to start getting newsletters. Since when did I need a password to get a newsletter?
Touchdown:49ers
Third Quarter: Thank You Page
thirdquarter
49ers
Yards Gained: None. This is a lazy thank you page. A winning thank you page says what just happened (“You signed up for our newsletter!”) and what you can expect next (“Check your email for a confirmation link,” or “Look for your first email next week!”). This page does neither.
Fumbles: This page just lists the information you just entered. And I “updated my preferences?” But I just signed up!
Ravens
Yards Gained: This is a helpful, informative thank you page. It says that you’re signed up and what to expect next (“You will receive a confirmation email shortly.”). They even include extra contact information.
Fumbles: A missed branding opportunity by not filling in their “Client Name” at the top of the page.
Touchdown: Ravens
Fourth Quarter: Welcome Email
fourthquarter
49ers
Yards Gained: This is a helpful welcome email, complete with “articles you may have missed” and detailed instructions for how to unsubscribe. But it’s an automatically generated email from WordPress.com. So the 49ers don’t gain any yards on this one.
Fumbles: The 49ers could have used their own, branded welcome email. Instead they rely on WordPress.com’s solution, which uses all of WordPress’s branding except for the tiny 49ers helmet icon in the top right corner.
Ravens
Yards Gained: The Ravens use a default welcome email here, too. And it’s less helpful than the 49ers welcome email sent from WordPress. No yards gained here, either.
Fumbles: We’ll cover their most obvious mistake in the next section. (Hint: it has to do with branding.)
This quarter is scoreless
Overtime: Email Branding
overtime
49ers
Yards Gained: While the 49ers emails are covered with WordPress.com’s branding, they do at least include their own small logo at the top.
Fumbles: The 49ers use their blog name instead of their team name in the from line, which could confuse people.
Ravens
Yards Gained: They use their team name in the from line, which is the only team branding the email contains.
Fumbles: They overlooked a key spot for branding their default email – filling in their [Team Name]. Nothing says “You’re a valued fan!” like “Thank you, [Team Name].”
Touchdown: 49ers (just barely)
Side-by-Side Recap
So how do the teams’ signups compare? Let’s look at each category side-by-side:
Category 49ers Ravens Winner Form Placement Hidden in a menu; not on the main page. On the main page at the bottom. Ravens Form Simplicity Asks for a lot of info; unclear what’s required and what’s not. Redirects to another form that requires registration and a lot of required information. 49ers Thank You Page Doesn’t explain what happened or what’s going to happen next. Clearly explains what to expect and includes additional contact info. Ravens Welcome Emails Confusing “from” name and default emails from WordPress.com, although the information provided is helpful. Clear “from” name, but doesn’t communicate helpful information. WordPress.com Email Branding A small icon inside a WordPress branded email. Forgot to include their actual team name inside Ticketmaster’s default email. 49ers
It’s A Tie?
Thanks to an interception from WordPress’s default emails, we’ve got a tie and we need you to break it!
Comment below on which team you think should win the Email Signup Superbowl. We’ll announce the winner on Facebook on Monday, February 4th, so make sure you like AWeber’s page so you can see the final results!
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