How To Use Forms in Your Newsletter

You know what they say, communication is a two-way street. And when it comes to marketing, it's all about picking up on those unspoken cues.

That's why digital marketing reigns supreme, and email marketing is the star player. Newsletters are like secret weapons against tricky algorithms, allowing you to connect directly with your audience. But here's the kicker: if you want to take it up a notch, you gotta go for that two-way communication. And that's where embedding forms in your newsletters comes into play.

Want to know how to do it (and why it's worth the effort)? Well, you’re in luck. Today's blog is your ultimate guide to rocking those embedded forms and making sure they hit the bullseye. Let's dive in and give your newsletters that extra oomph they deserve!

Can I Embed an HTML Form in an Email?

Yes, you can embed an HTML form in an email. But there are two things to keep in mind before you embed an HTML form in your newsletter:

• Not all platforms support HTML forms, so you must test your email before sending it out at scale. For example, Gmail doesn’t support all functions when it comes to HTML. The form has to be responsive to be valuable.
  

• Many of your subscribers might have security features that may prevent HTML forms from working correctly. For example, some people block images by default on emails, which could prevent the form from even loading.

Once you are sure about these two factors, you can go ahead with embedding your form. Here are the steps you can follow to embed an HTML form in your email:

1. Create a new campaign in your email marketing platform.

2. Drag and drop the HTML form into your email.

3. Customize the form as needed.

4. Test your email to ensure the form works correctly.

Can You Embed a Survey in an Email?

Yes, you can embed a survey in an email in the same way you would embed an HTML form. One thing to consider is that surveys tend to be longer and more complex than forms, so you need to be mindful of your email design.

Email Survey Quick Tips

If you’re ready to get to work creating your survey, keep the following in mind to maximize your results.

• Purpose: While preparing your survey, you should be clear about its purpose. The purpose or goal of your survey will guide the type of questions you ask. It should be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. So it is important to keep it simple and also avoid leading questions that could result in biased data.

• Tone: use a tone that makes it clear why their participation is important and how their feedback will be used, a clear and compelling call to action will encourage your subscribers to take the survey–and make sure it's easy to find within the email!

• Personalization: Personalization can go a long way toward encouraging subscribers to take the survey. Use their name and personalize the email copy to make it feel more relevant and valuable to them.

• Responsive Design: The majority of people check their emails on their mobiles, so it's crucial to ensure that the survey is mobile-friendly and responsive across different devices. This means that the survey should be optimized for viewing on small screens, with large, easy-to-click buttons and clear text.

• Keep it Simple: You may have a lot of questions, but completing the survey shouldn’t feel like a chore to your audience. Limit the number of questions to around five to ten, as this will increase the chances of subscribers completing the survey.
  

Here are some questions that you can include:

• How often would you like to receive our newsletter?

• What topics do you love more and would like to see more of in our newsletter?

• Do you like the user-generated content in the bi-weekly edition?

• How likely are you to recommend our newsletters to a friend or colleague?

• Is it easy to navigate through the newsletter?

How Do You Send an HTML Form in the Body of an Email?

Even if your email marketing platform does not support HTML forms, you can still go for it–but embedding HTML code directly into an email can have more limitations than just facing support issues. The email might also get flagged as spam if it contains too much HTML code.

This might seem fine for a one-time email, but it is not going to be effective and doable in the long term. Instead, look for an email marketing platform like beehiiv that has an inbuilt feature to add forms to your email.

When you copy the code for your form, make sure it has all the elements you want–form fields, the submit button, etc. Before sending it out, it would be best to test the newsletter with different email clients, as well as across devices, to ensure it is well-displayed and functional. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Create your HTML form using a web forms builder like JotForm or Wufoo.

2. Copy the HTML code for your form.

3. Open a new email in your email client and select "HTML" as the email format.

4. Paste the HTML code into the body of the email.

How Do You Create a Form on Your Newsletter Platform?

If you are looking for an easier, more effective solution to embed a form in your newsletter, beehiiv is an all-in-one platform where you can create, collect, and use data from forms without needing to embed them from other websites. With beehiiv, you can build your forms directly on the platform and embed them simply drag and drop. It is a huge time saver and will streamline your work process.

Once you've built your forms, you can track the responses and quickly gain insights into your readers’ preferences and opinions on your content, which can help you create more engaging and personalized content in the future.

If you don’t want to ask a lot of questions, you can also use polls and comments in your newsletter, which will give you a wider choice to engage with your audience.

All of these features and much more are included in the beehiiv grow plan, and we can’t wait to have you on board!

Sign up today for free, and start creating.

Until next time!