Can content creators and business owners do without a separate page? Technically, yes, since sign-up forms and pop-ups on your main website get new subscribers just fine. However, a separate newsletter landing page has its benefits. It allows you to do more — like:
We figured out how a newsletter landing page contributes to your subscriber growth and benefits your business. But what makes a good landing page? Let’s take a deep dive!
The headline is the first thing you see when you visit a newsletter landing page, so it’s your chance to make or break the first impression. While it’s not the only variable that affects conversions, it’s still important. Think of it as an elevator pitch — a headline is a chance to briefly describe your newsletter’s content and why it’s worth subscribing to. If it is, visitors will at least scroll further to learn more.
Here’s one of the best examples from The Bagel. The headline briefly and beautifully conveys the newsletter’s value. Why subscribe? To be better than your friends. A bit manipulative, you might say, but it works.
If you ask us, we’d say that writing a killer copy is more important than fancy designs — images are simply not specific enough to fully convey the coolness of your newsletter. However, suitable visuals, along with a great copy, can increase your conversions to subscribers drastically.
Images on your landing page can illustrate the copy and become a part of your visual narrative, give a spoiler for the newsletter content, or even just express your brand’s personality — you can use visual content for either of those purposes. Here’s an example of the latter. Milk Road, the popular newsletter about cryptocurrency, has a milk carton mascot. It’s drawn in a style resembling Rick and Morty and [adult swim] cartoons in general, which is clearly a part of Millennial marketing.
![Milk Road newsletter landing page with an illustration of an anthropomorphic milk carton wearing a blue jacket, the drawing style of the illustration reminds the viewer of comic books and cartoons from [adult swim], which is a part of the stereotypical “Millennial culture”](https://selzy.com/en/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2.png)
By visuals, we don’t just mean illustrations — for example, you can play around with fonts and text layout. Check out this example from Enough Creativity. White stripes with text feel like a newspaper collage or a bunch of Google search inquiry screenshots, and the chaotic layout represents what being overwhelmed and burnt out feels like.
As we mentioned before, you can get away with simpler designs if you write a good copy. That includes your newsletter’s description. It should be informative enough so people know what to wait for but intriguing enough to spark curiosity in a reader.
Here’s a pretty neat example from People and Blogs.
Congrats, you did it! You caught the visitors’ attention with a catchy headline and great visuals and made them stay with an enticing description. They scroll your newsletter landing page down to subscribe… And that’s where you still have a chance to drop your conversions to zero.
Here’s what you definitely shouldn’t do with your newsletter opt-in form:
Most opt-in forms on landing pages look like this — the design is quite simple, and they don’t ask you for your mother’s maiden name or other too-personal information.
Many people think the social proof is a bunch of positive reviews published on a landing page like this:
You’re not wrong if something like this is your first association. But it’s not the only way to show that your newsletter is legit and worth reading. Take a look at this newsletter landing page:
First things first, visitors will look at this number and think “65,289 people can’t be wrong, so this newsletter must be good!”. Secondly, the word “like-minded” creates the image of a community, and people like being a part of something bigger than themselves. So, if you have a decent followership but don’t feel like asking everyone for reviews, simply mentioning the number is social proof on its own.
Now that you know both mandatory and optional elements of a decent newsletter landing page, let’s figure out how to build one that will bring you hundreds of new subscribers.
Similarly to no-code email builders, tools for landing pages allow you to build beautiful web pages by dragging and dropping headers and buttons — in no time! Even better, many tools have pre-made landing page templates that are already responsive, so you don’t have to do mobile optimization manually.
There are tons of amazing tools on the market, and a lot of them have seamless integrations with bulk email software. For example, Selzy integrates natively with Wix, WordPress, and Squarespace.
Let’s say, your emails go beyond the “Grab your discount” type of messages. Aside from these, you also create long-form, content-heavy emails that include interviews with experts in your industry, case studies, and so on — it’s basically a magazine in the email format! In this case, using separate branding for all things related to your newsletter is a good idea since your emails are a standalone thing.
If you develop a separate design for your newsletter landing page, you’ll be able to:
However, you can use your main branding as a starting point. For example, that’s what we did with FWD: by Selzy. One of Selzy’s main brand colors is purple, so we used purple in the landing page and email design, just a different shade.
The main goal of your newsletter landing page is to convert visitors into subscribers, and that’s it. Don’t try to sell anything in addition to your newsletter or add extra CTAs — too many messages will get your visitors confused and overwhelmed by your requests.
Another thing to remember in this regard is that every element of your landing page should work on that specific goal: from catchy headlines to reviews and credentials. So, before you even start creating the landing page content, think of what’s so special about your newsletter that will get people to subscribe — and don’t be afraid to show it!
Some people hesitate to subscribe even when you offer them a lead magnet — what if your newsletter is not as good as you promised? To combat that hesitation, add the archive section to your landing page.
It doesn’t have to be large and fancy. For example, the FWD: by Selzy landing page only includes simple links to the web versions of the three latest issues. Large enough for a taster!
The no-brainer solution for a newsletter landing page CTA button copy would be “Subscribe” or something synonymous. While such CTAs are perfectly acceptable, making yours a bit more interesting and specific can lead to better results and more conversions.
One strategy you can use is to link your opt-in form CTA to getting a certain value out of a subscription instead of subscribing alone. In the case of the Design Hacks newsletter, the value is getting design hacks, hence the CTA.
Another strategy is to link your CTA to getting a value out of the lead magnet. Here’s what we did with the FWD: by Selzy landing page CTA. The lead magnet is a list of 21 expert-reviewed tips to grow your list, so the call-to-action invites subscribers to get the tips in question.
Before you start working on a newsletter landing page with a bunch of sections from social proof to past issues, ask yourself first: Do I need all these bells and whistles?
While all this extra content is good to have (we wouldn’t mention it otherwise), most newsletter landing pages you’ll find online are simple squeeze pages that only have a headline, an optional illustration of some kind, a brief description, and a sign-up form. Truly, that’s all you need for a newsletter landing page to function!
Here’s a great example from The Publish Press — yep, that’s the whole page.
We wish we had a foolproof recipe for a perfect newsletter landing page. However, like many things in life and marketing, it all boils down to testing, testing, testing. On your landing page, you can test anything from headlines to CTA copies, and all sorts of designs and templates.
Testing landing pages is a bit trickier than A/B testing emails. Some landing page tools have an in-built testing feature — for example, Leadpages. Others will require you to use third-party software for that. AB Tasty, Optimizely, Contentsquare, and other apps with similar functionality will help a lot!
Let’s say, you decided that your newsletter needs a landing page for promotion. While you’re thinking of the content, it’s time to find a landing page builder that will make your dreams come true.
Here’s what you should consider while choosing:
Can’t choose a landing page builder? Check out Selzy’s selection of the best landing page builders, all set and ready to boost your conversions.
