Facebook tool allows email collection from Pages

The new tool allows brands to incorporate an email sign-up tool on Facebook Pages using Virtue Tabs. Email registration is opt-in and confirmation emails are dispatched after a Facebook sign-up is received.

"Adding a MailChimp module lets a brand's Facebook fans quickly connect to an email list, allowing conversations to continue outside of Facebook," said MailChimp in a recent announcement.

A recent survey by SilverPop found that, despite brands' email subscribers significantly outnumbering their Facebook Likes by about 70-to-1, just 10% of brand Pages provide a way for Fans to opt-in to receive email.

Their findings suggest little urgency among marketers to add an opt-in email mechanism to their Facebook Pages. Just 38% intend to do so and 22% have no plans at all.

Whether email collection is done via an embedded form or a link to an external webpage appears to make little difference.

After 14,000 clicks and 5,700 email sign-ups a test by digital agency Blue State Digital revealed that the conversion rates for both options were almost identical - 38.5% for the external link and 38.4% for the Facebook Page embedded form.

"With over 98% statistical significance, we concluded that there is virtually no difference in conversion rates between an email signup form embedded on a website and one embedded on a Facebook Page," said Evan Moody, online advertising associate at Blue State Digital.

Tags: email management, email tools, multi-channel, social marketing, social network