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Question: I know I should be asking for my customers' email addresses when they are either in my stores or at my Web site but should I ask for it before, during or after the sale? I don't want to scare them away from buying if they don't really want to hand it over.
Answer: A rule of thumb for both online and in-world: Never wait until you have closed the cash-register drawer before asking your customers if they would like to sign up for your newsletter or email offers.
In a brick-and-mortar store, ask for the address just as you are about to complete the sale, just after you have totaled the purchase and while you are either counting change, bagging the merchandise or processing the credit card. Take advantage of those few seconds of dead air present in every sales transaction to explain briefly why the customer should sign up for your program. If you wait until after you finish the sale, you will most likely lose the opportunity to obtain an email address since the customer has no compelling reason to stay once the sales transaction is finished.
For online purchases, you should have a subscription blank or link to your preference or registration page on every page of your site, and certainly on the transaction page, confirmation page, confirmation email and any follow-up emails you send. Be sure to draw the customer's attention by stating subscriber benefits – "Sign up to receive email-only offers and product news" – instead of a dull "click here for our newsletter" slogan.
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