I would suspect that users are responding to your headline message "Get 5 tip emails on how to use Skritter" with concern that your product has a steep learning

I would suspect that users are responding to your headline message "Get 5 tip emails on how to use Skritter" with concern that your product has a steep learning curve - I have to read 5 whole emails to figure out how to use the product? Yug. The difference between a good headline for opt-in vs. a bad headline will account for decreases like you experienced, but a good one can actually increase your conversion rate. Trying something less offensive, or even pushing in an active voice would be a better fit: [X] Get free tips and bonuses from the Skritter newsletter. or [X] YES - I'd like the most recent news & updates on Skritter delivered to my inbox. The following article about some of the resorts we drove is not perfectly relevant, but it demonstrates how the addition of a checkbox bumped results up by 11%: http://conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2010/07/11-conversion-rate-increase-with-a-%E2%80%9Ccommitment-checkbox%E2%80%9D/ http://conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2010/07/11-conversion-rate-...