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Using Microsoft Forms for Subscription Lists

We do produce an occasional newsletter, but this subscription page also demonstrates how you can use Microsoft Forms to collect contact details for your email newsletter subscribers. 

Many companies use an autoresponder like Aweber, GetResponse or MailChimp. These will all provide code for subscription forms to embed on your website. Others will use more sophisticated CRM or Marketing Automation tools like Hubspot, Infusionsoft or Zoho Campaigns. These tools offer many features to manage and nurture your prospects on the journey to (hopefully) becoming a paying customer.

So why consider Microsoft Forms? 

If you already have a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, you have access to Forms and can quickly create fill in forms for subscriptions, surveys, questionnaires and the like. Microsoft can host these for you, you can embed them on your website or send links by email, so there is a great deal of flexibility in how you collect subscriber information.

Combined with Microsoft Flow, you can also trigger confirmation or welcome emails, double opt-ins and email sequencing. These can all be handled within your Office 365 subscription without incurring any additional costs for third party products.

Another important consideration is privacy. 

You are responsible for ensuring the security and appropriate use of personal data that you hold and process. If you already have a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, you will have Microsoft recorded as a Data Processor and you will have implemented appropriate security measures on your Office 365 tenancy to ensure that your systems and data are secure.

If you use an additional third party to maintain and process subscriber details, that increases the risk of a data breach and means you have another data processor to manage. Microsoft is transparent about how it stores and processes data and they provide many tools and features to assist you with compliance with data privacy regulations in whatever jurisdiction you are located. Can other third party suppliers provide the same infrastructure, security and assurances?

We like to work with as few data processors as possible – it reduces risk and it reduces administration. That means less time spent on admin and more time for productive work. We like that – a lot!

If you want to find out more about how you can use Microsoft Forms, Flow, SharePoint and Exchange to manage email lists, get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.