Facebook adds email signup & Page Like call-to-action buttons to Instant Articles

Facebook’s fast-loading, proprietary Instant Articles are a way for publishers to get readers within the social network. But given that those readers don’t have to leave Facebook to check out a story, those readers remain Facebook’s. Now, Facebook is adding tools for publishers to have a better shot at converting Facebook’s audience into their own.

Next week, Facebook will officially roll out call-to-action buttons to all Instant Articles publishers that can be used to get people to sign up for the publisher’s email newsletter or like its Facebook Page, the company announced on Friday.

Instant Articles publishers can include call-to-action buttons for people to sign up for their email newsletters (left) or like their Facebook Page (right).

Facebook began testing the in-article email sign-up form more than a year ago, and more than 100 publishers have been testing these buttons since the start of 2017, according to the company. Slate and The Huffington Post were among the publishers that have tested the email sign-up buttons. Slate claimed the buttons drove 41 percent of its newsletter’s new sign-ups in the past two months, and The Huffington Post claimed the buttons generated 29 percent of its newsletter’s sign-ups in the past three months, according to a Facebook blog post announcing the call-to-action buttons.

At the same time Facebook is turning two tests into official features, it is also testing two new call-to-action buttons, one to install a publisher’s mobile app and the other to sign up for a free trial to the publisher’s digital subscription.