The short version
Most new stores need only the signup their theme already has: every Shopify Online Store 2.0 theme and the Horizon family has a newsletter section (called Email signup in Horizon) you can add to any page or a form in the footer; add the free Shopify Forms app for a popup, a signup discount or a consent checkbox, and use your email app's own form if you already send from one such as Klaviyo.
Addresses that your theme's form or Shopify Forms signs up for email marketing land in the Email subscribers segment on the Customers page.
In Shopify Forms, choose how each form records consent, and turn on double opt-in in Settings > Notifications if subscribers should confirm by email.
Shopify Messaging can then send a welcome email on the Basic plan or higher, but not to subscribers while your store is on a free trial or the Pause and Build plan.
You can start collecting email addresses on Shopify in three ways: the signup form your theme already has, a free Shopify Forms popup or inline form, or the form of an email marketing app. The second half of the job is making sure a subscriber can actually be emailed, which depends on where the address lands, how consent was recorded and which plan you are on.
This guide covers the newsletter signup only. A Contact us form is a different job, and Shopify Forms itself offers a setting that keeps such a form from subscribing anyone to marketing.
Which Signup Option Do You Need?
Key takeaway
Find your row below. Most new stores need only the first one; the other two add a popup, an incentive or a list kept in another tool.
Three ways to add a newsletter signup
| Route | Where it shows | What it needs | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your theme's signup: a footer form or a newsletter section | The footer, or a section on any page you add it to | Nothing to install: every Online Store 2.0 theme and the Horizon family has one or the other | You want an email box on the page and nothing more |
| Shopify Forms | A popup, a floating popup or an inline form | The free Forms app and its theme app embed; inline forms also need a compatible theme | You want a popup, a signup discount or a consent checkbox |
| An email marketing app's form, such as Klaviyo | Popup, flyout and full page forms from Klaviyo's builder, or an embedded form | The app; an embedded Klaviyo form goes in through its app block and a form ID | You already send from that app, or your theme has neither a footer form nor a newsletter section |
Shopify Help Center pages on newsletter signups and Shopify Forms, and Klaviyo's help on adding signup forms, read November 5, 2026.
Addresses from the first two routes stay in your Shopify admin. The next sections take each route in turn, then cover consent, where subscribers appear and the welcome email.
Add the Signup Form Your Theme Already Has
Key takeaway
Shopify's help is direct about it: all Online Store 2.0 themes and the Horizon family either have a newsletter signup section that you can add to any page of your store, or the option to add a newsletter signup form in the footer. Both are edited in the theme editor.
Turn on the footer signup form
Shopify's newsletter signup help page gives steps for the section, not for the footer form. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes and click Edit theme. In the theme editor, select the footer and find the email signup in it, then edit its text and click Save.
As of November 5, 2026, in an unpublished copy of Horizon, the footer held an Email signup block, and that block's panel noted that signups add customer profiles.
- Online Store
- Themes
- Edit theme
- Footer
Shopify's help adds that some themes let you add a newsletter signup as a content block in another section.
Add a Newsletter section to any page
Shopify's steps for a desktop browser:
- From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
- Find the theme you want to edit, and then click Edit theme.
- Choose the page template where the signup should appear, such as the home page.
- Click + Add section, and then select Newsletter.
- Click a block to change it.
- Click Save.
In Horizon, search for "email" at step 4. As of November 5, 2026, a search for "email" in its Add section list found this section as Email signup, under Forms.
- Online Store
- Themes
- Edit theme
- Add section
Shopify's help says a newsletter section has three blocks included by default: a header, a paragraph and the email form.
- Online Store
- Themes
- Edit theme
- Email signup
Shopify's help also covers the same steps in the Shopify app on a phone. If you can't find a Newsletter section, the help points you to your theme's documentation; if your theme has neither a section nor a footer form, its answer is an email marketing app from the Shopify App Store.
Add a Popup or Inline Form With Shopify Forms
Key takeaway
The Shopify Forms app doesn't come installed with any Shopify plan, but it's free to install and use. It creates two kinds of form, popup or inline, and you can have up to 25 forms per store. Multi-step forms and conditional logic aren't supported; whether that is enough for your store is the subject of our comparison of Shopify Forms and paid form apps.
Shopify's own short overview shows what the app does: branding, page targeting, timed triggers, discounts and analytics.
Set up the form: app embed, type and activation
Key takeaway
- Install Shopify Forms from the Shopify App Store.
- From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes, click Edit theme, and open App embeds.
- Activate the Forms toggle, and then click Save.
- Online Store
- Themes
- Edit theme
- App embeds
As of November 5, 2026, the Forms row in Horizon's App embeds showed its toggle off right after the app was added, so this step is not done for you.
The embed is required for both kinds of form. Inline forms also need a compatible theme, so if one doesn't appear after you turn on the embed, check whether your theme supports inline forms.
- In Forms, create a new form and choose popup or inline. For a floating popup, select Floating and pick a position on your store from the drop-down menu.
- Set the form up, including its marketing consent setting, save it, and then activate it.
- Apps
- Forms
- Create form
As of November 5, 2026, the Create form dialog offered Popup form and Inline form with a form name, and the choice between Floating and Overlay sat in the popup editor's Popup display settings.
After you create a form, its status is Inactive by default, and forms display on your store only once they've been activated. A form that looks finished in the app can therefore still be invisible to visitors.
Set the consent mode and decide on double opt-in, both covered below, before you turn the form on: customers who subscribed before you turn on double opt-in aren't required to confirm.
As of November 5, 2026, the editor of a new form showed a Turn on form button; Shopify's help calls it Turn form on.
- Apps
- Forms
- Edit form
Choose when the popup appears
Key takeaway
The popup settings decide when a visitor meets the form. For example, a popup set to the second page view after a delay waits until the visitor has opened one page and moved to another.
Popup display settings in Shopify Forms
| Setting | What it does | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Page view | Shows the form on the first, second or third page view | Popup forms only |
| Timing | Shows it immediately or after a delay | Applies to the page view you picked |
| Exit intent | Shows the form when a visitor moves the cursor toward the address bar | A checkbox marked Desktop only; it relies on cursor movement |
| Pages | Shows the form on all pages or only on specific page types | Narrow it if the popup should stay off some pages |
Shopify Help Center, popup form settings, read November 5, 2026.
- Apps
- Forms
- Edit form
As of November 5, 2026, the editor set the delay as a number of seconds to wait, with 0 meaning immediately. Shopify's help also lists a Devices setting: all devices, only desktop devices or only mobile devices.
A dismissed popup stays dismissed. Shopify says that if a visitor closes it, it won't display again unless they clear their cache and cookies or use incognito mode. That includes you, so open an incognito window for every test.
Offer a discount for signing up
Key takeaway
You can add a new or existing discount to a form to encourage signups for email, SMS or WhatsApp marketing. The code shows on the form's success step, after the customer completes the form.
- Apps
- Forms
- Edit form
As of November 5, 2026, the setting sat in the form's Success step, below Confirmation behavior, as Discount (optional).
To also email subscribers a discount, Shopify Messaging has two welcome templates that include a discount: Welcome new subscribers with a discount email and Welcome new subscribers with a discount series. The welcome email section below covers them.
When to Use Klaviyo or Another App's Form
Key takeaway
Klaviyo's help says popup, flyout and full page forms don't require pasting any code and can be published from its form builder. For an embedded form on Shopify, you add the Klaviyo Embedded Form app block to your page template and paste the form ID; our Klaviyo guide covers designing those forms.
You don't have to replace the theme's form. If you keep a signup form provided by Shopify, Klaviyo asks you to check that the integration syncs subscribers to the Klaviyo list you want. The app is listed as Klaviyo: Email Marketing & SMS on the Shopify App Store.
One interaction with Shopify settings matters for any subscription app. If you turn on double opt-in and use a subscription app, Shopify says you need to update the double opt-in settings in the app; if the app has no double opt-in option, everyone who signs up through it is marked as a subscriber on the Customers page.
Get Consent Right Before the First Email
Key takeaway
A signup form collects an address; consent is what lets you use it for marketing. Shopify's help puts the rule plainly:
For legal and privacy reasons, make sure that you send promotional content only to customers who have agreed to receive marketing from your online store, including transactions placed in the Shop app and shop.com.
Pick how the form records consent
Key takeaway
Every Forms form has a marketing consent setting with three options. For an email signup, the email field is required. Your theme's signup form isn't set up here: addresses it submits are stored in the Email subscribers segment, and the store-wide choice that applies to it is double opt-in, below.
The three consent settings in Shopify Forms
| Consent setting | What happens | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| On form submission | Signs the customer up for marketing implicitly once they submit the form | A form whose only job is the signup, if the consent rules below allow it |
| On form submission if a box is checked | Adds a marketing consent checkbox that the customer has to select to receive marketing | A form that also collects other details, or where you want an explicit tick |
| Don't subscribe customers to marketing | Submissions don't sign anyone up for marketing | Contact us and lead generation forms, the examples Shopify's help gives |
Shopify Help Center, settings for all forms, read November 5, 2026.
- Apps
- Forms
- Edit form
As of November 5, 2026, a new form opened with Email marketing consent set to On form submission and the consent disclaimer already filled with standard text, so read both before you turn the form on.
The same settings include an optional disclaimer about how you use customer data. Shopify's example is to explain that by submitting their email address, customers agree to receive marketing emails.
Turn on double opt-in
Key takeaway
Double opt-in requires customers to click a link in an email to confirm that they want to receive email and SMS marketing from you. The confirmation email is sent automatically when someone enters their email address and subscribes in your online store.
- From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications.
- Click Customer notifications.
- In the Marketing double opt-in section, select Customer marketing confirmation.
- Settings
- Notifications
- Customer notifications
- Marketing double opt-in
Four conditions come with it:
- You need the Online Store sales channel installed to activate double opt-in.
- It is not retroactive: customers who subscribed before you turn it on aren't required to confirm.
- For legal reasons, the confirmation email should not contain any marketing.
- Update the newsletter form's confirmation message so people know to check their email for a follow-up.
What consent rules ask of a signup form
Key takeaway
Shopify's help says that in some countries double opt-in is required by law, and that in general it's a best practice for acquiring more engaged subscribers. It names one country. If your store is located in Germany, an additional Require customers to confirm their subscription checkbox appears in the email marketing section of the Notifications settings, and customers who get confirmation messages must respond to them to be included in your marketing.
For other markets, the rules come from the law where your subscribers are. Two of them, with what each asks:
What two consent regimes ask
| Rule | Where it applies | What it asks |
|---|---|---|
| CAN-SPAM: a way to opt out | United States, commercial email | Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way for people to tell you they want out |
| CAN-SPAM: opt-out deadline | United States, commercial email | Honor an opt-out request within 10 business days |
| CAN-SPAM: postal address | United States, commercial email | Include your valid physical postal address in the message |
| GDPR Article 4(11): what consent is | European Union | A freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication, by a statement or a clear affirmative action |
| GDPR Article 7(3): withdrawing it | European Union | Withdrawing consent must be as easy as giving it |
Sources: the FTC's CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for business and Regulation (EU) 2016/679, read November 5, 2026. A summary, not legal advice.
For EU signups, the obvious question is whether a box that is already ticked counts as consent. Our FAQ on Shopify's checkout checkbox answers it for checkout, and the GDPR's recitals answer it in one line:
Silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity should not therefore constitute consent.
This page summarizes what Shopify and those two texts say; it is not legal advice. Shopify itself notes that its automated email marketing consent settings aren't a substitute for legal advice, so check your own case with a lawyer where the stakes are high.
Where Do New Subscribers Show Up?
Key takeaway
Email addresses submitted through your store's newsletter signup are stored in the Email subscribers customer segment on the Customers page. Click that default segment to list only the customers who agree to receive promotional email, or build your own segment for specific types of customers who accept email marketing.
Shopify Forms adds its own layer. Submission data is stored in your admin, a customer profile is created for new customers, and existing customers are matched to their profile. You can create a customer segment for each form, add tags to customers who complete a form, and turn on an email notification for every submission in the Forms settings.
People leave the list in four ways, and three of them are up to the subscriber:
How someone leaves your subscriber list
| How someone leaves the list | Who does it |
|---|---|
| Clicks Unsubscribe in an email | The subscriber |
| Marks an email as spam | The subscriber |
| Opts out of email marketing from their account | The subscriber |
| Deselects the Customer agreed to receive marketing emails checkbox in the customer's marketing settings | You |
Shopify Help Center, subscriber list management, read November 5, 2026.
What you can't do is fill the list another way: buying a list of email addresses and adding them to your subscriber list is prohibited by the Shopify Terms of Service.
Check a test signup
Key takeaway
- Open your store in an incognito window, so a popup you dismissed earlier shows again.
- Sign up with an address that no customer profile has. Shopify says an existing customer's email and phone number aren't modified when they submit a form, and marketing consent might not be updated either. If double opt-in is on, open the test inbox and click the confirmation link, because double opt-in asks every new subscriber for that click.
- In your admin, go to Customers and click the Email subscribers segment.
- Customers
- Segments
- Email subscribers
As of November 5, 2026, the segment sat under Customers > Segments and was described as customers whose email subscription status is set to 'SUBSCRIBED'.
- Open the customer and look at the Marketing section, which displays the customer's marketing preferences.
- Customers
- Customer details
- Marketing subscriptions
As of November 5, 2026, the customer page labeled this section Marketing subscriptions.
Send the Welcome Email
Key takeaway
Shopify Messaging, formerly known as Shopify Email, is Shopify's own tool for sending to the list. All merchants on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus plans can use it, and stores on these plans have 10,000 free emails to send at the beginning of every month.
A free trial is the catch for a brand-new store. You can't send messages to your subscribers on a Pause and Build or free trial plan, so you can send campaigns to subscribers only once your store is on an active, paid plan with a payment provider set up.
Automations send messages when customers take specific actions, signing up for your newsletter among them. By default, they go only to customers subscribed to marketing on the automation's channel, so the consent decisions above decide who gets the welcome.
The Welcome new subscribers templates send a marketing message to customers when they subscribe by using a form on your online store. The group has two templates, a discount email and a discount series. Our FAQ on Shopify Messaging automations lists the other templates.
- Apps
- Messaging
- Automations
Shopify's requirements page says your store must be on the Basic plan or higher to create automations, and warns that if you activate two welcome email automations, your customers receive twice as many emails. Create the welcome automation on a desktop device: the same page says creating any automation other than an abandonment one, or editing an automation, needs a desktop device. For a one-off welcome after a burst of signups, Shopify's help suggests a customer segment of new subscribers.
Translation, SMS and the Thank-You Page
Key takeaway
Auto-translation for forms is supported on stores where the primary language is English; on other stores, translations are manual. Where those translations are made is covered in our guide to Translate & Adapt's limits.
A Forms discount can reward a signup for SMS or WhatsApp marketing as well as email. Texting those subscribers through Shopify Messaging needs a sender set up first, which our SMS setup guide walks through.
For customers who just bought, Shopify's route is the email and SMS marketing opt-in at checkout. Whether the thank-you page itself can collect a signup is a separate question, answered in our thank-you page signup FAQ.
Signup Problems and How to Fix Them
Key takeaway
Find the symptom you see, then work across the row.
Newsletter signup symptoms, causes and fixes
| Symptom | Documented cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The popup never appears | The Forms theme app embed is off, or the form is still Inactive, its status after you create it | Turn on the Forms toggle under App embeds and save, then activate the form |
| An inline form doesn't appear | Inline forms need a compatible theme as well as the app embed | Check the embed first, then whether your theme supports inline forms |
| The popup showed once and never again while you test | A dismissed popup doesn't display again until the visitor clears cache and cookies or uses incognito mode | Test in an incognito window |
| An existing customer signed up, but their profile didn't change | Forms doesn't modify an existing customer's email or phone number, and marketing consent might not be updated either | Open their customer page and check the Marketing section |
| New signups are not getting your emails yet | With double opt-in on, a subscriber has to click the link in the confirmation email first; for a store located in Germany whose marketing setup requires confirmation messages, customers must respond to them to be included in marketing | Say in the form's success message that people should check their inbox |
| Signups look like bots | hCaptcha is on by default and can display on newsletter signup forms; it isn't compatible with third-party CAPTCHA apps or custom code | Keep hCaptcha and don't add a second CAPTCHA |
| The welcome email doesn't go out | Stores on a free trial or the Pause and Build plan can't send messages to subscribers, and automations need Basic or higher | Move to the Basic plan or higher before your first send |
Shopify Help Center pages on Shopify Forms, customer contact information, Messaging requirements and automations, and online store preferences, read November 5, 2026.
On bots, Shopify's spam protection help says hCaptcha is enabled by default on all Shopify stores and lists newsletter signup forms among the places it can display. hCaptcha isn't compatible with custom code or third-party apps that add CAPTCHA. Shopify's Messaging help also recommends activating hCaptcha to keep bots from subscribing through your forms; keeping the list healthy beyond that is the subject of our email deliverability guide.
Newsletter Signup Launch Checklist
Key takeaway
Steps one to three depend on the route you picked at the top of this page. Steps four to seven apply when addresses land in your Shopify admin, as they do with your theme's form and Shopify Forms, and step five is the one that proves the rest works. For a third-party app's form, double opt-in and the welcome email are configured in that app.
Launch your Shopify newsletter signup, step by stepTick each step as you finish it; your ticks stay in this browser.
Launch your Shopify newsletter signup, step by step
Tick each step as you finish it; your ticks stay in this browser.
Choose your theme's signup form, a Shopify Forms popup or inline form, or the form of the email app you already use.
Add the theme's section or footer form and save, or install Forms and turn on its app embed.
In Shopify Forms, choose how each form records marketing consent and, if the form shows a disclaimer, check that it explains how you use the data.
Turn on Customer marketing confirmation in Settings > Notifications if subscribers should confirm by email, then update the form's success message. Customers who subscribed before you turn it on aren't required to confirm.
For Forms, turn on the form first, then sign up with a new address in an incognito window and find it in the Email subscribers segment and on the customer's page.
Activate one Welcome new subscribers automation in Shopify Messaging, on the Basic plan or higher.
Leave Shopify's hCaptcha on and don't add a third-party CAPTCHA, which isn't compatible with it.
The Bottom Line
Key takeaway
The form takes minutes; what decides whether the list is worth anything is the consent behind each address and the first email it receives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Front-end developer specializing in Shopify since 2017. Experienced in building custom Liquid themes, optimizing storefront performance, and integrating third-party apps. Directs the editorial process behind Ecom Store Pro: sets its topics and the rules every AI-written page must pass before publication.
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