I had a similar conversation with colleague Ben Stone a few weeks ago as I was doing some email marketing research. He recommended a local market / restaurant as a good example of email marketing...

I had not subscribed to them but recently started shopping there so I was interested in getting some inside information. After clicking around to find their opt-in form (first mistake) I came upon a similar, although not nearly as expansive, form that required my physical address.

This is not something I am willing to give out to just anyone (I HATE getting direct mail - HATE it) - so I left as there was no option to just sign up for their email newsletter.

How many people leave your opt-in forms or sales funnel because you require too much from them? (hint: you can track that in web analytics)

So what's the point? Only require as much information you need to capture the lead. In 99.99% of the cases that is 2 fields: Name & Email Address...

If you *need* the other information - ask it in follow up emails as a way to add value to the user...

Example: If the market discussed above had just taken my email address and then sent me an email a week later saying, "Hey we are having a 20% off beer sale next week... If you would like a coupon please send us your address so we can send it to you"

What do you think? Let us know in the comments