One of my mother’s favorite expressions was “Common sense isn’t so common.” My experience signing up for an e-newsletter from Chinese Moods is a case in point.

Chinese Moods is an online seller of Chinese apparel, home goods, and gifts. Although based in Shanghai, it displays its pricing in US dollars, and the website is in English only. The site itself, though hardly luxe, is sophisticated enough to include such niceties as the ability to shop by price range and to sort products by newness and by price, a frequent-buyer program, live chat, customer ratings and reviews, and a handy product comparison feature. So surely Chinese Moods must be sophisticated enough to have an e-newsletter as well… right?

At first glance, the answer would be “no.” I found no sign of an e-mail sign-up on the home page, no mention of an e-newsletter amid the FAQs. Which seemed to be a real lost opportunity. It’s safe to say that a sizable portion of the visitors to this website are Sinophiles who would love to receive reminders of upcoming Chinese festivals, traditional recipes, and fun facts along with updates about products and promotions.

Then I noticed in the right-hand column a link to “Bonuses” nestled between “Returns” and “Message Service.” Clicking it brought me to a page with the headline “WARNING!” I was being warned that to take advantage of any bonuses, I would need to log in or register. Okay, I was game. Another click took me to a very lengthy form that required me to fill in my name, shipping address, phone number, e-mail, user name, password, and names of all my childhood pets (okay, not that last one) before I was asked if I wished to receive the newsletter, and if so, to select which edition I wanted. Sadly there was only one option, New Arrivals.

I filled everything out, pressed “submit”—and then was returned to the same form, which warned that Chinese Moods could not deliver to P.O. boxes. My address wasn’t a P.O. box, so after double-checking my typing, I submitted the form once again. And was returned to the same form once again. I gave a different mailing address, hit “submit,” and again was returned to the form. At which point I said to myself, “Well, at least I got a blog post out of this misadventure.”

Except that in the meantime, Chinese Moods had sent me an e-mail confirming that I’d opted in.

Okay, how would a bit of common sense on the part of Chinese Moods have helped?

1) The e-newsletter sign-up would have been readily apparent. Here’s where I have to make a wee confession: After I’d returned to the site to begin writing this missive, I did notice on the home page, on the right-hand column but below the fold, a box labelled “Message” and instructions to enter my e-mail address to subscribe. But the fact that I couldn’t find said box while assiduously searching for it earlier does suggest that the sign-up should have been given more prominence (and perhaps that I need new glasses).

2) The benefits of the newsletter would have been played up. If you want someone to do something—whether it’s make a purchase, read an article, or subscribe to an e-newsletter—you have to let them know what’s in it for them. Something as simple as “Don’t miss any sales or promotions—subscribe today” would help.

3) The registration form wouldn’t have been so nosy. Why does Chinese Moods need to my mailing address if I haven’t yet made a purchase? Why does it need to know my phone number, especially as I hate receiving phone calls? The more irrelevant (to the prospect, not the company) information you ask for, the more likely the prospect is to say, Never mind, and abandon not just the form but the site as well.

4) The site would have let me known that I’d successfully registered. People won’t assume everything worked, because all too often it doesn’t. So once a form has been successfully submitted, take users to a page that says as much.

Luckily for Chinese Moods, I am a stubborn old so-and-so and was determined to finish what I’d started. Unluckily for Chinese Moods, I was aggravated enough to write a blog post about the experience.