Comparison
Signedup or a spreadsheet
Most internal lists live in a spreadsheet, and for good reasons. Here is what that costs you, and when it is still the right answer.
The problem is not the spreadsheet
Almost every internal list starts in a spreadsheet, and that is a reasonable place to start. It is free, it is already installed, everybody can read one, and you can have the first version of a list finished before a procurement conversation would have been booked.
The difficulty appears later, and it is structural rather than a matter of discipline. A spreadsheet has an owner. Only the owner can change it. But the person who knows that somebody has moved from the Leeds site to Manchester is the person who moved, and they have no way to tell the file. So the correction has to travel: they mention it to somebody, or they do not, and four months later they are still receiving the Leeds newsletter, or more likely they stopped reading it altogether and nobody knows.
Multiply that by every team move, secondment, name change, leaver and returner in a year and the file is not slightly wrong, it is systematically wrong in one direction: it over-represents the people who have not changed and loses the ones who have.
Side by side
Where the spreadsheet wins, it says so.
| A spreadsheet | Signedup | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Nothing. You already have it. | From £29 a month |
| Time to a working list | Minutes | About four minutes |
| Who can correct a record | Only whoever owns the file | The person the record describes |
| How a correction reaches you | Somebody tells you, or nobody does | They change it themselves; you see it at once |
| Evidence somebody opted in | None that would satisfy a reviewer | Recorded against the form version they saw |
| Handling an unsubscribe | Delete a row and hope it stays deleted | Recorded, permanent, and self-service |
| Someone asks what you hold about them | You search the file by hand | They export it themselves |
| Reaching people who are rarely at a desk | Not possible from a file | A printable poster with a code to scan |
| If the owner leaves | The file goes with their account, often | The list belongs to the organisation |
| Works offline, on a train, with no account | Yes | No |
| Arbitrary analysis, pivot tables, charts | Yes, and better than anything else | No. Export to a spreadsheet for that |
A spreadsheet compared with Signedup
Cost
- A spreadsheet
- Nothing. You already have it.
- Signedup
- From £29 a month
Time to a working list
- A spreadsheet
- Minutes
- Signedup
- About four minutes
Who can correct a record
- A spreadsheet
- Only whoever owns the file
- Signedup
- The person the record describes
How a correction reaches you
- A spreadsheet
- Somebody tells you, or nobody does
- Signedup
- They change it themselves; you see it at once
Evidence somebody opted in
- A spreadsheet
- None that would satisfy a reviewer
- Signedup
- Recorded against the form version they saw
Handling an unsubscribe
- A spreadsheet
- Delete a row and hope it stays deleted
- Signedup
- Recorded, permanent, and self-service
Someone asks what you hold about them
- A spreadsheet
- You search the file by hand
- Signedup
- They export it themselves
Reaching people who are rarely at a desk
- A spreadsheet
- Not possible from a file
- Signedup
- A printable poster with a code to scan
If the owner leaves
- A spreadsheet
- The file goes with their account, often
- Signedup
- The list belongs to the organisation
Works offline, on a train, with no account
- A spreadsheet
- Yes
- Signedup
- No
Arbitrary analysis, pivot tables, charts
- A spreadsheet
- Yes, and better than anything else
- Signedup
- No. Export to a spreadsheet for that
What actually changes day to day
The practical difference is where the work sits. With a spreadsheet, every correction is your work: somebody tells you, you find the row, you edit it, you remember to do the same in the other three lists that person is on. With a preference centre the correction is their work, it happens once, and it happens in the place the answer is actually stored.
The second difference is what you can show. If somebody asks why they are receiving something, a spreadsheet can tell you that their address is in a file. It cannot tell you when they agreed, what they were asked at the time, or what the form said when they said yes. That distinction matters the first time somebody complains, and it is not something you can add retrospectively.
The third is reach. A spreadsheet can only hold people who have an email address you already know. A large part of most workforces has neither, which is why every list here comes with a printable poster carrying a code that takes somebody straight to the form.
Questions people ask
Can I import the spreadsheet I already have?
Yes. You map your columns to the questions on your form and import, and the importer will refuse addresses that have previously bounced or unsubscribed so a known-bad address cannot be reintroduced. Imported people are marked as imported rather than confirmed, so you can see at a glance which part of your list has actually agreed to be there.
Can I still export to a spreadsheet?
Yes, at any time and at no charge. Signedup holds the list and keeps it accurate; anything you want to analyse, chart or pivot is better done in a spreadsheet, so the export exists for exactly that. There is no window in which your data is held hostage.
Is this not just a form with a database behind it?
In part, yes. The difference is what happens after the form is submitted: every message you send carries a link back to that person's own record, so the form is not a one-off collection but a permanent way for them to correct what you hold. That is the whole idea, and it is the part a form builder does not do.
What if only a handful of people are on my list?
Then a spreadsheet is probably the right answer and you should keep using it. This is worth paying for when the list is large enough, or changes often enough, that chasing corrections has become a recurring part of your job.
Does it send the newsletter as well?
No, and that is deliberate. You keep sending from whatever you use today. Signedup holds the list, keeps it correct, and gives you the current version whenever you need it.
Other comparisons
Signedup or an Outlook or Microsoft 365 distribution list
Accurate about employment, silent on preference.
Signedup or Mailchimp or another marketing email tool
Sending tools solve the other half. How the two work together.
Signedup or an intranet form
Already approved and already paid for. Why the list still goes stale.
Signedup or a full internal comms platform
When a full platform is right, and when it is more than the job requires.
Try it against your own list
30 days, no card, and an export button from the first day so you are never stuck.