Almost any online marketer will agree that email is one of the most effective marketing channels.
Neil Patel, one of the world’s highest regarded online marketers, said “Out of all the channels I tested as a marketer, email continually outperforms most of them.”
And Corey Dilley, the Marketing Manager at Unbounce, said, “Unbounce’s email list is the biggest asset we have for driving new acquisitions.”
There is no doubt in the marketing world that building an email list is critical to your business’s success, but how do you actually go about collecting email addresses on your website? Below, I’ve listed 5 of the best email opt-in plugins and services for WordPress that are both easy to use and highly effective.
1. Optinmonster
Optinmonster comes from the team behind WPBeginner.com and offers a ton of customization options.
When creating your opt-in forms, you have a few options to choose from. You can build a pop-up opt-in form, a footer bar that floats as the user scrolls, a form that slides in from the bottom right corner of the page, a sidebar widget, and an after post widget.
Once you’ve selected the type of opt-in form you want, you can customize the text and design using a WYSIWYG editor—no coding skills required.
You have a few targeting options for your optin form as well. For instance, you can have the form appear on specific pages or posts. You can also A/B test your forms to see which generate higher conversion rates.
One of Optinmonster’s most powerful features is its Exit Intent technology. It detects when a user is about to leave your website and will cause the popup to appear just before they would leave. This is perfect for those who find popups too invasive, but still want one last chance to convert a visitor into an email subscriber.
Optinmonster starts at $49 per year for one website and limited features. To get all the features available, pricing starts at $199 per year and gives you unlimited website installations.
2. Elegant Themes Bloom
Bloom is a relatively new opt-in plugin from the Elegant Themes team.
Like Optinmonster, Bloom gives you the option of an automatic popup or sidebar widget for your optin form. It also has a slide-in similar to Optinmonster’s, but Bloom lets you select what corner of the screen the slide-in should appear from.
In addition, Bloom can automatically insert your opt-in form within your page and post content—either above the content or below it. You even have the ability to manually add your opt-in form within the content using a shortcode.
Lastly, you can create an opt-in form that restricts access to content. Visitors will only be able to access the page they are on if they enter their email address.
Bloom comes with over 100 templates which can be customized, as well as a number of trigger settings for the popup. You can purchase Bloom, along with all of Elegant Theme’s plugins and themes, for just $89 per year.
3. Optin Forms
While many opt-in plugins are premium plugins, Optin Forms is completely free.
It does not have as many opt-in form types and options that some of the other plugins offer, however, you can still create effective, beautiful forms.
Optin Forms provides you with a few templates to choose from, which you can customize to match the style of your site. You can then add the opt-in form within your content. You can have the plugin automatically add the optin form to pages or posts, or manually add it using a shortcode. If you choose to do it automatically, you can select to have the opt-in form appear after the first paragraph, after the second paragraph, or at the end of the content.
4. Hellobar
Hellobar is famous for its colored bar that runs across the top of websites with a specific call to action. The call to action can be an email subscribe form, a social follow button, or a social sharing button.
In addition to the bar at the top of the page, Hellobar also offers a popup, a slide-in form, and an opt-in that takes over the entire web page.
Like some of the premium plugins, you can A/B test your opt-in forms from within Hellobar’s interface.
There is a free version of Hellobar available; it includes the Hellobar logo and displays ads for Hellobar to 1 out of 10 of your visitors, however it is limited to 10 bars.
You can opt for the $12 per month upgrade, which removes the logo and ads, and allows you to create unlimited bars. However, if you go over 250,000 visitors, you’ll be charged $5 per 25,000 additional visitors.
5. SumoMe
SumoMe is a suite of tools created by the team behind AppSumo. Opt-in tools called List Builder and Scroll Box are included in this suite.
List Builder is a simple popup that appears when a user shows intent of leaving your site (similar to Optinmonster’s exit intent technology). The opt-in forms are rather simple, but it’s simplicity makes them incredibly effective. You do have some customization options, such as background color, button color, text color, and fonts.
Scroll Box is an opt-in form that slides in once a visitors scrolls down a specified percentage of the page.
SumoMe’s basic offerings are free, but there are upgrades available. For instance, for $5 per month, you can hide the SumoMe badge that will appear on your site in the free version. You can also upgrade to the pro version of List Builder or Scroll Box for $20 per month each. You can learn more about upgrades and pricing on the Upgrades Page at SumoMe.
What tools do you use for opt-ins
I’ve only listed 5 of the plugins and services, but I’m sure there are others out there that are just as good, and new ones are popping up all the time.
If you’ve used a specific plugin or service for email opt-ins that was effective, please let me know about it in the comments below.
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