An email list consists of the email addresses of users who have voluntarily signed up on your website to receive email updates in a newsletter or special announcement format. This can be a vital tool for blogs and small business’ as it allows you to stay in touch with your existing and potential customers on a regular basis. Building an email list is a good idea for many reasons.

Email lists can give you a guaranteed reach. When using social media it’s a possibility that your status updates and posts can be missed. However, people tend to check their emails on a regular basis. Email lists also provide better targeting.  If you are launching a product in select locations, then email is the best way to reach your subscribers in that location. Ultimately when you have guaranteed reach, better targeting, and attention of your users, then you are definitely going to increase revenue.

So the question is, how do you integrate email subscriptions forms into your WordPress site?

How to get started building your email list 

The first thing that you need is a reliable email service provider. These companies specialize in email delivery, and you need them to ensure that your email reaches the inbox of all your subscribers (instead of having your email marked as spam).

There are tons of great email marketing providers out there including Constant Contact and Aweber.

Constant Contact is the best email marketing service provider for all size of businesses and websites. It lets you send emails, manage subscribers, track emails, view analytics, set up autoresponders, create beautiful email templates, target subscribers, and split test your campaigns.

Aweber is one of the most popular email service providers among bloggers and internet marketers. It lets you send emails, manage subscribers, and offer great tracking.

Once you have signed up for an email service provider, the next step is to integrate email subscription forms throughout your WordPress site. To effectively increase subscribers it’s key that you find the perfect spot on your site where subscription forms work the best.

Lightbox Popups

Lightbox popups are by far the highest converting signup forms you can place on your website. OptinMonster is a great WordPress lead-generation plugin that allows you to create WordPress lightbox popups. The best part about OptinMonster is the exit-intent technology. This feature tracks user’s mouse behaviour and only show them the popup at the precise moment they are about to leave. This has proven to be less intrusive and offers the best conversion.

You can also use OptinMonster to do A/B testing of your forms, show different forms on specific categories or pages, and much more.

Floating Footer Bar

A Floating footer bar is what you see at the bottom of every page on WPBeginner. It’s a bar that scrolls with the user as they scroll. You can easily add email signup forms to the floating bar to maximize the opt-in rate.

Footer bars convert a little bit less than popups, but they are still one of the better converting email signup forms on your site.

Slide-ins or Slide-ups

Slide-ins are forms that slide from the bottom right corner of your screen with an email signup offer. Unlike static sidebar forms, these get user’s attention and are considered to be less annoying than popups.

There are tons of plugins that allow you to create a slide-in form. The three that we recommend are OptinMonster, Qualaroo, and Drip. Qualaroo and Drip come with monthly subscription plans, while OptinMonster comes with an annual fee.

Summing Up

Once you have started building your email list, it’s crucial that you engage with your subscribers. You should make a habit of sending them regular updates, whether it’s weekly or monthly. Not every email has to be promotional. You can send emails requesting feedback, giving helpful tips, etc. We hope this guide has made the task of building up a subscriber base easier and be sure to keep an eye on the blog for further WordPress tutorials and guides!