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This is a guest post by Syed Balkhi.
Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners.
After you’ve started your blog and you’re finally getting a steady flow of traffic to your site, what’s next?
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “the money is in the list” – that’s because it’s true. Building an email list is essential if you want to take your blog to the next level.
Not only will you be able to directly message your subscribers any time you have something to say, like to announce a new blog post or introduce a new product for instance, but your email subscribers are more likely to be product buyers. The people on your email list will be your most engaged blog readers, as well as the most loyal customers.
But how do you build an email list from scratch?
Check out this list of seven WordPress plugins to boost email subscribers.
WordPress plugins to boost email subscribers
Here you’ll find our recommendations for the best WordPress plugins to boost your email subscribers. Included in this list are free and premium options that have a ton of great reviews from satisfied users.
Growing your email list doesn’t have to be difficult, these plugins are all user-friendly and you don’t have to know a thing about code.
Let’s jump in.
1. OptinMonster
Plugin Description
Did you know that over 70 percent of visitors who abandon your website will never return? If you want to capture emails and increase your conversions, you need to use OptinMonster to convert your website traffic.
This popular lead generation tool is a must-have and will give your email list an instant boost. You can design your own popup from scratch or use one of the many awesome templates available to create slide-in, sidebar, inline and welcome mat popups. But one of the most effective popups you can create is an exit-intent popup, this popup uses technology to track when a user is about to leave your site and send them a targeted message at exactly the right moment. Exit-intent popups will allow you to convert a ton of abandoning visitors, who you previously would have lost forever, into loyal subscribers. You can read our complete OptinMonster review to see dozens of behind-the-scenes screenshots.
2. Omnisend
Plugin Description
Are you ready to go further than email marketing? Omnisend is an omnichannel marketing automation platform built with e-commerce in mind. More than just email, this plugin offers automation of SMS, Facebook Messenger, push notifications, WhatsApp, Viber, and more. Where this platform stands apart from others is the ability to add these channels into the same automation workflow, creating a seamless customer experience.
Deep integration with WooCommerce and WordPress means that this plugin tracks your customer behavior and allows you to target your campaigns at each step of the customer journey. Their smart segmentation allows you to layer your segments and precisely target the right message to the right person on the right channel.
With Omnisend’s long list of sophisticated features, you’ll be able to replace many of the smaller plugins you’re probably already using. Design your own popups, landing pages, and omnichannel campaigns with an easy drag and drop visual composer. Easy-to-use, and competitively priced, Omnisend is for those ready to graduate from basic email marketing to omnichannel.
3. MailOptin
Plugin Description
MailOptin is a list building and email automation plugin. What sets it apart is the highly customizable forms and the fact that it’s entirely integrated in WordPress.
With MailOptin, you can create email optin forms and display them anywhere on your site. This includes lightbox popups, sidebar forms, slide-in optins, and more. Every aspect of the forms you make in MailOptin is customizable from the colors and images to the headlines and button text.
One of the coolest features to help you boost your email subscribers is the built-in split-testing. You can A/B test any aspect of your forms. This is an awesome way to make sure your optin rate is consistently increasing. With constant split-testing, your email list will grow faster and faster leading to real results for your bottom line.
4. Leadpages
Plugin Description
If your goal is to boost your email subscribers, then you need a separate landing page dedicated to making it happen. Landing pages that only showcase one call-to-action are super effective because there’s nothing else on the page to distract the user, making them more likely to take your desired action.
Leadpages is a great tool to easily create stunning and high-converting landing pages for your website. They offer over 70 templates as well as the option to use their drag and drop builder to create a fully-customized landing page to promote your email list or lead magnet. With a landing page, you’ll be able to direct users straight to your email list opt-in or to your courses or webinars.
5. WPForms
Plugin Description
If users aren’t able to contact you on your website, you’re missing out on a ton of opportunities to connect with your target audience and convert them into subscribers.
WPForms is one of the most user-friendly contact form builders available, and it’s offered in both free and premium versions. We also recommend WPForms in our list of the most practical WordPress plugins. WPForms allows you to create a customized contact form in minutes with their drag and drop builder and it has the ability to integrate your forms with email marketing services such as MailChimp and Campaign Monitor.
This plugin also offers the priceless opportunity to capture leads from abandoned forms with their Form Abandonment tool. This way when someone starts filling out your contact form and leaves without completing it, you can still capture their email. We also have a thorough review of WPForms if you want to see it in action.
6. Newsletter
Plugin Description
If you’re building an email list, you need to be able to send your subscribers branded emails. The Newsletter plugin is an awesome free WordPress email marketing plugin that is perfect for building your list and easily sending out emails.
They have multiple stylish email templates you can choose from or you can create your very own with their responsive drag and drop composer. And the sky’s the limit with this plugin, you can send out an unlimited number of email campaigns to an unlimited amount of subscribers.
7. Subscribe to Comments Reloaded
Plugin Description
Keep readers coming back to the comment section of your blog posts again and again with this awesome plugin. Subscribe to Comments Reloaded allows the visitors who have commented on your blog post to receive notifications for replies to their comment or any time a new comment is posted. Visitors who haven’t commented can also subscribe to receive notifications if they’re interested in being a silent participant in the conversation.
Want to try it out? Read our post: How to Let Visitors Subscribe to Comments This plugin will also collect the email of anyone who subscribes to the comment section, so even if they haven’t subscribed to your email list, you can actually add their email to your list yourself.
8. Riddle
Plugin Description
A fun and easy way to grow your email list is to entertain your audience at the same time, that’s where quizzes come in. Quizzes are a fantastic way to keep visitors on your site longer, learn more about them and convince them to become subscribers.
Riddle is an excellent WordPress plugin to add quizzes, polls, and lists to your website. With their quiz builder, you’ll be able to create engaging quizzes for your visitors in as little as a minute and capture more subscribers with their integrated lead generation form.
9. Yoast Comment Hacks
Plugin Description
When a visitor comments on your blog, you know they’re interested in what you have to say, so take the opportunity to turn commenters into subscribers with the Yoast Comment Hacks plugin. Not only does this plugin add a button in the toolbar to email all the commenters on a post at once, but it also gives you the opportunity to direct first-time commenters to a thank you page.
When an interested reader has just commented on your blog post, you have their full attention. This makes it the perfect time to direct them to a thank you page that encourages them to sign up for your email list.
Get ready to grow your email list
Growing your email list into a massive money-maker can seem like an impossible and daunting task, especially if you’re still a newbie with only a couple hundred subscribers or less. But with these amazing WordPress plugins, you’ll soon be rocking an email list with thousands of loyal fans.
If you want some more plugin recommendations, you can find all of our WordPress plugin collections here.