Boost Your WordPress Email List: A Step-by-Step Guide with OptinMonster

Email marketing generates more sales and engagement than any other channel, yet many WordPress site owners are missing out on this valuable opportunity. At CanadaCreate, we frequently hear from users who attract thousands of daily visitors but struggle to maintain meaningful connections with their audience due to the absence of an email list.

The primary challenge isn’t recognizing the importance of email lists – it’s creating effective opt-in forms. Basic contact forms are often overlooked, and poorly timed popups can frustrate visitors instead of converting them.

After testing numerous solutions with our community over the years, we discovered that OptinMonster consistently provides the best results for expanding email lists on WordPress sites.

In this detailed guide, we will walk you through the process of using OptinMonster to effectively grow your email list. You’ll learn the same strategies we apply to convert our CanadaCreate readers and visitors into engaged subscribers, enabling you to establish a valuable communication channel that drives tangible business outcomes.

What Is OptinMonster and How Can It Help You Build Your Email List?

Over 70% of visitors to your website may never return. That’s why building an email list is essential for staying connected with your audience and encouraging them to revisit your site.

However, encouraging website visitors to subscribe to your email list can be difficult.

This is where OptinMonster comes into play.

OptinMonster is a leading email capture plugin for WordPress, utilized by more than 1.2 million websites. It provides all the tools necessary to convert visitors into email subscribers.

With OptinMonster, website owners can design various email signup forms, including popups, floating bars, full-screen welcome mats, slide-in scroll boxes, inline personalized lead forms, gamified spin-to-win opt-ins, and more.

It features a collection of over 700 customizable, high-converting templates that you can easily modify using the drag-and-drop builder.

OptinMonster offers many valuable features, such as Exit-Intent technology, which displays a popup right when a visitor is about to leave your site. This can help convert visitors who might otherwise abandon your website into email subscribers.

Additionally, it is highly user-friendly, allowing you to create effective opt-in forms for growing your email newsletter without any coding skills.

After extensive testing of various WordPress popup and lead generation plugins, we have consistently chosen OptinMonster as our preferred option.

This preference stems from two significant drawbacks found in most other WordPress lead generation plugins:

• Essential features such as A/B testing and page-level targeting often fail to function correctly with WordPress caching plugins. However, if you completely avoid caching, it can negatively affect your site’s performance.
• These plugins can slow down your website because they must store analytics data in your database, which is resource-intensive and may even lead to the suspension of your WordPress hosting account.

You might feel torn between the need for a faster website and the desire to increase your subscriber base. Fortunately, with OptinMonster, you can achieve both goals without compromise.

Initially, OptinMonster began as a standard WordPress plugin and faced similar challenges in its early stages. However, the team adapted and transformed it into a full-fledged SaaS application in 2015.

OptinMonster can now function independently from WordPress, allowing you to integrate it with any website builder. Its advanced code architecture effectively addresses performance issues that other WordPress plugins have struggled to resolve.

OptinMonster offers a variety of powerful features, including:

• Geo-Location Targeting – Personalize your opt-in forms based on your visitors’ locations. This feature enables you to present region-specific offers, language-based promotions, localized shipping options, and more.
• MonsterLinks 2-Step Optins – Convert any image or link on your website into an engaging opt-in form.
• OnSite Retargeting – Want to give returning visitors a warm welcome? With OnSite Retargeting, you can create tailored offers and promotions for users who have previously visited your site. This strategy helps re-engage them, guide them further along the conversion journey, and strengthen your relationship with your most interested audience members.
• Lead VerificationMaintaining a clean and high-quality email list is crucial for success. This feature allows you to easily verify incoming email addresses, ensuring that your list consists of real, engaged leads. This prevents bounced emails, enhances deliverability, and allows you to concentrate on individuals who are genuinely interested in your offerings.

Now, let’s explore how to effectively build your email list in WordPress using OptinMonster, following a step-by-step approach.

How to Build Your Email List in WordPress with OptinMonster

First, visit the OptinMonster website and click on the ‘Get OptinMonster Now’ button.

This will take you to the pricing page, where you should click the ‘Get Started’ button for the plan that best suits your requirements.

We suggest opting for the Pro plan, which is the most popular choice and includes the valuable ‘Exit Intent’ feature.

Next, enter your payment information and finalize your purchase.

Then, install and activate the OptinMonster WordPress plugin. For detailed instructions, refer to our step-by-step guide on installing a WordPress plugin.

This plugin links your WordPress site with the OptinMonster software.

After activating OptinMonster, the initial step is to link your account. Navigate to OptinMonster » Settings directly from your WordPress admin dashboard.

Next, click the ‘Connect an Existing Account’ button to associate your website with your OptinMonster account, allowing you to start creating your first campaigns.

If you wish to try the software for free, simply click the ‘Create a Free Account to Get Started’ button.

Following that, a popup will appear prompting you to enter your email address. Input the email associated with your account and click the ‘Connect to WordPress’ button.

You will then see a series of on-screen instructions to complete the connection between your website and OptinMonster.

Once you finish these steps, your WordPress site will be linked to OptinMonster, enabling you to create your first campaign.

How to Create an Optin Form in WordPress Using OptinMonster

To set up your first campaign, go to OptinMonster » Campaigns in your WordPress dashboard, then click the ‘Create Your First Campaign’ button.

The next step is to select the type of campaign you want to create. You can choose from various options, such as popups, full-screen welcome mats, inline opt-ins, and more.

For this tutorial, we will choose the ‘Popup’ campaign type, which enables you to showcase a high-converting popup on your website. To select a campaign type, just click on your preferred option.

After that, you will see a selection of templates that will serve as the basis for your popup campaign. Feel free to pick any template that suits your needs.

To select a template, simply hover over it and click the ‘Use Template’ button.

Next, you will need to name your campaign. Don’t worry, this name will not be displayed on your website; it is solely for your reference to help you remember the purpose of each campaign.

Once you have entered the campaign name, click the ‘Start Building’ button to proceed.

This action will open the OptinMonster campaign builder, which will immediately show a live preview of your campaign in the right-hand panel, allowing you to see how it looks as you create it.

You can easily click on any item in the preview section to make adjustments, reposition it, or remove it.

In this tutorial, we will use the default design while updating the text. Click on any existing text to make your changes directly in the popup preview.

The left-hand menu allows you to adjust font colors, spacing, and more. Feel free to utilize these features as needed.

You can enhance your popup by adding new features using the available blocks.

Simply drag blocks from the ‘Blocks’ menu on the left side into your popup to incorporate new features.

After customizing your popup, you may want to define the rules for its display.

To do this, click on the ‘Display Rules’ tab at the top of your screen. Here, you can set specific conditions for when your popup will appear. You have full control to customize these display rules, ensuring the right message reaches the right audience at the right time.

In this tutorial, we will create a simple display rule: your popup will show after a visitor has spent a certain amount of time on your website. To set this up, select ‘time on page’ and enter the number of seconds you want to elapse before the popup appears.

To ensure your popup displays on every page, set the ‘current URL path’ to ‘is any page.’

Next, click the ‘Next Step’ button to proceed.

This will take you to the ‘Actions’ screen, where you can define what happens after the specified time period.

First, ensure that ‘Optin’ is selected in the ‘show the campaign view’ box. You can also add visual effects and sound effects if desired.

After that, click the ‘Next’ button to continue.

On the following screen, review your display rules to confirm they are accurate.

Once you are satisfied, simply click the ‘Save’ button to save your campaign.

Integrating Your WordPress Popup with an Email Marketing Service

Next, connect your popup to an email marketing service. This is convenient because when a visitor enters their email address in your popup, they will automatically be added to your email list, helping you grow your audience effortlessly.

OptinMonster also features ‘Monster Leads,’ which independently stores your leads, allowing you to import them to your email marketing provider later.

If you haven’t chosen an email marketing service yet, we recommend Constant Contact. It is one of the most popular email marketing platforms worldwide and provides excellent support for beginners.

Explore our comprehensive review of Constant Contact for an in-depth look at this email marketing service.

Other excellent options include Brevo, Drip, and ConvertKit.

To link your email marketing service with your popup, click on the ‘Integrations’ tab located at the top of the page.

Next, select ‘Add New Integration.’

Scroll down the page until you locate your email marketing provider, then click on it.

OptinMonster will assist you in connecting your popup to your email service. Typically, you’ll need to copy your unique API key for most email marketing providers.

After completing this step, you’re all set to launch your campaign.

How to Launch Your OptinMonster Popup Campaign in WordPress

To activate your campaign, click the ‘Publish’ button at the top of the page.

This will take you to a screen where you can review your campaign details.

If you are satisfied with the appearance of your campaign, change the status in the ‘Publish Status’ box from ‘Draft’ to ‘Publish.’

Your campaign is now live on your website. Just remember to click the ‘Save’ button before leaving the page.

Next, verify that your campaign is active by navigating to OptinMonster » Campaigns in your WordPress admin dashboard.

Ensure that your campaign is set to ‘Publish’ in the ‘Status’ column.

This screen is extremely helpful as it shows all the campaigns you’ve created. You can easily identify which ones are currently active on your website and which ones are paused. Visit this section whenever you need to quickly review your campaigns or make changes.

A/B Split Testing for Opt-ins in WordPress

Once your campaign has been running for some time and your email list is growing, consider enhancing it through A/B split testing.

A/B split testing involves making minor adjustments to the design, text, and colors of your popup campaigns. These small modifications can result in significant improvements in conversion rates.

OptinMonster offers a user-friendly A/B split testing feature that removes the guesswork from the process.

To begin, navigate to OptinMonster » Campaigns, and then click on the ‘Create Test’ link to initiate a new split test.

A popup window will appear, allowing you to add notes about your campaign.

Click the ‘Create Split Test’ button to proceed.

This will bring up the campaign builder screen, where you can make your desired adjustments.

After editing, click the ‘Save’ button. OptinMonster will then automatically conduct the split test for you.

Over time, you will be able to identify which campaign yields a higher conversion rate.

To access your campaign data, simply return to OptinMonster » Campaigns. Locate the ‘Stats’ column to view your results over time.

Congratulations! You now have all the knowledge needed to build an email list with OptinMonster. Consider experimenting with content upgrades or a simple yes/no campaign to boost your conversions and attract even more email subscribers.

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