Growing your email list is important whether you’re a service, seller or blogger. Your email list is a directory of the people who are most likely to buy from you, view you as an expert or are just plain interested in what you have to say! No matter your business, this email list – and its future growth – has huge value.
Growing your email list can lead to more site traffic, more shop browsing, more sales and more engagement. Lucky for WordPress users, there are several plugins that make incorporating email marketing (or at least a sign up form) very easy to set up. One of which is Mad Mimi’s official WordPress sign up form plug in.
Here are 5 ways you can maximize the effects of your WordPress Subscribe Plugin:
1. Perfect Placement of Your WordPress Subscribe Plugin
Prominent placement of the email sign up form is vital to growing your subscriber list. Place the form either up top on your navigation or in a sidebar. If you do go with the sidebar option, make sure to place the form near the top.
A good rule of thumb to follow is that your subscribe form should be above the fold. Make it noticeable to customers immediately upon visiting your WordPress site – with no scrolling needed.
2. Only Capture The Data You Need
There’s a temptation to ask for a lot of info from your subscribers, but it’s a temptation you should resist. The more personal info you ask for, the more likely you are to turn people who are concerned about privacy or who are simply not interested in filling out a longer subscribe form away.
If you use their name in your marketing strategy then okay, ask for a name. Anything else should only be asked for if it’s absolutely vital to both you and the reader. In general, steer away from questions in your form like “How did you hear about us?” and anything that might turn subscribing into a chore.
The most effective WordPress email sign up forms only ask for the email address.
3. Incentivize The Sign Up Process
If you follow the first 2 steps in this post, you’ll be well on your way to increasing your conversion rate (if you count a new subscriber as a goal). In the quest to increase the size of your email list, it’s worth adding some incentive to the sign up process.
Let your visitors know that if they subscribe they’ll get 10% off their next purchase or exclusive content or, well, anything that’s an added value to the subscription. It doesn’t need to be something excessive, but having some incentive to signing up for your emails is a great way to grow your email list.
4. Pay Attention To The Next Steps
This step specifically applies to those folks who use a “double opt-in” process with their WordPress subscribe plugin. Let’s walk through the scenario:
Your potential subscriber visits your site and because you’ve implemented steps 1 to 3, they sign up to receive your email updates. What’s next?
It’s vital your subscribers know they need to confirm their subscription. Mad Mimi’s WordPress subscribe plugin tells them right there that they need to check their inbox for a confirmation email, but if you use a landing page or a redirect, please make sure to state clearly that they’ll need to confirm their subscription.
Next, the confirmation email should have a very clear “From” name and subject line. The “From” name should be clear (usually your company name) and the subject line should say “One more step to confirm your subscription” or some variation of that.
Keep the content of the confirmation email simple and clear. Don’t add product info or describe what you do – it can distract from the goal of getting the reader to click on the confirmation link.
5. Quality Content Makes All The Difference
Now that you’ve grown your email list, you need to make sure you keep them happy. Quality content means high view rates, happy subscribers and people who’ll share your site on social networks too (if you make it easy for them to share).
Keep your content focused on what the subscribers signed up for. Make sure it adds value to your subscriber’s day and always respect your readers time. Here’s some tips on writing great content here and here.
Using these 5 tips will point you toward email list growth. This, in turn, will keep people returning to your site, and from there, the sky’s the limit!
Disclosure: Mad Mimi is an illuminea client. We developed the Subscription plugin for their members.
