Did you that in 2015 there were around 2.6 billion email users? In under four years, that figure is expected to grow to 2.9 billion. That means one-third of the world’s population will be using email by 2019.
Despite those impressive figures, there remain a few organizations who believe that sending commercial messages directly to their customers through email is either obsolete, ineffective, or only for major corporations.
Email marketing campaigns are neither obsolete or ineffective.
For starters, 59% of B2B marketers surveyed for Crain’s BtoB Magazine proclaim that email is the most effective channel for generating revenue. McKinsey & Company discovered, in their research, email is actually a more effective way in acquiring customers than social media. In fact, email is almost 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined.
But, don’t you have to be a large company to enjoy the benefits of email marketing? Not necessarily.
Believe it or, you can implement an email marketing campaign relatively cheap, and most of the time for free, by using the following 12 WordPress plugins.
1. MailChimp For WordPress
If you are one of the more than 9 million people who use MailChimp, then you already know this is an essential tool formarketers. Did you also know that MailChimp also offers a powerful, and free, WordPress plugin as well?
MailChimp For WordPress allows you to connect with your existing MailChimp account in just one click. It can also create customizable sign-up forms, track emails, manage subscribers, set-up autoresponders, and establish a redirect to a “thank you” page.
It can also integrate with other useful plugins like WooCommerce and Contact Form 7. Probably the most useful feature is that this plugin allows you to generate campaigns without having to send out an email every time you update your WordPress blog because it will notify your subscribers automatically.
2. SumoMe’s List Builder
Looking to convert your WordPress visitors into email subscribers? SumoMe’s List Builder allows you to accomplish exactly that by making sure it catches visitors before they leave your site with a lightbox that appears asking for their email address.
The lightboxes are customizable and are one of the few pop-up plugins that areoptimized for mobile users. The plugin also integrates easily with marketing services like MailChimp, AWeber, Get Response, Constant Contact, and Active Campaign.
The SumoMe plugin is free to download and also comes equipped with a suite of tool that allow you to share your WordPress content onto your social media channels, heat maps, ability to view Google Analytics directly on your site, and a scroll box that gathers email addresses as visitors scroll down the screen.
3. SendinBlue Subscribe Form And WP SMTP
SendinBlue is an email marketing service provider with similar features to MailChimp. SendinBlue’s Subscribe Form and WP SMTP plugin lets you construct customizable subscription forms, segment your contact lists, and track emails through the wp_mail() function. You can also build and send newsletters to your subscribers to enhance marketing campaigns and have access to real-time statistics like bounce rates, opens, and clicks.
The plugin is free to download as long as you have an account with SendinBlue. The good news? If you send out less than 9,000 emails per month you’re eligible for a free membership. They’ve also removed the 60-day limit to their free membership since the start of 2016. However, it comes with limited features compared to other plans.
4. Opt-in Panda For WordPress
Intrigue your visitors by giving them just a glimpse of your awesome content. Then, if they want to view the rest of a blog article, they will have to opt-in by providing their email address. You can easily achieve this by installing the Opt-in Panda plugin.
Besides hiding your premium content, you can offer exclusive in-content freebies, track results with the built-in analytics tool, and see where your audience is coming from since they can subscribe by using social channels like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn.
The content is still searchable by bots, so don’t worry about the plugin harming your ranking. And, you can add your new subscribers with pretty much all of the major email marketing service providers like MailChimp, AWeber, ActiveCampaign, GetResponse, and Sendinblue.
5. Attention Grabber Plugin
If you’re looking to convert more visitors,then you need to be able to grab their attention after they land on your site. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is by having a handy notification toolbar that catches their eye. One of the most popular tools for this would be The Hello Bar. But, that could end up costing you since you have to pay for clicks – the free version only allows 25 clicks.
One of the best alternatives, that also happens to be free, is the Attention Grabber Plugin. It’s also easy to install and can be quickly integrated into your WordPress site. The top features include a customizable bar for your site, the ability to track sign-ups through Google Analytics, and the power to hide or display content so it will best fit your visitor’s screen.
6. ALO EasyMail Newsletter
This is a useful WordPress plugin if you want to create and send your subscribers HTML/text newsletter by using the standard WordPress GUI and API. Other features give you the chance to select the who you want to send the newsletter to and gather and manage your subscribers.
There’s also an Ajax widget for subscription, a debugging tool, and an impressive theme manager. One really interesting feature is that bounced emails are automatically unsubscribed. The plugin also supports internalization and multilingual and has sending reports so you can see how many subscribers opened the email and clicked on the internal links.
7. FreshMail for WordPress
FreshMail is an email marketing and newsletter provider that has received multiple awards for in email marketing category for the highest ROI. With the FreshMail plugin, you can easily construct and add customized sign-up forms and defined popups onto your WordPress page. There’s alsooptions for allowing you to set up automatic subscription sign-ups via checkboxes whenever users take action on a website, like leaving a comment or participating in a survey.
The plugin also integrates withContact Form, WooCommerce checkout, and Google Analytics so you can keep track of everything. There’s also reports where you can identify the sources of user registrations through a selected period of time and see which forms generated the most new subscribers. If you send less than 2000 emails per month, FreshMail is free to use. Plans start at just $7 if you want to take full advantage of FreshMail’s features.
8. Contact Form 7
This is one of the most popular contact forms for WordPress users. Why? Because it’s easy enough to use for beginners, but also flexible enough for experienced WordPress users. For example, you can customize form fields, appearance, and mail contents.
With this plugin, you can also create multiple contact forms and place them on any of your WordPress posts or pages. Contact Form 7 even supports Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering, and is available in multiple languages. There’s also MailChimp integration, so that’s another added perk.
Add the Contact Form 7 Newsletter plugin as well and you’ll be able to send out newsletters to the visitors who have contacted you.
9. Newsletter
If you just want to stick with one plugin for your email purposes, then this very well could be your solution. This popular plugin essentially does everything you need to create and manage your newsletters. Features include email tracking, customizable forms and subscription widgets, and both single and double opt-ins. There’s even a solid subscriber preferences feature so you can target your campaigns more efficiently.
And, since it seamlessly integrates with your WordPress Registration, you can have the Newsletter plugin up and running with just a couple of clicks.
10. MailPoet Newsletters
Like pretty much every other plugin included in this list, the MailPoet Newsletters plugin is free to download. While the plugin does specialize in sending newsletters, which is a breeze with the drag and drop newsletter editor, the robust features that come installed make this an essential plugin for WordPress users. MailPoet will assist you in creating autoresponders, segmenting your contact lists, and collecting subscribers in just clicks with a widget. Most importantly, this plugin will send your subscribers a notification whenever you publish a WordPress post.
There are more than 70 themes to choose from, as well. So you shouldn’t have any difficulty finding a theme that best suits your brand. And, the newsletters will appear the same in email services like Gmail or Yahoo, along with Android and iOS devices.
11. Ultimate Popup Free
According to the developers, this plugin will “generate your list 500% faster.” Whether that’s been proven or not doesn’t change the fact that this is a solid plugin that will allow popups on your website – even on mobile devices. You can customize everything from content to codes to cookie expiry so you can have brand consistency and design apopupto meet your needs. However, the developers keep things to a minimum so you don’t have worry about the plugin slowing down your load time.
This free plugin will play nice with email providers like MailChimp and AWeber, as well as plugins like Contact Form 7.
12. Remarkety – Email Marketing for WooCommerce
If you have a WooCommerce store, then you should seriously consider installing this plugin. For starters, you can send personalized emails and offers to customers based on their shopping history. Furthermore, you can segment customers automatically, send abandoned cart reminders, track customer behavior, nurture leads, and design responsive emails. If that weren’t enough, this plugin also gives you the power to generate custom campaigns and create A/B tests. Finally, there’s an intuitive dashboard that shares valuable analytics like purchase rates.
You can give Remarkety a free spin for 30-days. After that, you’ll have to select either the $32, $64, $119, or $205 plan.
Conclusion
Email usage, along with email marketing, doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. It’s effective in increasing leads and conversions, along with keeping your customers in the loop by sharing the latest news, promotions, or offers from your brand.
Best of all? If you use you WordPress, which there’s a good chance you already are, you can install free or affordable plugins to get your email marketing campaign up and running.
Which WordPress plugins have you used in your email marketing campaigns?
Image Credits
Featured Image: ra2studio/Shutterstock.com
In-post Photo: Helder Almeida/Shutterstock.com
Category Content
FAQs
What is the best mailing list plugin for WordPress? ›
- Thrive Leads. Thrive Leads is an email list building plugin for WordPress that people are always talking about. ...
- Bloom Email Opt-in Plugin for WordPress. ...
- OptimizePress. ...
- Thrive Architect. ...
- Optin Forms. ...
- OptinMonster. ...
- Ninja Popups for WordPress. ...
- Ninja Kick: Subscription WordPress Plugin.
The free email marketing tool has a beautiful drag-and-drop builder and is natively integrated with WordPress. You can send up to 2,000 emails per month for free. There is also a native WordPress plugin that makes it as easy as possible to manage contacts and email marketing inside of your WordPress admin dashboard.
How do I set up email marketing in WordPress? ›Let's recap the three steps to starting your WordPress email campaign with MailPoet: Place a signup widget on your site. Configure your sending options. Create your first campaign email.
What is FluentCRM? ›FluentCRM is a Self Hosted Email Marketing Automation Plugin for WordPress. Manage your leads and customers, email campaigns, automated email sequencing, learner and affiliate management, and monitor user activities and many more in one place; without ever having to leave your WordPress dashboard!
How do I gather emails to WordPress mailing lists? ›- Use a Coming Soon Page Before Launch.
- Use Landing Pages to Collect Email Addresses.
- Create a Powerful Lead Capturing Form for Your Site.
- Improve Your Lead Generation Form Design.
- Be Smart With Your CTA Text.
- Create High-Quality Email Content.
- Grow Your Email List With Gamification.
Go to MailPoet > Emails and click “Add New.” Under Welcome Email click Set Up. Next, choose your trigger. I want to send my welcome email to subscribers who join my list, so I'll choose that option. Then I'll choose my list and set the email to send immediately.
Why is Sendinblue better than Mailchimp? ›In nearly all cases, Sendinblue works out cheaper than Mailchimp. It's hard to compete with 40,000 emails a month from $25 – especially when all Sendinblue plans allow unlimited contacts. You can also get send-time optimization, automation and A/B testing at a much lower price than Mailchimp.
Does Mailchimp integrate with WordPress? ›With WordPress.com's Mailchimp block, you can add a signup form to any post or page and give visitors the opportunity to join your list wherever they are on your website. If your website is on WordPress.com or uses Jetpack (version 7.1 or higher), the Mailchimp block is already waiting for you in the block editor.
Can you use MailChimp for free? ›Free. Our Free Marketing plan is ideal for beginners who want to grow their audience and create campaigns while testing out some of Mailchimp's tools and features. It includes all the basics you need to start marketing. The Free plan includes up to 500 contacts and 2,500 sends per month, with a daily send limit of 500.
Can WordPress do newsletters? ›Learn how to create a newsletter in WordPress to engage with your audience. To make a newsletter on WordPress, one doesn't need advanced programming skills. Good results can be achieved by using the right tools. Rock Stage, for instance, offers integration between WordPress and MailChimp.
How do I create an email list for my blog? ›
- Sign up for an email marketing service.
- Create value-packed content.
- Incentivize email subscriptions with freebies.
- Place embedded and pop-up forms strategically.
- Use a series of onboarding emails.
- Drive traffic to your content.
- Send weekly emails.
- Sell to your subscribers.
Autonami is a powerful marketing automation plugin that allows you to automate your marketing workflows.
What is uncanny Automator? ›The Uncanny Automator WordPress plugin makes it possible to automatically manage all of the workflows and user experiences that happen on your WordPress site. With absolutely no coding required, you can create “recipes” that let one activity on your site (or series of activities) trigger other activities.
What is Automator WP? ›AutomatorWP is a flexible and open-source automator plugin that lets you connect your WordPress plugins together and create automated workflows. You can create “automations” linked to your WordPress activities and when any of them happen, you can make other things happen accordingly.
How can I make my email list grow faster? ›- Offer incentives to people who subscribe to your list. ...
- Make your freebies more enticing than your competitors. ...
- Make sure your emails contain a sign-up button. ...
- Ask those on your list to help you spread the word. ...
- Thoroughly utilize social media platforms.
- Step 1: Install Profile Builder.
- Step 2: Add Email to Registration Process.
- Step 1: Install Jetpack.
- Step 2: Enable Email Subscription.
- Step 3: Add the Subscription Widget.
- Step 4: Customize the Email Message.
- Step 1: Install MailChimp.
- Step 2: Connect Your MailChimp Account.
How to Add Email Subscription Button on Blogger Website - YouTube
How do I collect emails from my website? ›- CTAs. An email collection call-to-action (CTA) can be as simple as a button on your landing page that reads “Join our mailing list”. ...
- Lead magnets. ...
- Create a quiz or game. ...
- Offer an incentive. ...
- Email pop-ups. ...
- Landing page or squeeze page. ...
- Opt-in form.
The easiest way to export email addresses from your WordPress comments is by using WordPress Comments Import & Export. This plugin lets you export different information from the WordPress comment section including email addresses and any meta data that was added via a custom field.
How do I automatically send email from my website? ›- Outgoing server name: mailout.one.com.
- Port and encryption: - 587 with STARTTLS (recommended) - 465 with TLS. - 25 with STARTTLS or none.
- Authentication: your email address and password.
What is an email plugin? ›
The plugin allows you to add a subscription form or pop-up to your site, compose emails in a drag-and-drop builder, segment your leads using multi-list targeting, and send newsletters to distribute your blog content. Additionally, the tool has built-in reporting, so you can see exactly how your emails are performing.
How do I send an automatic newsletter? ›To begin creating your auto-generated email, click on the create campaign button on the homepage of MailChimp. Then, click on automated and share blog post. Provide a name for your campaign and select the list of subscribers you want to share your newsletter with. Create one if you don't already have one.
What is the best email marketing tool? ›- Best Overall: Mailchimp.
- Best for Automation: ActiveCampaign.
- Easiest to Use: MailerLite.
- Best All-in-One Marketing Suite: Hubspot.
- Best Affordable Option: Moosend.
- Best for E-commerce: Drip.
The ultimate verdict. Both HubSpot and Mailchimp are excellent platforms. Though, it all comes down to your budget and the level of marketing automation you're looking for. So, if you are looking for a complete digital marketing solution that gets you covered for everything, then HubSpot is surely the way to go.
Is Mailchimp WordPress plugin free? ›Pricing. The basic version of this WordPress Mailchimp plugin comes for free on WordPress. To leverage the advanced features, you have to upgrade to the Pro version. It will cost you $35 to use the plugin for a single site.
What does Mailchimp for WordPress do? ›Mailchimp is an email marketing service that enables you to build a subscriber list, create an ongoing email marketing campaign, and more. It can also be used with WordPress seamlessly, further streamlining your email marketing campaign and enabling you to communicate with your audience.
How do I implement Mailchimp in WordPress? ›Add the plugin
Log in to your WordPress Admin Panel. In the left navigation panel, click Plugins, and choose Add New. Search or scroll to locate the Mailchimp List Subscribe Form, and click Install Now. Click Activate Plugin.
You can upgrade to a new paid plan at any time. The Free plan includes up to 500 contacts across all audiences in your account, and up to 2,500 email sends per month. In any 24-hour period, you can send up to 500 emails. Subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts count toward your contact limit.
Is Mailchimp expensive? ›Table that shows the cost of Mailchimp's four pricing plans and the top features available in each: the free plan, the Essential plan starting at $11 a month, the Standard plan starting at $17 a month, and the Premium plan starting at $299 a month.
What happened to Mailchimp? ›
Mailchimp is moving from being an email marketing platform to a full-service marketing platform, so they are also moving away from email based terminology and pricing. That's why they have made this change. We can debate the merits of their business strategy all day long.
Does WordPress have a newsletter plugin? ›WordPress has many different newsletter plugins. You can use different plugins to build your list and send your newsletter. However, keep in mind that WordPress doesn't send email reliably. You'll definitely want to use a separate email provider to send emails instead of relying on your web hosting server to do that.
How do I add a signup button in WordPress? ›How to add sign up form in wordpress - YouTube
How do I create a newsletter signup form in WordPress? ›- Choose an email subscription form building tool.
- Get an email newsletter sending service.
- Connect your email marketing service with your form maker.
- Build email subscribe forms on your WordPress website.
- Publish these forms on your website.
- Create unique email content. ...
- Encourage subscribers to share and forward your emails. ...
- Segment your email lists by buyer persona. ...
- Reinvigorate a stale email list with an opt-in campaign. ...
- Add an opt-in link to your employees' signatures.
- Encourage engagement with your emails. ...
- Segmentation of email lists. ...
- Create a new lead generation offer. ...
- Use a sign-up sheet. ...
- Don't forget your existing contacts. ...
- Add a signup button in your emails. ...
- Add incentives for signing up. ...
- Use social media to promote your signup page.
- Add a CTA to Your Bio. ...
- Pin a Tweet with a CTA. ...
- Create a CTA Post on Instagram. ...
- Set a CTA on Your Facebook Page. ...
- Create a Subscribers-Only Facebook Group. ...
- Pin Your CTA to Pinterest. ...
- Use Instagram Stories. ...
- Offer Lead Magnets and Content Upgrades.
CartFlows is a sales funnel builder for WordPress. It allows you to quickly and easily build sales funnels using your page builder of choice.
Is uncanny Automator free? ›Absolutely! Our free version can be installed on your WordPress site and includes unrestricted use of over 100 triggers and actions. Add Pro to unlock hundreds of additional triggers and actions, plus advanced Pro-only features! What do I need to use Uncanny Automator?
What is thrive Automator? ›Thrive Automator is the latest WordPress plugin by Thrive Themes. This plugin is the new hub of Thrive Suite, allowing users to easily build and automate workflows that pass data between different apps, plugins and services.
How do I use Webhook in WordPress? ›
You can add a webhook by clicking the Add webhook button and filling out a simple form. You can choose an action and the fields associated with that action to be posted to the URL. The URL will receive an HTTP POST request when the selected action fires.
What does WP Fusion do? ›WP Fusion applies tags in your CRM based on user activity throughout your site, allowing you to track engagement and perform complex automations. I'm very critical of the software I use and am extremely careful of the plugins I use. WP Fusion is hands down one of the most helpful plugins I have ever come across.
Can we automate in WordPress? ›You can automate your WordPress site with the Uncanny Automator plugin. It integrates with both external apps and popular WordPress contact form plugins like WPForms. Uncanny Automator lets you connect plugins together by using one plugin as a trigger for a different one.
How do you automate Figma? ›Automate your Figma tasks in one click. Build custom drag and drop automations that do time-sensitive Figma tasks for you in one click. Choose from over 100 actions that expose the power of the Figma Plugin API at your fingertips.
How do I add an email list to WordPress for free? ›After the sign up, you need to click on the 'Contacts' button at the top of your Constant Contact dashboard. Now, you'll see the contacts page. On this screen, click on the blue 'Create List' button. At this step, it's time to name your email list.
Does Mailchimp integrate with WordPress? ›With WordPress.com's Mailchimp block, you can add a signup form to any post or page and give visitors the opportunity to join your list wherever they are on your website. If your website is on WordPress.com or uses Jetpack (version 7.1 or higher), the Mailchimp block is already waiting for you in the block editor.
How do I create a list in WordPress? ›- Place your cursor in the post text area where you wish to begin your list.
- Click the Numbered or Ordered List button in the WordPress toolbar.
- Start typing your first list item. ...
- Hit enter button on your keyboard twice or click the List button to discontinue making a list.
Icegram is the best plugin to easily create beautiful optins and call to actions of your choice, show them to targeted visitors and convert them to customers and fans. This tutorial teaches you how to create popup Smaily subscription forms with the help of Icegram.
How do I create a custom email in WordPress? ›...
Professional Email
- Send and receive email using your custom domain.
- Includes email, calendar, and contact management.
- One-click import of existing emails and contacts.
- Sign up for an email marketing service.
- Create value-packed content.
- Incentivize email subscriptions with freebies.
- Place embedded and pop-up forms strategically.
- Use a series of onboarding emails.
- Drive traffic to your content.
- Send weekly emails.
- Sell to your subscribers.
Is Mailchimp WordPress plugin free? ›
Pricing. The basic version of this WordPress Mailchimp plugin comes for free on WordPress. To leverage the advanced features, you have to upgrade to the Pro version. It will cost you $35 to use the plugin for a single site.
Is Mailchimp really free? ›Free. Our Free Marketing plan is ideal for beginners who want to grow their audience and create campaigns while testing out some of Mailchimp's tools and features. It includes all the basics you need to start marketing. The Free plan includes up to 500 contacts and 2,500 sends per month, with a daily send limit of 500.
What does Mailchimp for WordPress do? ›Mailchimp is an email marketing service that enables you to build a subscriber list, create an ongoing email marketing campaign, and more. It can also be used with WordPress seamlessly, further streamlining your email marketing campaign and enabling you to communicate with your audience.
What does Li mean in WordPress? ›An ordered list is a numbered list. The next tag in a bullet list is the <li> tag. This stands for “list item”. You can easily toggle between the visual and text areas of a post by click the tabs at the top of the text box for your post.
What are WordPress blocks? ›What Are WordPress Blocks? Blocks are components used for creating and editing elements in a WordPress post or page. Various block types are available in the WordPress editor to add text, media files, and layout elements, giving you more flexibility to build content.
How do I use bullets in WordPress? ›Click on the “Unordered List” button. This button's icon features three bullet points and is located to the right of the “Strikethrough” button. When you click this button, the text becomes a bulleted list.