How to Build an Email List in WordPress for Beginners (2023)

Hey there, WordPress site owner! Let me guess – you‘ve been pouring your heart and soul into creating awesome content, but you‘re struggling to get consistent traffic and engagement. Sound familiar?

Well, what if I told you that you‘re sitting on a goldmine of untapped potential with email marketing? It‘s true! By learning how to build an email list with your WordPress site, you can transform your casual visitors into loyal subscribers and customers who keep coming back for more.

In this step-by-step guide, we‘ll walk through exactly how to get started with email marketing on WordPress, even if you‘re a total beginner. We‘ll cover everything from choosing the right email provider to setting up high-converting forms to proven strategies for skyrocketing your list growth. Let‘s do this!

Why Every WordPress Site Needs an Email List

First things first: why should you even care about building an email list? Is it really worth the effort? In a word: absolutely! Here are a few eye-opening stats that showcase the power of email:

• There are over 4 billion daily email users worldwide (Statista)
• 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers (Campaign Monitor)
• The average expected ROI is $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing (Litmus)
• 4 out of 5 marketers said they‘d rather give up social media than email marketing (Litmus)

Simply put, email is one of the most reliable, cost-effective ways to engage your audience and drive measurable results for your WordPress site. With email, you can:

• Build direct, personal relationships with your subscribers
• Deliver targeted content to segmented groups based on interests or behavior
• Drive traffic back to your WordPress site on demand
• Generate leads, sales, and revenue on autopilot
• "Own" your audience (unlike social media)

No matter what kind of WordPress site you run – from a simple blog to an ecommerce store to a membership site – email marketing can help you achieve your goals faster. So if you‘re not building an email list yet, you‘re leaving a ton of opportunity on the table!

Step 1: Pick the Perfect Email Marketing Service

Alright, now that you‘re convinced that you need an email list, your first step is to choose an email marketing service provider to manage your list and send your campaigns. WordPress does have a built-in email function, but it‘s very limited and not designed for email marketing.

Instead, you‘ll want to use a dedicated email marketing tool that will make your life way easier with features like:

• Drag-and-drop email builders
• Customizable signup forms
• Audience segmentation
• Automation and sequences
• Analytics and reporting
• Third-party integrations

With so many email marketing services out there, which one should you choose? While it ultimately depends on your specific needs and budget, here are a few of our top recommendations:

For the rest of this guide, we‘ll be using Constant Contact as our example email provider. We like it because it offers a beginner-friendly interface, 100+ mobile-responsive templates, and a robust feature set at an affordable price point. Plus, it integrates seamlessly with WordPress!

Step 2: Create Irresistible Signup Forms

Now that you‘ve picked an email provider, your next mission is to start collecting email addresses from your WordPress site visitors. And the best way to do that is by creating targeted signup forms.

But these aren‘t just your generic "Subscribe to our newsletter" forms. Oh no, my friend. To maximize your conversions, you need to give people a compelling reason to hand over their precious email address.

That‘s where incentives and lead magnets come in. A lead magnet is basically a freebie or bonus that you offer in exchange for an email signup, like:

• Ebook, guide, or report
• Video training series
• Webinar or workshop
• Coupon or discount code
• Free trial or demo
• Quiz or assessment
• Checklist or cheat sheet

The key is to create a lead magnet that is super specific, actionable, and irresistible to your target audience. For example, if you run a food blog, you might offer a free meal planning toolkit or a recipe book featuring your most popular dishes.

Once you‘ve nailed your lead magnet, it‘s time to build your signup forms using a WordPress plugin like WPForms. With the drag-and-drop builder, you can easily create custom forms and add them anywhere on your site, including:

• Sidebar widget
• Dedicated landing page
• Exit-intent popup
• Floating bar
• Welcome gate

For maximum conversions, make sure to sprinkle signup forms throughout your site in strategic, high-traffic locations. Don‘t make people hunt for a way to join your list!

Step 3: Skyrocket Your Signups with These Growth Strategies

Congrats – you‘ve got your signup forms locked and loaded! But to really accelerate your list growth, you need to get proactive about driving traffic and promoting your lead magnets.

Here are some of our favorite strategies to get more eyeballs on your signup forms and more subscribers on your list:

1. Promote on social media. Share links to your lead magnet landing page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and any other channels where your audience hangs out.

2. Include signup links in your email signature. Add a call-to-action in your email signature linking to your lead magnet so every email you send becomes a chance to grow your list.

3. Leverage exit-intent popups. Use a tool like OptinMonster to track user behavior and display a targeted popup with your lead magnet just before a visitor leaves your site.

4. Partner up for a joint venture promotion. Team up with influencers, bloggers, or other businesses in your niche to cross-promote each other‘s lead magnets to your respective audiences.

5. Run a giveaway or contest. Use a viral giveaway tool like Woorise to give away a high-value prize and require an email signup as an entry method to encourage sharing.

6. Turn your blog posts into signup opportunities. Add relevant content upgrades to your best-performing WordPress blog posts to convert readers into subscribers.

7. Offer a newsletter-exclusive incentive. Give subscribers access to an exclusive discount, free shipping, early access, or bonus content that‘s only available to your email list.

The beauty of email marketing is that you can get creative with your signup strategies. Keep testing new ideas and see what resonates with your unique audience!

Step 4: Earn Trust and Boost Engagement With Awesome Emails

Whew! Building your email list is no small feat, so give yourself a pat on the back. But remember: the real magic happens in your subscribers‘ inboxes.

To get the most out of email marketing, your job is to consistently deliver value and build genuine relationships with your list. Here are a few key principles to keep in mind:

• Focus on serving, not selling. Your emails should provide 90% value and only 10% promotion. Share helpful tips, insights, resources, and stories that your subscribers will love.

• Keep a consistent schedule. Set expectations from the start about how often subscribers will hear from you, whether that‘s daily, weekly, or monthly. Then stick to that schedule!

• Get personal. Use merge tags to personalize your emails with each subscriber‘s name, location, or other details. Write in a warm, friendly, conversational tone like you‘re emailing a pal.

• Segment your list. Not all subscribers are the same! Divide your list into groups based on demographics, behaviors, or interests so you can tailor your messaging and offers.

• Automate key sequences. Set up automated email series to welcome new subscribers, nurture leads, onboard customers, and encourage repeat sales. These will save you a ton of time.

• Clean your list regularly. Keep an eye on your engagement metrics like open rates and click-through rates. Remove inactive subscribers every 6-12 months to maintain a healthy, engaged list.

• Always aim to add value. If your emails aren‘t concise, well-punctuated, grammatically sound and informative, your readers will lose patience unsubscribe. So think critically before.sending every campaign: Would reading this be a valuable use of my subscribers‘ time today? If not, go back to the drawing board!

The more you focus on serving your audience through your emails, the more trust and authority you‘ll build. And over time, that trust will translate into higher engagement, traffic, and sales for your WordPress site. It‘s a beautiful thing!

Let‘s Recap: Your Email Marketing Action Plan

We covered a lot of ground in this guide, so let‘s recap the key takeaways. To build a thriving email list for your WordPress site, you need to:

1. Sign up for a reputable email marketing service like Constant Contact
2. Create a compelling lead magnet to incentivize email signups
3. Build targeted signup forms with a tool like WPForms
4. Promote your lead magnets and forms to drive traffic and signups
5. Deliver valuable, relevant, engaging emails to your subscribers
6. Continuously test, optimize, and clean your email list

Follow these steps and I promise you‘ll start seeing the amazing benefits of email marketing for your WordPress site. You‘ve got this!

But don‘t just take it from me. Check out these WordPress sites that are crushing it with email:

• Nerd Fitness: Over 300,000 email subscribers and consistent 30-40% open rates
• Smart Passive Income: Email drives 35-45% of total site revenue each month
• Backlinko: Sends a weekly newsletter to 175,000 subscribers with actionable SEO tips

See? Email works across all kinds of niches and sites. Now it‘s your turn to put it to work for your WordPress site.

So what do you say? Ready to make email marketing your secret weapon and take your site to new heights? Let‘s do this thing! If you have any questions or want to share your own email success story, leave a comment below. I‘m rooting for you!