Your email list is the heart of your marketing strategy. When you write a blog post, the people on your email list will be the first to read it. When you have a webinar, the people on your list will be the first to sign up. And, when you offer a new product, the people on your list will be the first to try it.
This article will show you 67 tools you can use to start growing your email list today.
Popups
Whether you hate them or love them, there’s one undeniable fact about popups – they work. Case study after case study proves that if you want to grow your email list, put a popup on your blog.
Here are 10 popups that will help you collect emails.
1. PopUp Domination: One of the most popular popups on the web. It is both a WordPress plugin and standalone software that enables you to place it on any website platform you choose.
2. OptinMonster: Lets you place opt-in forms in a variety of places on your blog, including floating footer bars, slide in sidebars, and full page covers.
3. Thrive Leads: Gives you the power of traditional popups, includes regular opt-in forms and squeeze pages, and integrates with Facebook.
4. BounceX: A popup that appears only when your readers intend to leave your site. For instance, when your readers hover over the back button, the popup appears, prompting them to enter their email address.
5. Popup Maker: A WordPress plugin that allows you to make beautiful popups in minutes.
6. Ninja Popups: An inexpensive WordPress plugin that allows you to create a professionally designed popup to get readers to sign up for your newsletter, get coupons, and increase social media visibility by locking content until your readers share your blog.
7. UpViral: As its name suggests, this popup contains a viral component. After a reader enters their email address, they will get your freebie when they invite more friends to join your email list.
8. Sumo: A free popup WordPress plugin that comes with other features as well. Sumo enables you to capture your reader’s email address when you have their attention, and it integrates with a variety of email and marketing platforms.
9. PopUp Pro: A WordPress plugin that allows you to create professional-looking popups.
10. Hustle: A WordPress plugin that allows you to create professional-looking popups.
Unobtrusive Popups
Let’s say you’re still completely against popups. You’re not alone. There is an entire segment of tools that bill themselves as “anti-popups.” These are tools that appear in front of your readers without obstructing their view of your content.
11. Boxzilla: An app that allows you to add minimalistic, low-profile popups that don’t interrupt, but still convert well.
12. Drip: Not only can you create an email opt-in form that will be placed out of the way, but Drip is an entire email auto-responder service.
13. Slide-In: An easy marketing tool that allows you to create messages that slide in and show themselves to your users at the exact moment you pick.
14. Sleeknote: This paid tool allows you to put a popup form to promote eBooks, content upgrades, discounts, etc. Sleeknote comes with integrations and analytics.
15. Optin Crusher: This beautiful plugin makes it easy to create a popup that appears across the entire footer of your blog or website.
16. Hello Bar: A free optimization tool that allows you to show a message to your visitors. It appears at the top of your blog or website. You can send your readers to a landing page where you can capture their email addresses.
17. WP Notification Bar: Similar to Hello Bar, WP Notification Bar appears at the top of your WordPress blog or website and allows your reader to enter their email address within the bar or see updates or announcements you select.
18. Foobar: Similar to Hello Bar, but it has more of a billboard feel to it. You can create scrolling text, insert multiple messages, and link to various landing pages.
19. Dreamgrow Scroll Triggered Box: As your reader scrolls down the page, this plugin will appear to grab their attention, but it won’t conceal your content. You can customize the look, feel, and message of the plugin.
20. Thrive Architect: Build landing pages for WordPress quickly and easily with a drag-and-drop builder.
21. Feature Box Plugin: Made famous by Derek Halpern of Social Triggers. It is a form you insert at the top of your blog. Generally, the Feature Box allows you to add more information than you can put into the Hello Bar or Viper Bar.
Additional Apps and Plugins
Besides popups, there are several additional apps and plugins you can use to collect emails from your visitors and grow your list.
22. upPrev: As your reader scrolls through your article, this plugin creates a slider that appears in the lower right or left corner of your blog. This concept was made famous by The New York Times.
23. Easy Forms for Mailchimp: If you use Mailchimp and WordPress, this plugin works perfectly. You can start building your list and see analytics from within WordPress itself.
24. Mailster: Another WordPress plugin, but this one allows you to create and send mail directly from WordPress. Unlike many other providers, there is no monthly fee.
25. Email Subscribers & Newsletters: Use this WordPress plugin to build an email list, manage subscribers, and send newsletters.
26. LeadBoxes: Allows you to create an opt-in box anywhere simply by adding a link.
Once you click “click here,” the opt-in box in the picture below appears.
27. Scrolling Side Bar: If you have a blog with a side bar, chances are you probably have an ad leading to a landing page. One way to get more attention to the ad is to have it scroll down the page as your reader continues to read your content. (Note: I couldn’t find a widget or plugin, so I’ve linked to some code that will enable you to create the sidebar. The tutorial is old but it still works great.)
28. MailOptin: A wordPress plugin that allows you to create subscription boxes that you can place anywhere on your blog or website.
29. Gravity Forms: You can create advanced forms for WordPress sites that integrate with your email service provider.
30. Comment Redirect: When commenters make their first comment, redirect them to a page of your choice. After they leave a comment, you can ask them to subscribe to your email list in order to receive future updates.
31. Optimizely: This platform allows you to make small (or large) changes to your website to drive more visitors and increase conversions.
32. AWeber Webform Widget: Allows you to install an AWeber web form on your WordPress blog and lets visitors subscribe to your list when commenting or registering on your blog.
33. Bloom: Generate leads and get email opt-ins through your website with this plugin.
Online Contests and Giveaways
Due to their viral nature, having a contest or give away is one of the fastest ways to grow your list and your brand. Here are 4 tools that will allow you to quickly set one up.
34. Rafflecopter: Allows you to create contests and giveaways you can host on your blog and on your social media platforms. Rafflecopter has a viral component where contestants can get their friends to join the contest.
35. Wishpond: Wishpond has a tool that allows you to create contests and promotions that enhance the experience for your fans.
36. PromoSimple: For those just getting started with contests and giveaways, PromoSimple might be for you. They focus on getting you up and running as easily as possible.
37. Giveaway Tools: This giveaway tool is free to use.
Your blog and website aren’t the only places where you can grow your email list. Email and Facebook go together like peanut butter and chocolate. They’re the perfect match.
Below are a few Facebook tools that will help you grow your email list right from your fan page.
38. ShortStack: A custom iFrame tab-designing tool that allows users to create custom Facebook tabs by using widgets for elements such as blogs, videos, newsletters, Twitter, and more.
39. Heyo: A drag and drop Facebook contest platform where you can drive engagement, capture emails, get likes, and convert sales.
40. Pagemodo: A do-it-yourself solution for customizing Facebook business pages. Users can create a professional, custom business Facebook Page for free without design, graphic, or coding skills. Because it is free, there are limitations to its customization.
41. Thunderpenny: Allows you to create a static HTML custom app for free in no time.
42. Woobox: Stands out with its a la carte pricing. You can create a free static HTML tab to collect emails. You get full customization of the app and only pay for what you use, such as contests, coupons, and deals.
43. AdEspresso: Use advanced analytics and easier tracking and reporting to build an effective Facebook ad campaign. You can also use lead ads to directly get email signups.
44. Sprout Social: Manage and track analytics for your social media accounts with this platform.
45. Join My Mailing List: This tool is for Constant Contact customers. They can connect Join My Mailing List to their Facebook page to entice people to sign up for their mailing list straight from their Facebook page.
46. TabSite: Allows you to create custom welcome pages and tabs with deep levels of content right within Facebook. You don’t need coding experience to create and customize your pages. TabSite provides you access to a simple content editor to add content, images, coupons, links, and more.
47. Boosterberg: Manage the number, style, and type of Facebook posts you boost—without requiring manual input. Just set some rules, and Boosterberg will boost those posts for you.
48. ActionSprout: Rather than relying on like, share, and comment, ActionSprout allows you to connect with people around 25 unique actions, including endorse, congratulate, suggest, and volunteer. It’s geared for nonprofits.
Landing Pages and Coming Soon Pages
Landing pages are the backbone of any email marketing effort. The tools listed below will help you create professional-looking landing pages without having to write code.
49. OptimizePress: More than a landing page, OptimizePress is a WordPress theme that enables you to create entire websites focused on collecting email addresses. OptimizePress is extremely helpful for those who wish to create membership sites.
50. LeadPages: If you’re looking for an easy way to create and manage multiple landing pages, sales pages, and webinar registration pages, then LeadPages is the tool.
51. Unbounce: This is a popular app that gives you the power to create, publish, and optimize landing pages without doing development. Unbounce has a heavy emphasis on customization.
52. Instapage: Allows you to get started with a professional-looking landing page without breaking the bank.
53. Launchrock: You can create a “coming soon” page with a viral component. It has the social widgets, and you can create viral loops through referential links.
54. Clickthroo: Clickthroo is a little more expensive than the other tools; however, they differentiate themselves with their unparalleled level of service. They provide software and consulting services.
55. PageWiz: An all-in-one landing page tool that allows you to get professional landing pages up and running in no time. As with the other tools, no design or programming experience is needed to get started.
56. KickoffLabs: KickoffLabs positions itself as the lead generation solution. It offers both landing pages and a built-in email marketing solution so you don’t have to purchase another service provider, and it offers sign-up widgets and viral contest features designed to grow your audience.
WordPress Landing Page and Coming Soon Plugins
Many of the WordPress plugins mentioned below are free. However, they offer fewer customization options than their stand-alone software cousins.
57. Launcher Theme: This free theme is responsive and comes with a countdown clock. There are different looks you can create to get visitors to subscribe.
58. SeedProd: SeedProd is a simple, easy-to-use WordPress plugin that makes it easy to create coming soon and maintenance pages.
59. WPLauncher: A free premium WordPress theme that is simple and has a single purpose: to provide an attractive, customizable domain parking theme for WordPress users.
60. Felice Theme: A free responsive theme that comes complete with a progress bar so your visitors can follow the progress of your website construction.
61. Lexiity: This theme from Themes Kingdom is fully responsive, allows customization, and comes with a countdown clock.
62. Beaver Builder: A WordPress builder for all types of pages.
63. Coming Soon and Maintenance Mode: This simple plugin comes with a huge variety of themes, images, and customizations. Create a great-looking page in just minutes.
64. WP Maintenance Mode: Add a simple page to let people know your site is under construction. Includes a countdown timer.
65. Maintenance Pro: This paid landing page theme is designed with a large, image-rich splash page and integrations with email platforms like Mailchimp.
66. WordPress Landing Pages: This landing page plugin gives site owners the ability to monitor and track conversion rates and to run a/b or multivariate split tests on landing pages to increase lead flow.
And Finally…
67. Newsletter Signup : This plugin allows you to add various ways for your visitors to subscribe to your email list. Newsletter Sign-Up is most known for its “Sign-up to our newsletter” checkbox at the WordPress comment form where your commenters can easily join your email list.
Want more tips to grow your email list? Then watch this video:
Are You Still with Me?
These 67 tools should be enough to get you started. Do you have a favorite email marketing tool that you think the rest of us should use? If so, let us know in the comments section below.
About the Author: Greg Digneo maximizes your B2B sales through email marketing campaigns that your customers love to read.
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