Do you want to create an email list in WordPress?
Email marketing is the best way to stay in touch with your readers. And it’s much more effective for reaching your audience than social media alone.
In this email marketing guide for beginners, we’ll show you how to easily build an email list in WordPress.
Because this is a longer article, we put together a table of contents below to navigate each section.
- What is an Email List?
- Why Email Marketing is Important?
- How to Get Started With Your Email List Building?
- Which Service to Use for Email List Building?
- How to Add an Optin Form with WPForms?
- How to Add Your Optin Forms With OptinMonster?
What is an Email List?
An email list is a group of people who’ve requested to get regular email updates from you. Typically, people get onto your email list by adding their information in an opt-in form on your site.
Building an email list allows you to stay in touch with your readers and customers by using an email marketing software.
And because email is a reliable form of communication, you can easily let your readers know about anything coming up, such as new products, sales, or special announcements.
Why Email Marketing is Important?
On our websites, email marketing outperforms social media marketing in the number of clicks.
We have tested this repeatedly and the result is always the same: Emails get us 10 times more clicks than all social media combined.
But why does email perform so well? The answer is simple: email is private and personal.
If this is not a good enough reason to start building your email list, here are some major benefits.
- Guaranteed Reach – When you use Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, your updates are bound to be missed due to the very nature of social media algorithms. However, people tend to check emails a lot more carefully than their social networks.
- Access and Ownership – You don’t own the content you post on social media. At any time, your account can be suspended and you lose all your followers. Or what if your favorite social media platform goes out of business? We’re not saying they will, but your email list is something that you own. Second, you are not limited to the rules of the social platform, such as character length or hashtag rules. You set the limits yourself. You can integrate email newsletters within your WordPress blog with more effectiveness than embedding social platforms (we will show you how later in this guide).
- Better Targeting – The best part about building your email list is that you can use it to target your audience locally (for folks in specific countries, cities, states). If you are launching a product in select locations, then email is the best way to reach your subscribers in that area.
- Increase Revenue – The bottom line is when you have guaranteed reach, better targeting, and attention of your users, then you are definitely going to increase revenue.
But isn’t email dead? Haven’t you heard social media is where everyone’s at?
It’s a common statement but if email use was truly dead, then why does every social media platform require you to sign up with an email address?
Email has been the most reliable form of electronic communication for the past two decades, and it hasn’t slowed down. Plus, building an email list is a lot easier than building a following on social media platforms.
Facebook and Instagram both limit the reach of your pages to a small percentage of your followers unless you want to pay for ads. Similarly, your tweets only appear for a limited time on a user’s feed.
On the other hand, when you send an email, it reaches all your subscribers and stays in their inbox until they take action.
We are not saying you should abandon social media. These sites are great for building user engagement, but email will bring you more visitors, conversions, and sales.
Lastly, a social media site can disappear or become less popular (remember Myspace?). When they disappear, they will take your followers with them.
On the other hand, email has been around since the dawn of the internet. And it’s still the most popular way people communicate online.
How to Get Started Building Your Email List
The first thing you need is a reliable email service provider.
These companies specialize in email delivery, and you need them to ensure your email reaches the inbox of all your subscribers (instead of having your email marked as spam).
Even though you can use WordPress to send emails, we strongly recommend against that (see why you should never use WordPress to send email newsletters).
These professional email service providers spend a lot of money and resources on their email delivery infrastructure to make sure that your email does not end up in your subscriber’s junk folder.
All major companies like Facebook, Apple, eBay, and Amazon use a third-party email marketing service.
Apart from deliverability, these companies also provide you with email marketing tools that you’ll need to make your emails more effective.
Which Email Marketing Service Should You Use?
There are many great email marketing providers out there.
It’s a very competitive industry which means companies are always trying to keep their costs low while offering a lot of features.
Below are just some of the providers that we have worked with and highly recommend.
Build Your Email List with Email Marketing Software
Constant Contact is the best email marketing service provider for all sizes of businesses and websites.
It lets you send emails, manage subscribers, track emails, view analytics, set up autoresponders, create beautiful email templates, target subscribers, and split test your campaigns.
This software allows you to capture email addresses, works easily with WordPress, and has integrations for all the top WordPress plugins and tools.
The best part is that Constant Contact comes with a two-month free trial. This gives you enough time to set up your email list and start capturing email addresses.
By the end of the trial, your list will be paying for itself. Sign up for FREE!
Other alternatives are SendinBlue, Drip, and ConvertKit. They all work well with WordPress and are easy to use for beginners.
For the sake of this guide, we’ll show you how to set up an email list using Constant Contact. However, the process is quite similar regardless of which email service you choose.
Create Your Email List in Constant Contact
Let’s set up your email list. This is simply a list where you will store contact information of all users who sign up for your email newsletter.
Go to the Constant Contact website and click on ‘sign up for free’, and then fill out your information.
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. It can be whatever you want, but we’ll call it ‘My Email List’ for this example.
You’re done creating your list people can subscribe to. The next step is to add an email subscription form to your WordPress website where your readers can sign up.
For more details on setting up your email list, see our guide on how to add email subscriptions to your WordPress blog.
Add Subscribers To Your Email List with WPForms
While Constant Contact comes with an email signup form builder, the fastest way to get started is to use the WPForms. It integrates seamlessly with Constant Contact to set up an optin form easily.
First, you need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. If you need help, then follow our guide on how to install a plugin for detailed instructions.
Note: There is also a free version called WPForms Lite, which includes Constant Contact support but it has limited features.
Upon activation, head over to the WPForms » Add New page and then select the ‘Newsletter Signup Form’ template.
You’ll see a sample newsletter signup form inside the form builder interface.
On the next page, you’ll get a notice to connect your email marketing service in the marketing tab. More on that in a second.
Make sure to change the name of your form by clicking on the title. For this example, we called it ‘Subscribe For Regular Updates’ but you can name it whatever you want.
Click on the orange ‘SAVE’ button. Now, you’ll want to set up your confirmation message. Click on ‘Confirmations’ on the left under ‘General’ and we’ll update that.
You’ll see this:
The default confirmation message reads “Thanks for contacting us! We will be in touch with you shortly.” but you can put anything here you want. This is the message your readers will see after they subscribe to your newsletter.
Now, click the marketing tab on the left:
Now, you’ll see the ‘Constant Contact’ button. Click that to connect your new email list to the form we’ve created.
For the next step, click on the ‘Add New Connection’ button and you’ll see a popup that asks you to name your connection. We’ve named it ‘My Newsletter Form’ but you can name it anything you wish.
After that, you’ll see this:
Click on ‘Click here to register with Constant Contact’ link to enter your Constant Contact details. Now, you’ll see a message that asks you to let WPForms to access your account. Click on the ‘Allow’ button to continue.
You’ll be given a long authorization code to register your form.
Enter your code, along with the account nickname (make sure it’s something that is familiar) into those fields. Click ‘Connect’ and you’re done.
On the next screen, you can select the fields you want to pass from your WPForm to your Constant Contact list. We chose ‘email’ and ‘full name’ but you can select as many as you want.
Just be sure those two fields are on your optin form.
Click the big orange ‘Save’ button when you’re done.
Now your form is set up and it’s time to place it on our WordPress website. For this example, we’ll put it in the sidebar.
Go to Appearance » Widgets page to add the WPForms widget to your sidebar.
Give your widget a title and select your newsletter sign-up form. Click on the ‘Save’ button to store your widget settings.
When you visit your website, you’ll see your email subscription form in the sidebar.
Now, any time someone inputs their name and email into your form, they’ll be added to your email list.
Grow Your Email List Faster with OptinMonster
Did you know that more than 70% of your website visitors will never visit it again? The Internet is just too big and there are tons of websites and competition is fierce in most industries.
You get just a few seconds to convince a website visitor to stay and look around.
This is where OptinMonster comes in. It is the best conversion optimization software in the world and allows you to easily convert website visitors into subscribers and customers.
With this optin software, you can set up welcome mats, exit-intent popups, slide-in forms, floating bars, and more optin styles to capture the most email subscribers possible.
From there, you can customize your form in style, and use smart targeting rules to display it at the precise time and location.
Here’s an example of a subtle and polite slide-in form used on the OptinMonster blog:
One thing here is key: user experience. At WPBeginner, we have successfully used this lightbox popup and noticed a 600% increase in our subscribers without affecting the user experience or seeing any decrease in pageviews.
OptinMonster comes with a 14-day money back guarantee, so if you use it and don’t see an increase in your subscribers, then you can get a full refund.
Interacting with Your Subscribers
Once you’ve started building your email list, it’s crucial that you engage with your subscribers.
Ideally, you’ll make it a habit to send them regular emails, whether it’s weekly or monthly.
Not every email has to be promotional. You can send emails requesting feedback, giving helpful tips, or letting them know of new content you’ve created.
We hope this article helped you learn how to build an email list in WordPress. You may also like our list of tested and easy ways to grow your email list faster, and our proven tips on how to grow your website traffic.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Very informative !
What’s the theme you are using in your blog ?
We are using a custom theme that we have created for our site
Good read! Exactly the info I was looking for.
Glad our guide could be helpful
Thank you so much for this. It must be a good sign I am reaching this part of the process.
Thank you
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Hi there, thank you for this article! I just want to clarify a few points. Am I right in thinking you can use WP Forms for creating your contact form on your ‘Contact’ page, but will have to upgrade to the Pro version in order to store the emails submitted here? Then you can ALSO install say Optimonster for added opt-in pop-ups etc across your website which also collect email address. Then in addition you will need something like Constant Contact to send emails and manage your subscriber lists?
The pro version of WPForms would also store your submissions on your site instead of only emailing them to you. OptinMonster offers the popups to bring attention to your email list, for collecting and sending emails you would want to use Constant contact.
Thank you! If I got constant contact or mail chimp, would I need to pay to upgrade to WPForms Pro or would these plugins collate my email addresses into a list for me?
Those plugins would be able to collect your email list for you. If you wanted to connect your email list to your contact form it would require the paid version for that feature.
This topic is interesting to read and it is very useful.
Glad you found our guide helpful
I love WordPress. I love email marketing ting. They’re my favorite. Thank you so much
You’re welcome, glad you found our article helpful
I am just now building an email list and letting people subscribe to my website. My biggest concern is that I tend to go back and update posts, sometimes 5 times in 5 minutes. Obviously, I don’t want that to cause everyone on my list to get that same article five times just because I changed a semicolon to a comma. Do any of these services allow you to send only newly published posts and not posts that have been updated?
Most of the auto-email options for those are based on RSS so you shouldn’t need to worry as if you edit a post it shouldn’t republish it in your RSS.
Is an email list the same as a follower, ie when folks sign up to follow my blog? Is there a way to download/save this list of links to followers in the event that something were happen with wordpress?
It would depend on what you are using for creating the option to follow. More than likely you are using Jetpack then it is slightly different as they are using WordPress.com to follow your site rather than signing up for your email list.
Yeah nice article. Loved it
Thank you
I am so easy understand .This airticle is Informative and entertaining at the same time. I have learned a lot from this post.
Glad you liked our article
This is what I needed a very easy and helpful content
Glad our content could be helpful
A wonderful step by step process explained very well for novices on how and why to build an email list. It was very helpful. Thank you.
You have the most comprehensive site for WP newbies like me.
Thank you!
Thanks, sayid Balki sir, you created a great space for beginners. WP Beginner is my all time favorite website to clarify my WordPress concerns.
I am so grateful for your post.Thanks Again. Great post !!
Hi,
I had my blog for 3 years now and decided to start an email list to send to my subscribers a newsletter. But I’m using the wordpress blog the free version (WordPress.com), how can I get my subscribers who decided to follow me to get their e-mail addresses to send them the newsletter? Or do I have to create an e-mail list and how do I put it on WordPress? Sorry I’m still new to this.
Great article though I have a better understanding than before.
Thanks,
Bonnie
Hello Wp team members,
You guys did a fantastic job and share quality knowledge consistently. In this post, you have nicely explained that how to build an email list in WordPress, along with the spectacular recourses which help out individuals for successful email marketing campaigns
As we all know that collecting emails is the most significant part of this process OptinMonster make it easy for us to do so nicely and effectively.
Warm Regard’s
Mairaj
Hi , is it possible to use wordpress for email auto responders?
I’m intrested in Integrating an email sign up Box on my checkout screen for my word press site. I actually had not thought of that before but it has come to the forefront with me right now because I’m having a problem with the site. The Box that they can check already exists which I was not aware of. What the problem is just the other day my website started having an internal server error as people tried to get to the payment screen. After playing around with-it for a little bit I found that if they check the Box it would move to the payment screen but if you don’t check the Box it gives the error message and I cannot figure out how to find and correct this issue . Please help.
Thanks for the information! I am wondering which version of WordPress is necessary in order to build an email list. I haven’t been able to find that information anywhere online. Right now I have the free version, and am wondering if my only option is upgrading to the 300$ business plan.
Hi Emily,
You will need a self hosted WordPress.org site to build your email list properly. Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
Hi,
Thanks for all this info.
I’ve been trying to set up a new blog on wordpress.org.
I’m using optins (optin monster) in the sidebar and after the posts, for people to subscribe to my blog.
I have then connected those optins to mailchimp in the ‘Integrations’ while editing the optins.
But I am unable to set up mailchimp to send out welcome emails or confirmation emails to new subscribers through those optins.
Any help will be highly appreciated.
Hi Romil,
You need to enable double optin for your mailing list or setup an automation workflow in MailChimp. Please check this article on OptinMonster support website for detailed instructions.
am i can trust them, to build my email list
Hi,
Please see this article on why you should never buy an email list.
Once you have created your list, think of ways to stand out from the crowd. These days, inboxes are overflowing with emails and you do not want yours to be the ones sent to the trash folder. Use a unique template, offer discounts and always include calls to action so your list can keep growing and improving through time. By measuring the success rate of your campaign, you will know how big of a driving sales force it is and make the next one even better.
This is great EXCEPT that MailChimp and others REQUIRE posting your physical address! Yikes!!!! for a lifestyle blogger, I don’t want my address out there! Isn’t there any way to subscribe readers for free? All these other services cost $10-$20/month… I’m just writing! not making a dime!
Are you talking about the address seen at the bottom of the footer in your email? I deleted mine when I was designing my campaign newsletter. Just select the footer box, find your address in the side column and delete it.
Right now I have a free wordpress blog and am preparing to go self-hosted within the next few months. I’m trying to figure out if my wordpress followers count as email subscribers, as I’m trying to figure out which email provider to go through.
Shelly, no they do not count as email subscribers. Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
H!
I am completely new to wordpress and am trying to set up a mailing list for my page. I have seen lots of discussions online on how to set up different tools, but my main question wasn’t even touched:
Where is all the data stored?
Do I need a mail provider to collect and store all the subscribers, or can I start with a free service and collect these adresses within my own system (i.e. wordpress) to have a free alternative for the start?
It seems the tools itself are not that expensive, the email providers are…
Thanks for any reply
You will need an email marketing service to manage your email list.
I was thinking the same thing! Thanks for asking!
Hello Wp Team!
Usually, people think twice before signing up for a blog with daily post updates as they find daily updates in their inbox a bit frustrating. It is logical to give them different options like “Get Updates Daily” or “Get Updates Weekly” etc.
I really like the subscription form that you are using on the sidebar. Which plugin or service are you using for that? I suspect it is WPForms.
How you send your subscribers news?
Depends on which email marketing software you are using. If you are using Constant Contact, then you just need to click on the create button to write your email and then send it right away or schedule it.
Thank you so much for the advice – simple and straight forward
Can you suggest any wordpress subscription plugin for my Event Management bog in flat design …
Can I include my current subscribers to my email newsletter list? Just regular blog subscribers? Or is it only for new subscribers? Thanks!
OptinMonster is one of my email builder tested and its less irritating the visitor is the one quality that a blogger jewelry as Balkhi can develop.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful post that I also share social media to help my friends.
Very clear to understand, very efficient, I really liked it!
Thank you!
You know what? I still prefer GetResponse- it’s my number one!
its easy to understand.
I really don’t have a clue about anything technological and I’ve found this very helpful, thank you!
What about hosting your own email marketing service with plugins like “Email Newsletter” or “Newsletter”. Anyone have experience with it? Is it too complicated? I would think if you’re just starting out, it would be pretty easy to manage a small list on your own site. Just a thought.
-Thomas
I pay an annual fee for my wordpress.com site. Can I use the optinmonster on it?
No you cannot. Please see our guide on the difference between WordPress.com and Self Hosted WordPress.org sites.
If your site draws the general population, it matters less than if your site is scholarly or intense. People who will read for more than, say, ten minutes of information, are more likely to be turned off by pop-ups. I don’t use them because people are using my site as reference material. I don’t even have email capture because I don’t understand it, but that may explain part of how, with no promotion whatsoever, no SEO, my site draws a, to me, impressive number of repeat visitors.
I don’t like the popup type email signups. I think the slide-in types are okay, but it gets tedious when they reappear after I’ve minimized them.
Thanks for the good ideas!
I’ve used campaignmonitor for newsletters, highly recommend it.
Norm
Hi
It is one of the most comprehensive post on email marketing I ever read.
I think instead of trying the limited options of free MailChimp service one needs to get premium from the day one if he is really damn serious to build an email list and earn money easily.
OptinMonster is one of my tested email builder and its least irritating the visitor is the unique quality which a gem of blogger like Balkhi can develop.
Thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful post which I also share at social media to help my friends.
Good to read and like to get the monstaroptin and gravity forms free !