How to Collect Email Addresses in WordPress (29 Tips) 

Want to know how to collect email addresses in WordPress? With a bigger email list, growing your business online is much easier.

You might think that growing an email list takes a lot of time and effort, but with the right tips and tricks, it doesn’t have to.

This article will show you the best ways to collect email addresses on your WordPress site. With the tactics below, you’ll capture email subscribers in no time.

Tips to Collect Email Addresses in WordPress:

Website Optimization Tactics

1. Use a Coming Soon Page Before Launch

Suppose you want to collect email addresses in WordPress and don’t want to wait until your site launches. The solution is to start working on it the day you buy your domain name.

Not sure how to do it?

Just add a beautiful coming soon page to your website. With a coming soon page, you can get a head start building a WordPress mailing list even when your site is still under construction. Then, you can use it to build a buzz and create excitement about your upcoming site.

Creating a coming soon page lets you rank your new website in Google before launching. This can help boost your site’s SEO from day 1.

Add a welcome page to give your visitors a sneak peek. Then, add an option to subscribe to your newsletter for notifications. You can then send emails to users in the run-up to launch day.

If you don’t know how to create an email newsletter to collect email addresses, here’s a guide to help.

2. Use Landing Pages to Collect Email Addresses

Creating good landing pages is crucial for converting visitors into new subscribers and collecting email addresses in WordPress.

While homepages have lots of information, landing pages direct traffic to a specific action. For instance, buying a product or using a sign-up form to join your email list.

A powerful landing page helps boost your online marketing campaigns and list growth. Yet, many site owners find it challenging to create high-converting landing pages without a developer.

We recommend using a landing page builder like SeedProd to make the process much easier like this waitlist landing page.

SeedProd is the best WordPress landing page plugin with coming soon and maintenance mode functionality. With its drag-and-drop visual builder, you can create any type of landing page with no coding required.

It comes with a growing library of landing page templates to help you get started quickly. You can also work on your site privately by activating the built-in coming soon and maintenance mode pages with a single click.

To collect email addresses on WordPress using SeedProd, add the opt-in form block from the block menu. Add the Email field to your form and customize it as needed.

You can also grow your email list with:

• Registration forms to encourage people to sign up for a webinar
• Contact form using the powerful free WPForms form builder
• Giveaways for lead generation using RafflePress
• And more.

Plus, it integrates with popular email marketing services like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, GetResponse, AWeber, etc., to manage and grow your list faster than ever.

Don’t have an email marketing service? SeedProd’s subscriber dashboard allows you to see your email list subscribers right inside WordPress.

Even better, SeedProd is a bloat-free WordPress plugin. It won’t slow down your website, making it easier to offer an excellent user experience. And you can do all that while you collect email addresses.

3. Create a Powerful Lead Capturing Form for Your Site

Adding a lead capture or lead generation form to your website is another way to use your WordPress website to collect email addresses.

A lead generation or opt-in form helps collect essential data from visitors, such as their email addresses and phone numbers. Here’s an example from the Daily Harvest site:

You can also use a CTA on these forms to direct visitors to a landing page that requires their email address.

Plugins like WPForms can make creating forms super easy. You can add forms to posts or pages in WordPress or a widget in your website sidebar.

4. Improve Your Lead Generation Form Design

Lead generation forms are crucial for your website to collect email addresses. But not all forms have the power to convert. By following a few simple rules, you can make your email optin forms convert much more easily to grow your list.

Here are a few tips you can follow:

• Keep your forms short
• Use eye-catching colors and images
• Create a multi-step form if your form is too long
• Use compelling calls-to-action
• Create distraction-free landing pages

Check out these lead generation form examples for even more lead-capturing ideas and more users subscribing. That said, remember to keep your visitors engaged and your forms short.

5. Be Smart With Your CTA Text

A good CTA text has the power to persuade people to want to click. Studies show that words like “Submit” or “Register” have the lowest click-through rates.

To avoid that, you can use your creativity to develop better alternatives. Here are some examples to help you collect even more email addresses:

• Let’s go
• Click here
• Let’s begin
• Show me
• Prove it

After, make sure you A/B test your CTA to learn which works best.

6. Add Exit-Intent Popups

Exit popups trace visitors’ activity based on their cursor movements. As soon as they detect a user’s intention to exit your site, they display a popup with a message.

You can use popups with signup forms to ask visitors to sign up for your newsletter and grow your WordPress mailing list.

You can have a double benefit by adding exit popups to your website. It can help you:

• Reduce your bounce rate
• Reach your conversion goals

Exit popups can draw all the attention of your visitors just when they are about to leave. According to OptinMonster, using these popups on your site can make 53% of your customers take action before they go.

Pro Tip: Many Exit popups use a stunning lightbox effect to remove page distractions. Learn all about the best WordPress lightbox plugins here.

Content & Offer Strategies

7. Create High-Quality Email Content

You should send quality emails to your WordPress mailing list if you want to increase open rates and keep people subscribed.

If your emails are particularly entertaining, users may even forward your email content to their friends and contacts. Otherwise, they can just as easily unsubscribe, and you may never hear from them again.

Creating great content for your email starts with writing high-converting email copy. Your readers will begin converting to new customers and spreading the word with their wider network.

8. Use Lead Magnets to Collect Email Addresses in WordPress

A lead magnet is an incentive offered to potential buyers for their email addresses or contact information. Your lead magnet is generally a piece of content in the form of a digital download.

It can be anything – a cheat sheet, a PDF file, a video, an eBook, a white paper, or something similar. Just make sure you’re creating content that offers value to your users. Then let users download it in exchange for their email address.

OptinMonster allows you to create and display your lead magnet. For a detailed overview, check out our OptinMonster review.

OptinMonster is the most powerful lead generation software and marketing tool on the market. It offers tons of fantastic ways to collect email addresses on your website and a variety of customizable campaigns to make capturing leads super easy.

You can create:

• Slide-ins
• Lightbox popups
• ​Exit popups
• Floating bars
• Welcome mats
• And much more.

With smart targeting rules, you can target the right website visitors at the right time. You can even start a/b testing campaigns to see which variations work the best.

Plus, you can integrate this tool with many email automation and autoresponder service providers, such as Campaign Monitor and Drip.

Here are some lead magnet examples to get you started.

9. Collect Email Addresses with Content Upgrades

Content upgrades are another way to encourage users to subscribe to your email list.

Often, they’re used to add extra value to existing content in return for the user’s email address.

For example, you can create a handy swipe file of important information used in a blog post. Then, people can download and access it when they need it. Or, if you run a podcast, you can offer the show notes or transcription as a content upgrade.

You can also create a checklist of steps used in an article so users can check off each step as they follow them.

10. Lock Your Content

Adding locked or gated content is another way to collect emails from your visitors. This kind of content needs your visitors to provide their email addresses to access the entire post.

Just remember to add a powerful introduction to hook your readers. This will make them want to continue reading, which they can do only by providing their email addresses.

You can also start writing blog posts to offer free tips for beginners in your niche. Then, add advanced tips and keep it gated. Ask your user to access the full content in exchange for their email address.

11. Publish Case Studies

Case studies are an excellent way to show potential customers how your existing clients enjoy your products or services.

Case studies are super actionable, and they also give users the exact tactics used to achieve the desired results.

When you give readers great content to grow their business, they’re more likely to want to know when to read more of it. So, this is the perfect opportunity to ask for their email addresses in return.

Engagement & Incentives

12. Grow Your Email List With Gamification

Want an exciting way to capture your visitor’s attention? Try using coupon wheel optin forms to collect email addresses in WordPress. This is especially useful for eCommerce sites to offer discounts.

Gamification is a psychological trick that savvy marketers use to get more leads and grow their email lists faster.

Here’s a tutorial on how to create a spin-to-win email signup form.

13. Organize Giveaways

People love free stuff.

Offering something for free to help visitors solve a problem is an excellent bait to draw their attention. You can organize giveaways for your online business and promote them using your social profiles in a tweet or status update.

For example, it can be anything related to your niche, like a digital download. In return, ask users to sign up using their email addresses.

Here’s a guide on how to run a successful viral giveaway to grow your email list. It also shows you how to create a distraction-free giveaway landing page.

14. Offer a Discount Coupon

Offering discount coupons and birthday rewards is a brilliant way to attract visitors to your site and grow your WordPress mailing list.

If you’re selling your products or services online, offer a discount coupon in exchange for your visitor’s email address. Chances are they’ll hand it over to get a discount.

15. Add Social Proof

By adding social proof to your website, you can instantly add more value and credibility to your business. It’s like adding a testimonial from users who approve of your product or service.

There are various types of social proof :

• industry experts making recommendations
• celebrity or influencer endorsements
• customer reviews
• huge social media following

Social proof adds genuine value to your business and encourages users to respond to your CTA happily. TrustPulse makes adding social proof to your site super easy.

16. Organize Online Quizzes and Contests

Everyone loves a little friendly competition. That’s why creating online quizzes and contests is such an effective way to boost engagement and collect email addresses.

To make this strategy work, choose a quiz or contest theme that truly speaks to your target audience. Consider their interests, struggles, or knowledge gaps within your industry.

Once you’ve got a winning theme, focus on questions that keep people entertained. You can ask thought-provoking questions, include visuals to make things more interesting, and offer multiple-choice answers. The key is to make the experience interactive and fun.

Of course, you want to make sure that participants know they need to give you their email address in order to see their final score or results. This little bit of “email gating” provides an incentive for them to sign up, as they’ll be eager to find out how they did.

To maximize the reach of your quiz or contest, make sure to promote it heavily! Share it on social media, send it to your email list (if you have one already), and embed it directly within relevant blog posts.

Lastly, don’t forget about the power of a good follow-up. After someone takes your quiz or enters your contest, send them a targeted email with their results and include a special offer or call to action related to their interests.

17. Host a Free Challenge

Hosting challenges are in trend right now. You must have seen various challenges like the “30-day blogging challenge” doing rounds on the internet.

These challenges inspire and motivate people to do something they have procrastinated on for too long. Many people join challenges to get started or get better at what they do.

You, too, can host such a challenge and ask people to register with their email addresses to join. RafflePress is an easy way to do this with daily giveaway entries.

19. Host a Webinar

People love attending webinars. Visitors can quickly get advice from industry experts and thought leaders by signing up for one. Here’s how to host a successful webinar.

Then use the opportunity to collect email addresses by asking people to register for it to bolster your email list-building efforts. Here is a list of software you can use to host your webinar.

Social Media & Cross-Promotion

20. Guest Blog

Guest blogging is a brilliant way to expand your WordPress website’s mailing list through content marketing. You can pitch your idea to popular websites in your niche that accept guest posts.

Once approved, write a great post and add a link to your website in the author’s byline. Make sure your visitors land on a page where they must submit their email addresses.

21. Add a Call-to-Action to Your Social Pages

This point is similar to the above one. Except for this, we’ll shift the focus to your social pages.

Social platforms like your Facebook page, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., can help you reach hundreds of people simultaneously. By adding a call to action to your social profile, you can direct your visitors to a landing page to submit their email addresses.

Call-to-action buttons, or CTA buttons, direct your visitors toward your conversion goal. In this case, your conversion goal is to make people subscribe to your email list.

22. Add Cards to Your YouTube Videos

If you have a YouTube channel, try adding hyperlinked end cards to your videos. This can boost engagement on your website and encourage visitors to subscribe. Here’s a screenshot to help you understand better.

23. Set Up Cross Promotions

Instead of promoting your own business all by yourself, try setting up a cross-promotion campaign.

Collaborate with other bloggers in your niche and promote each other’s business. In the process, you can end up with a longer email list.

Not sure how to connect with a potential prospect? Don’t worry. Platforms like Madneto can help you find partners to collaborate with.

24. Run a Twitter Campaign

Twitter is a great platform for reaching hundreds of followers. You can use it to run a paid ad campaign to promote a free resource that requires the user’s email address.

Here are more ideas for using Twitter for lead generation.

25. Use Facebook Ads to Drive Traffic

You can also use Facebook ads to drive traffic to your most important landing pages. This is an excellent idea if you have an active social media following that regularly engages with your updates.

Your ads can include a call to action to visit your landing page, where you can add an optin form to get more subscribers. Just make sure you optimize your Facebook ads to increase conversion rates.

26. Pin Your Optin Landing Page to Pinterest

If you’re already using Pinterest in your marketing strategy, pin your optin landing page to Pinterest. Then, you can promote the pin with Pinterest ads to attract more leads.

Remember to include a keyword-rich description in your pin and a great image to help you show up in search engine results.

List Maintenance

27. Segment Your List

Now that you’ve grown your list slightly using the above tactics, you can use it to increase your sales and collect more email addresses.

Your subscribers are more likely to click email marketing campaigns that cater to their interests. So if you want your emails to work, create targeted content and then segment your list based on your subscribers’ interests.

If your users like your emails, they’ll refer them to a friend or family.

28. Scrub Your Email List

Our final and most important tip for your list-building efforts is to scrub your email list.

Do you know that up to one-third of your subscribers never open your emails? Let alone click on your CTAs.

So, what’s the point in having them on your list? That’s when email scrubbing comes in.

If you already have an email list, make sure you keep it clean so you know that whatever data you have is practical and can yield results. Here’s how you can clean up your email list.

Offline & Other Strategies

29. Add a Link to Your Email Signature

Don’t underestimate the power of a well-crafted email signature. You send it out with every single email, making it a prime opportunity to passively promote your email list. Instead of just including your basic contact information, why not transform your signature into a subtle call to action?

It’s as simple as adding a link to your website’s sign-up page. But don’t just link to your homepage. Instead, send people directly to a dedicated landing page that clearly explains all the amazing benefits they’ll get by subscribing. Make it incredibly easy for them to sign up.

When crafting your signature, keep the text concise and inviting. You don’t need a long sales pitch. A short and sweet phrase like “Join my free email list for [mention a key benefit]!” or “Don’t miss out! Sign up for my newsletter” often works best.

For an extra visual boost, consider using a visually appealing button with a clear call to action like “Subscribe Now!” instead of a plain text link.

Finally, remember to brand your email signature! Use your brand colors and fonts to maintain consistency.

30. Add QR Codes to Leaflets and Flyers

You can also use your printed materials to encourage signups and grow your email list. Then, all people need to do is scan the code to view your optin page and join.

FAQs on Growing Your Email List

Additionally, email marketing is better at targeting specific audiences. Many email marketing services offer features to segment your list to reach different groups of people.

We hope this article helped you learn how to collect email addresses in WordPress. Once you have a robust list, you can make money with email marketing.

We hope you found this article helpful. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more such content if you do.

Further Reading:

• How to Make a Click to Call Link in WordPress
• How to Create a WordPress Form with File Upload
• Email Unsubscribe Page Examples