Drive e-mail marketing opt-in with WordPress Mailchimp and a nice overlay pop-up

When you start seriously blogging, the first thing you should do is to integrate WordPress with your e-mail marketing activities. This forms the basis of an integrated social media marketing strategy

Why Integrate Blog and E-mail?

Integrating email & social media marketing is already being done by 90% of UK business. So it should be simple to get a sign-up form working with WordPress and Mailchimp.

Annoyingly, a well timed (or placed) pop-up is more likely to get filled in by a visitor if they just read a great post.

Social Media Marketing with WordPress

Out of the box, WordPress is one of the best integrated social media marketing platforms around. WordPress can handle blogs, websites, user feedback, ratings, analytics and even e-mail. If you don’t know Mailchimp, then go sign-up for a free account now - and check out my Slideshare presentation to get you started with email marketing

So in this guide - we’ll quickly setup a pop-up / overlay integrate it with your Mailchimp account and start driving e-mail opt-ins.

Social Media Marketing Plugins for WordPress

MailChimp List Subscribe Form - by CrowdFavorite & Mailchimp

I’m a fan of MailChimp and this is by far the best.

Simple PopUp

I’ve tried a few pop-up plugins. The free version of Simple PopUp is all you need.

Add a pop-up form to the home page of your WordPress blog

1. Install both plugins
2. Go to Settings > Mailchimp Setup and login
3. Configure your subscription form
4. (while you’re at it - what about going to Appearances > Widgets)
5. Go to SimplePop > Simplepop
6. Switch to HTML Text Editor and paste in this shortcode [mailchimpsf_form]
7. Save
8. Visit your homepage

For an example (and of course you can sign-up for my e-mail list) visit this microsite  http://mobile.damien.co/

Good Habits with Opt-in for E-mail Marketing

Pop-ups and opt-in for marketing should be optional.

It’s better to have an opt-in after the visitor has read a great story then use your sign-up form as a barrier to entry.

Always reward the visitor.

Full-stop. If they consent to receive your well crafted marketing communications, reward the visitor with a special benefit.

Increase Engagement - cross pollinate your other marketing comms channels can lead to sales

If a visitor opts into your e-mail marketing, maybe you can send them a free pen in the post. Think how you can increase engagement with your ‘future’ customer.

Meet the author

Damien Saunders
An experienced management consultant and business leader interested in digital transformation, product centred design and scaled agile. If I'm not writing about living with UCTD (an autoimmune disease), I'm probably listening to music, reading a book or learning more about wine.
Find our more about me.