Quick Tip: Boost Opt-ins with Contact Form 7 for WordPress
You might have heard the saying, âthe money is in the listâ. Your email list, to be exact. Email marketing is widely considered to be the most powerful form of marketing today, and there are plenty of stats to back it up.
A big email subscriber base gives you a lot of power. You have an audience at your fingertips who like your brand and are ready to invest in it. If you have any sort of product or service, an email list is invaluable to you.
The problem? It can be difficult to get email addresses. Some people hate popups with a passion and wonât give them the time of day. Even if you offer something great in exchange for an email address, some people may not be interested.
One particularly effective method of getting email addresses is to include an auto-checked box in your contact form. Whenever someone contacts you through the form, there will be a pre-checked box that automatically signs them up for your newsletter. Of course, they can uncheck it if they want to, but many people donât.
In this article, Iâll show you how to use the free and highly versatile Contact Form 7 plugin for WordPress to create an auto-checked box that will help your email list grow by leaps and bounds.
Iâd recommend checking your local spam laws and regulations before implementing this. Iâd be interested to hear more about your thoughts and preferred approach in the comments below.
What youâll need:
Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 MailChimp extension
How to Create an Auto-Checked Optin Box
1. Create a New Contact Form
In your Dashboard, navigate to âContactâ > âAdd Newâ. Youâll see a text field where you can code your contact form. The plugin conveniently provides several handy choices. All you have to do is click on the element you want (a drop-down menu, for example), modify it to your liking, and then click âInsert tag.â
After youâre done creating the form itself, you can head over to the âMailâ, âMessagesâ, and âAdditional Settingsâ tabs to further customize your form.
2. Integrate Your MailChimp Account with Contact Form 7
Next, click on the âMailChimpâ tab. Youâll see four fields here: âSubscriber Nameâ, âSubscriber Emailâ, âMailChimp API Keyâ, and âMailChimp List IDâ.
In the âSubscriber Nameâ field, enter [your-name]
. In the âSubscriber Emailâ field, enter [your-email]
. In the other two fields, you simply enter your MailChimp API key and List ID. (Hereâs how to find your API key, and hereâs how to find your List ID.)
3. Enter the Checkbox Shortcode
Finally, head back to the âFormâ tab. Youâre going to insert one simple line of shortcode wherever you want the checkbox to appear. Hereâs the shortcode:
[mc4wp_checkbox "Sign up for the email list!"]
You can replace the text with any message youâd like, and I recommend replacing it with a compelling phrase thatâs targeted to your audience.
Save the form, and youâre all done! Now, whenever someone contacts you and doesnât uncheck the box, theyâll be signed up for your list.
NB: If you have double optin enabled on your MailChimp account, the sender will still receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription.