Tag: best mailing list plugin

  • The 10 Best Of The Best Mailing List Tools And Plugins For 2014

    The 10 Best Of The Best Mailing List Tools And Plugins For 2014

    In this post, I am going to share with you 12 of the best mailing list plugins that will supercharge your list building campaign and increase your conversion rate.

    I could not emphasize enough the importance of starting a mailing list. As a self-claimed plugin junkie, I find it very difficult to work with the just your average plugin. Instead, I wanted to work with the best plugin available to ensure that I am grabbing all the chances available to me.

    As a blogger, you might be wondering which is probably the best plugin for your money and just like me, you want to make sure every visitor is converted into loyal subscribers.

    Related: 30 Best WordPress Social Sharing Plugins For 2015

    The best of the best mailing list plugins for 2014

    Best mailing list plugins 2014
    10 of the best mailing list plugins for bloggers in 2014

    In this article, I will cover 10 of the most popular, recommended and best mailing list tools that is guaranteed to skyrocket your mailing list building for the upcoming 2014.

    Best mailing list plugins with advance features – Hybrid Connect

    Hybrid Connect is one of the best mailing plugin builder for WordPress
    Hybrid Connect or HC is a tool that offers feature rich mailing list options for bloggers

    When it comes to the best mailing list plugin, Hybrid Connect is certainly one of my arsenal when it comes to list building. It offers a vast variety of ready-made templates which fits perfectly into:

    • Pop up
    • In-text (content area)
    • Slide in
    • Widget areas
    • Squeeze page
    • Integration with videos and webinars

    Setting up Hybrid Connect is easy and probably one of the easiest among all the plugins I have tested. Besides that Hybrid Connect also makes it easier to create multiple sign up forms with the form builder feature, video opt-in and split testing.

    Your visitors can also sign up using their Facebook account using Hybrid Connect which is a great way boost conversion rate.

    What I truly love about Hybrid Connect are the automatic responsive designs to fit any browser or layouts and as well as the quick response from support team for any inquiries.

    Hybrid Connect costs $49 for single site, $67 for multi site and $147 for a developer’s license. It comes with a full 30-days money back guarantee if you are unhappy with the plugin.

    Download Hybrid Connect (now it is renaed to Thrive Leads) | Hybrid Connect Review

    Best mailing list plugin for easy usage and integration – OptinSkin

    OptinSkin plugin review
    A plugin that does everything it is suppose to do; build a mailing list … fast

    OptinSkin is probably the best mailing list plugin (alternative) for many bloggers. So, what makes OptinSkin so popular?

    Personally, OptinSkin offers one of the best skins I have ever seen in a list building plugin. All the designs and layouts are perfectly done. This means that all you need to do is to integrate your mailing list provider code into OptinSkin and the rest is self-explanatory.

    OptinSkin offers several features such as:

    • Fade out forms
    • Pop ups
    • In-text (content area)
    • Widget areas

    While many other list building plugins are offering different packages, you can get OptinSkin with just one price for unlimited usage, $67. It also offers a full, 30-days money back guarantee.

    Give OptinSkin a trial run today!

    The revolutionary mailing list plugin – OptinMonster

    OptinMonster plugin review
    The latest, ground breaking and game changer mailing list plugin

    When you have two of the best WordPress developers working together, you get probably the best mailing list plugin for 2014. Syed Balkhi from WP Beginner and Thomas Griffin from Soliloquy slider are the ones behind this game changer plugin.

    I am not going to lie to you; OptinMonster offers around the same features Hybrid Connect, OptinSkin or probably a dozen more plugins.

    So, what makes OptinMonster … such as monster when it comes to mailing list building?

    Introducing ‘Exit Intent‘ from OptinMonster. For me, this is the groundbreaking, mind blowing and explosive feature every mailing list plugin should have.

    Exit Intent is basically a feature which tracks the mouse speed and your visitors gestures. When OptinMonster detects they are about to leave your blog, it will automatically trigger a pop up to ‘lure’ you to stay longer and build a bigger subscriber’s list.

    Personally, I call Exit Intent as ‘smart pop-up’.

    Exit Intent is a feature because over 70% of your visitors will NEVER return and it allows you to capitalize on that with Exit Intent and extremely powerful targeting features.

    While OptinMonster could probably be the best mailing list plugin for bloggers, and Internet Marketers, it costs $49 for a basic account, $99 for a plus account, $199 for a full year license and $349 for lifetime licence.

    Now, if the price is driving you away, don’t be! OptinMonster offers 14-days money back guarantee for all packages and thus, you know your money is in good hands.

    Test drive OptinMonster’s Exit Intent today.

    The best ‘all-in-one’ mailing list plugin – Subscriber’s Magnet

    What makes Subscriber's Magnet so popular?
    Subscriber’s Magnet offers a full list building ‘package’ at a very affordable price

    For those who are already building a list, Subscriber’s Magnet from MaxBlogPress is already a household name. Subscriber’s Magnet is probably one of the only ‘all-in-one’ plugin that offers everything you could ever wished for such as:

    Optin form within post, embedded inside comment

    • Pop up
    • Facebook connect feature
    • Exit pop in
    • Header and footer bars
    • Form auto filler

    What make me really attracted to Subscriber’s Magnet is that it offers a huge range of features which I could leverage especially when it comes to building a list.

    You can try Subscriber’s Magnet for $1 for the first 14 days and after that, you can either choose the $37 for single site usage or $97 for multi site usage.

    Download Subscriber’s Magnet.

    The best value for money mailing list plugin –  WP Lead Magnet

    WP Lead Magnet review
    The newest and the only plugin that is smart enough to automatically enable and disable view

    This is the latest plugin I came across and it really brings mailing list building process to the next level. Basically, WP Lead Magnet works in a very distinct way where each widget or sign up form will interact with each other to maximize the conversion rate.

    For example, news visitors to your blog will see sign up forms on the sidebar, in the content area and after post. Once they have signed up using any of these forms, the rest of the forms will automatically disappear from their view.

    This means that you utilize the spaces for banners, related post links and many more. At the moment, this is the only list building plugin which offers such feature.

    While this is probably the newest plugins available, it is highly recommended by Neil Patel and it had proven to be useful by increase conversion rate by over 317%.

    WP Lead Magnet costs $47 and as usual, it comes with a full 30-days money back guarantee.

    See what WP Lead Magnet is all about here.

    The most popular pop up plugin – Popup Domination

    The most popular pop up plugin, Popup Domination
    What makes Popup Domination so popular?

    Popup Domination is already a key player in the mailing list industry. While it doesn’t offer features such as sidebar widgets, popup is highly effective in terms of list building.

    Why should you consider Popup Domination?

    It is simple to use and lightweight. For those who are looking for a very simple solution to build a mailing list using popups, this is certainly one plugin you need to consider.

    Popup Domination offers:

    • A/B testing
    • Full analytic reports
    • Page specific popups
    • Display frequency
    • Force subscribe
    • Entry and exit pop up

    Popup Domination cost $77 and 60-days money back guarantee (plus refund after 60 days on a case-to-case basis).

    Try Popup Domination and tell me what you think!

    The best low budget mailing list plugin – Ninja Popups

    Ninja Popup is Popup Domination alternative
    Ninja Popup is cheap and does its job perfectly

    Is Popup Domination is too expensive for you? Don’t worry! There’s where Ninja Popups comes into play.

    It is used by thousands of blogger and is in fact, one of the most popular product sold on CodeCanyon with over 4,000 sales.

    Ninja Popups offers:

    • Opt-in locker
    • Multiple themes and skins to choose from
    • Social locker feature
    • Mobile responsive and suitable for all layouts
    • Quick 24/7 support

    If you are looking for a simple plugin to start off with mailing list building, this is one tool you must not miss out.

    Ninja Popup – Simplicity at its best!

    And if simplicity doesn’t make the cut, you probably won’t go wrong with this plugin. It costs only $18 and is in fact, one of the cheapest plugins that offers great returns.

    Download Ninja Popup now!

    The best web notification bar – Hello Bar

    Hello Bar web notification tool
    What makes Hello Bar such as an important tool when it comes to building a mailing list?

    Hello Bar is not a mailing list plugin but with it’s features, credibility and support, I believe it deserves to be in this top 12 spot. Hello Bar is a notification bar that could boost your conversion rate multiple times.

    While the success of using a notification bar is highly dependable to your blog, report and studies had shown that it is indeed a great move to build a mailing list.

    To name a few, here are some authority sites which are using Hello Bar:

    • QuickSprout
    • KISSmetrics
    • Kikolani

    For me, Hello Bar is a great tool to increase subscribers as that little small bar at the top can literally fetch thousands of subscribers without you knowing.

    And yes, currently it is free for all and therefore, I see no reasons why you shouldn’t use it.

    Download Hello Bar and try it yourself today.

    The best Hello Bar alternative – FooBar

    Hello Bar alternative, FooBar from codecanyon
    Foo Bar allows you to customize your notification bar to places you have never imagine before

    I came across FooBar when I was trying to find a more custom notification bar. As much as HelloBar is a great tool to start with, I always wish to have a better control over my site. For example, I wanted to remove the ‘H’ brand and make it more unique.

    FooBar offers:

    • Unlimited usage
    • Conditional logic
    • Rebrandable
    • 100% customizable
    • Top or bottom bars
    • Twitter and RSS feed integration

    FooBar only cost you $14 for lifetime license and if you ask me, this could possibly be one of the best and cheapest investment I ever done in my entire life.

    With the right CTA, FooBar could easily beat any list building plugins out there.

    Download FooBar now!

    The best and affordable mailing list provider (not plugin) – GetResponse

    Build a mailing list with GetResponse
    GetResponse offers many inbuilt signup forms if you are tight in budget

    Don’t get me wrong; GetResponse is not a mailing list plugin and I am sorry for the confusion.

    But wait! Why did I even include GetResponse in this roundup?

    When I published this article (Hybrid Connect vs OptinSkin review), some of my readers asked if there are other alternatives if they are tight in budget and do not want to invest in any form of plugin.

    I totally get it and I actually tested running popups using my email marketing provider, GetResponse (and a few others). As far as I can tell you, it works pretty well and you certainly do not need to use a mailing list plugin just to build a list of subscribers.

    So, how do you possibly leverage this from your email marketing provider?

    If you are using GetResponse, you could easily build popup forms using the web builder as seen below:

    GetResponse drag and drop form builder
    Build stunning sign up forms using GetResponse Drag and Drop editor

    This doesn’t only applies to GetResponse but also to over a dozen email marketing providers out there. Well, all you ever need is possibly time and patience.

    While it is not pretty out-of-the-box, take sometime designing it and you would probably get the best and most complete signup form you ever need. Period.

    Try GetResponse today and get extra $30 discount! | GetResponse vs AWeber

    Over to you

    Did I miss out anything or you have some other mailing list plugins (and tools) that you believe it should be included in? Use the comment form below and tell me what you think.

  • Best Mailing List Plugin – Optinskin vs Hybrid Connect

    Best Mailing List Plugin – Optinskin vs Hybrid Connect

    Update: Hybrid Connect has been renamed to Thrive Leads for branding purposes. Read more about it here.

    How many of you heard about this saying “the money is in the list”? It doesn’t matter if you are running a small blog or a huge Fortune 500 company; You need a mail list.

    The process of building a good mailing list is extremely hard and the word ‘extremely’ could easily be an understatement. Regardless how hard it is, you still need to start building one.

    There are so many benefits a mailing list can offer and there is no better way to explain other than showing you some lovely slides below.


    WordPress is home to over 20,000 useful plugins and when it comes to finding the best mailing list plugin, there could only be two choices which are OptinSkin and Hybrid Connect.

    Both of these are used by both novice and professional bloggers because they are not just normal plugins … They are REALLY top notch and either one of them are eligible to be named as the best mailing list plugin.

    I am lucky (and stupid) to have bought both plugins and I know how hard it is when it comes to deciding which plugin would give you a better ROI and improving your signup rates all together.

    Therefore, I hope this review will help you decide which will be the ultimate mailing list plugin that you will use on your blog.

    Of course, if you are using any one of these, hit the Reply button below and tell me what you think.

    This comparison is done by dividing both of these fine mailing list plugins into several categories for judging:

    1. Features
    2. Placement and integrating autoresponders
    3. Split testing ability
    4. Look and feel
    5. Price

    Introduction to OptinSkin plugin

    OptinSkin is created by Glen Allsopp and Graeme Boy. The plugin was developed to fulfill their own need to split-test opt-in forms quickly and easily, anywhere on a blog, to maximise conversions and make more money.

    Hold on a second … did I just mentioned “Glen Allsopp”? The Glen Allsopp? Founder of ViperChill?

    Yes, I certainly did!

    Introduction to OptinSkin alternative – Hybrid Connect plugin

    Hybrid Connect is created by Shane Melaugh and it is said to be the most advance mailing list building plugin for WordPress.

    Ok, so who is Shane? If you do not know who he is, you better do … right now!

    He is a renowned expert especially when it comes to marketing, traffic generation and online sales.

    Note: It does sounds fun when you have two of the finest experts produced world class WordPress plugins just for us right? Yes, I felt very honored for that.

    So, can Hybrid Connect stand up to it’s viral, OptinSkin … or … Can OptinSkin beat the newcomer who has nothing to lose?

    OptinSkin vs Hybrid Connect

    Best WordPress Mailing List Plugin
    Who will be crowned the best mailing list plugin for WordPress?

    Comparison #1: Features

    OptinSkin features:

    1. Split testing ability (A/B testing)
    2. 20 awesome designs
    3. Fade in optin form feature
    4. Customizable colors and fonts
    5. Impressions will only counts if the optin form is visible to the reader
    6. Custom HTML and CSS codes
    7. Multiple locations for optin form placements
    8. Build in social media buttons on optin forms
    9. Able to work with all autoresponders

     

    OptinSkin split testing settings
    A partial look at OptinSkin settings and features

     

    Hybrid Connect features:

    1. Split testing ability (A/B testing)
    2. Over 40 awesome designs
    3. Squeeze pages, lightboxes and slide in features
    4. Customizable colors and fonts
    5. Very detailed stats counter
    6. Changes can be done easily to any optin forms without codes
    7. Multiple locations for optin form placements
    8. Users can select Facebook integration and even add on webinar option on optin forms
    9. Able to work with all autoresponders

     

    Hybrid Connect Connectors
    This is what Hybrid Connect looks like on its dashboard

     

    Advantages of OptinSkin:

    • Fade in features and build in social media sharing buttons which is absolutely great when it comes to increasing your social engagement level.
    • Option to stick the optin form to the top is a great feature for those who do not want to use a floating widget or plugin
    • Stats counter per impression which is great for obvious reasons.
    • Create custom optin forms using CSS.

    Hybrid Connect has also several advantages which are:

    • More than 40 ready-made design templates compared to OptinSkin which has only 20 designs.
    • Squeeze pages, lightboxes and slide ins which are extremely valuable when it comes to increasing the conversion rate for mailing list building
    • Facebook integration where it makes sign up easier and faster. 
    • Integration Webinar account with optin form offers a great advantage

    My verdict: Both the mailing list plugins are equal. OptinSkin and Hybrid Connect offer users huge variety of choices and are packed with rich features to help you build your subscriber’s list. Therefore, this would actually boils down to your personal preference and needs. Due to rich features, both of these plugins are given full points for that.

    Score: OptinSkin (10/10) – Hybrid Connect (10/10)

    Winner: Draw

    Comparison #2 – Placement and integrating autoresponders

    Setting up an optin form using OptinSkin is extremely easy and integrating with any autoresponder is really a brief. No codes needed and all you need to do is to link both of them together.

    For the record, I did not believe it was THAT easy and I decided to try it out (signing up using my secondary email) and it works! Amazing right?

     

    OptinSkin is known as the best mailing list plugin for WordPress
    OptinSkin placement settings

     

    OptinSkin offers easy optin form placement such as:

    • After post
    • Before post
    • Below first paragraph
    • Floated right of second paragraph
    • Custom locations
    • Below selected paragraph number
    • Pop up after selected number of pixels

     

    Hybrid Connect is said to be the most advance mailing list plugin for WordPress
    Hybrid Connect offers many features such as shortcode, widget areas, lightboxes, slide ins and squeeze pages

     

    Setting up Hybrid Connect is also easy. All you need to do is to select the type of template or skin, change the words that appear, add in the your autoresponder codes and you are basically done. Just like OptinSkin, you can change anything from layout to font colours.

    When it comes to optin form placements, Hybrid Connect does exactly what OptinSkin is offering with a little twist; The ability to add squeeze pages, lightboxes and slide ins.

    Note: OptinSkin wins if you love simplicity and speed of setting up an optin form but Hybrid Connect is given that extra 1 point due to the extra features it has.

    Score: OptinSkin (8/10) – Hybrid Connect (9/10)

    Winner: Hybrid Connect

    Comparison #3 – Split testing features

    Ask any Internet Marketer and they will tell you that split testing is a must. So, if you are not doing any split testing, you are missing something out … BIG TIME!

    Both OptinSkin and Hybrid Connect offers split testing features but what makes them so different?

     

    Optinskin offers split testing for Internet Marketers
    This is Optinskin split testing stats counter

     

    OptinSkin:

    To enable split testing, you need to place two or more optin forms on the same location and enable the split testing option. Results will be shown is a very simple layout which allows you to compare the results in one glance as seen above.

    This is a great tool that shows which optin form is giving you the best conversion rate and when it comes to building a mailing list, this is extremely valuable.

     

    Hybrid Connect offers automatic split testing features
    Hybrid Connect split testing stats are more complete and organized compared to OptinSkin

    Hybrid Connect:

    This plugin works in a very unique way compared to OptinSkin. You need to create an optin form first and then, enable the split test feature.

    Hold on … doesn’t that sounds the same?

    The starting part is the same (duh) but here’s where everything goes differently. You can start and stop the split testing features with just a click of a button as seen on the image above.

    Compared to OptinSkin, everything is started automatically as soon as you create it.

    It does sounds easy compared to OptinSkin but here’s the down side of Hybrid Connect; Stopping the split testing means that you need to choose a winner. Selecting the winner and the less productivity form will automatically be deleted.

    In terms of automation, Hybrid Connect certainly does a great job but the fact that it couldn’t save a copy of the less performing optin form is a rather disappointing feature for me.

    Due of this, I would rather go for more ‘manual’ and give an extra credit to Glenn’s mailing list plugin, OptinSkin.

    Score: OptinSkin (9/10) – Hybrid Connect (8/10)

    Winner: OptinSkin

    Comparison #4 – Look and feel

    Generally, both the plugins are offering super dupper (stunning) skins which are absolutely great. Allow me to share some indepth review in terms of their themes and skins provided.

    What I love about OptinSkin are:

    1. OptinSkin themes or skins are very lightweight which helps in website loading speed
    2. The skins looks professional and clean (I am a huge fan of simple things in life)
    3. Built in skins are awesome which doesn’t need any additional configuration or customization

     

    OptinSkin integrates well with many auto responder services
    OptinSkin offers quick and easy autoresponder setup without any codes needed (plus integrates well with many autoresponders)

     

    What I love about Hybrid Connect are:

    1. Hybrid Connects offer a huge variety of themes to choose from (more than 40 for Christ’s sake)
    2. There are themes which fit well for every location on the blog page
    3. Built in themes can easily be customized from the types of button used to the font colour

     

    Connecting autoresponders with Hybrid Connect is easy
    You can integrate Hybrid Connect with autoresponders by copy-pasting the right codes

     

    So, what I didn’t like about OptinSkin and Hybrid Connect? Do they really have their downsides?

    For me, everything good thing has their bad part and thus, a review is not complete without any downsides and here goes.

    Disadvantages of OptinSkin:

    • Mobile view or mobile responsive doesn’t always work well and at times, it might look distorted (happens to larger optin forms only)
    • Doing a new optin form would require some CSS knowledge

    Disadvantages of Hybrid Connect:

    • This mailing list plugin has the chance to break (not working properly) especially when there’s an update such as WordPress 3.6, Genesis 2.0 and HTML5. As much as this is very common for WordPress plugins, I have high expectations for premium plugins to push an update immediately after any new releases or updates.
    • Hybrid Connect codes could be affected by minification (done by plugin cache) and website themes which could distort the layout.

    Score: OptinSkin (9/10) – Hybrid Connect (9/10)

    Winner: Draw

    Comparison #5 – Price

    This comparison could probably weigh the most especially pricing is always an issue for all of us.

    OptinSkin currently selling at $67 for unlimited usage while Hybrid Connect has three different options; Single site usage at $49, multi site usage at $67 and professional package at $147 (after 25% discount).

    Now there are two ways you can see this:

    1. OptinSkin is a better deal since one price for unlimited usage
    2. Hybrid Connect would be a better deal if you are running just one website only

    Personally, I would choose OptinSkin since the one price for unlimited usage is an extremely good deal in my books.

    Besides that, OptinSkin is offering a full 60 days money back guarantee compared to Hybrid Connect which offers only 30 days money back guarantee.

    Therefore, OptinSkin plugin gets the one point for the last comparison done.

    Score: OptinSkin (10/10) – Hybrid Connect (9/10)

    Winner: OptinSkin

    The best mailing list plugin for WordPress – My take

    Let’s see how both OptinSkin and Hybrid Connect score in this comparisons, shall we?

    Features – Draw

    Placement and integration with autoresponders – Hybrid Connect

    Split testing ability – OptinSkin

    Look and feel – Draw

    Price – OptinSkin

    When it comes to points, OptinSkin scored extra one point compared to Hybrid Connect in my review and yes, this is a pretty darn close battle I would say!

    Personally, both OptinSkin and Hybrid Connect are great mailing list plugins which you won’t go wrong with.

    However, getting OptinSkin could be actually much easier on your wallet since it is a all-in-one package regardless for single or multiple sites.

    Furthermore, I really love easy setting up (and a plugin that doesn’t affect my website load speed) which made me choosing OptinSkin over Hybrid Connect.

    So, how about you? Do you have any experience with any of these plugins?

    Wait! Hold on a second!

    Not using any of them or still deciding? You can check both the plugins out using the links below:

    OptinSkin – Must-try and probably the best mailing list plugin for bloggers

    Want to give some love to Shane’s plugin instead? Click here –> Hybrid Connect – The most advance mailing list plugin for WordPress