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March 16, 2021

How to Add Content Upgrades in WordPress and Grow Your Email List

Do you want to add content upgrades in WordPress to help grow your email list?

Content upgrades are specific bonus content that your readers can get by signing up for your email list.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add content upgrades in WordPress and grow your email list.

What is a Content Upgrade?

Content upgrades are where you offer your readers exclusive bonus content for signing up to your email list. This additional premium content offered for completing an action is also known as a content bribe.

What are some content upgrade ideas?

eBooks
Checklists
Excel Worksheets
Downloadable PDF version of your blog post
Exclusive video interview related to the post
Bonus how-to’s for the article

Basically content upgrades have to be highly relevant to the post you’re offering it on.

For example, on a post about content upgrades, we should offer a content upgrade checklist because readers of this post will find that highly useful.

Human psychology plays an important role in the effectiveness of content upgrades.

The psychology principle known as Zeigarnik Effect states that people are most likely to complete a task if they initiate it themselves.

For content upgrades, it works because users initiate it by clicking on a link or an image. This makes them more likely to complete the task by finishing the sign up.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

See these stats from Syed’s website comparing a regular popup and a MonsterLinks™ content upgrade.

The generic popup was running across the site and was seen by nearly 26,000 users, out of which 744 signed up.

On the other hand, the targeted MonsterLink™ was placed on a single page. It was viewed by 270 people and 74 users signed up. That’s an insane conversion all from a single page without running any split-tests!

Now that you know what a content upgrade is, let’s see how you can use it on your own website to get more email subscribers.

How to Add Content Upgrades in WordPress?

The easiest way to add content upgrades to WordPress is using OptinMonster. It’s one of the best WordPress lead generation plugins in the market used by over 1.2 million sites.

It allows you to add beautiful opt in forms like lightbox popups, scroll-triggered slide-in forms, floating bars, sidebar optins, below the content forms, and more.

It is super fast and works beautifully with WordPress powered websites.

Note: Our founder Syed started OptinMonster to use on WPBeginner, and we increased our email subscribers by 600%.

Adding content upgrades is a breeze with the MonsterLinks™ feature in OptinMonster.

If you don’t have an email list, then check out our guide on why you should start building your email list right away.

Step 1: Setting up OptinMonster

First you will need to install and activate the OptinMonster plugin on your WordPress site.

This plugin acts as a connector between your WordPress website and OptinMonster.

Upon activation, click on OptinMonster menu item in your WordPress admin bar.

Now you’ll need to connect your site to OptinMonster by clicking ‘Launch the Setup Wizard’.

Next, you’ll be prompted to connect to an existing account, or claim your free account.

Once you’ve finished going through the setup wizard your WordPress site will be connected to OptinMonster.

You can navigate to OptinMonster » Settings to double check that you’re connected.

Step 2: Create a New Popup Optin

Once you are successfully connected, navigate to OptinMonster » Campaigns.

Then click the ‘Add New’ button to create a new campaign.

After that, you’ll need to select the Campaign Type, in this case it’s ‘Popup’.

Then, you can choose a popup template.

Just hover over the template you like and click ‘Use Template’.

This will be the foundation for your popup design.

Once you’ve done that enter your campaign name in the ‘Create Campaign’ popup and click ‘Start Building’.

The name of your campaign is to help you remember, it won’t appear in your design.

This will open up the OptinMonster app where you can totally customize the appearance of your popup.

You can change virtually every part of your design including your background and font colors, text, subscribe button, and more.

After you’re happy with your design click on the ‘Display Rules’ tab.

This is where we’ll set your content upgrade display options.

First, we’ll set the conditions for when the popup will appear. To do this click type ‘MonsterLink’ into the ‘Search Display Rules’ search bar.

Then, click on ‘MonsterLink™ (On Click)’ to add the rule. After that, click ‘Next Step’.

You can leave the default options on the next screen. But, feel free to add an animation effect or sound effect to the popup. Once you’re finished click ‘Next Step’.

On the ‘Summary’ page you’ll need to click the ‘Copy MonsterLink™ Code’.

Now you need to open a plain text editor like Notepad and paste the code you copied. You will need this code later.

After that navigate to the ‘Publish’ tab and switch the ‘Publish Status’ from Draft to Publish. Then, you can click ‘Save’ and exit the screen.

Step 3: Enable MonsterLink™ Optin on Your Site

Once you exit the form builder screen, it’ll take you to the ‘WordPress Output Settings’ screen.

Here you can set which pages and posts you want MonsterLink™ to work on. You can leave the default settings. But, make sure the status is changed to Published under the ‘Visibility & Status’ box.

If you do make any changes, make sure you click ‘Save Changes’

Step 4: Add Your Monster Link in a WordPress Post or Page

Adding your MonsterLink™ in WordPress is very simple.

Simply edit the post or page where you want to display MonsterLink.

On the post edit screen, switch to the text editor and paste the MonsterLink™ code you copied earlier.

It will look like this:

<a href="https://app.monstercampaigns.com/c/your-code/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Subscribe Now!</a>

This code will show plain link to the users however it won’t really stand out.

So how do you make it stand out? You can add a box around it like this:

<p style="background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #fffecf; clear: both; margin-bottom: 18px; overflow: hidden; border: 1px solid #e5e597; padding: 13px;">

<strong>Exclusive Bonus:</strong> <a href="https://app.monstercampaigns.com/c/your-code/“ target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Download The Blog Post Checklist</a> to use before you hit publish.

</p>

You can also create a shortcode to make the box styling easy in the future.

Simply add this code in your theme’s functions.php file, in a site-specific plugin, or by using the code snippets plugin:

function wpb_make_yellowbox($atts, $content = null) {
   return '<p style="background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #fffecf; clear: both; margin-bottom: 18px; overflow: hidden; border: 1px solid #e5e597; padding: 13px;">' . do_shortcode($content) . '</p>';
}
add_shortcode('yellowbox', 'wpb_make_yellowbox');

You can now add your content upgrade link in your WordPress posts using the shortcode like this:

[yellowbox]

<strong>Exclusive Bonus:</strong> <a href="https://app.monstercampaigns.com/c/your-code/“ target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Download The Blog Post Checklist</a> to use before you hit publish.

[/yellowbox]

You can also show the link with an image. This way you can make it much more prominent and attractive.

Here is how you can add the image with MonsterLink™ in WordPress.

<a href="https://app.monstercampaigns.com/c/your-code/“ target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="http://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ebookdownload.png" alt="ebook download" /></a>

Step 5: Delivering the Content Upgrade in WordPress

Now we need to take a look at how to deliver the content upgrade that we promised to the user.

Your content upgrade could be anything. You can use PDF, video, audio, or any other kind of content.

Once users enter their email address, you can provide them the promised content upgrade. There are multiple ways to do this:

Show Download Link as Success Message

You can show a download link as a success message inside your popup.

Edit your optin in the OptinMonster form builder and click on the ‘Success’ tab.

Then, edit your success message text and include a URL to your downloadable content upgrade.

Redirect to Thank You or Download Page

You can also redirect users to a thank you page that has the link to download the file. To do this you’ll need to be the ‘Success’ tab.

Next, we’ll add a button that says ‘Download Now’.

After that click ‘Action’ and select ‘Redirect to a URL’ from the drop-down list.

Then, enter the URL in the ‘Redirect URL’ box.

Make sure you click ‘Save’ to save any changes you’ve made so far.

Send as an Email

Most email marketing software providers offer autoresponder features where you can send welcome emails to new users. You can use it to send the download link to the user.

You will have to check your email service provider’s documentation section for instructions on how to do this. OptinMonster offers a wide range of integrations with the most popular email marketing tools.

Conclusion

Content upgrades aren’t as popular as they once were. But, they’re still an extremely effective way to generate leads and grow your email list.

Brian Dean from Backlinko, Bryan Harris from Videofruit, Neil Patel from QuickSprout, Pat Flynn from SPI, and of course our own Syed Balkhi have seen phenomenal results from using content upgrades.

If you’re serious about growing your email list, then you should definitely try out content upgrades. It will take you anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours to build and add a content upgrade to your post, but it’s totally worth it.

We hope this article helped you add content upgrades in WordPress to grow your email list. You may also want to take a look at our guide on how to build an email list in WordPress and our list of 17 ways to grow your email list faster.

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.

The post How to Add Content Upgrades in WordPress and Grow Your Email List appeared first on WPBeginner.

January 20, 2020October 6, 2022

How to Create a Coupon Popup in WordPress (Step by Step)

Do you want to create a coupon popup on your WordPress website?

Coupon popups are a great way to convert your website visitors into paying customers. There are several different ways to create and display coupon popups. However, showing the coupon at the right time makes a huge difference in converting abandoning visitors into customers.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how to add a coupon popup to your WordPress or WooCommerce site.

Why Should You Offer Visitors a Coupon?

Often new business owners are concerned that coupons will eat into their profits. However, established business owners know that offering discounts is a powerful way to get visitors to make up their minds instead of sitting on the fence.

Offering coupon codes helps you recover abandoned cart sales, convert visitors into customers, and make more sales.

Most eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce allow you to easily create coupon codes. However, sharing these coupon codes with your customers makes all the difference.

That’s why in this article, we will share two different ways to share coupons with your visitors. These include a coupon exit popup and a coupon spin-a-wheel optin.

Let’s take a look at how to create a coupon popup in WordPress or WooCommerce.

How to Create Your Coupon Popup in WordPress

The best way to create a coupon popup is by using OptinMonster. It is the best WordPress popup plugin and lead generation software in the market.

First, you need to visit the OptinMonster website to create an account. Simply click the ‘Get OptinMonster Now’ button to get started.

You will need at least the Growth plan because it includes Coupon Wheel Campaigns and advanced targeting rules for your popups.

After that, you need to install and activate the OptinMonster plugin on your WordPress site. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

The plugin acts as a connector between your OptinMonster account and your WordPress website.

Upon activating the plugin, you’ll see the OptinMonster setup wizard. Go ahead and click on the ‘Connect Your Existing Account’ button.

A new window will now open where you’ll need to connect your WordPress site with OptinMonster.

Simply click the ‘Connect to WordPress’ button to continue.

You can also connect your WooCommerce store with OptinMonster. Just make sure that you’ve set up an eCommerce store in WordPress.

First, you will need to go to OptinMonster » Settings from your WordPress admin panel.

Afterward, head to the ‘General’ tab and click on the ‘Auto-Generate Keys + Connect WooCommerce’ button.

Auto generate keys and connect WooCommerce

WooCommerce will now generate keys automatically and connect to your OptinMonster account.

Now, you are all set to create your first coupon popup campaign.

Creating Your Coupon Popup Campaign

To create a campaign, you can go to OptinMonster » Campaigns from your WordPress dashboard and then click the ‘Create Your First Campaign’ button.

On the next screen, OptinMonster will show different campaign types and templates.

First, you’ll need to choose a campaign type. We’re going to use ‘Popup,’ which should be the default selection.

After that, you will be asked to select a template.

OptinMonster has a vast range of templates you can choose from, with lots of different layouts and color schemes. The ‘Coupon’ template is perfect for creating this popup. Although, you can select a different template if you prefer.

You can use the search box to find the Coupon template or scroll down the page.

Next, hover over the template and click the ‘Use Template’ button.

The final step before building your coupon popup is to name the campaign. After entering a name, click the ‘Start Building’ button.

Designing your Coupon Popup

Once you’ve clicked ‘Start Building,’ you’ll see the drag-and-drop campaign builder.

You can use it to add different blocks to your template and change the text, colors, and design of the coupon in whatever way you like.

You can also click on any element of the design to change it further. Here, we’ve edited the text and made it a different color.

As soon as you make your changes, you’ll see real-time updates in the coupon popup template.

Edit the text and color of elements in the template

You might want to experiment with different fonts and colors to make your text stands out in the popup or matches your brand.

Outside of the text and elements within the popup, you can also change the background color, add an image to your coupon, set the border color, change the border style, and more.

Once you’re done with the changes, please ensure you store your campaign by clicking the green ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen.

Decide How to Deliver Your Coupon Code

Now that you’ve set up your coupon popup, you need to decide how you’ll actually deliver the coupon code to your visitor.

There are several ways to do this in OptinMonster, but the best way is to deliver the coupon code straight away through OptinMonster’s Success view and send it by email newsletter.

That way, if the visitor isn’t ready to buy immediately, they’ve got the coupon code in their email inbox for easy reference later.

By default, your coupon popup is already designed to use ‘the Success view’ as soon as the button is clicked. To check, you can click on the button and then see the ‘Go to View’ option on the left-hand side of your screen.

If you want a different button action, you can change that here. For your first coupon, though, we recommend sticking with the default.

Integrating OptinMonster With Your Email List

To send your coupon code out by email automatically and for the visitor to be added to your email list, you’ll need to integrate OptinMonster with an email marketing service.

Constant Contact is a great service to use with OptinMonster, and WPBeginner readers can get 20% off their first 3 months by using this coupon.

However, if you use a different email service, OptinMonster integrates with pretty much every major provider.

Simply go to the ‘Integration’ tab and click the ‘+ Add New Integration’ button to add your email marketing service.

Once you’ve done that, you can set up an automated email to go out whenever someone signs up for the email list through your coupon popup.

Bonus Tip: Edit the Success View Template

You can view and change the ‘Success View’ template by going back to the Design tab of your campaign and clicking the ‘Sucess’ option at the bottom of the screen.

The default looks like this, but you can edit it in any way you want, just like you edited your coupon popup.

Change Your Coupon Popup’s Display Rules

By default, your coupon popup will appear to visitors after they’ve been on any page of your site for 5 seconds.

If you want to change this, go to the ‘Display Rules’ tab.

You can set whatever display rules you like, but a great one to try out is Exit-Intent®.

This special OptinMonster technology can tell when a visitor is about to leave your site and show them your coupon popup at just the right moment.

You can add exit intent by selecting the ‘exit detected’ from the dropdown menu and choosing which devices to show the campaign on. By default, it will be set to display on all devices.

There is also an option to control the sensitivity of exit intent.

After that, scroll down and choose the pages where you’d like to show your campaign.

For example, you can use the default setting of ‘current URL path’ and select the ‘is any page’ option. This way, your campaign will appear on your entire website.

After adding the display rules, you can click the ‘Next Step’ button.

OptinMonster also offers options to play a sound effect and show animation when the coupon popup appears.

Choose sound effect and effects for campaign

Now, you can click the ‘Next Step’ button.

On the next screen, you will see a summary of your display rules. Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button to store your settings.

Once you’re happy with your coupon popup, you can go to the ‘Publish’ tab at the top.

After that, simply make sure that ‘Publish’ is checked under the ‘Publish Status’ section.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top and close the campaign builder.

You can now visit your website to see the coupon popup in action.

Creating a Spin-to-Win Coupon Wheel

A spin-to-win coupon wheel is a great way to make your coupons more interesting and fun for your site’s visitors. It’s like a mini-game that visitors can play to win a discount or another bonus.

Your spin-to-win options could include things like 10% off, 20% off, free shipping, a free trial, or whatever you want to offer.

OptinMonster offers a ‘Gamified’ campaign type that lets you create spin-the-wheel popups.

After that, scroll down and select one of the Wheel templates.

The plugin has different spin-to-win templates. Simply hover over a template and click the ‘Use Template’ button.

Next, go ahead and edit any aspect of your coupon wheel.

To edit the options on the coupon wheel itself, you’ll need to click on the ‘Customize Wheel Sections’ button on the left-hand side.

You can then type in any text as the Label for each option and add in the coupon code for each winning option.

Note that the ‘Win Chance’ is automatically determined. If you change the toggle on one or more of the ‘Can Win’ options, OpinMonster will recalculate the winning chances

If you need more help creating your coupon wheel and adding it to your site, check out our post on how to add spin-to-win optins in WordPress and WooCommerce, which goes through the process in more detail.

You can then visit your website to see the spin-to-win coupon popup in action.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a coupon popup in WordPress. You might also want to look at our pick of the best WooCommerce plugins or our guide on how to add push notifications to your WordPress site.

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.

The post How to Create a Coupon Popup in WordPress (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.