Why you need a list-building plugin

Lesson 11 Module 3

While you can create your opt-in forms in your email provider, it really helps to use a lead generation plugin like Thrive Leads (what I use) or OptinMonster.

A lead generation plugin can help you with:

Opt-in form designs

Having full control of the design of your forms is important to being able to design a high-converting opt-in form.

It helps that there's lots of templates to choose from. Here are some of the templates that come with Thrive Leads:

Design-wise, I like being able to add icons to the email input box and the submit button like this:

Advanced form types

In addition to the regular types of opt-in forms, you can use some more advanced form types with Thrive Leads, such as:

Two-step opt-ins where a link pops up a form
Multiple-choice opt-in form
Gated content form where the user must subscribe to read the rest of the content
welcome mats that take over the entire screen
exit-intent lightbox that appears when the user moves their cursor to the X
timed lightbox that appears after X seconds
scroll-depth lightbox that appears after the user reaches a % down the page
slide ins that slide in from the corner
ribbon forms that stay stuck across the top of your website

A/B split testing

You never know what's working and what isn't without testing. Thrive Leads comes with the ability to split test anything on your forms.

You simple clone an existing form and change one thing and let the test run. After collecting data the system chooses the winner.

Testing your forms is essential for figuring out not only what colors or messaging works best, but in finding the perfect offer for your audience.

Advanced form targeting

To get a higher conversion rate on. your opt-ins it's best to have multiple lead magnets and forms to show your audience.

With form targeting you can show different forms based on the blog post, category, tags, etc.

Detailed analytics

Perhaps my favorite thing about using a list building plugin is the detailed analytics you get with it.

The power is in the numbers! With Thrive Leads you can see exactly where subscribers are coming from.

This means you can see things like:

The conversion rate of each form and form type overall and over time
The exact blog posts and landing pages subscribers are joining from

Using this data you can make informed decisions about which lead magnets and which pages are most effective.