[-- This is a sponsored post on behalf of Elegant Themes --] Whether you’re building a startup from the ground up, or expanding a company into new markets, the one thing you can’t do without is customers. The currency of any business, maximising the return on every contact you make is vital for any growing enterprise. So when Elegant Themes established that a newsletter subscriber is between 10 and 20 times more valuable, in terms of product engagement, than a social media follower, they set out to find a way of maximising newsletter signups. The result is Bloom, a WordPress widget that promises to increase the number of subscribers to your newsletter with clean, responsive design, and a simple UI. When it comes to divulging an email address, users are notoriously hesitant. We’ve all been spammed to death by unscrupulous marketers, so a strong, confident and reassuring sign-up process is essential for building your list. You’re asking for your users’ trust, and that means your sign-up form has to be trust-worthy. Bloom’s sign-up forms follow best practices, integrating simply with your designs, so that users are confident when they give you their address. Whilst you may think that a simple sign-up box in your footer is sufficient, you’d be selling yourself considerably short. If you don’t actively work on growing your newsletter, you’re missing out on a huge proportion of your business’ potential. Bloom currently has over 100 pre-made templates, and all of its forms are easily customisable, so you can be confident it will mesh with your site design. Bloom currently has 6 built-in layout options. The first option is a simple pop-up, which lays itself over your content; great for sites that prioritise their newsletter sign-ups. The next option is fly-ins, forms that slide into the window without obstructing the majority of your content, and can easily be dismissed; the default option for most designers. The next two options are inline, and below content; ideal for sites with a lot of text-based content. The next option is widget-style, a subtle form in a sidebar; great if you want minimal invasiveness but still maintain a form on your page. The final option is an opt-in to unlock content form; perfect if you’re gathering email addresses in exchange for free downloads. Happily, you don’t need to choose which option is best for you: one of Bloom’s most impressive features is the actionable stats that allow you to review exactly where your sign-up levels are. Bloom even has built-in A/B split testing, to ensure you’re getting the best results possible. With fully responsive, retina-ready designs, and support for all the most popular email marketing software (that includes MailChimp, as well as AWeber, Campaign Monitor, GetResponse, and more) Bloom is the professional grade solution for building your subscriber list. In an industry seemingly obsessed with social media scores, it’s easy to overlook the value of an email subscription. But the targeted one-to-one nature of email means a huge boost in customer engagement and Bloom is one of the simplest solutions we’ve seen for making the most of it. [-- This is a sponsored post on behalf of Elegant Themes --]