The Popup Maker Subscription Form

Introduction #

You don’t have a forms plugin or an email marketing provider yet? No problem. You can add a sign-up form to your popups for free using Popup Maker!

Popup Maker comes with a built-in subscription form and automatically gives you a shortcode [pum_sub_form] for setting up and tweaking that form.

You can add the Popup Maker subscription form using the Popup Maker Shortcodes dropdown in the popup editor. Click Save in the settings modal to make sure you add the subscription form (and its shortcode) to the popup content.

After you add the subscription form to your popup, you can edit its settings visually or manually using the Visual and Text editor tabs, respectively.

This guide covers the settings and the shortcode parameters (a.k.a. attributes) for the Popup Maker Subscription Form.

Why Use Popup Maker’s Built-In Subscription Form #

Main Advantages #

The following are the main advantages of using the built-in subscription form:

1. You don’t have a form plugin yet, and you need to start collecting subscriber emails right now for free.
2. You don’t want to use a 3rd-party form plugin to keep your site lean or to skip the hassle.
3. You want to consolidate your popups, forms, and subscribers in one place.
4. You like the option of exporting your subscriber list directly from the database.
5. You have Mailchimp, but setting up and styling the built-in form is better for you.

Easy Access to Your Subscribers #

To see your list of subscribers, go to Popup Maker > Subscribers.

Export Your Subscriber List #

To export your list of subscribers, use your database admin tool to view and export the {prefix}_pum_subscribers table.

For example, if you’re using something like the Adminer database tool, you can export your list as a CSV and save it to your desktop.

The Subscription Form Settings #

After you click Subscription Form from the Shortcode Button dropdown and save the settings, Popup Maker puts the Subscription Form into the editor.

The settings in the Visual tab of the content editor build the actual shortcode that eventually displays the subscription form. Each setting you see in the Visual tab has a corresponding shortcode attribute that you can see in the Text tab of the content editor. You can go back to that demo above to see that in action.

That means if you really want to, you can manually edit the shortcode instead of using the Visual editor.

Here’s an example of the default subscription form shortcode.

[pum_sub_form name_field_type="fullname" label_name="Name" label_email="Email" label_submit="Subscribe" placeholder_name="Name" placeholder_email="Email" form_layout="block" form_alignment="center" form_style="default" privacy_consent_enabled="yes" privacy_consent_label="Notify me about related content and special offers." privacy_consent_type="radio" privacy_consent_radio_layout="inline" privacy_consent_yes_label="Yes" privacy_consent_no_label="No" privacy_usage_text="If you opt in above we use this information send related content, discounts and other special offers."]

Did you get all that??

No worries if you didn’t. Let’s dive into all settings and their options right now!

General Settings #

Service Provider: None or Default (also the actual default setting).

The Default setting uses the service provider you defined under Popup Maker Settings > Subscriptions > General > Default Newsletter Provider.

In the example below, we have our Default Newsletter Provider set to MailChimp.

Default Newsletter Provider shortcode parameter #

None (leave the parameter out to use your default provider)

provider="none"

Form Settings #

Fields Settings #

Name Field Type: The format for your form’s Name field.

These are the dropdown choices.

• None: Displays no name field.
• Full: Displays one full name field by default.
• First Only: Displays one field for the first name.
• First & Last: Displays one field for the first and another for the last name (2 fields total).

If you’re editing the shortcode directly in the editor’s Text tab, these are the corresponding valid name_field_type shortcode parameter values.

[pum_sub_form name_field_type="disabled|fullname|first_only|first_last"]

• disabled: This is the same as picking None in the dropdown.
• fullname: If you completely leave out the name_field_type parameter or set it to blank (“”), this displays the default full name field.
• first_only: Displays one field for the first name.
• first_last: Displays one field for the first and another for the last name (2 fields total).

Name Optional: If you add a name field to your form, it’s required by default. Your subscribers must enter a name into the name field to submit the form. If you want to make people’s names optional on the form, check this field.

Name Optional shortcode parameter #

None (leave the parameter out to make the name required)

name_optional

Labels Settings #

Disable Labels #

Check the box to hide the Name and Email headings above the form fields. Checking it also hides the Name and Email options in the settings box.

The default is unchecked to make the headings show by (ahem) default.

Disable Labels parameter #

None (leave the parameter out to make the headings show)

disable_labels

Field label text #

The heading text that goes above each name field. The fields change depending on what you have for the Name Field Type option.

Note: You must uncheck Disable Labels to see the name field text settings.

Options:

• Full Name defaults to Name
• First Name defaults to First Name
• First & Last defaults to First Name (field 1) and Last Name (field 2)

Field Label Text shortcode parameter #

label_name="Name"

label_fname="First Name"

label_fname="First Name" label_lname="Last Name"

Email

The text heading that goes above the email field. The default is Email.

Email shortcode parameter #

label_email="Email"

Submit Button #

The text you see on the submit button. The Default is Subscribe.

Submit Button shortcode parameter #

label_submit="Subscribe"

Placeholders Settings #

You can customize or use default placeholder text in your form fields. Below are the defaults.

• Full Name defaults to Name
• First Name defaults to First Name
• First & Last defaults to First Name (field 1) and Last Name (field 2)

Field Placeholder Text shortcode parameter #

placeholder_name="Name"

placeholder_fname="First Name"

placeholder_lname="Last Name"

pum_sub_form placeholder_email="Email"

Appearance Settings #

These settings control how you want your subscription form to look.

Form Layout #

Choose a form layout. Options: block or inline. Default: block.

The Block layout looks like this.

The Inline layout looks like this.

Form Layout shortcode parameter #

form_layout="block"

form_layout="inline"

Form Alignment #

Choose how you want your field heading justified.

For example, here’s how Left justified looks in the Block layout.

Options: Left, Center, or Right. Default: Center.

Form Alignment shortcode parameter #

form_alignment="center"

form_alignment="left"

form_alignment="right"

Form Style #

Choose how to style the form. Options: Default or None. Default: Default.

Form Style shortcode shortcode parameter #

form_style="default"

None (leave the parameter out to make the style none)

Privacy Settings #

If you don’t see the Enabled setting in your subscription form editor, make sure Popup Maker > Settings > Privacy > Always enable consent field on subscription forms. is set to Yes.

Enabled #

Enabled

Yes (default)

Displays the consent field radio buttons below the Email field and just above the Subscribe button. Giving your subscribers consent options helps with GDPR compliance.

Here’s an example.

Shortcode parameter

privacy_consent_enabled="yes"

Enabled

No

Does *not* display the consent field radio buttons. There won’t be any consent radio buttons between the Email field and the Subscribe button. See the screen capture below.

When someone subscribes while privacy is turned off (i.e., No), their information goes into Popup Maker’s Subscribers list.

Shortcode parameter

privacy_consent_enabled="no"

Note: If you want to globally change the defaults for all the settings below go to Popup Maker > Settings > Privacy > Subscription Forms. The defaults in there are for any new popup subscription form you make. You can override them for individual popups using the settings below.

Privacy Consent Settings #

All of the settings we’ll go over next deal with this one component pictured below.

Summary of what you can customize #

You can make that consent field appear (or hide it), make it required (or optional), change the heading text, change the Yes/No text, and even change those buttons to a single checkbox.

Customizing each Privacy Consent setting #

Let’s cover each one now.

privacy_consent_label="Notify me about related content and special offers." 

Consent Required

Unchecked (default)

When someone subscribes while Consent Required is turned off (unchecked), their information *does not* go into Popup Maker’s Subscribers list. Popup Maker *does not* save their info.

In the Subscribers page, you’ll see an entry with the email “deleted@site.invalid” and blank (empty) name fields.

Shortcode parameter (must be left out)

NONE

Consent Required

Checked

Check this checkbox to make the field required. Then, your subscribers must choose Yes or No to submit the form.

They’ll see a warning message if they submit the form without choosing Yes or No.

If the subscriber clicks Yes and then Subscribe, Popup Maker saves their information in the Subscribers page.

If the subscribers click No and then Subscribe, Popup Maker *does not* save their info. You’ll see an entry with the email “deleted@site.invalid” and blank (empty) name fields.

Shortcode parameter (parameter name only; don’t add a value)

privacy_consent_required

Field Type

Radio (default)

Radio buttons mean you can choose only 1 option. If you click Yes, then No stays blank. If you click No after you click Yes, then Yes turns blank, and No turns active (selected) and vice versa.

Shortcode parameter

privacy_consent_type="radio"

Field Type

Checkbox

If you want to go minimalist, go with the Checkbox.

If your subscribers check the checkbox, their info goes into the Subscribers list.

If they leave it unchecked, they don’t get on the list.

Shortcode parameter

privacy_consent_type="checkbox"

Consent Radio Layout

Inline (default)

This setting applies only to the Radio buttons (not the checkbox).

Inline means the Yes and No options display together side-by-side on one horizontal line (across).

Shortcode parameter

privacy_consent_radio_layout="inline"

Consent Radio Layout

Stacked

This setting applies only to the Radio buttons (not the checkbox).

If you want to display the Yes/No radio buttons vertically, then choose Stacked.

Shortcode parameter

privacy_consent_radio_layout="stacked"

privacy_consent_yes_label="Yes"

privacy_consent_no_label="No"

Consent Usage Text

Default text: “If you opt in above we use this information send related content, discounts and other special offers.”

This text displays below the consent options and right above the Subscribe button.

Note: There’s a typo at the time of writing. “… use this information send related …” Should be “to send” instead of just “send”.

Shortcode parameter

privacy_usage_text="If you opt in above we use this information send related content, discounts and other special offers."

Actions Settings #

Action settings let you do something after a subscriber submits the form. Right now, you can close the subscription form popup, open another popup, and redirect to another post or page.

Heads up! Remember to set a cookie 🍪 #

We always recommend setting a Form Submission or Subscription Form: Successful cookie in your popup trigger. That way, visitors who fill out and submit your form won’t see it again and get annoyed.

Popup #

You can close the subscription form popup or open another popup (or do both) after your subscriber submits the form. The following popup and redirect combinations work fine at the time of writing:

• Close Popup and Open Popup
• Close Popup and Redirect

Let’s go over how to do each one.

Close Popup #

1. Click Close Popup.
2. Set your Delay (seconds) by using the slider, entering a number, or using the -/+ buttons. We think you should use a 2-second (or so) delay so people can read your success messages before the popup closes.
3. Click Save

Close Popup shortcode parameters #

The default close popup delay is 0 seconds.

closepopup closedelay="0"

Open Popup #

1. Click Open Popup.
2. Click a popup name in the Popup ID dropdown.
3. Click Save.

Note: Even though the dropdown heading says Popup ID, you’re really seeing the popup name. In the shortcode parameter, you’ll see the actual popup ID number.

Open Popup shortcode parameter #

openpopup openpopup_id="100"

Redirect #

Here’s how to redirect to another post or page after your subscriber submits the form.

1. Make sure that Popup > Open Popup is unchecked. At the time of writing, the Open Popup and Redirect combination only opens a new popup and never redirects.
2. Click Redirect.
3. Check the Redirect checkbox.
4. Enter a valid URL in the Redirect URL field.
5. Click Save.

Redirect shortcode parameter #

redirect_enabled redirect="https://wildebeest-take.instawp.xyz/about/"

Remember to Save Your Changes! #

After changing and saving your subscription form settings, always remember to click Publish or Update for your popup to save all of your changes.