Site visitors without conversions mean nothing, and conversions often come from leads. If you have a WordPress-based website and need a plugin to generate leads, Bloom is one of the plugins you can use.
With Bloom, you can create a lead generation form and send the leads to a marketing platform of your choice.
In this post, I will show you how to use Bloom to generate leads on your WordPress website. I will also provide a short review about the plugin.
Shortcuts ⤵️
- Bloom features
- Supported marketing platforms
- Installing Bloom
- Connecting a marketing account
- Creating a popup
- Creating an embedded form
- Creating a content locker
- Running A/B test
- Monitoring campaign performance
- Summary
What is Bloom?
Bloom is a lead generation plugin from Elegant Themes, a company that also owns Divi. The plugin allows you to create a lead generation form and connect it with popular online marketing platforms like HubSpot, Mailchimp and MailerLite.
When it comes to lead generation, Bloom offers flexibility. You can create a lead generation form according to the tactic you want to apply to generate leads.
In Bloom, you can create a lead generation form in the following formats:
- As a modal pop-up
- As a fly-in pop-up
- Below post
- Embedded form
- As a content locker
- In a widget
Bloom is a standalone plugin. It can work without being dependent on another plugin like, for instance, Kadence Conversions.
Every time you create a new lead generation campaign, regardless of the format, the form element is automatically loaded in the campaign editor and you can connect it with the marketing platform you use.
The form consists of two fields by default and you can add custom fields according to the fields supported by the marketing platform you use.
To speed up the lead generation campaign creation process, Bloom offers tens of pre-made templates you can choose from.
Just like other products from Elegant Themes, Bloom is also released a paid plugin. You can get it at $7.41 per month (billed yearly).
A one-time purchase option is also available if you hate the subscription-based payment model.
Bloom Features
Bloom offers some features you can leverage to boost the conversion of your lead generation campaigns. For instance, Bloom has a display condition feature for dynamic visibility.
With the feature, you can set where a lead generation will show up on your website. For instance, you can set a lead generation popup to show up only on a specific post or a specific page.
Not only that display condition is useful to boost conversion, but it is also useful to improve user experience on your website since you don’t need to show the popup to everyone.
In terms of look, Bloom offers quite a lot of design options although it is not the best in this area. If you know CSS, you can apply custom styles via custom CSS.
If you want to create an embedded/inline lead generation form, Bloom offers placement flexibility via a shortcode.
In other words, you can embed your form in Gutenberg, Elementor, Divi and other editors.
To monitor the performance of your lead generation campaigns, Bloom comes with a built-in analytics feature.
Furthermore, Bloom comes with an A/B test feature you can leverage to improve form conversion.
Here are the key features offered by Bloom:
- Built-in form element
- Popup builder
- Content locker
- Multiple trigger options for popup
- Display condition
- Analytics
- A/B test
- Form placement via shortcode
- Export and import
Marketing Platforms Supported by Bloom
| ActiveCampaign | iContact |
| AWeber | Keap (Formerly Infusionsoft) |
| Brevo (Formerly Sendinblue) | Kit (Formerly ConverKit) |
| Campaign Monitor | Mailchimp |
| ConstantContact | MailerLite |
| Emma | Mailster |
| FeedBlitz | MailPoet |
| FluentCRM | Outraport |
| GetResponse | Salesforce |
| HubSpot |
Using Bloom
Before you can start using Bloom to create a lead generation campaign, the very first thing you need to do is, of course, to install it on your website.
As mentioned, you can get Bloom at $7.41 per month or $249 for the one-time purchase option. FYI, it is not the price for a single plugin. Instead, it is the price of Elegant Themes membership.
Once you have become an Elegant Themes member, you can download and use the following products:
- Bloom
- Monarch
- Divi
- Extra
You can visit the official website of Elegant Themes to get your membership account.
Installing Bloom
Once you have completed your registration process, you can login to the Elegant Themes Members Area.
From here, you can scroll down and click the DOWNLOAD BLOOM button. Wait a moment until the download process is done.
Once the Bloom file is downloaded, login to the WordPress dashboard of the website you want to install Bloom on and go to Plugin -> Add Plugin.
On the Add Plugins screen, click the Upload Plugin button followed by the Choose File button to select the Bloom file you have just downloaded. Click the Install Now button to install it.
Wait until the installation process is done and click the Activate Plugin button to activate it.
Bloom is now ready to use to generate leads.
Connecting Bloom with Your Elegant Themes Account to Get Future Updates
Elegant Themes actively develops Bloom to add more features. In order to be able to get the latest version of Bloom, you need to connect the Bloom plugin installed on your website with your Elegant Themes account.
To do so, login to Elegant Themes Members Area and go to ACCOUNT -> USERNAME & API KEY.
Copy your username and API key.
Switch back to your WordPress dashboard and go to the Bloom screen by clicking the Bloom menu on the menu panel. Click the padlock icon on the Bloom screen. Enter the username and API key you have just copied and click the SAVE button.
Creating a Lead Generation Campaign in Bloom
Your Bloom plugin is completely ready to use by now. You can start to use it to create a lead generation campaign.
One crucial thing to note. Bloom can only generate leads. It has no ability to collect and manage leads. You need a separate tool to collect and manage leads.
Before you buy Bloom, make sure that the marketing platform you use is supported by it. You can re-check it again here.
Connecting Bloom with a Marketing Platform
Before you can start to create a lead generation campaign, you need to connect the marketing platform you use with Bloom first.
Depending on the marketing platform you use but mostly, you need to enter an API key to connect your account.
Each marketing platform allows you to generate an API key to connect your account with a form created with a third-party app. Including Bloom.
For the purpose of this tutorial, I will show you how to generate an API key in MailerLite and connect it with a Bloom campaign.
First off, login to MailerLite with your account and click the Integrations menu on the menu panel on the left side.
On the Integrations screen, click the Use button on the API section.
On the next screen, click the Generate new token button.
Enter a token name on the appearing dialog box and tick the Terms of Use and then click the Create token button.
Copy the generated API key and save it somewhere safe.
MailerLite only shows the API key once and will not show it again. So, make sure to save it carefully.
If you use a password manager app (1Password, Dashlane, etc.) and it has a feature to add a note, you can utilize it to save the API key.
Next, switch back to your WordPress dashboard and go to Bloom -> Email Accounts.
Click the NEW ACCOUNT button to add a new account.
Select MailerLite on the dropdown list, enter your account name and paste the API key you have just copied above.
A little note, account name is not your MailerLite account name. Instead, it is just an identifier used by Bloom so you can use any account name here.
Now, you are ready to create a new lead generation campaign.
Creating a Lead Generation Popup
There are two popup types you can create in Bloom: modal popup and slide-in popup. The two have the same features. The only difference between the two is the popup position on the screen.
Slide-in popup allows you to place a popup at the bottom-left or bottom-right corner, while modal popup only allows you to place the popup at the center area of the screen.
To create a new lead generation popup, go to Bloom -> Optin Forms on your WordPress dashboard.
Click the NEW OPTIN button to create a new campaign and select the popup type you want to create.
Give your campaign a name and select the marketing platform you want to send the leads to. In this example, the platform is MailerLite.
Select an account you have just created above followed by an existing email list on your MailerLite account. Click the NEXT button to continue.
Pick a form template you like and click the NEXT button to customize the popup.
On this screen, the Design screen, you can customize the design of the popup as well as the content. To set up the lead generation form, you can go to the FORM SETUP section.
If you want to add a custom field to your form, you can do so on the CUSTOM FIELDS section.
To preview the popup, you can click the floating eye icon on the upper-right side of your screen.
Once you are done customizing the popup, you can click the NEXT button to set the display settings.
On the LOAD-IN SETTINGS section, you can set how your popup will appear. For instance, if you want the popup to appear on page scroll, you can tick the Trigger After Scrolling option and add the percentage of the page to be scrolled before the pop up appears.
Bloom allows you to set multiple trigger types to display the popup.
Once done setting the popup triggers, move on to the next section to set where you want the popup to appear.
You can set the popup to appear on the entire website, on homepage only, on specific pages, on specific posts, on posts under a specific category, on posts with a specific tag, and so on.
Once done setting the display conditions and the triggers, you can click the NEXT button to set the success message.
There are two action types you can set for a successful submission. First, you can display the success message. For this option, you can set the text content on the Design screen when you were customizing your popup design above.
Second, you can redirect your leads to a dedicated thank you page. If you prefer this action, you can create a thank you page using your favorite page builder and paste the URL.
Once done setting the success action, click the SAVE & EXIT button and your popup is ready to work.
Displaying the Popup on Click
On the Display Settings screen above, you can find that one of the trigger types you can use to display a popup is on click. Meaning that the popup will appear when a visitor clicks a button or a link.
Bloom uses a CSS selector as the trigger element. Thus, you need to define a CSS selector before you use it as the trigger.
If you need an example of how this trigger type works, you can visit this post. Click one of the download buttons and you should see a modal popup in which it was built with Bloom.
To use the on click trigger type, first, tick the Trigger On Click option on the Display Settings screen and type a class selector. You can type any selector, but never use a space.
If you want to use a two-word selector, use underscore or dash.
Don’t forget to click the SAVE & EXIT button to apply the changes.
Next, edit a blog post or page using your favorite editor. Be it Gutenberg, Elementor to Divi. Add a button element or any element you want to use to call the popup and add the CSS selector you have defined above.
How to add the CSS selector?
If you use Gutenberg, you can open the Block tab on the settings panel and paste it to the ADDITIONAL CSS CLASS(ES) field.
If you use Elementor, you can go to the Advanced tab on the settings panel and paste the CSS selector to the CSS Classes field.
What about Divi?
You can paste the CSS selector to the CSS Class field under the Advanced tab on the settings panel.
Creating an Embedded Lead Generation Form
An embedded form (also known as inline form) is the type of form added to a page as if it is an integral part of the page. While in practice, the form can be loaded from another service or app.
Bloom allows you to create this type of form.
To create one, go to Bloom -> Optin Forms on your WordPress dashboard and click the NEW OPTIN button and select INLINE.
Give your form a name and select the marketing platform you want to use. Select an account you have created above and select an existing list. Click the NEXT button to pick a form template.
Select a form template you like and click the NEXT button to customize the design.
On the Design screen, you can customize the design of the form just like you did with the popup. Once done, click the NEXT button to set the success message.
Same as popup, you can also redirect your leads to a dedicated thank you page or display a success message after they click the submit button.
Installing the Form
On the last step above, you can click the GENERATE SHORTCODE button to copy the shortcode of the form you have just created.
Copy the generated shortcode on the appearing popup.
Don’t forget to click the SAVE & EXIT button after copying the shortcode.
To install the form, you can simply paste the above shortcode to the editor you use. You can use the following elements on each editor:
- Gutenberg: The Shortcode block
- Elementor: The Shortcode widget
- Divi: The Code module
Here is an example of how to install the form in Elementor.
A little note. The form may not show up on the back-end after you paste the shortcode. In such a case, you can preview the page to view the front-end of the page.
Creating a Content Locker Form
Another opt-in campaign you can create with Bloom is content locker. This type of campaign is useful if you have exclusive content that you want to give access only to those who enter their email address.
Using this type of campaign to hide a download button can also be a great idea.
To create a content locker in Bloom, go to Bloom -> Optin Forms. Click the NEW OPTIN button and select LOCKED CONTENT.
Give your campaign a name and select the marketing platform you use. Select the account you have created earlier and select an existing list on your account. Click the NEXT button to pick a form template.
Click the NEXT button to customize the form design.
Same as popup and embedded form, you can customize the design of your content locker form on the Design screen. Once done, click the GENERATE SHORTCODE button to get the shortcode of the content locker.
Copy the content locker shortcode on the appearing popup.
Don’t forget to click the SAVE & EXIT button after copying the shortcode.
FYI. The shortcode you copied consists of two parts: the opening shortcode and closing shortcode.
Implementing the Content Locker
To implement the content locker form you have just created above, first, edit the post where you want to add the content locker to. Or you can create a new one.
Add the Shortcode block and paste the opening shortcode.
Add other blocks such as Paragraph, Image, Button, and so on. These blocks are the content that you want to lock (your exclusive content area).
Add another Shortcode block right after the last block of the exclusive content area. Paste the closing shortcode of your content locker.
You can preview the post to view your content locker on the front-end.
Implementing the Content Locker in Classic Editor
Not only can you use the content locker in Gutenberg, but you can also use it in Classic Editor.
The implementation of content locker in Classic Editor is the same as Gutenberg. You can simply add your exclusive content area between the opening shortcode and closing shortcode of the content locker.
Running an A/B Test in Bloom
As a marketer, you need to monitor the performance of your campaigns and make some adjustments to improve the performance.
Bloom comes with an A/B testing feature you can leverage to improve the performance of your campaigns. You can run an A/B test (also known as split test) to find out which version of your campaign performs better.
Bloom allows you to create two or more variations of your campaign. You can create a variation with a different design, different form fields, different behavior for a popup, and so on.
How to Run an A/B Test in Bloom
To run an A/B test in Bloom, first, go to Bloom -> Optin Forms. Pick an existing campaign you want to run an A/B test on and click the branch icon. Click the ADD VARIANT button.
Give your new variant a name and click the NEXT button to customize the design.
Customize the design and change which part you want to test. Ideally, you only change one part per test.
For instance, if the initial version of your campaign consists of three form fields (e.g., Name, Address, and Email), you can remove one field to find out if there is conversion improvement.
Once done making the changes of your design, you can click the SAVE & EXIT button. No need to generate the new shortcode. Bloom will automatically run the different versions of the campaigns for you.
Switch back to the Active Optins screen and click the START TEST button to run the A/B test.
You can monitor the performance of each variant on a regular basis. Once you have found a variant with the best performance, you can stop the A/B test by clicking the END & PICK WINNER button.
Monitoring Campaign Performance in Bloom
After creating campaigns and running some A/B tests, you can monitor the performance of each campaign. Bloom comes with a super useful analytics feature to allow you to monitor the performance of your campaigns.
To monitor the performance of your campaign, you can go to Bloom -> Statistics and you will be presented with the following screen.
As you can see, you can monitor metrics like conversion rate, number of subscribers and impression.
To monitor the performance of each list on your email marketing account, you can go to the NEW SIGN UPS section and select the list from the dropdown menu.
Summary – Bloom Review
There are many lead generation plugins for WordPress, but only a few of them that have complete features like Bloom.
Not only can you use Bloom to create lead generation forms, but you can only monitor the performance via its built-in analytics feature. Also, you can improve the performance of your campaigns by running some A/B tests.
Bloom is a standalone plugin. It has no dependency on another plugin like, for instance, Kadence Conversions. You can use Bloom regardless of the page builder or theme you use. It offers form placement flexibility via shortcodes.
With Bloom, you can create a lead generation form for platforms like HubSpot, Mailchimp to MailerLite.
While Bloom is a great plugin, it is far from perfect. Campaign editor is the area where Bloom is left behind. Its campaign editor doesn’t really offer a WYSIWYG editing experience.
Also, the Bloom development tends to be slow. The un-renamed marketing platforms on the dropdown list can confirm this. I can understand this because the Elegant Themes developer team is now fully focused on Divi 5.
Bloom Pros:
- Ability to run opt-in campaign in several formats (popup, embedded form, content locker)
- Allows to create highly targeted lead generation form thanks to its display condition feature
- Ability to run an A/B test
- Comes with built-in stats
- Pre-made popup templates
- Has no dependency on other plugins
- Flexible form installation via a shortcode
- Can be installed on unlimited websites
Bloom Cons:
- No free version is available
- Slow development
- Lack design options
If you are interested in using Bloom, you can download it on its official website. You can get Bloom either with a subscription-based payment or a one-time payment option.
