OptinMonster vs. Sumo: Why I Prefer OptinMonster Over Sumo...

This post contains affiliate links.
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If you’re trying to build a business online, you need to be building an email list. There’s no better way to nurture leads.

However, to build an email list, you need two things:

1. An email marketing service to manage and send emails.
2. Email opt-in software to actually collect email addresses?

If you're ready to supercharge your email collection, give OptinMonster a try today. 

Why You Need To Collect Email Addresses...

You need to collect email addresses in order to keep in touch and build a relationship with your website visitors. After all, if someone visits your website and leaves, that person is gone forever. But if you captured the person’s email address, you now have a way to stay in touch.

Plus, not everyone who visits your website will be ready to do business with you right away. Collecting email addresses and sending email campaigns via broadcast emails or autoresponders will allow you to stay in front of your prospects until they’re ready to do business.

Finally, when I tell financial advisors (my niche) about online marketing, they typically want to talk about social media. While it’s definitely possible to build your business using social media, it’s important to realize that all social media is “rented land”. 

You do not own Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. You can wake up one morning and find out that your account has been deactivated. Then all of your hard work goes down the drain.

However, your email list is an asset that you own and control. Nobody can take it away from you. You won’t depend on the social media gods to keep your business alive another day. You can have a list of hundreds or thousands of people who are receptive to your message, and you can keep in touch for years to come.

"So, What Is OptinMonster?"

OptinMonster is lead generation software that allows you to quickly and easily create opt-in forms to collect email addresses from your website.

OptinMonster started off as a simple WordPress plugin, but now it’s much more than that. Today, it’s a full list building platform that allows you to grow your email list faster than ever before. All you have to do is use their WordPress plugin or use a snippet of code that can be used with any website that supports HTML (which is pretty much every single website).

Oh, and don’t worry – you not need any type of coding skill to using OptinMonster. You can create and customize lead capture forms without knowing a single snippet of code. They’ve made it user friendly so you can do it without hiring an expensive developer.

It lets you create, edit, and monitor all of your opt-in forms from a central location, no matter how many sites you run. You can have one form, two forms, or two hundred forms.

"Alright, Now What Is Sumo?"

Sumo is another list-building tool. It’s similar to OptinMonster in the sense that it has some stuff to help you build your email list, but as you’ll see in this review, it’s not as good.

I used to use the free version of Sumo for my pop-ups, scroll boxes/bars, etc. but I always felt that it was lacking. When I found out about OptinMonster, I immediately switched and have never looked back.

Why I Didn't Like Sumo...

Sumo was good for one reason: it was free.

If all you care about is how you can get something for the lowest price, then Sumo is the list builder for you. But there’s an old Benjamin Franklin quote that says, “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”

But if you’re anything like me, you have absolutely no problem spending a dollar if it can make you two dollars. That’s definitely the case here. Once I started using OptinMonster, I got an almost immediate return on my investment because I was collecting more email addresses.

What exactly didn’t I like about Sumo (even though it was free)?
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• It’s boring. The free version doesn’t come with any templates. It’s a generic box that you see on a lot of websites. It makes you think, “Oh, not this again.”
• People ignore it. I’ve found that because people see the Sumo opt-in forms on so many website, they’ve developed a level of blindness to them. When people see them, they’re used to disregarding it and clicking the “X” as fast as possible.
• There’s no A/B testing. This was a HUGE deal-breaker for me. OptinMonster has awesome A/B testing features that allow me to continuously improve my forms, but Sumo doesn’t give this to you unless you pay for it.
• They put their ugly branding on it. With OptinMonster, you can leave their branding on or take it off. With Sumo, you have no such option. If you’re going to use them, you have to deal with their branding all over your site.

Again, if you’re on a tight budget and want something free, go ahead and get Sumo. It does the job, just not very well. ​

What Makes OptinMonster Better?

There are dozens and dozens of reasons why OptinMonster is better than Sumo, but I’m going to focus on the reasons that make the biggest difference.
 
First of all, OptinMonster looks better. You can customize your opt-ins however you want, but the templates they give you are pretty good and don’t need much tinkering. If you’ve done any type of email capture, you quickly realize that a better looking form makes people more likely to enter their email address.
 
Secondly, the OptinMonster builder is a drag-and-drop builder that is easy to use and allows you to create an opt-in form in less than a few minutes.
 
Then there’s the A/B testing. OptinMonster has the best A/B testing setup that I’ve ever seen in the email marketing space. It allows you to test different designs, headlines, content, etc. to see what works. By consistently split testing, you will increase your conversions over time. I have been able to at least double my conversion rate on most of my opt-ins.
 
When you run A/B tests, you let the data decide what works best. There’s no emotion and no guesswork. OptinMonster will track impressions and conversions to tell you which option has the highest conversion rate.
 
Another awesome feature is the built-in analytics. You can link OptinMonster directly to your Google Analytics so you can see which opt-ins are performing the best and improve accordingly. So when I see one opt-in performing three times better than all the rest, I can make sure that one shows more often so I collect more email addresses.
 
Next, there’s page level targeting. This means you can show targeted messages on specific pages or categories to build a hyper-targeted email list. For example, if someone reads one of my cold calling articles, I will try to show them a cold calling opt-in. If they read a marketing article, I will show them a marketing opt-in.
 
Finally, there’s their famous exit-intent technology. This is where OptinMonster truly shines. Most of the people who leave your website will never return, so having a way to capture them as they leave is amazing.
 
OptInMonster’s exit-intent technology will detect a user’s behavior (like their mouse going to the “X”) and prompts them with a pop-up at the precise moment they’re about to leave. When you use this behavioral technology, you can convert more of your web visitors into email subscribers and then into paying customers. 

Check out all of OptinMonster's features here. ​

Opt-In Types...

Lightbox Popup
 
Popups are one of the best ways to get a visitor’s attention, but they have to be done right. OptinMonster allows you to create popups a few different ways:
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• You can show a popup to someone who has been on your site for X seconds
• You can show a popup to someone who has scrolled down X amount

 
For example, I know a few people who have had a lot of success with popups that show after a visitor has scrolled 50% down the page. They do it this way so they’re only showing the popups to people who are engaging with the site.
 
Also, OptinMonster has the ability to create popups specifically for mobile devices. That way your popup always looks good and is formatted correctly.
 
Floating Bar
 
This is personally my favorite way to collect email addresses, and although the conversion rate isn’t as high as the popup, it is still a workhorse.
 
Floating bars attach themselves to the top or bottom of the screen and scroll along with you, which makes it highly effective.
 
Slide-in 
 
This is a good way to build your list without being pushy. Slide-ins, also known as scroll boxes, are the polite way to build your email list because they appear on the bottom corner as a visitor scrolls down your site.
 
After Post/In-Line
 
This is my second favorite way to collect email addresses. This is the opt-in that you will see either in the middle of a post or at the bottom of a post. The reason this works so well because is if someone has scrolled down to the bottom of a piece of content, they’re probably pretty engaged. So there’s no better time to ask for an email address, especially if you can offer something closely related to what they just read.
 
Sidebar
 
Sidebars are really common, but the other types of opt-ins have always converted better for me. These are the opt-ins that you see on the side of a post. If you decide to use a sidebar, make sure you test it against other methods, like the floating bar and the after post opt-in. A lot of times people will put a sidebar opt-in on their site simply because they saw it on another site. Make sure you test everything and make data-driven decisions.

Plus, OptinMonster Can Help Reduce Cart Abandonment...

If you run an online store, pay attention…

Because cart abandonment is when shoppers add products to an online shopping cart, yet leave the site before actually purchasing anything.

Depending on which study you read, the average cart abandonment tends to hover around 76%, which means that 76 out of 100 shoppers are leaving their online shopping carts before purchasing.

If you can reduce your cart abandonment rate even a small percentage, it can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

Some of the reasons shoppers give for abandoning carts include:

• Unexpected costs like shipping, taxes, and fees.
• No guest checkout option. (So, don’t force your visitors to create an account just to buy from you.)
• A complicated checkout process. (Make it as simple as possible.)

Fortunately for you, OptinMonster can help you reduce your cart abandonment rate by installing an exit-intent popup. This is a popup that appears when your visitor makes a move towards existing and gives you one last chance to hook them.

This is typically where sites display a special offer such as a coupon code or free shipping. With OptinMonster, you can present a targeted offer by displaying a different message depending on which item(s) your visitors have in their cart.

Plus, if the shopper still leaves without completing the purchase, you can send an abandoned cart email sequence to incentivize them to come back.

Another way to reduce cart abandonment is by using scarcity. Sometimes people just need a little motivation to complete their purchases. Scarcity creates that motivation to buy right away.

One strategy is to display a countdown timer. These are particularly effective with sales and coupon codes. Another reason I like OptinMonster so much is that they have countdown timers built in.

Reducing shopping cart abandonment is just another way OptinMonster can pay for itself.

OptinMonster Pricing

Back when I was using Sumo, I was hesitant to switch from something free to something paid. But by taking advantage of OptinMonster’s features, I was able to double and then triple my conversion rates, which led to a huge increase in revenue. OptinMonster ended up paying for itself many times over.
 
OptinMonster currently has three pricing levels:

• Basic for $9 per month. This gives you unlimited opt-in forms, A/B split testing, page level testing, user-friendly reporting and the ability to place opt-ins on one site.
• Plus for $19 per month. This gives you everything in the Basic plan, support for three sites, a floating bar, sidebar forms, after post/in-line forms and content locking.
• Pro for $29 per month. This gives you all previous features, plus exit-intent technology, referral detection, mobile-specific opt-ins, yes/no forms, slide-in scroll trigger boxes, smart canvas forms, campaign scheduling, full-screen takeovers, priority support and the ability to place the forms on an unlimited number of sites.

How's The Customer Service?

I am thoroughly impressed with OptinMonster’s customer service. They’ve promptly responded to all of my requests, but I’ve never had any serious issues because it’s so easy to use.
 
But I want to make it clear that I have the Pro plan and that offers priority support. I have no experience with the customer support for the Basic or Plus plan.
 
I have the Pro plan and absolutely love it. I've attached a photo of one my support tickets below - this is just the initial response explaining how they document everything and promise to respond in 24 hours or less, which is pretty cool. :-)

An example support ticket from OptinMonster, where they promise to respond in 24 hours or less.

OptinMonster GUARANTEES You'll See Results...

OptinMonster has one of the best guarantees in the industry. They let you try it risk-free for 14 days and if you aren’t happy, they will refund 100% of your money, no questions asked.
 
I would personally recommend signing up for the free trial, giving it a try, and then cancelling if you don’t see an improvement in your opt-ins. That’s what I did. I told myself that if I didn’t see an immediate improvement, I would cancel… but I never did. OptinMonster has been well worth it every step of the way.

​Give OptinMonster a try today. ​
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