Over 300 billion emails are sent each day, and this number is likely to reach 400 billion by 2026. This shows the power of email marketing and the importance of building an email list.
And to grow your email list effectively, you’ll need to rely on tools that help you with list building seamlessly.
One such tool is OptinMonster. It’s one of the earliest list-building tools on the market and offers various features to help you show opt-in forms using different methods.
But the true question is:
Is OptinMonster still worth the hype and money?
Many new list-building tools have proven to be useful. So, where does OptinMonster stand in the list-building tools market?
In this review, I’ll go through OptinMonster and its features. We’ll also take a look at how to create forms using OptinMonster.
At the end of the review, we’ll conclude whether OptinMonster is worth the money or not.
Let’s begin.
What is OptinMonster?
OptinMonster is a smart list-building plugin that helps you create stunning opt-in forms using a visual editor without the need to code by yourself.
You can connect your favorite email marketing service to OptinMonster and start collecting emails right away.
OptinMonster offers different types of opt-in forms like pop-up forms, slide-ins, floating bars, and more. We’ll discuss more the different form types in OptinMonster later in the review.
This lead generation plugin also provides features to make the most out of your opt-in forms. This is evident in the advanced page-level targeting, custom display rules, and dynamic text replacement.
You can create design stunning forms using OptinMonster. There are over 65+ pre-designed templates you can use right away. All these templates are mobile-friendly.
This is just an overview of OptinMonster. Let’s take a look at some of the features of this list-building plugin.
OptinMonster Features
What does make OptinMonster such an excellent plugin for creating opt-in forms?
The answer is the features provided. And the team behind this plugin keeps releasing new features to make sure they offer their customers everything.
That being said, here are the features of OptinMonster:
1. Drag And Drop Builder
With OptinMonster’s drag-and-drop builder, you can create beautiful opt-in forms visually within minutes.
This builder makes it very easy to create forms by simply dragging and dropping elements on your form.
You can create an opt-in form from scratch using the drag & drop builder or use a pre-made template and edit it.
The best thing about OptinMonster is that the drag & drop builder lets you design mobile-friendly templates too.
Other notable features of this drag-and-drop builder are that you can set custom success messages, create Yes/No forms, and choose from 26+ animations and effects for your opt-in form.
2. Campaign Triggers
It’s no secret that opt-in forms are annoying to users. But they still work. OptinMonster helps you display your opt-in form at the right time to the right user in a less intrusive way.
And this can be done by the different campaign triggers available in OptinMonster. There are 6 different smart triggers you can choose from to display your form at the right time.
These are:
Campaign Scheduling: Another feature not available in many lead generation plugins. Campaign scheduling lets you create opt-in email campaigns for specific time and dates.
Exit-Intent: With this trigger, your form will be displayed when the user is about to leave your website. This helps in converting your abandoning visitors into subscribers.
Scroll Trigger: Do you know how annoying it is to see a pop-up in front of you right when you open a website? You can solve this by using OptinMonster’s scroll trigger. With this smart trigger, your form will be displayed when the visitor has scrolled x% of your page.
2-Step Opt-ins: With 2-step opt-ins, you can convert any image or a link into an opt-in form. Your form will be displayed when the visitor clicks on the link or the image.
Inactivity Sensor: This feature is not available in most of the list-building plugins. This method can be used to convert your inactive visitors into subscribers. The form is displayed when the visitor is inactive on your website.
Timed Display Control: Display your opt-in forms at the right time. This helps in increasing your conversions.
3. Targeted Campaigns
A good list building plugin has different features and templates to create opt-in forms. But a great list building plugin has many advanced features so that you can try to convert every visitor on your website.
Targeted campaigns let you precisely target visitors to generate more subscribers. OptinMonster does this by:
AdBlock Detection: With this, you can bypass ad blockers and make sure your visitors receive your message.
Referrer Detection: You can show targeted messages based on where the user is coming from.
Page Level Targeting: Create custom campaigns for specific pages on your website.
OnSite Follow-Up Campaigns: With this feature, you can create onsite drip campaigns for your site visitors based on their interactions.
OnSite Retargeting: Create special offers and promotions for returning visitors. This helps you boost conversions.
5. Geo-Location Targeting: You may have seen many websites using this. And it’s very effective. OptinMonster lets you create campaigns based on the visitor’s location.
Cookie Retargeting: You can personalize your campaigns using cookie retargeting.
Device-Based Targeting: You can create unique campaigns for desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.
4. Integrations
OptinMonster integrates with various email marketing software and other tools to help you make the most of your subscribers.
These integrations help you with list segmentation, where you group subscribers based on their interests.
It also supports lead sharing to help you share your leads with joint venture and co-marketing partners.
In a nutshell, you don’t have to worry about whether OptinMonster integrates with your email marketing tool.
5. Actionable Insights
The stats matter a lot when it comes to list building, and OptinMonster has got you covered. You can get actionable insights about your campaigns and improve your lead generation strategy.
OptinMonster provides real-time behavior automation, which lets you show relevant campaigns to your visitors based on their behavior.
You can also run A/B tests to find out which campaigns are driving conversions.
Another great feature of OptinMonster is the Smart Success. With this feature, you can display new offers to visitors who have already opted-in to your previous offers.
Lastly, you can get all the stats of your campaigns to help you improve your overall list-building.
So, these are the different features available in OptinMonster. Let’s now discuss the different types of opt-in forms you can create with OptinMonster.
Optin Form Types
There are 8 different types of forms you can create in OptinMonster. These forms are:
1. Lightbox Popup The OptinMonster lightbox popup lets you create beautiful pop-ups that help you grow your email list.  There are many different types of pop-up templates available for use or you can also start from a blank template. You can set triggers for your pop-ups so that it is displayed at the right time without annoying your visitors. |
2. Full-Screen Welcome Mat Welcome mats have become very popular these days, and you can create such full-screen welcome mats using OptinMonster.  You can control the timing of the welcome mat by using the different trigger options. You can also set display rules so that your welcome mat is displayed to the right people. Many websites use welcome mats when people visit their website. OptinMonster lets you display exit-intent full-screen mats so that your visitors don’t leave your website without subscribing to your offer. |
3. Slide-in Scroll Box A slide-in scroll box is a less annoying way of asking visitors for their email address. You can design attention-grabbing scroll boxes using OptinMonster.  Slide-in converts very well without interrupting visitors. |
4. Floating Bar A floating bar is a sticky bar at the top of the page. Floating bars increase conversions and can help you grow your list easily.  There are many templates available for floating bar in OptinMonster so that you can create a bar that boosts your conversions. |
5. Countdown Timers Sky-rocket your email list growth using countdown timers. You can evoke a sense of urgency to your visitors by using such opt-in forms.  OptinMonster lets you create countdown timers that are either static or dynamic. A static countdown timer shows a universal deadline for all your visitors, whereas a dynamic countdown timer will show different deadlines to each visitor. This way, you can personalize your form and increase your list growth significantly. |
6. Inline Forms Inline forms are opt-in forms that can be embedded in your content. You can create inline forms using OptinMonster.  Just like other opt-in forms in OptinMonster, you can also set targeting rules for precise targeting. This will help increase the number of signups. |
7. Content Locker
You can gate your content using the content locker and see an uprise in your conversions. With content lockers, you can lock any part of your content behind an opt-in form.
This boosts conversions and helps you grow your email list fast. Another added benefit of using content lockers is that it increase content engagement.
Creating an Optin Form With OptinMonster
A great list-building plugin shouldn’t just have great features. It should be easy to use and simple.
Let’s see how to create an opt-in form with OptinMonster.
In your OptinMonster dashboard, you’ll see a button to create a campaign. Click on this button to get started with your opt-in form creation.
The next step is to select the campaign type. You can see the different types of campaigns available. Select your desired campaign and then choose a template.
For now, I’ve selected the pop-up campaign and this template:
Once you choose a template, you’ll have to give a name to your campaign and select the website where you want to load the campaign to. Click on the start building button to edit your campaign.
Now, you’ll see the drag and drop builder where you can edit the template and settings of your campaign.
The opt-in settings tab on the sidebar lets you change the settings of your opt-in form. You can change the columns of your form from the blocks tab.
Click on the display settings to set change the cookie duration and other settings.
Now, click on the display rules tab on the top to set display rules for the opt-in form. You can create many ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ rules.
Once your form design and display rules are set, head over to the integrations tab and connect your email marketing tool with OptinMonster.
Lastly, there is an analytics tab where you can connect Google Analytics to get analytics of your form.
Finally, when your form is done, click on the publish tab to publish it. You can embed the form in different ways. If you’re on WordPress, you can install the OptinMonster WordPress plugin and embed forms easily. You can also use the embed code to embed your forms.
So that’s how you create a campaign in OptinMonster. As evident from the tutorial, it’s very easy to create a campaign in OptinMonster as it literally takes minutes!
Documentation & Support
When it comes to documentation and support, OptinMonster takes every step to make sure its customers are happy and satisfied.
OptinMonster has very brief documentation with over 200 articles to help you use the tool without any problems.
You can also send a ticket to the team for any assistance if required.
Thus, it’s safe to say that OptinMonster takes care of its customers in the best way possible.
OptinMonster Pricing
Let’s finally address the elephant in the room. Yes, the pricing!
With so many awesome features, it’s obvious that OptinMonster’s pricing would be whopping hundreds of dollars.
That’s not true.
The most basic plan of OptinMonster is $59.60 (billed annually). In this plan, you can create up to 3 campaigns and collect 100 leads. This plan is very basic and is perfect for those just starting out or wanting to try OptinMonster.
The Plus plan of OptinMonster costs $119.60 (billed annually) in which you can create unlimited campaigns, collect unlimited leads and integrations, and get all the features of this tool. You can load three websites in this plan, and the pageview limit is 50,000.
This plan is the best OptinMonster plan for you if you’re serious about list building. The higher plans are $199.60 (billed annually) and $399.60 (billed annually), with extra features such as Adblock detection, behavior automation, client logins, and white labeling.
OptinMonster Pros & Cons
Let’s discuss the pros and cons of OptinMonster.
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Cons |
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OptinMonster Alternative
If there is any reasonable alternative to OptinMonster, then it is Thrive Leads. Thrive Leads is just like OptinMonster with many features.
Thrive Leads also provides A/B testing, advanced reporting, mobile-friendly forms, and also has a drag-and-drop editor.
When it comes to pricing, Thrive Leads might have a slight edge over OptinMonster because it costs a one-time payment of $67 for use on a single site.
To use on five websites, Thrive Leads costs $97.
Conclusion: Is it Worth The Hype & Money?
In my opinion, OptinMonster is still worth the money. New features are introduced very often, and they offer many features.
Not to mention, that the tool is perfect if you want to manage clients as it gives you client logins.
The final verdict is that OptinMonster is worth the hype and money and is definitely an awesome list-building tool that you should choose if you’re serious about growing your email list.
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