In the world of digital marketing, every touchpoint with your audience matters. A thank you page is more than a polite acknowledgment. It’s an opportunity to nurture relationships, drive additional actions, and build long-term customer loyalty. Done right, it can turn a one-time transaction into a long-term customer connection.

In this article, I’ll discuss the importance of thank you pages and explain how to create them. I’ll also share 8 thank you page examples that you can draw inspiration from.

• Why Every Business Needs a Thank You Page
• How to Create a Thank You Page (2 Methods)
• 3 Essential Elements of a Thank You Page
• After-Optin Thank You Page Examples
• After-Sale Thank You Page Examples

Why Every Business Needs a Thank You Page

A thank you page does more than just confirm an order or action. It’s a vital touchpoint in the customer journey that can enhance user experience, build trust, and even boost sales. Here are several reasons why every business should use a thank you page:

• First Impressions: The thank you page sets the tone for future interactions, creating a positive experience that can increase customer loyalty.
• Building Trust: A personalized thank you page reassures users that their action was successful and appreciated, which creates trust and credibility.
• Upselling and Cross Selling: Include personalized recommendations for related products or services. This tactic can increase your average order value (AOV).
• Encouraging Engagement: Use the thank you page to ask customers to follow your brand on social media, join your community, or participate in other offers.
• Customer Retention: A well-crafted thank you page can reinforce the customer’s decision to buy, reducing buyer’s remorse and increasing the likelihood of repeat business.
• Survey and Feedback Collection: Ask for customer feedback with a quick survey, helping you gather valuable insights to improve your website and products.
• Nurturing Leads: Keep the relationship going by offering additional content, guides, or special deals. Doing so will help you nurture new leads through your sales funnel.

How to Create a Thank You Page (2 Methods)

There are 2 different ways you can create a successful thank you page:

• Build a thank you page with SeedProd (for WordPress)
• Create a thank you popup with OptinMonster (for any site)

1. Build a Thank You Page With SeedProd (for WordPress)

SeedProd is our #1 choice for WordPress page builders. It has a specific focus on building specialized landing pages such as thank you pages. However, you can also use it to build your entire website.

SeedProd has 350+ pre-made page templates, including several thank you page templates:

SeedProd also has an easy drag-and-drop builder, so you can customize any template in just a few minutes.

You can customize your thank you page to generate leads and boost conversions with pre-built blocks like contact forms, giveaways, countdown timers, social profiles, and much more.

Sign up for SeedProd and make custom thank you pages in minutes!

2. Create a Thank You Popup With OptinMonster (for Any Site)

On the other hand, if you don’t want to create a separate landing page, you can create a thank you popup with OptinMonster.

By default, most of our 700+ templates include 3 views:

• Yes/No View: Ask visitors a simple yes/no question such as “Do you want to save 30% off today’s purchase?”
• Optin View: Ask visitors to submit an email address, feedback, and/or other information.
• Success View: Confirm that the submission was successful and offer next steps.

The Success View is essentially the popup version of a thank you page, and you can optimize it in many of the same ways.

For example, here’s what the Success View looks like for our Birthday Discount popup template:

This Success View does 3 important things:

• Thanks the visitor for subscribing to your email list.
• Provides the promised discount code.
• Includes a large call-to-action (CTA) button to start shopping.

No matter which template you choose, you can add any elements you want in our easy drag-and-drop builder:

Here are just a few of the types of blocks you can add to your popups:

• Text fields informing users of next steps (such as checking their email to confirm their subscription)
• Embedded videos
• Countdown timers
• Buttons linking to product pages, customer support, and more
• Social media links
• ChatBots
• and more

Plus, OptinMonster offers robust targeting and triggering rules, so you can show your messages to the right people at exactly the right time. Try OptinMonster today, with our 14-day money-back guarantee!

3 Essential Elements of a Thank You Page

Some thank you pages are seen by new email subscribers, and others are seen by new or returning customers. However, every thank you page must have these 3 essential elements.

1. A confirmation message
2. A clear call to action
3. Specific instructions on what to do next

If any one of these key ingredients is missing, then your thank you page will fall short.

1. Confirmation Message

For a good user experience, and to serve its primary function, your thank you page must include a confirmation that the user’s action was successful.

You need to actually spell it out for them. Otherwise, you’ll risk leaving them confused or disoriented.

A simple, “Thank you for subscribing!” or “Your order is complete!” will do just fine. Just make sure the user knows what has happened, as well as what they should expect to happen next, if necessary.

Unfortunately, this is where most thank you pages stop. If you want to stop leaving money on the table, you’ll need to get your users to take another action right away. Which brings us to the next thank you page element.

2. Call to Action (CTA)

Now that you’ve confirmed their successful action, it’s time to take your thank you page to the next level by adding in a call to action (CTA).

A very clear CTA will move your users to take the next step in your sales process.

This is the part where most thank you pages fall short, but adding this one thing to your thank you page will make the world of difference in terms of your conversions and sales.

Your CTA could be as simple as a button to download the lead magnet your subscriber just signed up for.

Or, it could be more complex, like offering a coupon code and encouraging users to start shopping. You can see that in this thank you page example created with SeedProd:

So what other CTAs can you include? Here are some great thank you page call to action examples:

• Ask them to whitelist your email address
• Ask them to share on social media
• Ask them to register for a webinar or event
• Ask them to purchase a related product
• Ask them to create an account
• Ask them to fill out a survey

3. Specific Instructions

The 3rd element to put on your thank you page is specific instructions on exactly what to do next.

You already have a call to action that gives users the next step. But to get users to actually take you up on it, you should be specific about what they should do and how.

For example, many email newsletters require a double opt-in. That’s when someone has to complete 2 steps before they’re added to your email marketing list:

1. They have to sign up for your email list on your website.
2. They have to click a confirmation link in an email you send them.

If you use a double opt-in, you must make that clear in your thank you page. That way, users know that they have 1 more step to complete.

For example, your thank you message can say:

“Thank you for signing up! To start receiving our weekly newsletter, you must click the confirmation link in the email we just sent you. Check your inbox now!”

That single sentence includes all 3 essential thank you page elements: a thank you, specific instructions, and a CTA to check their email.

Now that you know the 3 essential elements, let’s look at some thank you page examples.

These 8 thank you pages are highly effective at moving new subscribers and customers further along your sales funnel.

I’ve divided the examples into 2 categories: thank you pages that appear after an optin and after a purchase.

After-Optin Thank You Page Examples

When someone successfully opts into your email list, you can use your thank you page to accomplish 1 of 3 main goals:

1. Drive more traffic to your optin by encouraging sharing
2. Begin to nurture leads
3. Acquire customers right away

Here are some examples of after-optin thank you pages:

Thank You Page Example #1: Social Sharing

Did you know that your thank you page can actually drive more optins?

When you use your thank you page to drive more traffic to your optin form, you can increase your signups. For example, users saw this thank you popup when they signed up for a live webinar, which was used as a lead magnet to get more email subscribers.

The Success View of this popup encourages new subscribers to invite friends to also sign up. There are 2 CTA buttons to share the signup form on social media.

As the subscribers’ friends sign up for the webinar, they’ll also see this thank you page that encourages them to share the signup form, as well. This creates a powerful snowball effect that can help you grow your email list and webinar attendance quickly.

You can even include an extra incentive for them to share. RafflePress is the best giveaway plugin for WordPress, and you can use it easily add a giveaway to your thank you page.

This is a fun and effective way to incentivize new subscribers to share your optin page.

With the verified bonus actions, you can reward users with extra giveaway entries for sharing your page.

Many users will be more than willing to share your optin page for a better chance of winning an awesome prize.

Thank You Page Example #2: Related Blog Content

You can also use your thank you page to begin the lead nurturing process right away.

After all, why wait? The more you can increase your touch points with a lead, the more likely they will become a customer.

One way to nurture new subscribers is to recommending posts on your blog that are related to the lead magnet they just signed up for. This will keep them reading and browsing your site for longer.

Here’s a thank you page example where Salesforce included extra resources to explore:

Thank You Page Example #3: Webinar Promotion

You can also nurture your leads by asking them to register for a webinar or an event. Your new subscriber has just shown a high level of interest in your content, so your thank you page is the perfect time to promote your webinar.

Here’s an example of a webinar registration thank you page from Wisita.

Thank You Page Example #4: Community Building

Another way to start nurturing leads right off the bat is by asking them to participate in your community. By bringing new leads into your community and social platforms, you’ll be able to have more of a dialog with them.

In this example, the thank you message includes a call to action to “like us on Facebook”.

Thank You Page Example #5: The Tripwire

After someone opts in with their email address, you can monetize your thank you page to immediately turn that new lead into a customer. Here’s how to monetize your thank you page:

First, you’ll need to have a low-dollar offer, or a “tripwire.” A tripwire is an offer that is a complete no-brainer. It usually falls in the ballpark of $1-$20, depending on the regular price of your products.

Even though it’s priced so low, the tripwire offer still requires someone to pull out their wallet and become a paying customer. This is important because the first sale is the hardest. But when someone has bought from you once, it’s much easier to get them to buy from you again.

Digital Marketer has a great thank you page example with a tripwire. Their success message says that your lead magnet is on the way, and while you’re waiting for it to arrive, you should check out this other offer.

Once you click on the “I’ll take a look” button, you’ll be taken directly to the sales page with a $7 tripwire offer.

Now that we’ve seen some thank you page examples that are shown after an email optin, let’s look at some examples of thank you pages that are shown after the user completes a purchase.

After-Sale Thank You Page Examples

When someone completes a purchase, the goals for your thank you page are going to be a bit different. Your 2 main goals are usually to:

1. Maximize customer value
2. Increase customer retention

Here are some examples of after-sale thank you pages…

Thank You Page Example #6: The Value Maximizer

If your thank you page’s goal is to increase your customer’s value, you can offer a cross-sell or an up-sell.

Here’s an example of how Amazon does it. After you check out with this acoustic guitar, you’ll see some additional options to add a 4-year warranty or add some guitar lessons.

For more ideas to increase customer value, check out our post on increasing your sales funnel conversion rate.

Thank You Page Example #7: Account Creation

If your goal for your thank you page is to increase customer retention, you could ask them to create an account with you.

The thank you page is the ideal time to ask someone to create an account. If you require an account before the purchase, the speed bump might stop the sale. Once the customer has reached the order confirmation page, they’ve already decided that they trust your brand enough to buy.

Crate and Barrel asks you to create an account on their thank you page by suggesting that you “save your information for next time.” This is a great way to word it because it presents the ask as a benefit to the user.

Also note the blue “Take our 1 Minute Survey” button. Including a survey on your thank you page is a great way to gather market research and further improve your sales process!

Thank You Page Example #8: Social Proof

Another way to increase customer retention is to reinforce the decision to buy. When you show the customer that they’ve made a smart purchase, your thank you page helps to eliminate buyer’s remorse. It can also increase the chances of a customer returning to make another purchase.

You can do this by including customer testimonials or even case studies on your thank you page. Any kind of social proof will help new customers to feel good about their decision to buy.

For more ideas like this one, check out our complete guide to social proof.

How OptinMonster Can Enhance Your Thank You Page:

• Design Templates: Choose from a variety of professionally designed templates tailored for thank you pages.
• A/B Testing: Experiment with different designs and messages to see what resonates most with your audience.
• Seamless Integration: Connect with popular email marketing platforms to personalize the user experience further.
• In-depth Analytics: Understand user behavior on your thank you page to continually refine and improve.

With its intuitive design templates, robust A/B testing capabilities, and in-depth analytics, OptinMonster empowers you to create thank you pages that not only express gratitude but also drive action.

Whether you’re looking to upsell, gather feedback, or deepen the connection with your audience, OptinMonster is the partner you need. Elevate your post-conversion strategy with OptinMonster and watch your digital relationships flourish.

Get started with OptinMonster today.

Related Resources:

• How to Write the Perfect Welcome Email Series (Nail Your First 5 Emails)
• Checkout Optimization: 20 Best Wayt to Recover Lost Sales
• How to Win More Sales With Out-of-Stock Pages

For over 10 years, OptinMonster has worked with small businesses and top brands to boost their digital marketing efforts. Our customers include huge companies like Patreon and American Express, along with thousands of small businesses and startups. In short, we know what a great marketing campaign looks like, and we know how to help businesses improve their strategy.

In this article, I’ll look at 8 of the best marketing campaigns from iconic brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, and Barbie. I’ll discuss what makes them so effective and share what small businesses can learn from their success.

• What Makes a Great Marketing Campaign?
• 8 Best Marketing Campaigns to Inspire Your Strategy
  • 1. Nike’s “Just Do It” Campaign
  • 2. “What Would You Do For a Klondike Bar?”
  • 3. GoPro Awards
  • 4. Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” Campaign
  • 5. The Pepsi Challenge
  • 6. Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”
  • 7. Media Blitz for the Barbie Movie
  • 8. Dollar Shave Club’s Funny Videos

What Makes a Great Marketing Campaign?

The best marketing campaigns are so widely recognized that they become synonymous with the brand. But what sets these campaigns apart? Here are the key elements that make a marketing campaign truly impactful:

Memorability

Memorable campaigns stick in people’s minds long after they’ve seen them. They create emotional connections with the audience through a catchy slogan, a heartwarming message, or an unforgettable gag..

Think of Nike’s “Just Do It” or the “What Would You Do For a Klondike Bar?” ads, both of which I’ll explore later. Both campaigns are instantly recognizable and inseparable from their respective brands.

Cross-Platform Execution

A great marketing campaign isn’t confined to one medium. Instead, it’s strategically spread across multiple channels to reach a wider audience and present consistent messaging.

The key channels in cross-platform marketing include:

• TV: Traditional television advertising remains a powerful way to reach a broad audience.
• Print: Magazines, billboards, and flyers provide physical touchpoints that complement digital efforts.
• Radio: Radio spots are still effective for local and niche markets, especially when combined with online strategies.
• Social media: Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and LinkedIn allow brands to engage with followers, share content, and build communities. Social media is also key to any marketing campaign going viral.
• Email: Personalized email marketing campaigns can nurture leads, promote special offers, and drive engagement.
• Paid search ads: Targeted ads across search engines help capture traffic from interested customers.
• Brand, celebrity, and influencer collaborations: You can expand your reach through partnerships and notable spokespeople.
• Website: Your website is a central hub for campaign information, product details, and purchase opportunities.
• Onsite Marketing Tools: Marketing campaigns drive people to your website. Popups, lead capture forms, and personalized offers can convert those visitors into customers.

8 Best Marketing Campaigns to Inspire Your Strategy

I’ve chosen 8 famous marketing campaigns to discuss in this article. For each ad campaign, I’ll explore why it was so popular and share ideas of what you can learn from each brand’s success.

1. Nike‘s “Just Do It” Campaign

Launched in 1988, the “Just Do It” campaign transformed Nike from a sportswear company into an inspiring lifestyle brand. The campaign wasn’t just about selling athletic gear. It focused on motivating people to push their limits, regardless of their fitness level. With “Just Do It,” Nike positioned itself as a brand for everyone, from professional athletes to everyday people.

Why It’s Memorable: The simplicity and universal appeal of the slogan made it instantly relatable. Nike’s “Just Do It” ads have featured the most beloved athletes in the world, from Michael Jordan to Serena Williams. In the ads the athletes share how they’ve pushed through adversity to succeed:

“Just Do It” is now part of the brand’s DNA. In August 2024 alone, there were 141,100 internet searches for “Just Do It,” according to Semrush:

Platforms Used: Nike’s comprehensive campaign includes TV commercials, print ads, social media, celebrity endorsements, influencer marketing, and more.

What You Can Learn: The “Just Do It” campaign teaches the power of simple, universal messaging that taps into emotion. It also shows the power of consistency: “Just Do It” wouldn’t be as memorable if Nike constantly switched up its slogan.

2. “What Would You Do For a Klondike Bar?”

The “What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar?” campaign became iconic for its fun and quirky approach. Launched in the 1980s, the campaign asked people to perform silly, sometimes outrageous tasks in exchange for a Klondike bar. The ads showcased regular people engaging in lighthearted challenges, and they included a catchy jingle.

Why It’s Memorable: The campaign’s charm lay in its simplicity and humor. The company turned a simple ice cream bar into the ultimate reward for silly stunts. The campaign became so well known that it’s regularly referenced and parodied in pop culture.

To this day, the Klondike Bar YouTube channel is dominated by “What Would You Do For a Klondike Bar?” videos:

Platforms Used: Klondike’s campaign has spanned TV commercials, online videos, in-store promotions, social media, and website messaging.

In fact, the current exit popup on their website features the slogan:

With OptinMonster, you can have a popup like this up and running on your site in just a few minutes. Our exclusive Exit-Intent® technology detects when users are about to leave your site. You can ask for their email address before they go, or offer an enticing coupon to encourage them to buy.

What You Can Learn from Klondike’s Marketing Campaign: Today, the most successful marketing campaigns go viral. And Klondike went viral before the internet existed! Klondike shows the value of creating engaging, interactive campaigns that consumers want to be a part of.

3. GoPro Awards

The GoPro Awards is a long-running marketing campaign by the popular video equipment company. GoPro encourages users to submit videos and photos shot with GoPro equipment for a chance to win prizes. Winners are also featured across the brand’s social media channels and on their website. The campaign highlights the diverse uses for GoPro products, from surfing and skydiving to everyday moments. And they’re all captured by real customers.

Why It’s Memorable: The GoPro Awards is an example of user-generated content (UGC) done right. The professional quality of the winning videos shows what’s possible with a GoPro. With the potential to win prizes and gain exposure, GoPro users are motivated to share their most thrilling footage. This competitive challenge helps build community and brand loyalty among customers.

Platforms Used: YouTube, social media, the GoPro website’s dedicated GoPro Awards page, and influencer collaborations.

What You Can Learn: UGC can be a powerful marketing tool, especially when combined with incentives. That’s why I’ve written a complete guide to UGC to help small businesses use it in their own marketing strategies:

4. Coca-Cola‘s “Share a Coke” Campaign

In their “Share a Coke,” Coca-Cola replaced their iconic logo on bottles with popular names, encouraging customers to find bottles with their names or their friends’ names. The campaign sparked a wave of social sharing as people posted photos of their named bottles. This type of user-generated content is a powerful way to spread a brand message.

Why It’s Memorable: With these personalized bottles and cans, it became a fun challenge to find your own name or to find one to gift to a friend.

The aspect of sharing a Coke with friends taps deeply into the brand’s history, going back to the iconic “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” commercial from 1971. Coca-Cola now uses the “Share a Coke” slogan beyond the named-bottle campaign:

Platforms Used: Social media, in-store displays, TV commercials, online ads, and a website that let customers order bottles with specific names.

What You Can Learn from “Share a Coke”: Personalization is key to driving engagement. You can strengthen your connection by tailoring your marketing to individuals. You don’t have to launch a huge campaign to take advantage of personalization. You can use special tags in your email campaigns and website popups to include your customer’s name, city, or other information.

Personalize your website messaging with Smart Tags by OptinMonster!

5. The Pepsi Challenge

Now that we’ve covered Share a Coke, let’s examine one of Pepsi’s most popular advertising campaigns. Launched in 1975, the Pepsi Challenge was a taste-test campaign where blindfolded participants compared Pepsi and Coca-Cola. The ads showed participants choosing Pepsi as the better-tasting cola.

Why It’s Memorable: The campaign stood out for its hands-on approach, directly involving consumers in the brand battle. By offering a blind taste test, Pepsi made the brand’s rivalry with Coke a central focus of public conversation. The Pepsi Challenge campaign isn’t currently a major focus for the brand, but they still occasionally bring it back, like in this video:

Platforms Used: TV commercials, in-store events, print advertisements, and social media.

What You Can Learn From the Pepsi Challenge: Try engaging your audience with interactive experiences. For example, you can offer quizzes, polls, or challenges on your website or social media.

6. Old Spice‘s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”

This wildly successful campaign gave Old Spice a fresh and funny makeover. The commercials introduced the now-iconic “Old Spice Guy,” who delivered quirky humor about “smelling like a man.” The ads revamped the brand’s image and made it relevant to a younger audience. The commercials targeted not just men, but also women who shop for their partners.

Why It’s Memorable: The combination of unexpected humor, charm, and absurdity made the ads highly shareable. The rapid-fire jokes caught viewers off guard, encouraging them to watch the ads multiple times and to share them with friends. I personally remember the week the first ad launched. Everyone in my office crowded around a computer monitor to watch the ad on YouTube, and “I’m on a horse” instantly became a catchphrase.

14 years later, the ad’s tongue-in-cheek, exaggerated masculinity is still central to Old Spice’s branding:

Platforms Used: TV commercials, social media platforms, website, and YouTube.

What You Can Learn: Don’t be afraid to shift or revitalize your brand messaging. Humor and bold content can resonate with audiences and make your brand stand out. Also, carefully consider your target audience. Old Spice’s ads also appealed to women, who then encouraged their partners to use Old Spice.

7. Media Blitz for the Barbie Movie

Summer 2023 was an exciting time for movie fans, as the Barbenheimer viral phenomenon brought post-pandemic audiences back into theaters. While neither movie studio predicted Barbenheimer, Barbie had one of the most successful and popular marketing campaigns in recent years. The Barbie campaign brilliantly combined nostalgia, memes, and brand collaborations to generate excitement for the film. They tapped into Barbie’s cultural significance and created a playful, inclusive atmosphere for all ages.

Why It’s Memorable: This campaign seamlessly blended nostalgia with modern internet culture. Every aspect of the marketing was carefully planned. For example, each time actress Margot Robbie promoted the film, she was dressed in an outfit inspired by a vintage Barbie doll, evoking memories of people’s favorite childhood toys. The market was also flooded with Barbie brand collaborations, ranging from swimsuits to rugs:

While the studio didn’t specifically plan Barbenheimer, it still tapped into it with a powerful viral strategy. For example, the Barbie Selfie Generator allowed users to put themselves on the Barbie poster. Social media quickly filled with these UGC images, each one promoting the movie’s release. In fact, I was one of the people who immediately participated by posting Barbie posters featuring my pets:

I was just one of thousands of people who provided free marketing for Barbie, simply by having a bit of fun on social media.

Platforms Used: Social media, press events, influencers, online ads, meme culture, and branded partnerships.

What You Can Learn from Barbie: Nostalgia is a powerful tool in marketing. Your brand probably doesn’t evoke as many memories as Barbie, but you can still look for ways to tap into past traditions or childhood memories.

8. Dollar Shave Club‘s Funny Videos

Back in 2012, subscription boxes for household products weren’t very common. Enter Dollar Shave Club, which made a huge splash with their brand launch video:

The funny, irreverent ad quickly went viral and has reached over 28 million views on YouTube. That’s a lot of people watching a video about an online razor company! This and other videos set the company up for success. It’s now a leading brand in the shaving industry, with products available in many stores.

Why It’s Memorable: The video’s witty, slightly crude tone resonated with viewers, making it highly shareable and helping turn a small startup into a billion-dollar company.

Platforms Used: YouTube, social media, website, and email marketing.

What You Can Learn: Video content is incredibly effective in marketing, especially if you create content that people want to share. If you’d like some help with developing a video content strategy, check out our guide to video marketing.

Do you already have a great brand introduction video? Embed it in your website’s welcome message so you can put your best foot forward.

With OptinMonster’s easy drag-and-drop builder, you can easily embed your video in a lightbox popup or fullscreen welcome mat:

You can use our OnSite Retargeting® display rules to show your welcome video only to first-time visitors. Then, you can retarget returning visitors with special offers like coupon codes.

Create a Great Marketing Campaign, No Big Budget Required

You don’t need a massive budget like Nike or Coca-Cola to create a successful marketing campaign. By studying some of the best marketing campaigns from big brands, you can apply their strategies to your own business, no matter the size.

At OptinMonster, we know that small businesses can achieve big marketing results. With the right tools and tactics, you can drive engagement, generate leads, increase sales, and grow your business. If you’re ready to start converting your website traffic into subscribers and customers, sign up for OptinMonster, with our 14-day money back guarantee.

Related Resources:

• How to Launch a Product: 14-Step Checklist for Your Next Product Launch
• The Ultimate Beginneer’s Content Marketing Guide
• 8 Digital Marketing Best Practices
• Product Promotion: How to Market a Product to Get More Sales

In this guide, I’ll explain the different types of mobile payment systems, their benefits, and how to choose the right solution for your business. I’ll also go over my top 5 picks for mobile payment solutions. Whether you sell in-store, online, or on the go, this article will help you make an informed decision on the best mobile payment platform for your needs.

• What Are Mobile Payment Solutions?
• Types of Mobile Payment Systems
• Benefits of Mobile Payment Solutions for Small Businesses
• Key Considerations When Choosing a Mobile Payment Solution
• 5 Best Mobile Payment Solutions (Top Platforms for Accepting Mobile Payments)

What Are Mobile Payment Solutions?

Mobile payment solutions allow businesses to accept payments from customers’ mobile devices, often through a digital wallet. Instead of relying solely on cash or traditional credit card terminals, mobile payment systems provide a fast, convenient, and secure way to handle transactions.

Mobile payment systems work for both brick-and-mortar stores and online businesses, and they’re gaining popularity because of the convenience they offer. Without a mobile payment option, customers have to dig out their wallets to either swipe or enter details from their card. When you offer mobile pay, however, customers can simply make a few taps on their phone.

When you make the payment process easier, you remove a barrier to purchasing and can start earning more revenue.

How Do Mobile Payment Systems Work?

Mobile payment systems use technologies like Near Field Communication (NFC), QR codes, and mobile apps to facilitate secure, real-time transactions. Here’s a basic breakdown of how they work:

1. Customer Initiates Payment: The customer can use a mobile wallet app, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, or a dedicated mobile payment app, like Venmo or PayPal, to make a purchase.

2. Payment Information is Processed: The payment data is transmitted securely through encrypted methods, such as tokenization, which replaces sensitive information with unique tokens.

3. Transaction Confirmation: Once the payment is authorized, both the business and the customer receive a confirmation of the transaction. The entire process typically takes just a few seconds.

These systems let businesses offer faster, more seamless transactions, whether in-person, online, or through mobile apps. They also provide an additional layer of security, making them increasingly popular with both businesses and consumers alike.

Types of Mobile Payment Systems

As a small business owner, offering mobile payment options helps you meet customer expectations and streamline your operations. Here are the main types of mobile payment systems for businesses.

1. Accepting Mobile Wallets (In-Person & Online)

A mobile wallet stores credit card or debit card information on customers’ smartphones. The most popular examples include Apple Pay and Google Pay. Customers can pay by tapping their phone at an NFC-enabled payment terminal, or by selecting their mobile wallet during an online checkout.

For in-store payments, you’ll need a terminal that accepts near-field communication (NFC).

For online payments, you can integrate mobile wallet options directly into your website’s checkout. These transactions are secure and offer a fast, convenient checkout experience for your customers, both in-store and online.

Best for: Retail stores, restaurants, eCommerce websites, and any business with a physical or online checkout.

2. Using Mobile Card Readers (That Also Accept Mobile Wallets)

Mobile card readers let you accept payments through your own smartphone or tablet. These devices are perfect for small businesses that don’t want to invest in a full-scale Point of Sale (POS) system but still need a flexible way to accept payments on the go. Mobile card readers plug into or connect via Bluetooth to your phone or tablet, turning it into a powerful payment terminal.

In addition to accepting debit and credit card payments, many mobile card readers now support mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. This means customers can use their smartphones or smartwatches to pay. They simply tap their device on the card reader, making checkout faster and more convenient.

Some mobile card readers, such as Square and Zettle by PayPal, also come with additional features like invoicing, inventory management, and reporting, offering a complete payment solution for both in-person and online transactions. These systems can integrate with your online store, allowing you to also accept payments through your website, all within one platform.

Best for: Small businesses, market vendors, and service-based businesses that need flexible, mobile payment options.

4. In-App Payments

For businesses with a mobile app, in-app payments allow customers to purchase directly within the app. This can include services like food delivery, online shopping, or digital subscriptions. Shoppers will be more likely to complete their purchase if they can quickly pay with their digital wallet without leaving the app.

Best for: Businesses with a dedicated mobile app, such as restaurants, retail stores, and subscription services.

5. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Payment Apps

Peer-to-peer payment apps let users transfer money directly to each other via their smartphones. Popular examples include Venmo and PayPal.

Though traditionally used for personal transactions, many small businesses and freelancers now accept P2P payments for their convenience and lower fees.

Many P2P payment apps also offer online integrations, allowing you to accept payments through your website. For example, you can add a Venmo or PayPal button to your website’s checkout page to let customers pay directly from their mobile wallet.

Best for: Small-scale businesses, freelancers, market vendors, and service providers who want low-cost, convenient payment options both online and in-person.

Benefits of Mobile Payment Solutions for Small Businesses

If you’re a busy small business owner, you may wonder if it’s worth the time and effort to set up a mobile payment system. Here are a few of the benefits:

• Enhanced customer experience: Mobile payments make checkout quicker and easier, improving the overall customer experience.
• Compete with bigger brands: Customers often shop with larger companies due to the convenience they offer. Offering mobile payments can help close that gap.
• Increased security: With features like encryption and tokenization, mobile payment solutions offer enhanced security by protecting sensitive customer information during transactions.
• Faster transactions: Mobile payment systems speed up the checkout process, allowing you to serve more customers in less time, especially during peak hours.
• Flexibility for your business: Accept payments anywhere, whether you’re at your storefront, a pop-up event, or on the go. Mobile payment solutions let you handle transactions from anywhere with an internet connection.

Key Considerations When Choosing a Mobile Payment Solution

You’ve decided that your business needs to accept mobile payments. But which mobile payment system should you choose? Here are a few factors to help make a decision.

• Transaction fees and pricing: Evaluate transaction fees and other costs like setup or monthly fees. Choose a solution that aligns with your budget and sales volume.
• Integration with eCommerce platforms: Ensure the mobile payment solution integrates seamlessly with your existing eCommerce platform or POS system for streamlined transactions.
• Supported payment methods and currencies: Choose a solution that supports multiple payment methods, including credit cards, mobile wallets, and potentially international currencies. Make sure you can accommodate your diverse customer base.
• Security features: Look for solutions that offer strong security features such as PCI compliance, encryption, and fraud detection to protect both your business and your customers.
• Customer support and accessibility: Choose a provider that offers accessible support to resolve any issues quickly and efficiently.

5 Mobile Payment Solutions (Top Platforms for Accepting Mobile Payments)

1. Square

Uses: Mobile card reader, mobile wallet acceptance, in-person and online payments
Accepted payments include: Credit & debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Afterpay

Square offers a comprehensive mobile payment solution with mobile card readers, point-of-sale systems, and online payment processing. It’s popular with small businesses and integrates easily with eCommerce platforms for online transactions.

I’ve personally used Square for both in-person and online payments. I’ve used its card reader for personal transactions, and I relied on Square’s full system more broadly in the workplace. I helped manage multiple terminals and online payments, and I’ve used it to track inventory. I loved how I could easily log in to the app to view all transactions in one place. Square made it easy to manage and track purchases from a wide variety of payment methods.

Pricing: Starts at $0/month, plus processing fees which start at 2.6% plus $0.10 per transaction. Card readers and terminals range from free to $799.

2. Zettle by PayPal

Uses: Mobile card reader, mobile wallet acceptance, in-person and online payments, in-app payments
Accepted payments include: Credit & debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay

Zettle by PayPal allows businesses to accept card and mobile wallet payments in person via a mobile card reader. It also integrates with PayPal for online payments, offering a flexible solution for physical stores and eCommerce.

Pricing: Starts at 2.29% plus $0.09 per transaction. Card readers start at $79.

3. Stripe

Uses: Online payments, mobile wallet acceptance, in-app payments, mobile card reader
Accepted payments include: Credit & debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Cash App Pay, Alipay, WeChat Pay, ACH transfers

Stripe is a leading online payment platform that lets businesses accept payments on websites and mobile apps. It integrates seamlessly with many eCommerce platforms and supports mobile wallets for easy checkout experiences. It also offers a mobile card reader.

Pricing: Starts at 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. Card readers start at $59.

4. Shopify Payments

Uses: Online payments, mobile wallet acceptance, mobile card reader
Accepted payments include: Credit & debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay, PayPal Wallet

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s integrated payment platform, allowing businesses to accept payments on their online stores. If you’re looking for a platform for a new eCommerce store, Shopify is a great choice, as it will handle your payments for you and accepts multiple mobile wallets.

Pricing: Starts. at $29/ month. Online processing fees start at 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. Card readers start at $49.

5. Venmo for Business

Uses: Peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app, online payments
Accepted payments include: Venmo, linked bank accounts, debit/credit cards via Venmo

Venmo for Business allows small businesses to accept payments directly from customers through the Venmo app. It’s a P2P payment solution that can be used for in-person or online transactions. Venmo also offers a “Pay with Venmo” button that can be integrated into eCommerce checkouts, providing an easy and familiar option for customers.

Pricing: Starts at 1.9% plus $0.10 per transaction.

Start Accepting Mobile Payments for Your Business

Mobile payment solutions can improve your business by speeding up transactions, increasing security, and offering convenience. When you let customers pay with the most convenient methods, you can earn more sales and encourage customer loyalty.

If run an online store, consider using OptinMonster to convert your website visitors into leads and paying customers. OptinMonster’s lead-generation software offers powerful popups, Exit-Intent® technology, and seamless integration with your eCommerce platform. Get started today and turn your traffic into revenue!

Related Resources:

• 14-Point eCommerce Launch Checklist for New Store Owners
• The Ultimate eCommerce Optimization Guide: 13 Steps to Instantly Boost Revenue
• 8 Best WordPress Payment Plugins (Compared)

In this guide, I’ll explain the meaning of user-generated content, why it matters for your brand, and how to use it to grow your business. I’ll also share and analyze a few examples of how different companies use UGC. From collecting customer photos to featuring reviews on your website, UGC can enhance every stage of your marketing strategy and build stronger connections with your audience.

• What Is User-Generated Content (UGC)?
• Why UGC Is Important for Your Brand
• 3 User-Generated Content Examples
• Best Practices for Gathering & Using UGC

What Is User-Generated Content (UGC)?

User-generated content (UGC) is any promotional content that is created and shared by individuals rather than brands. With UGC, real-life customers and fans promote your product or service by sharing photos, reviews, testimonials, and videos of their own experiences.

UGC has a long history in digital marketing, and its importance has continuously grown and evolved. Way back in 2009, Burberry launched their “Art of the Trench” campaign. They asked real customers for photos of themselves wearing the brand’s signature trench coat, and Burberry featured these photos on their website and Facebook page.

The campaign was extremely successful. It contributed to a 50% increase in ecommerce sales and helped Burberry reach 1 million Facebook followers.

UGC is so valuable because it comes from real users who have no obligation to promote your business. That makes their endorsements more genuine and relatable. It also makes consumers part of your brand story, which increases engagement and makes them feel more connected to your brand.

Types of User-Generated Content

UGC can come in many different forms. Here are some of the most common types of UGC:

• Photos and videos: Customers sharing pictures of themselves using your product or recording video reviews.
• Social media posts: Posts from users, often with branded hashtags, that recommend your products or services.
• Reviews and testimonials: Written feedback on product pages or 3rd-party platforms like Yelp, Google, and Trustpilot.
• Blog posts: Detailed articles written by users, either on personal blogs or as guest posts, that discuss your products or brand.
• Forum posts and comments: Conversations and discussions on platforms like Reddit, where customers share experiences or recommendations.

To optimize your UGC strategy, encourage your customers to create a variety of content types and find ways to feature that UGC on your website and social media channels.

Why UGC Is Important for Your Brand

Your brand needs to invest in UGC for one important reason: the power of social proof.

Social proof is simply the idea that people look to others when making decisions. In marketing, it means that consumers want to know that other people are buying and enjoying your products. Social proof makes shoppers feel more confident about clicking that “Buy Now” button, and UGC is pivotal to providing that confidence.

Why USG Matters: A Common Use Case

Let’s say your company sells UV-protecting beachwear. One of your customers makes a social media post about the new swimsuit coverup they bought from your company for their vacation. One of their friends sees that post, and it catches their attention because they also have a beach trip coming up.

That friend then Googles your brand. They see video results of customers unboxing and reviewing your products. They also see Reddit discussions where users recommend your products as the best choice for UV-protective clothing.

When the shopper visits your website’s homepage, they see a live social media feed of customers who use your hashtag. The feed is full of photos of people happily and safely enjoying the sun while wearing your products. As the shopper continues to browse, customer reviews are displayed prominently on every product page. Some of those reviews include photos, so the shopper can see how your products look on different body types. The shopper selects a product, figures out their size, and places an order.

User-created content encouraged this shopper through every stage of the customer journey. From initial brand awareness to the final decision to purchase, they saw social proof that your product was the right choice for them.

While this is a hypothetical example, you’ve probably had a similar experience when deciding to buy from a new brand. For the vast majority of online shoppers, UGC is an integral part of reaching and converting your target audience.

Data-Backed Benefits of UGC

Let’s move away from the hypothetical and talk about hard data. Here are some statistics that prove the effectiveness of UGC.

Stackla (now Nosto) conducted a survey of 2,042 consumers to track post-pandemic shifts in shopping habits. Here’s what they found:

• 79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. Compare this number to brand-created content at 12% and influencer-created content at 9%.
• 66% of consumers have purchased from a new brand after seeing consumer-posted images on social media

Stackla breaks that last number down into generational categories. UGC images have a greater impact on younger Gen Z consumers, with 73% saying they’ve bought from a new brand because of them.

Not only is UGC driving purchases, but it’ll likely become even more important as Gen Z gains more purchasing power.

That study isn’t a fluke. Here are some more findings from a 2022 report by Yotpo on UGC:

• 52% of shoppers are more likely to purchase if they see positive reviews on social media.
• 50% of consumers are more likely to purchase an item if reviews and other USG are displayed throughout the brand’s site.
• 63% of consumers trust product reviews more if they include photos or videos.

In short, user-created content has undeniable benefits for businesses and marketers. It turns your customers into your biggest advocates, and it helps you earn the trust of shoppers who are still deciding whether to buy from your company.

3 User-Generated Content Examples

1. Instagram Hashtag UGC Campaign by Maurices

The women’s clothing brand Maurices encourages customers to post their new outfits on Instagram using the hashtag #discovermaurices. This successful UGC campaign has yielded over 315,000 Instagram posts.

Maurices’ customers have made well over a quarter-million posts promoting the company’s products. That’s a lot of free advertising!

In fact, Maurices’ own Instagram page has only posted about 7,000 times, so this UGC campaign has increased their social media presence 45x.

Maurices makes the most of this customer-generated content, featuring some of the Instagram photos on the homepage of their website.

That means every online shopper sees real-life examples of customers enjoying the brand’s clothes. Shoppers also learn that they, too, could be featured if they make their own UGC posts with the hashtag.

2. Reviews & Customer Photos on Etsy

When people shop on Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade products, they depend heavily on reviews. Etsy has over 6 million active sellers, so shoppers rely on UGC to determine the trustworthiness of sellers and the quality of the products.

On every Etsy product page, you can view reviews for that specific item or all reviews for that seller.

Etsy also allows customers to upload photos with their reviews, so shoppers can see exactly what the items actually look like. Each product page includes a gallery of customer photos.

For example, here’s the photo gallery for a shop that sells downloadable 3D printing files. These UGC photos show the results that customers have gotten when they printed the files:

Users can click each image to access its accompanying review. In this review for a customizable leather sign, visitors can see exactly what the final results look like:

Etsy is full of small businesses, startups, and individual sellers trying to win shoppers’ trust. UGC reviews and photos help accomplish this goal, by proving that other real customers are happy with their purchases.

3. UGC Testimonials for OptinMonster

Here at OptinMonster, we regularly collect testimonials from our customers. Those testimonials share real-life stories of how our lead-generation software has helped business grow their email lists and increase sales. Here’s an example of an OptinMonster testimonial from digital marketing expert Neil Patel:

We feature these testimonials heavily throughout our website. For example, we have a dedicated testimonial page:

We also showcase a testimonial right at the top of our pricing page:

We also regularly include testimonial quotes in our Exit-Intent® popups, such as this one:

When potential customers browse our site, they constantly see strong social proof of our product’s quality and benefits. This UGC has worked, helping OptinMonster grow to over 1.2 million users.

Want to learn more about testimonials? Check out these 2 articles:

• How to Ask for a Testimonial: 7+ Tips to Get Glowing Customer Quotes
• 10 Creative Examples of Testimonials to Win Customers

Best Practices for Gathering and Using UGC

Now that you understand the value of user-generated content, it’s time to implement a solid strategy for gathering and leveraging it. A well-planned UGC campaign can help you boost brand awareness, drive engagement, and build trust through authentic social proof. Here are some best practices to help you maximize the impact of UGC.

1. Set Clear Goals for Your UGC Campaign

Before launching a UGC campaign, you need to define your objectives. Is your goal to raise brand awareness, promote a new product, or increase subscribers? Knowing your goals will help you create a campaign that resonates with your audience and meets your marketing needs.

For example, if you’re looking to grow your social media presence, you could encourage customers to share their experiences using your product with a specific hashtag. This not only generates UGC but also boosts your visibility on platforms like Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok.

If you’re focused on conversions, consider including customer-generated content throughout your website to build trust. Display customer photos, reviews, and testimonials on key landing pages.

2. Ask for UGC on Your Website

Your customers are already shopping on your site, so take advantage of that opportunity to ask for user-generated content.

By strategically prompting customers during their shopping journey, you can collect valuable UGC that builds trust and drives sales. Here are a few tips to get more UGC through your website:

• Include Review Requests on Product Pages: Allow customers to leave reviews and upload photos directly on your product pages. This is an easy way to gather authentic user feedback and real-life visuals of your products. Adding photos to reviews can boost trust even further. Be sure to feature a prominent “Write a Review” or “Upload a Photo” button to make it simple for users to contribute.
• Incorporate Call-to-Action Banners: Add a call-to-action (CTA) banner on your website inviting users to share their experiences. For example, a banner could say “Bought this product? Share your photo and get featured on our site!” This gentle nudge can motivate customers to submit UGC either through social media or directly on your site. You can create a banner in minutes with one of OptinMonster’s floating bar templates
• Use Post-Purchase Popups: After a customer makes a purchase, they’re at the peak of their positive experience. With OptinMonster, you can create post-purchase popups that encourage customers to submit UGC directly on your website or share it on social media with a branded hashtag.

OpinMonster has a popup template that’s perfect for getting short customer testimonials:

This is just one of OptinMonster’s 700+ pre-made templates, which you can easily customize in our drag-and-drop builder.

3. Use Email Marketing to Get UGC

Email marketing is one of the most effective tools for nurturing your customers and building long-term relationships. It’s also an excellent way to gather user-generated content from happy customers. Here are some strategies to encourage UGC through email marketing:

• Send Post-Purchase Emails: After a customer has made a purchase, follow up with a post-purchase email asking them to share their experience. Timing is key here. Send the email after they’ve had a chance to use the product, and include a direct call-to-action (CTA) asking them to submit a review, upload a photo, or share a testimonial. For example, your email could say, “Loved your purchase? Share a photo of your new [product] and tag us on Instagram to get featured!” You can even incentivize the request by offering a discount or small reward for sharing.
• Include a Review Request in Your Follow-Up Emails: If a customer hasn’t shared a review or UGC after their initial purchase, include a gentle reminder in your follow-up emails. These emails can remind them how valuable their feedback is to your brand and can include a quick link to submit a review or upload a photo.
• Feature User-Generated Content in Your Emails: Featuring UGC in your marketing emails can inspire other customers to contribute their own content. For example, include a section in your email showcasing photos or reviews from real customers. Then add a CTA encouraging readers to submit their own UGC for a chance to be featured. Seeing how other customers are recognized will motivate your subscribers to participate as well.

4. Run UGC Contests and Giveaways

Contests are an excellent way to incentivize UGC. By offering a prize, you encourage users to participate, creating a sense of excitement around your brand. The best part? You can gather a lot of high-quality content from your customers in a short period.

RafflePress, the leading WordPress giveaway plugin, makes it simple to host UGC contests.

With its Image Submission feature, participants can easily upload their photo entries, and you can manage submissions from your dashboard. It’s the easiest way to run viral contests that generate UGC.

Start Hosting Contests with RafflePress!

5. Feature User-Generated Content on Your Website

Now that you’ve gathered all this valuable UGC, it’s time to show it off! When potential buyers see real people using and enjoying your products, it provides powerful social proof that can drive sales. If you run an eCommerce store, make sure that your reviews are displayed prominently on all product pages. For other online businesses, you should feature testimonials on high-profile pages, such as your pricing page or subscription page.

If you really want to highlight your customer-generated content, Smash Balloon has a suite of WordPress plugins that let you easily embed social media and review feeds on your website.

These plugins include:

• Facebook Feed Pro: Display Facebook reviews and community posts right on your website.
• Instagram Feed Pro: Set up hashtag feeds to promote your UGC campaigns.
• Twitter Feed Pro: Embed X feeds based on hashtags or search terms
• Reviews Feed Pro: Create a feed of 3rd party reviews from platforms like Google, Yelp, TrustPilot, WordPress.org, TripAdvisor, and Facebook.

Learn more about these plugins in my complete Smash Balloon review. Then, you can choose to purchase the All Access Bundle or select 1 or 2 of these plugins.

Show Off Your UGC With Smash Balloon!

6. Always Get Explicit Consent Before Sharing

When gathering UGC, always ensure that you have the proper permissions to use and share customer content. Tools like SmashBalloon display feeds directly from the social media sites that users are posting to, so you don’t have to worry about asking permision.

However, if you’re going to share the UGC in other ways, you should always get explicit permission first.

For example, if you use an OptinMonster popup to ask for a testimonial, you can add a checkbox that says something like:

I agree that [brand name] can use my comment and first name for marketing

Alternatively, you can require an email address, so you can ask permission in a follow-up email.

Grow Your Business With User-Generated Content

User-generated content is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to brands today. It turns your customers into marketers, and it builds credibility, increases engagement, and drives sales. By incorporating UGC throughout your website, emails, and social media, you give potential customers the reassurance they need to choose your product.

Thankfully, there are several tools available to help you gather and showcase your UGC:

• Ask for reviews and testimonials with onsite popups from OptinMonster
• Use RafflePress to host UGC giveaways
• Embed UGC feeds on your website with Smash Balloon
• Add testimonials to your OptinMonster Exit-Intent® popups to convince abandoning visitors to complete their purchase

Related Resources:

• How to Get More Reviews (10 Tips)
• Social Proof Statistics: Powerful Facts That Will Help Boost Your Brand
• How to Increase Sales With Social Media: 9 Expert Tips
• 21 Best Social Proof Tools Your Business Needs for Growth
• Best Instagram Plugins for WordPress

ClickFunnels is a sales funnel builder. It’s a tool for collecting leads on your website and converting them into customers. However, it’s not for everyone. It’s more expensive than most of its competitors, and many small businesses don’t need a lot of its features.

In this article, you’ll find the best ClickFunnels alternatives for creating a sales funnel. My list includes tools that have various combinations of ClickFunnels’ features, so you can find the software that has exactly what you need. And that fits your budget.

• Should You Use an Alternative to ClickFunnels?
• Top Features in a ClickFunnels Alternative
• 9+ Best ClickFunnels Alternatives in 2024

Should You Use a ClickFunnels Alternative?

What is ClickFunnels?

ClickFunnels is a popular sales funnel builder. It helps you create landing pages, generate leads, grow email lists, and make product sales. ClickFunnels is a hosted solution, meaning that you don’t need an existing website to use it. All your landing pages, signup forms, and sales pages live on the ClickFunnels servers.

Pros and Cons of ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels is popular for a reason. It has a drag-and-drop builder that’s easy to use. You can A/B test different elements of your sales funnel to see what converts best. And ClickFunnels works with many different payment gateways to sell your products.

But ClickFunnels isn’t for everyone. It costs $81/month for its Startup plan, and $248/month for its Pro plan, when billed annually. That’s relatively expensive compared to many other funnel builders. While the website builder is user-friendly, that also means limited customization options. As a hosted solution, you are stuck paying for all the features even if you only use a few. And you can’t add other sales or marketing tools very easily.

You might consider finding an alternative to ClickFunnels if:

• You run an online startup or small business. ClickFunnels can be too expensive for startups and entrepreneurs with limited budgets.
• You don’t need all of ClickFunnels’ functionality. ClickFunnels’ higher price comes with robust features, such as website-building, email marketing, online course management, and membership management. If you don’t need all these features, then there’s no need to pay the premium for them.
• You already have a WordPress site. There are many ClickFunnels alternatives for WordPress that you can build right into your existing website.

Top Features in a ClickFunnels Alternative

When choosing the best ClickFunnels alternative for your business, consider the following factors:

• Pricing: How much does it cost per month and year compared to how much revenue you expect to generate?
• Support: Sales funnels are complex and breaking a single piece can cost you lots of sales. How easy is it to get help in fixing your funnel?
• Personalization: Can you match your funnel to your branding or are you stuck using the same landing page templates as everyone else?
• Integration: Does your sales funnel builder work with other marketing software in your tech stack, such as your email service provider (ESP), payment processor, or webinar software?
• Offers: What type of product or service are you selling? Some ClickFunnels competitors are better than others for particular types of offers.

With that in mind, we found some funnel builders with similar features to ClickFunnels. Let’s take a look!

Best ClickFunnels Alternatives in 2024

1. FunnelKit vs. ClickFunnels

Best for: WordPress users who need a robust tool for funnels & automations

FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels) is the best ClickFunnels alternative for WordPress. It has everything you need to supercharge your WooCommerce store with optimized checkouts, order bumps, upsells, opt-in pages, abandoned cart recovery, landing pages, and more. A/B testing is built into the plugin, so you can easily determine which copy, headlines, and CTAs yield the best conversion rates.

You can use FunnelKit with any WordPress builder, from Elementor to Divi. FunnelKit also integrates with any other WordPress plugins you might use to build online courses, memberships, or other offers. Their support team is highly responsive so you can get up and running quickly.

In my research, I was particularly impressed by FunnelKit’s template library, which includes:

• Funnels for checkout, sales, and lead generation
• Templates specifically for Elementor, Divi, Gutenberg, and Oxygen
• Automations for integrations such as WooCommerce, LearnDash, AffiliateWP, Hubspot, and more
• Email campaigns for transactional emails, abandoned cart emails, cross selling, webinars, win-backs, and more.

You can get a year of FunnelKit for about what ClickFunnels costs each month. Plus, FunnelKit’s tiered pricing plans let you pay only for the features you need, making it much more cost-effective than ClickFunnels.

Pricing: Starts at $99/year, if you just need store checkout and thank you pages. For full funnel functionality, plans start at $179/year.

2. LeadPages vs. ClickFunnels

Best for: Small businesses who need a simple way to sell products online

LeadPages is a great ClickFunnels replacement if your main focus is on landing pages, lead generation forms, and sales pages. LeadPages emphasizes these page-building tools over sales tactics like ClickFunnel’s upsell and membership features.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for an easy way to build a webpage that sells your products or services, LeadPages is a viable alternative to ClickFunnels. If I were starting a small business focused on just a few products or services, LeadPages would be just right for getting my company off the ground.

LeadPages offers both chat and email support on its basic plan, while ClickFunnels only offers email support on its entry-level plan.

LeadPages has over 200 great-looking landing page templates, as well as templates for full websites.

Pricing: Starts at $37/month for 5 landing pages and 1 custom domain. For unlimited landing pages, plans start at $74/month.

3. SeedProd

SeedProd is best for: WordPress users who want to build beautiful landing pages in minutes.

If you want an easy way to build landing and sales pages but aren’t ready for in-depth funnels, check out SeedProd. This WordPress website builder makes it easy to create all the essential pages for your business. Although SeedProd started as just a landing page builder, you can now use it to build complete websites.

The drag-and-drop editor is super easy to use even if you have no coding experience. SeedProd integrates easily with WooCommerce so you can create your own checkout page, cart, and product pages. You can even use SeedProd to build your own WordPress theme! Read our full SeedProd review for more details.

SeedProd offers even more templates than LeadPages, with over 350+ theme and landing page templates to customize for your business. SeedProd is also much cheaper than LeadPages, so it’s a great choice if you already use WordPress.

Pricing: Starts at $31.60/year. You’ll need the $159.60/year Pro plan to access all templates.

4. Instapage vs. ClickFunnels

Instapage is best for: Large businesses that need a lot of landing pages for various PPC add campaigns.

Instapage is another ClickFunnels substitute that focuses on building high-converting landing pages, particularly for ad campaigns. The AdMap® feature allows you to connect ads to relevant post-click landing pages, and the page speed on mobile and desktop can’t be beat.

Instapage is designed with collaboration in mind with real-time editing and feedback features. Be aware that it doesn’t have any sort of checkout functionality built in. Instapage is meant to catch ad traffic and drive it toward your eCommerce or booking pages.

I don’t recommend Instapage for small businesses, startups, or anyone needing full funnels from a single tool. It’s also more expensive than the other landing page-focused tools on this list. However, if you run a ton of ads, Instapage may be the best option for creating customized landing pages for all your campaigns.

Pricing: Starts at $79/month when billed annually. However, you’ll need a custom-priced Convert plan for features like AdMap® and heatmaps.

5. ThriveCart

ThriveCart is best for: Entrepreneurs who want an effective way to sell digital products, plus affiliate tracking).

ThriveCart is a ClickFunnels competitor focused on selling digital products. With ThriveCart, you can create high-converting shopping cart and sales pages, upsell funnels, bump offers, trials, subscriptions, courses, and more. You can embed the cart anywhere, which means you can use it on your existing website instead of rebuilding everything. ThriveCart also has a built-in affiliate program so you can recruit and pay affiliates to sell your products for you.

ThriveCart’s pricing structure is different than the other tools on this list. They only offer lifetime plans for a one-time payment. That means you have a bigger upfront investment, but you’ll never have to worry about monthly payments or price increases.

Pricing: Get lifetime access for $495. For features like the affiliate center and custom domain name, upgrade to Pro for an extra $195 one-time fee, making the total price for Pro $690.

6. SamCart vs. ClickFunnels

SamCart is best for: Online business beginners who aren’t ready to invest in ThriveCart’s lifetime plan.

Samcart is an online marketing solution similar to ThriveCart, making it another alternative to ClickFunnels. You can use Samcart to sell digital products like online courses, eBooks, memberships, coaching, consulting, and more. Samcart features pre-built product page templates that are 100% mobile responsive and a course builder on all plans. Premium features include one-click upsells, downsells, and order bumps, as well as automated abandoned cart recovery.

Samcart also offers affiliate tracking, but it’s not as robust as ThriveCart’s The reporting and pixel tracking features provide accurate revenue attribution, so you know how well your marketing efforts and ads are working.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $59/month when billed annually.

7. Kartra vs. ClickFunnels

Kartra is best for: Experienced marketers & business owners who want even more features than ClickFunnels.

Kartra is an online business platform that features a funnel builder like ClickFunnels. In fact, Kartra may be the alternative that is most similar to ClickFunnels. It’s a non-WordPress tool that offers landing pages, email marketing, memberships, courses, and more, all in a single platform.

Kartra, however, offers a few features that even ClickFunnels doesn’t have. For example, you can create native surveys and quizzes, integrate your SMS marketing, manage a customer affiliate program, and offer Helpdesk support and live chat. You aren’t limited to hosting with Kartra, either. You can use custom domains with Kartra so your hosting page URLs are branded appropriately, or you can embed your Kartra pages onto other websites using HTML or Javascript.

Kartra’s price is comparable to ClickFunnels, so it’s worth signing up for their 30-day free trial to decide if it’s the best choice for your business.

Pricing: Starts at $99/month when billed annually.

8. Kajabi vs. ClickFunnels

Kajabi is best for: Content creators who sell courses, coaching, memberships, and podcast subscriptions.

Kajabi is a ClickFunnels alternative geared toward digital information products. Coaches, trainers, and consultants can use Kajabi to create and sell online courses, podcasts, membership sites, coaching programs, and more. Like ClickFunnels, Kajabi can build websites, landing pages, email campaigns, and marketing funnels to sell your information products. One special feature is the ability to let customers access your courses and products on the Kajabi mobile app. Their Growth and Pro plans also include an affiliate program.

Pricing: The limited Kickstarter plan is $55/month when billed annually. The basic plan starts at $119/month.

9. Thrive Suite

Thrive Suite is best for: Experienced marketers who want a full suite of WordPress plugins.

Thrive Suite is a pack of plugins that, combined, offer a decent ClickFunnels alternative for WordPress. The plugins in the suite include:

• Thrive Architect, a drag-and-drop landing page builder with template sets for upsell, confirmation, download, and other important funnel pages
• Thrive Leads, a lead generation plugin for creating targeted optin forms
• Thrive Ultimatum, a scarcity marketing plugin you can use to create limited time promotions, recurring campaigns, and evergreen campaigns
• Thrive Apprentice, an online course platform
• Thrive Quiz Builder, a quiz plugin to help generate leads
• and more

You’ll have to stitch together your own sales funnel, as you don’t get premade funnel workflows with Thrive Suite. But if you know what you’re doing, Thrive Suite offers a powerful set of digital marketing automation features to build your own custom funnel.

Pricing: $299/year

Honorable Mentions:

Many other funnel marketing solutions didn’t make my list but are still worth researching. Most focus on a few of the functionalities that ClickFunnels integrates into one platform.

• Hubspot: All-in-one marketing and sales solution
• Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): Email marketing platform with sales pipeline management
• OptimizePress: WordPress plugin for landing pages optimized for SEO & conversions
• CartFlows: WordPress plugin for funnel building
• Unbounce: Landing page builder with AI optimization
• Landingi: Landing page builder with micro-conversion tracking

What Is the Best ClickFunnel Alternative?

The best funnel-building tool for your business will depend on your specific needs. Every tool on this list will be the best choice for some businesses.

For WordPress users, I recommend FunnelKit for a comprehensive solution to funnel building. If your focus is more on landing pages, then SeedProd is an easy-to-use and affordable choice.

For non-WordPress sites, I recommend LeadPages if you’re a small business. If you’re a large business and need all of ClickFunnels’ features and more, then you should take a close look at Kartra.

Hopefully, this article has helped you find the perfect ClickFunnels alternative for your business.

Don’t forget, you can also use OptinMonster to turn any page or blog post into a lead generating machine with popups, alert bars, slide-ins, and inline optin forms. Check out our list of lead generation ideas that you can promote using OptinMonster.

Related Resources:

• 18 Landing Page Tips to Boost Conversions (+ Examples)
• 6 Best WordPress Landing Page Plugins to Boost Sales
• How to Create a Landing Page in 10 Minutes: Step-by-Step Tutorial
• 6 Pricing Page Examples to Help You Land More Sales

While the affiliate marketing model looks relatively simple, it is an incredibly competitive industry. It’s no longer enough to join an affiliate program and occasionally post some good content.

But there is no better and easier way to gain a competitive edge than having the best affiliate marketing tools at your disposal.

Choosing the right affiliate tools can be overwhelming, with so many options available. But don’t worry! I’ve done the hard work for you. After extensive research and testing, I’ve compiled a list of must-have affiliate tools that every affiliate marketer should consider.

• Best Affiliate Marketing Tools
  1. OptinMonster: Email List Tool
  2. Constant Contact: Email Marketing Tool
  3. Google Analytics: Website Traffic Tool
  4. ShareASale: Affiliate Network
  5. SEMRush: Keyword Research Tool
  6. All-in-One SEO (AIOSEO): On-Page SEO Tool
  7. ThirstyAffiliates: Affiliate Tracking Tool
  8. Pretty Links: Link Cloaking Tool
  9. AffJet: Affiliate Dashboard Tool
  10. Voluum: Affiliate Ad Tracking Tool
  11. AdEspresso: Affiliate Ad Campaign Builder
  12. SeedProd: Landing Page Builder
  13. Buffer: Social Media Marketing Tool
  14. CoSchedule: Marketing Calendar Tool
  15. Grammarly: Spelling and Grammar Checker Tool
• Conclusion: Best Tools to Boost Your Affiliate Marketing Efforts
• Affiliate Marketing Resources

Best Affiliate Marketing Tools

Here are the top affiliate marketing tools for supercharging your campaigns:

1. OptinMonster: Email List Tool

OptinMonster is the best list-building tool for affiliate marketers. Your email list is an essential part of your affiliate marketing strategy because it’s the easiest way to reach your website visitors directly. You can even run an affiliate marketing business entirely through an email newsletter.

With OptinMonster, you can create email signup forms in minutes. Once subscribers join your list, you can share affiliate offers in your email newsletters.

OptinMonster has 700+ pre-made templates for multiple campaign types you can use to grow your email list:

• Lightbox popups
• Floating bars
• Slide-ins
• Fullscreen campaigns
• Coupon wheels
• Inline campaigns
• Content lockers
• and more!

You can also use A/B testing to find which campaign designs and copy give you the best conversion rates. OptinMonster won’t slow down your affiliate site and works with all major website platforms.

OptinMonster integrates with a wide range of email service providers, including Constant Contact, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Aweber, Mailchimp, and more. This makes it easy to sync your email list and automate your email marketing campaigns.

Overall, OptinMonster is a versatile and powerful tool that can help affiliate marketers grow their email list and generate more leads and sales. With its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options, it’s easy to create engaging and effective campaigns that drive results. These robust features make OptinMonster one of the best affiliate marketing tools for beginners and experts alike.

Pricing: OptinMonster plans start at just $59.60/year

2. Constant Contact: Email Marketing Tool

Constant Contact is an excellent email service provider for sending email campaigns to promote your content and affiliate products. It also has a wide variety of other digital marketing tools including SMS and CRM features.

Constant Contact offers a drag-and-drop email builder that allows you to create professional-looking emails quickly and easily. You can customize your email template with your brand colors and logo, and choose from a variety of pre-designed templates to get started.

Constant Contact’s email segmentation and marketing automation features allow you to target specific groups of subscribers. You can create personalized campaigns based on subscriber behavior, such as past purchases or website activity, to increase engagement and conversion rates.

Constant Contact also offers social media management features that allow you to schedule and publish posts to multiple social media platforms from one place. This can save you time and help you maintain a consistent brand presence across all your social channels.

As a bonus, Constant Contact integrates easily with OptinMonster so you can grow your affiliate marketing email list quickly.

Pricing: Constant Contact plans start at $12/month based on the number of contacts

3. Google Analytics: Website Traffic Tool

Google Analytics is a treasure trove of information about your website traffic. The more you understand your web performance, the better you can optimize your content and improve lead generation.

Google Analytics event tracking can show you who’s clicking on your affiliate links. You can also see how much time your visitors are spending on your site and which posts are generating the most traffic. With this data in hand, you can try different campaign strategies to see what works best.

Google Analytics can also help you optimize your website for search engines by providing data on keywords that visitors are using to find your site. This can help you identify opportunities to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and drive more organic traffic to your site.

Pricing: Google Analytics is free to use

4. ShareASale: Affiliate Network

ShareASale is an affiliate marketing platform you can use to search for new partnerships. You need to promote a wide variety of affiliate products to keep your audience engaged and keep commissions flowing. That’s why most affiliate marketers participate in more than one affiliate marketing program. ShareA Sale’s database of merchants makes it one of the best affiliate marketing resources available.

The ShareASale network is easy for bloggers and influencers to use. The platform offers a range of tools to help affiliate marketers find and promote products, including a searchable merchant database, customizable product links and banners, and deep linking options that allow you to link directly to specific pages on a merchant’s site.

ShareASale also handles payouts for you so you don’t have to set up accounts with too many different merchants. You can use ShareASale’s advanced reporting and analytics features to track your earnings and commissions, monitor clicks and conversions, and optimize your campaigns for better performance. This comprehensive functionality makes ShareASale one of the best affiliate tools available.

Pricing: ShareASale is free to join for affiliates but you may need to pay transaction fees and taxes on your commissions

ShareASale Alternatives: CJ Affiliate, Amazon Associates, Rakuten Advertising

5. Semrush: Keyword Research Tool

Semrush is one of the top SEO tools in the industry. To do well with affiliate marketing, you will need to boost your traffic and search engine rankings. You can use Semrush to improve your search engine performance through:

• Keyword research: Find the best words to use in your content
• Backlink profile: Check how many other websites are linking to your site
• Competitor analysis: See what terms your competitors are ranking for
• Site audit: Find and fix problems with your website

Semrush provides insights into how well your content is doing and identifies opportunities for growth. You can also manage your social media profiles by scheduling posts, tracking engagement, and monitoring mentions of your brand. Another way to use SEMRush is to research competitors’ ads to get ideas for your own campaigns.

Pricing: Semrush plans start at $117.33/month when paid annually

SEMRush Alternatives: Ahrefs

6. All-in-One SEO (AIOSEO): On-Page SEO Tool

All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is a helpful SEO plugin for WordPress websites. With AIOSEO, you can make sure your content is easy to find on search engines like Google. This can help more people find your website, which can lead to more sales for your affiliate marketing business.

With AIOSEO, you can quickly check your website to see if there are any problems that need to be fixed. Then, you can use the plugin’s On-Page SEO checker to make sure your content has the right keywords and phrases that people might search for on Google.

AIOSEO also has a feature called Link Assistant that helps you find opportunities to add links to your content. These links can be internal links to other pages on your website or affiliate links that lead to products you’re promoting. By tracking the performance of these links, you can see what’s working and what’s not, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Overall, AIOSEO is a great affiliate tool for optimizing your website and improving your affiliate marketing strategy. You can read our full AIOSEO review for more info.

Pricing: AIOSEO starts at $49.60/year

AIOSEO Alternatives: RankMath, Yoast

7. ThirstyAffiliates: Affiliate Link Cloaking Tool

ThirstyAffiliates is a useful link management plugin for WordPress. Affiliate links can be long and difficult to remember, so ThirstyAffiliates lets you create short, easy-to-remember links. This process is called link cloaking, which helps protect your affiliate links from hacking and ensures that you get the commissions you earned.

ThirstyAffiliates also provides enhanced redirect features to make sure your links work correctly. You can also use ThirstyAffiliates to insert affiliate links into your posts or pages without any coding knowledge. The plugin also offers automatic keyword linking and geolocation-based link redirects to help your audience find the right products.

Additionally, ThirstyAffiliates integrates with popular link-shortening services like bit.ly and goo.gl to make sharing your links on social media easier. This plugin is very beginner-friendly and requires no coding knowledge at all. If you ever have any questions or issues, ThirstyAffiliates’ support team is available to help within 48 hours.

Pricing: ThirstyAffiliates starts at $99.60/year.

8. Pretty Links: Link Cloaking Tool

Pretty Links is a useful WordPress plugin for affiliate marketers who want to make their links more readable and easier to share. When you promote affiliate offers, it’s important to share links that look professional and match your brand.

With Pretty Links, you can create customized links that are easy to remember, read, say, and type. You can also manage all your links in one place from your WordPress dashboard, which makes it easy to keep track of all your promotions.

In addition to shortening your links, Pretty Links can help you automate your affiliate marketing efforts. You can set up rules for when and where your links should appear, and the plugin will do the rest. For example, you can set up Pretty Links to automatically add affiliate links to specific keywords or phrases in your content.

Pretty Links also has several redirection options. This means that if a link you’ve shared changes or becomes outdated, you can quickly redirect it to a new link without breaking the connection. Overall, Pretty Links is an excellent affiliate tool that can help you streamline your affiliate marketing efforts and increase your conversion rates.

Pricing: Pretty Links starts at $99.60/year

9. AffJet: Affiliate Dashboard Tool

AffJet is an affiliate network dashboard that combines data from hundreds of affiliate networks. If you’re part of multiple affiliate networks, AffJet is a must for tracking your campaign performance.

AffJet is great for tracking your earnings and providing insights into your campaigns. You can use it to see how your campaigns are performing across different networks and analyze your top-performing campaigns to optimize your affiliate marketing strategy.

Additionally, AffJet lets you create custom reports based on your preferred metrics. With this feature, you can quickly generate reports that show the information you need to make informed decisions about your affiliate campaigns.

AffJet also provides robust analytics, including tracking for clicks, impressions, conversions, and earnings. These analytics help you to understand the performance of your campaigns and identify areas for improvement.

Pricing: AffJet has a free plan limited to 75 transactions per month, and paid plans start at £5/month.

10. Voluum: Affiliate Ad Tracking Tool

Voluum is an advanced affiliate marketing tool that lets you track, optimize, and automate your ad campaigns. With its powerful tracking capabilities, you can monitor every aspect of your campaigns, including clicks, conversions, and revenue.

Voluum also provides a wide range of reporting and analysis features, giving you insights into the performance of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. The platform’s Automizer tool allows you to set up automated rules that adjust your campaigns based on their performance, saving you time and effort.

Additionally, Voluum supports integration with many popular ad networks, such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads, as well as with third-party tools like Zapier and WordPress. Its intuitive user interface and customizable dashboards make it easy to use and navigate, even for beginners.

Pricing: Voluum has individual and business plans starting at $149/month

11. AdEspresso: Affiliate Ad Campaign Builder

If you’re running Facebook or Google Ads for your affiliate products, you definitely need AdEspresso. From the makers of Hootsuite social media scheduler, this affiliate marketing tool puts all your ad creation and management in one place.

One of the most useful features of AdEspresso is its ad creation tool. With this tool, you can quickly and easily create high-quality ads that are optimized for the Facebook, Instagram, and Google ad networks. AdEspresso also provides a library of pre-built templates and ad images, making it easy to create professional-looking ads without any design experience.

You can also set up automatic post promotion, campaign cancellation, and budget allocation. If you use a customer relationship management (CRM) software or email marketing tool, you can sync your leads, contacts, and audiences automatically. These integrations make AdEspresso a convenient affiliate tool.

In addition, AdEspresso offers detailed reporting and analysis features that allow you to see how your campaigns are performing. You can view metrics such as clicks, impressions, conversions, and ROI, and use this data to make informed decisions about your advertising strategy.

Pricing: AdEspresso plans start at $49/month

12. SeedProd: Landing Page Builder

SeedProd is the best WordPress landing page builder plugin for affiliate marketers who need to create landing pages. These landing pages receive traffic from search, social media, email newsletters, ads, or other sources. Then they drive clicks and conversions on affiliate links.

SeedProd is super easy to use with its drag-and-drop page builder, premade blocks, and extensive template library. You can preview changes to the site in real-time on desktop and mobile. There’s even a no-code theme builder you can use to create custom headers, footers, sidebars, and other WordPress elements.

In addition to its user-friendly interface, SeedProd also offers powerful features that can help increase conversions. You can add lead capture forms, countdown timers, and social proof to your landing pages. You can also integrate your pages with popular email marketing services like Mailchimp and Constant Contact.

With SeedProd, you don’t need to worry about your landing pages slowing down your affiliate website. Its code is optimized for fast loading times and it’s fully compatible with popular caching plugins like W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache. And if you ever run into any issues, SeedProd’s friendly customer support team is always ready to help.

Our complete SeedProd review has more details if you want them!

Pricing: SeedProd plans start at $39.50/year

13. Buffer: Social Media Marketing Tool

Buffer helps you grow a social media audience to share your affiliate links with. It has a dashboard for social media posts that lets you plan and publish all in one spot.

Buffer also has an AI functionality that can brainstorm ideas, rewrite copy in different styles, and repurpose existing content. You can engage with comments from your audience and even set up smart alerts to prioritize important conversations.

In addition to scheduling and publishing social media posts, Buffer also has analytics features that help you understand how your posts are performing. You can see which posts are getting the most engagement and use that data to inform your social media strategy.

Buffer also has a feature called “Buffer Reply,” which lets you manage all your social media conversations in one place. This includes comments, direct messages, and mentions across multiple platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Pricing: Buffer offers a free plan for limited scheduling. Paid plans that start at $5/month per channel.

14. CoSchedule: Marketing Calendar Tool

CoSchedule helps serious affiliate marketers manage their full publishing workflows. Manage your email marketing and social media campaigns from one streamlined calendar.

Key features of CoSchedule include:

• Customizable color coding
• Project tagging
• Calendar views and filters
• Integrations with popular marketing tools
• Task management

There’s also an email subject line tester, social message scheduling and analytics, and team member access.

Pricing: CoSchedule offers a free plan with basic functionality. Paid plans start at $19/month.

15. Grammarly: Spelling and Grammar Checker Tool

Grammarly makes it easy to create high-quality content free from mistakes and typos. Affiliate marketing relies on your credibility as a creator, so you don’t want to undermine yourself with basic errors.

Whether you’re writing social media posts, email campaigns, or blogs, Grammarly can help you communicate with your audience better. In addition to checking grammar, punctuation, and spelling, Grammarly’s paid plans also offer content suggestions about inconsistencies, unclear wording, readability, and more.

All these features make Grammarly an important affiliate marketing tool in your arsenal.

Pricing: Grammarly has a free plan that gives basic writing suggestions. Paid plans with full rewrites and other suggestions start at $12/month

Conclusion: Best Tools to Boost Your Affiliate Marketing Efforts

We hope this list gave you some ideas for growing your affiliate marketing business. To recap, here are the best affiliate marketing tools we recommend for experienced and new affiliates alike:

• OptinMonster to build your email list
• AIOSEO to optimize your website content
• ThirstyAffiliates to manage your affiliate links
• Semrush to understand your search traffic and opportunities

To grow your affiliate marketing email list, get started with OptinMonster risk-free today!

Affiliate Marketing Resources

• 18 Affiliate Marketing Statistics All Marketers Must Know
• Earnings Per Click: How to Win Big at Affiliate Marketing
• 15 Affiliate Marketing Tips to Increase Your Income
• How to Create an Affiliate Program & Increase Your Sales
• Social Media Affiliate Marketing: 6 Steps to Get Started
• Affiliate Email Marketing: 6 Best Email Marketing Affiliate Programs
• How to Increase Affiliate Sales by 30% With One Simple Strategy

Here at OptinMonster, we’ve been moving leads through the sales cycle stages for over a decade. The result? Over 1.2 million users trust our software to turn their website visitors into subscribers and customers. In this article, I’ll share what we’ve learned with you.

Below, I’ll explain the 7 stages of the sales cycle and provide best practices and tips for each step. This guide will show you how to make the most of every interaction, so you can convert more leads into customers and convert them faster.

• What Is a Sales Cycle?
• 7 Sales Cycle Stages: Best Practices & Tips

What Is a Sales Cycle?

A sales cycle is the step-by-step process that moves potential customers from initial contact to a completed purchase. By breaking the process into clear stages, businesses can track performance, forecast revenue, and identify areas for improvement. The cycle includes stages like lead generation, overcoming objections, and closing the sale.

The average sales cycle length can vary widely depending on the nature of your business. For example, the sales cycle for an inexpensive piece of clothing might last 5 minutes. On the other hand, it can take months to complete the sales cycle for a corporate software system.

For online businesses, the sales cycle has unique challenges and opportunities. Unlike traditional face-to-face interactions, the eCommerce sales process happens digitally. It usually involves email marketing, targeted popups, and special offers.

When you optimize your sales cycle for digital leads, you can generate, nurture, and convert prospects more efficiently. The end result? More sales and revenue for your business.

7 Sales Cycle Stages: Best Practices & Tips

While every business and product is different, the standard sales cycle contains 7 stages:

1. Generate Leads
2. Initial Outreach
3. Qualify Leads
4. Present Your Solution
5. Overcome Objections
6. Close the Deal
7. Post-Sale Nurturing

Below, I’ll explain how each stage works and share best practices and tips, so you can optimize every step of your sales cycle.

Keep in mind that some of these stages may overlap or even happen simultaneously. For example, you may use your initial outreach email to start presenting your solution and overcoming objections. What’s important is that you specific spend time and effort on each stage.

1. Generate Leads

The first stage of the sales cycle is lead generation, which is the process of attracting prospects to your business. This stage focuses on finding potential customers who are likely to be interested in your product.

Online businesses usually generate leads through their website, social media, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements.

Best Practices & Tips for Lead Generation

• Get the right website traffic: Carefully target your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts and PPC ads to drive high-quality traffic to your site.
• Increase your reach with social media: Post about your products on your social channels to improve brand awareness. Learn more in our guide to increasing sales with social media.
• Use website popups to capture new leads: Grow your email list with strategically placed popups and floating bars.
• Entice website visitors with lead magnets: Offer a coupon code, free ebook, or PDF guide in exchange for an email address.

OptinMonster makes it easy to turn your website visitors into leads. We offer over 700 templates for popups, floating bars, and other onsite campaigns.

For example, here’s our template for a popup offering a free ebook as a lead magnet:

With OptinMonster’s easy drag-and-drop builder, you can customize this template for your brand in just a few minutes.

2. Initial Outreach

Now that you have new leads who are interested in your brand, it’s time to make direct contact with them. Your first interaction needs to make a strong first impression. Otherwise, you may not have the chance to move those leads further through your sales pipeline.

For eCommerce sites, your first direct outreach is usually through email or live chat. Your goal is to engage your new leads, answer any initial questions, and keep them interested.

Best Practices & Tips for Initial Outreach

• Send a welcome email series: Use email automation to send every new subscriber a series of welcome emails that introduce your brand. These emails should provide value to the subscriber so they’ll stay subscribed. Learn more in our guide to writing the perfect welcome email series.
• Deliver lead magnets immediately: Did your new subscriber sign up through a lead magnet offer? If so, your first direct contact will be delivering that content or coupon. OptinMonster integrates with all major email marketing platforms, so you can easily ensure that every subscriber gets their lead magnet right away.
• Personalize your welcome series with email segmentation: You can segment your email list based on which lead magnet a user signed up for, their geographic location, and other demographic and behavioral data. With this data, you can customize your welcome emails based on your subscribers’ interests.
• Offer live chat on your site: Allow website visitors to interact with your sales team in real-time by using live chat software. Live chat is the best way to answer leads’ questions quickly.
• Use chatbots during off-hours: You may not have the resources to have live chat agents available 24/7. With the rapid growth of AI and large language models (LLMS), chatbots can answer many of the questions that come through outside business hours. Many live chat tools offer chatbots as part of their service.

3. Qualify Leads

Once you’ve attracted and engaged new leads, the next step is to determine whether those leads are a good fit for your product or service. This process is known as lead qualification, and it helps you assess whether a prospect has the interest, budget, and decision-making authority to move forward in your sales cycle. When you qualify your leads, you can focus your resources on the leads that are most likely to buy.

Here’s a quick video that covers a few basics of lead qualification:

If you’re an online business, you can qualify your leads by tracking their engagement with your emails and their behavior on your website. Let’s examine these ideas more closely.

Best Practices & Tips for Qualifying Leads

• Track onsite behavior: Has your lead looked at your pricing or product page multiple times? That’s a good indication that they’re highly interested in buying. With OptinMonster’s real-time behavior automation, you can show exclusive popups and offers to those high-quality leads.
• Regularly clean your email list: If a subscriber goes months without opening your emails, you should remove them from your list. Keeping bad leads on your list can cost you money and hurt your sender reputation. Learn more in our guide to cleaning email lists.
• Segment high-interest subscribers: Create email segments made of your most engaged subscribers. Since they’ve shown a higher level of interest, it’s a smart idea to reach out to them with special offers.
• Use forms and surveys: Collect qualifying data by asking leads to fill out surveys and forms. You can link to these forms in your welcome email or include them on your site.

You can collect data for your lead qualification right in your OptinMonster campaigns! Use our custom fields to ask questions that are relevant to your business’s sales cycle process.

4. Present Your Solution

In the next stage of the sales cycle, it’s time to present your product to your leads as a solution to their problem or pain point. In other words, you have to show how your product meets one of your prospect’s needs.

That need can be anything from “I need a sturdier backpack for travel” to “I need the best software to sell online courses.” Your job is to show why your product is the best solution.

Best Practices & Tips for Presenting Your Solution

• Write a strong value proposition: You need a concise statement that describes the unique benefit of your product. Use our guide to writing value propositions to help get yours just right.
• Create dedicated landing pages: Sales pages and other landing pages let you show the value of your product without distractions.
• Showcase testimonials: The best customer testimonials give a first-person account of how your product solved a specific problem. Our guide to asking for testimonials can help you gather effective quotes to promote your product.
• Create video demos: Share explainer videos and product walkthroughs that highlight the core features and benefits of your product.
• Offer webinars: Live or pre-recorded webinars are a fantastic way to provide in-depth presentations on your product. Live webinars are especially effective because attendees can ask questions in real-time.

Here’s a webinar signup page we’ve used here at OptinMonster. This webinar presents our product as the best solution for growing your email list quickly.

Notice that the text on this landing page clearly defines the problem: many businesses struggle to grow their email list and are overwhelmed by the volume of advice available. This 1-hour live webinar will show you how to solve this problem.

5. Overcome Objections (& Build Trust)

Before leads click that “Buy Now” button, they want to be certain they’re making the right choice. It’s your job to overcome their objections by addressing any concerns, doubts, or hesitations. Common objections and concerns include:

• Is this product worth the price?
• Will I be able to get this product at a lower price later?
• Does the product have the features I need?
• Is the product high-quality?
• Can I return the product or get a refund if doesn’t meet my needs?
• Will this product arrive on time?

When you tackle these concerns head-on during your sales cycle, you build trust with your leads and can convert more of them into customers.

Best Practices & Tips for Overcoming Objections

• Create FAQs: A prominent Frequently Asked Questions section can cover multiple objections quickly. Your sales and customer support teams can compile a list of questions they receive regularly. You can also collect customer feedback on your site to discover the most common concerns.
• Offer free trials, returns, or money-back guarantees: Have you ever regretted a purchase? Your leads have, too. Overcome that fear of regret by letting people try your product or offering refunds. Here at OptinMonster, we offer a 14-day, 100% money-back guarantee for all new customers.
• Clearly show shipping times: Display shipping times on your product pages, so customers know that they’ll get your product in time.
• Showcase customer reviews and ratings: Shoppers trust the opinions of other customers more than they trust assurances from your marketing team. That’s called social proof, and it’s a powerful tool for handling objections. Do you need more reviews on your products? Follow these 10 tips for getting more customer reviews.
• Add exit popups for abandoning shoppers: Use exit popups to redirect abandoning website visitors to pages that can answer their questions. That could be customer support pages, FAQs, or webinar or demo registration pages.

OptinMonster’s Exit-Intent® technology detects when visitors are about to leave your site, so you can capture their attention with a popup.

Here’s an exit popup that OptinMonster has used on our pricing and checkout pages:

This popup overcomes objections in 3 ways:

1. The primary message is a discount offer to overcome objections about pricing.
2. The popup is loaded with social proof. The top right corner lists that over 1,000,000 sites trust our software and that we have 300+ 5-star reviews.
3. The “I have a few questions first!” button directs visitors to a contact page where they can send a message to our support team.

This single website popup helps advance leads through this pivotal stage of the sales cycle.

6. Close the Deal

This stage of the sales cycle is what you’ve been waiting for: finally landing the sale! At this stage, all your efforts in nurturing and addressing objections come together, and the prospect is ready to convert. To close the deal, you need to offer a blend of urgency, trust, and convenience, so your lead feels confident and motivated to complete the purchase.

Best Practices & Tips for Closing the Deal

• Recover abandoned carts: Did you know that 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned? If you want to close more deals, focus on recovering those abandoned carts with exit popups, special offers, and cart abandonment emails.
• Streamline the checkout process: 22% of customers abandon carts if the checkout process is too complicated. Win more sales by following these 20 tips for optimizing your checkout process.
• Offer limited-time deals: To close the sale, you have to convince leads to buy now instead of later. Time-sensitive offers encourage customers to purchase quickly. You can offer these deals sitewide or make them even more enticing by keeping them exclusive. For example, offer the deal just to your email subscribers, webinar attendees, or social media followers.
• Create urgency with countdown timers: Add countdown timers to your special offer popups and floating bars. These timers are a visual reminder that the customer should act now.

In OptinMonster’s easy drag-and-drop builder, you can add a countdown timer to any campaign in seconds.

Do these countdown timers work?

Cracku used OptinMonster’s countdown timers to increase their conversions by 300%!

Learn more by reading our full Cracku case study.

7. Post-Sale Nurturing: Win More Customer Loyalty, Retention, & Referrals

Congrats, you’ve closed the deal! You may think that’s the end of your sales cycle. But if you want your business to grow, you have one more stage to optimize. In the post-sale stage, your focus shifts to nurturing customer loyalty, retaining customers as repeat buyers, and encouraging them to refer others to your business.

Here are a few reasons why it’s so important to nurture customers post-sale:

• It costs between 5 and 25 times to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.
• Repeat customers spend an average of 67% more than new customers.
• 83% of Americans say a recommendation from a friend or family member makes them more likely to purchase a product or service.

In short, your existing customers can be one of your greatest sources of revenue. It’s up to you to keep them engaged and happy, so they’ll maintain their subscriptions, buy more products from you, and recommend your brand to others.

Best Practices & Tips for Post-Sale Nurturing

• Engage through email marketing: Keep your brand at the top of customers’ minds by sending helpful and engaging email campaigns.
• Upsell and cross-sell: Use popups and follow-up emails to suggest products based on previous purchases. Learn more in our guides to upselling and cross selling.
• Focus on customer support: Keep existing customers happy by quickly answering their questions and helping to troubleshoot any problems.
• Create loyalty programs: Offer incentives to keep customers buying from you. For example, customers could earn a $15 coupon for every $200 they spend.
• Create referral programs: Offer incentives for your customers to refer your brand to their friends. Typically, both the referrer and the referee get a discount or credit.

The post-sale stage completes the full sales cycle. Throughout the whole process, you continue generating new leads, which starts the sales cycle all over again.

For online businesses, each stage of your sales cycle is always ongoing. Thankfully, once you set up your targeted popups, sales landing pages, and automated email campaigns, much of the process is hands-off. However, you should continually monitor the performance of each stage and regularly make adjustments. That way, you can keep your sales cycle optimized for maximum revenue.

Streamline Your Sales Cycle & Grow Your Business

When you optimize all 7 stages of your sales cycle, you can increase your conversions, earn more revenue, and build lasting customer relationships. As you improve your sales efficiency, you’ll also shorten your average sales cycle length, helping you convert leads faster.

With the right tools, this process doesn’t have to be time-consuming or complicated. OptinMonster can help you improve nearly every sales cycle stage, from generating more leads to offering special deals to abandoning website visitors.

Join over 1.2 million websites that trust OptinMonster to convert visitors into leads and customers. Ready to improve your sales cycle? Get started with OptinMonster and see how it can transform your sales process.

In this article, I’ll cover the definition of transactional emails and explain how they differ from marketing emails. I’ll share examples of how and when to send transactional emails and list some the best transactional email services.

• What Is Transactional Email?
• Transactional Emails Vs. Marketing Emails: What’s the Difference
• Transactional Email Examples: 4 Common Use Cases
• How to Send Transactional Emails: Use a Transactional Email Platform

What Is Transactional Email?

A transactional email is a type of automated email triggered by a website user’s specific action. That action is usually related to a purchase, registration, or other account activity on a website or app, and the emails are usually sent in real-time. Common transactional emails include:

• Order confirmations
• Shipping updates
• Password resets
• New device login notifications
• Notices about expiring subscriptions
• Account creation confirmation
• Invoices or receipts
• Payment failure notifications

Transactional emails are a vital aspect of eCommerce. Customers expect to get immediate notifications for these important transactions, and these notifications create a seamless user experience (UX) and help build trust in your brand.

For example, here’s a transactional email I received recently. It’s an order confirmation from the Art Institute of Chicago:

The email also included a receipt of my payment and a PDF attachment of my tickets. I received this email within seconds of purchasing admission tickets on their website. The email let me know that my purchase had gone through, and it also included everything I needed to visit the museum. With this one transactional email, the Art Insitute created an easy experience for me as a first-time customer.

Transactional Emails vs. Marketing Emails: What’s the Difference?

Your inbox likely contains plenty of transactional emails like the one above. However, the same brands probably send you even more marketing emails. So what’s the difference between transactional and marketing emails? The difference lies in how they’re sent and their primary goal.

How Transactional Vs. Marketing Emails Are Sent

The first difference between transactional and marketing emails is how they’re sent.

Transactional emails, by definition, are triggered by a user’s action or by activity on their account. Once the emails and triggers are set up, the messages are sent automatically. They’re sent one at a time, and they’re personalized to each user based on their account information. For instance, they often contain the details of a recent purchase, shipment tracking codes, or order numbers.

Marketing emails, on the other hand, are scheduled by the company’s marketing team. They’re usually sent in bulk, either to entire subscriber lists or to specific email segments. Marketing emails contain messages intended for a large number people, as opposed to sending specific information to individuals.

The Primary Goals of Transactional vs. Marketing Emails

Transactional emails are information-driven. Their primary goal is to improve UX by quickly delivering important information to users.

Marketing emails, on the other hand, are promotion-driven. Their primary goal is to get recipients to take an action, such as buying a product, visiting a blog post, or registering for an event. Marketing emails almost always contain at least one clickable call-to-action (CTA).

However, you may notice that I used the term “primary goal” rather “only goal.” That’s because both marketing and transactional emails can have multiple objectives. In fact, it’s a good idea to include a promotional CTA at the bottom of some transactional emails.

To illustrate this point, I’ll share examples of 2 different emails I recently received from the skincare brand Remedy.

First, here’s a marketing email I got from Remedy:

The goal of this email is clear: To encourage me to click that “Shop Now” button to buy one of their products.

Second, here’s a transactional email that also came from Remedy:

The primary goal of this email was to let me know that my order had shipped and to provide a tracking number.

However, when I scrolled down, the email also contained promotional messaging and links:

The second half of the email encourages customers to stay engaged with the brand by reading some of their blog posts. While the email’s main purpose is the shipping notification, Remedy used the opportunity to build brand loyalty and get customers to browse their site again. Remember, you can only add this sort of message if it’s legal in your country.

In short, transactional emails are focused on providing information and are triggered automatically by a user’s action. Marketing emails are primarily promotional and are sent in bulk to encourage subscribers to take a specific action.

Transactional Email Examples: 4 Common Use Cases

1. Account Confirmation Email From HubSpot

Let’s start with the basics. This is the transactional email HubSpot uses when you sign up for their free account. It has a professional and simple design, isn’t distracting, and has one goal: to get you to confirm your email address and complete the sign-up process.

2. Password Reset Email From Slack

Slack’s transactional email, like HubSpot’s from the first example, is super simple and stripped down. This email is triggered when the user tries to reset their password. All you need to do is click Choose a new password.

3. Order Confirmation Email from Amazon

I got this order confirmation email from Amazon after I purchased a melodica for my nephew’s birthday. The email not only confirmed my purchase but also gave me an estimated day for my order to arrive.

Of course, Amazon never misses an opportunity to encourage you to shop more. The bottom of the email featured links to 2 products I had recently viewed on their site:

This Amazon order confirmation is a perfect example of how marketing messages can be included in transactional emails in the United States. Just make sure that promotional links are secondary to the email’s most important information.

4. New Device Login Notification From Etsy

Here’s an example of a more advanced transactional email. This email was triggered when I signed in to my Etsy account from a new device. To keep my account protected, Etsy immediately notified me about the login, so I could change my password if necessary.

How to Send Transactional Emails: Use a Transactional Email Platform

It may sound complicated to set up all of these different emails to send out automatically. Thankfully, there are plenty of transactional email platforms to make the process simple.

For a full list of services, along with reviews of each one, check out this article:

9 Best SMTP Services for Reliable Transactional Emails

Here are 3 quick suggestions for transactional email services:

1. SendLayer: My top recommendation if you want a dedicated service for your transactional emails.
2. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): The best choice for an email marketing platform that can also handle your transactional emails.
3. WP Mail SMTP: If your site is built on WordPress, you’ll need an SMTP plugin so your transactional emails can work properly. This one will make sure all those important messages get delivered.

Grow Your Business Today!

Transactional emails are a required part of doing business online because they’re so pivotal to the customer experience. A few well-designed emails can keep your users informed throughout the customer journey.

Of course, one of the best ways to get users to make transactions in the first place is to send marketing emails. Here are some resources to help you succeed:

• Email Marketing: The Easiest Way to Grow Your Business
• How to Get More Email Subscribers (17 Proven Tips!)
• How to Create an Email Campaign (Step-by-Step Guide + Examples)
• Email Copywriting That Sells: 17 Genius Tips to Write Better Emails

If you want to build a better email list, OptinMonster is the very best way to do it. Learn how in this video:

Ready to get started? Sign up for OptinMonster with our 14-day money-back guarantee.

These marketing podcasts are well-established, popular, and full of great tips and information. But more importantly, I included podcasts that approach marketing from a variety of angles. That way, you can decide which marketing podcasts will help you reach your goals and that you’ll enjoy listening to.

1. The Digital Marketing Podcast
2. Online Marketing Made Easy
3. Social Media Marketing
4. The Mindful Marketing Podcast
5. Marketing Over Coffee
6. Duct Tape Marketing
7. Perpetual Traffic
8. Marketing School

8 Best Marketing Podcasts in 2024

1. The Digital Marketing Podcast with Ciaran Rogers, Louise Crossley, and Daniel Rowles

Best for: A broad range of digital marketing topics
Average episode length: 20-30 minutes
Episode frequency: Weekly

If you want a marketing podcast that will cover everything from SEO and AI to email marketing and social media, then The Digital Marketing Podcast is a great place to start. It’s created by Target Internet, which is a hub for online digital marketing courses. You have to pay to access the courses, but the podcast is completely free. And it’s ad-free!

Here are just a few of the topics that The Digital Marketing Podcast has covered in 2024:

• Crafting Killer Titles: Hook, Rank, and Convert
• The State of Email Marketing
• How to Start a Digital Marketing Career
• Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing
• GA4 News, Tips and Tricks

This is just a glimpse of the podcast’s breadth. You can find an episode on just about any digital marketing topic, and the hosts keep the tone conversational. It’s a great podcast for anyone in the marketing field, and it offers value to beginners and seasoned experts alike.

2. Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

Best for: How-tos and actionable tips (especially for course creators)
Average episode length: 25-50 minutes
Episode frequency: Tuesdays and Thursdays

Amy Porterfield is an entrepreneur who has built a $100 million business offering digital courses for other entrepreneurs. How has she accomplished this? By being an expert marketer and a great teacher. These attributes make Online Marketing Made Easy a can’t-miss podcast for digital marketers. Porterfield is a top-notch digital course creator, and she uses those skills to walk podcast listeners through each episode’s topic.

Online Marketing Made Easy does skew heavily toward topics related to online courses, with episodes like “How to Deliver a Digital Course Your Audience REALLY Wants.” Even though I don’t sell online courses, I still learned helpful tips about conducting market research and understanding your target audience. Plus, episodes like “How to Have Emails EVERONE Opens (Which Means MORE Money!)” are extremely helpful for any marketer. Even if you don’t plan to listen to every episode, Porterfield’s podcast is worth having in your subscription feed.

3. Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner

Best for: The latest in social media marketing
Average episode length: 45 minutes
Episode frequency: Every Thursday

Host Michael Stelzner founded Social Media Examiner way back in 2009, and he’s been a leading voice in the digital marketing industry ever since. In each episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, Stelzer interviews a marketing expert on a different social media topic. If social is a major focus of your digital marketing strategy, then this is the podcast you should be tuning in to.

Episodes include social-specific topics such as “Using LinkedIn to Increase Your Sales” and “Leverage Emotions in Your Facebook Ads for Better Results.” However, many episodes are broader. For instance, “Embracing Humor in Your Writing: The Funny Side of Business” includes tips you can apply to copywriting for any marketing channel.

4. The Mindful Marketing Podcast with Andréa Jones

Best for: Thoughtful discussions about the realities of marketing
Average episode length: 30-60 minutes
Episode frequency: Every Tuesday

The Mindful Marketing Podcast used to be called the Savvy Social Podcast. Host Andréa Jones rebranded to reflect her primary focus: the real people doing the marketing and the real people you’re marketing to.

Here’s an example: In the episode “Ignite Your Marketing Curiosity with Emily Aborn,” Aborn says that “Marketing is relationships.” Jones agrees and adds, “It’s not about trying to push something on someone. It’s about helping them in some way.” The episode goes on to provide plenty of specific tips to evoke curiosity and nurture new leads. However, the tips focus on how real people respond to marketing rather that just providing cold data.

Another episode I particularly enjoyed is “Marketing Automation Secrets from the Experts.” Jones leads a discussion with 3 different marketers, who share stories about how automation helped their business and made their lives easier. If you want to hear how real marketers reach their goals and avoid burnout, then you should be listening toThe Mindful Marketing Podcast.

5. Marketing Over Coffee with John J. Wall & Christopther S. Penn

Best for: Laid-back rundown on the latest in marketing, plus expert guests
Average episode length: 20-30 minutes
Episode frequency: Every Thursday

Listening to Marketing Over Coffee feels like chatting with friends. That is, if your friends were marketing gurus who sometimes brought other experts with them to your coffee meet-up. Not only will you learn a ton of great information, but you’ll also enjoy it, as the hosts maintain a friendly, casual tone and an easy-to-follow pace.

Wall and Penn cover old-school marketing topics, along with the latest marketing tech. For example, one recent episode features Katie Robbert, CEO of Trust Insights, a data and analytics company. Robbert discusses the very traditional marketing topic of creating ideal customer profiles. However, she also shares how her company built a large language model (LLM) to help clients automate and improve the process. That intersection of old and new is common in Marketing Over Coffee.

6. Duct Tape Marketing with John Jantsch

Best for: Expert insights into running and marketing a small business
Average episode length: 10-25 minutes
Episode frequency: Wednesdays and Thursdays

John Jantsch has been advising small and medium-sized businesses for 30 years, and he’s hosted Duct Tape Marketing since 2005. In each episode, he interviews a marketer or entreprenuer on a different helpful topic. For example, in “How to Master Product Launches,” Jantsch interviews Jeff Walker, the author of the book Launch. Walker discusses his recently revised edition of the book and the changes he’s made to his product launch formula.

Jantsch asks interesting questions to make the most of his interviews. In the “Marketing for Supervillains” episode, Jessee Wroblewski encourages small business to see themselves as supervillains who need to differentiate themselves from the big-business superheroes. Jantsch helps Wroblewski connect his ideas to real-life brand examples for the audience. Episodes like this make Duct Tape Marketing one of the best marketing podcasts for small businesses.

7. Perpetual Traffic with Ralph Burns & Lauren Petrullo

Best for: Lead generation strategies, especially through paid traffic
Average episode length: 30-60 minutes
Episode frequency: Tuesdays and Fridays

The hosts of Perpetual Traffic are founders and CEOs of their own marketing agencies. That means they’ve helped a wide variety of clients improve their marketing, and they share that expertise in each episode. Perpetual Traffic focuses specifically on lead generation. While this is a narrower topic than many marketing podcasts, it’s an absolutely universal one. They also regularly interview expert guests.

I particularly like Perpetual Traffic‘s focus on strategy and outcomes over vanity metrics. For example, one recent episode is called “How to Hire a Bouncer For Your CRM & Make More Money (Not Get More Leads).” That may sound counterintuitive for a lead generation podcast. However, the episode helps you learn how to make sure your leads are high quality, and it gives tips on filtering out leads who will never buy from you. Burns and Petrullo’s advice keeps businesses from wasting time and money trying to market to bad leads.

8. Marketing School with Neil Patel & Eric Siu

Best for: Brief discussions on the very latest in digital marketing, SEO, and AI.
Average episode length: 15-20 minutes
Episode frequency: Almost daily

Neil Patel and Eric Siu are big names in digital marketing. They publish on a near-daily schedule, and each episode covers a few precise topics. Marketing School‘s quick production schedule means you get insights on the most important things happening right now in digital marketing.

I’ve noticed one major flaw in Marketing School‘s approach: the hosts often focus on flash-in-the-pan controversies and their personal opinions on them. This can feel a bit indulgent and isn’t helpful to listeners who want actionable marketing tips. I suggest looking through each week’s episodes to see if any topics are relevant to your business, rather than listening to each daily episode in its entirety. Regardless, Marketing School is the go-to podcast when you want immediate analysis of the latest digital marketing news.

Learn Even More About Marketing

The best marketing podcasts are easy to listen to, cover the topics you want to learn about, and help you improve your marketing strategy. While there are plenty more great options out there, these 8 marketing podcasts are a great place to start.

Of course, podcasts aren’t the only way to learn about digital marketing. Here at OptinMonster, our blog and email newsletter provide helpful marketing tips to help you get more traffic, leads, and sales.

Here are just a few of our posts that will help you nail your marketing strategy and grow your business:

• Ultimate Beginner’s Content Marketing Guide
• 8 Digital Marketing Best Practices
• SEO Ranking Factors: 10 Factors to Help You Rank in Search
• 11 Proven Ways to Generate Organic Leads and Increase Traffic
• Make Your Site POP: 11+ Website Popup Examples to Boost Conversions

If you’re already driving traffic to your website, the next step in your marketing plan is to convert those visitors into subscribers and customers. OptinMonster is the best lead generation software on the market, helping you grow your email list and move leads through the customer journey.

Using OptinMonster, Storyly increased conversions by 80% and grew their email list by 45%! Find out how in our Storyly case study.

When you’re ready to see those kinds of results, give OptinMonster a try, with our 14-day money-back guarantee.

This comprehensive guide will cover the 14 most important steps of a successful product launch plan. I’ll walk you through each stage, including steps like market research, product marketing, and post-launch analysis.

Whether you’re starting a brand new business or adding to your existing product line, this product launch checklist provides a clear path to success.

• What Is a Product Launch?
• Importance of Having a Product Launch Strategy
• Product Launch Checklist: 14 Steps to Successfully Launch a New Product
  • Pre-Launch Stage
  • Launch Stage
  • Post-Launch Stage

What Is a Product Launch?

A product launch is the introduction of a new product into the market. It involves strategic planning to fine-tune your messaging, gain maximum visibility, and build excitement among the target audience. A successful product launch drives initial sales, creates brand momentum, and sets the foundation for long-term success.

Overview of Product Launch Stages

To create a comprehensive product launch plan, you need to understand the 3 basic stages involved:

1. Pre-Launch: This stage involves market research, product development, and creating a launch strategy. Activities include identifying the target audience, setting goals, building buzz through marketing campaigns, and ensuring that all technical and operational aspects are in place.
2. Launch: The launch phase is when the product is officially introduced to the market. It includes executing marketing campaigns, engaging with potential customers, and monitoring the initial response. This stage builds brand awareness and generates sales momentum.
3. Post-Launch: After the product is launched, the focus shifts to customer feedback, analyzing performance metrics, and making necessary adjustments.

Importance of Having a Product Launch Strategy

When starting an online business, you don’t just make it up as you go along. Instead, you create an eCommerce business plan, as well as a digital marketing plan. You need a similar plan every time you launch a new product.

It’s not enough to simply create a great product. You have to introduce it to the market in a way that captures attention, generates interest, and drives sales. Without a clear strategy, even the most innovative products can fail to gain traction.

Successful Product Launch Example: Golden Monkey Gummies

For an example of a successful product launch, let’s look at NielsenIQ’s case study on Golden Monkey, a candy manufacturer. Using extensive market research, Golden Monkey decided to launch a new gummy candy product. Their team spent months identifying a target audience, developing the product, and planning a marketing strategy.

All this work paid off at launch time:

Over the course of six months, the 30-year-old manufacturer was able to identify a growth opportunity, develop a new product, and enter a new market. And the success of the new Gummy product was clear from the get-go, eventually achieving $1.4 million in sales in the first month after launch.

In short, if you want your new product to be profitable, you have to invest in research and planning well before your launch.

Benefits of a Strategic Product Launch

A strategic product launch offers numerous benefits, including:

• Increased visibility: A well-executed launch can create buzz around your product, ensuring it reaches a wide audience.
• Customer engagement: By engaging with your target audience through marketing campaigns, you create excitement for your product release, leading to higher conversion rates.
• Competitive advantage: A clear strategy lets you position your product effectively in the market. You can differentiate it from competitors and highlight its unique value proposition.
• Measurable goals: Your product launch strategy should be based on research and include measurable goals. That way, you can track your progress and make adjustments along the way.

Product Launch Checklist: 14 Steps to Successfully Launch a New Product

Now, I’m going to share the 14 steps involved in launching a product. Of course, every business and product is different, but this checklist will provide a basic template for your product launch strategy. I’ve separated the steps for the 3 stages of launching a product.

Pre-Launch Stage

1. Conduct Market Research & Product Testing
   • Identify Target Audience: Conduct surveys, interviews, and focus groups to define and understand your target market. This process will help you create buyer personas.
   • Analyze Competitors: Review competitor products and strategies to identify gaps and opportunities.
   • Validate Product-Market Fit: Test your product concept with potential customers to ensure it meets their needs.
     
2. Develop Marketing Messaging & Branding
   • Unique Value Proposition (UVP): Clearly articulate the unique benefits and value your product offers. Need some help? Check out our guide to writing value propositions.
   • Key Messaging: Develop consistent messaging that resonates with your target audience across all channels.
   • Branding Elements: Finalize product name, logo, and branding guidelines.
     
3. Define Goals & Success Metrics
   • Outcomes: Set goals for benchmarks such as marketing reach, pre-orders, and sales.
   • KPIs & Metrics: Define the key performance indicators (KPIs) you’ll track to measure the success of each launch stage. These could include web traffic, social media engagement, email list growth, revenue, and more.
     
4. Develop a Launch Timeline
   • Set Key Milestones: Outline major activities and deadlines leading up to the launch, including content creation, marketing campaigns, and internal training.
   • Assign Responsibilities: Designate team members for each task to ensure accountability and smooth execution.
     
5. Create Marketing Content
   • Website Popups: Use OptinMonster to create popups, floating bars, and other onsite campaigns to announce your new product to website visitors.
   • Landing Pages: Develop optimized landing pages with clear calls-to-action (CTAs). If you’re new to landing pages, check out our landing page how-to guide.
   • Email Campaigns: Draft and schedule pre-launch email campaigns to build anticipation. Email marketing is one of your most powerful tools for product promotion.
   • Blog Posts: Write announcement posts as part of your larger content marketing strategy.
   • Social Media Posts: Prepare posts for all of your social channels.
   • Videos: Create video announcements, tutorials, how-tos, and testimonials. Learn tips on creating videos in our complete video marketing guide.
   • Public Relations Assets: Create press releases and media kits to send to journalists and influencers.
     
6. Prepare Sales & Customer Support Teams
   • Training Sessions: Educate your sales and support teams on the product’s features, benefits, and key messaging.
   • Internal Documentation: Provide teams with detailed product guides and FAQs.
     
7. Generate Pre-Launch Leads
   • Grow Your Email List: Use website popups and special offers to grow your email list ahead of your product announcement.
   • Offer Early Access to Subscribers: Build excitement and FOMO (fear of missing out) by letting customers sign up for exclusive early access to your new product.

Need some help generating new leads for your product launch?

OptinMonster is the #1 tool for turning your website visitors into email subscribers and customers. You can use OptinMonster’s popups, floating bars, slide-in scroll boxes, and other campaigns to build excitement for your new product. You can even add features like countdown timers and coupon wheels to increase engagement.

OptinMonster has 700+ premade templates, which you can customize in our easy drag-and-drop builder. Here’s our basic product launch template, which you can edit to fit your product announcement:

Visitors who click the “Yes! I want early access” button will be prompted to enter their email address. Then, you can continue marketing to that new lead with your promotional email campaigns.

Launch Stage

8. Execute Marketing Campaigns
   • Email Blast: Send out launch announcement emails to your entire list.
   • Social Media Blitz: Launch coordinated social media campaigns across all platforms.
   • Paid Advertising: Place targeted ads on Google, social media, and relevant websites.
   • Influencer & Partner Promotions: Collaborate with influencers and partners to promote the product.
     
9. Engage With Media
   • Press Release Distribution: Send out your press release to media outlets and industry publications.
   • Media Interviews: Schedule interviews or guest appearances on relevant podcasts, webinars, or blogs.
     
10. Monitor & Respond to Customer Feedback
    • Social Listening: Monitor social media channels for customer reactions and feedback. The best social media management tools will make it easy to see what people are saying about your product.
    • Customer Support: Keep track of any questions and problems that come through to your customer support team.
    • Collect Customer Feedback: Ask customers to rate and review your new product. You can also use your website to collect customer feedback.

OptinMonster can help you with feedback collection. We offer multiple templates for customer feedback surveys, such as this one:

11. Track Early Performance
    • Real-Time Analytics: Monitor KPIs like website traffic, conversion rates, and sales figures.
    • Adjust Strategies: Be prepared to tweak marketing tactics based on initial performance data.

Post-Launch Stage

12. Evaluate Performance
    • KPI Assessment: Compare actual performance against your initial goals and KPIs.
    • Customer Feedback: Compile and analyze your customer surveys.
    • Sales & Support Processes: Identify any areas for improvement.
      
13. Continue Marketing & Engaging
    • Content Marketing: Continue publishing blog posts, videos, and case studies to maintain momentum.
    • Email Nurturing: Keep marketing to your email list to move subscribers through the customer journey.
    • Social Media Engagement: Keep the conversation going on social media with updates, user-generated content, and customer testimonials.
    • Special Offers on Your Website: Many website visitors won’t make a purchase the first time they visit. Use OptinMonster’s Exit-Intent® Technology to show a special offer to visitors who abandon their online cart. You can also use OnSite Retargeting® to show new offers to returning visitors.

Here’s an example of an Exit-Intent® popup we’ve used on our own site:

OptinMonster’s Page-Level Targeting lets you show a cart abandonment popup just to visitors who exit your site from a cart or checkout page. Alternatively, you could also target a popup to visitors exiting from the product page for your newly-launched product. These visitors have shown a high level of interest in your product. A special discount might be enough to win that sale.

14. Plan for Future Launches
    • Post-Mortem Analysis: Conduct a detailed review meeting with your team to discuss what went well and what could be improved.
    • Document Findings: Compile insights and lessons learned into a report to guide future launches.
    • Plan Next Product Updates or Launches: Use your launch data to optimize the next phase of product development and marketing efforts.

Create a Product Launch Plan & Grow Your Business!

If you follow this 14-step product launch guide, you’ll be on the right track to meeting your business’s goals for your new product.

Want to learn even more about promoting new and existing products? Here are a few resources:

• Product Promotion: How to Market a Product to Get More Sales
• How to Market a Digital Product: 11 Proven Strategies
• WordPress Coming Soon Pages: Examples & How to Make One
• 17 Ingredients for High-Converting Product Pages

No matter what kind of product you’re launching, OptinMonster can help you convert more of your website visitors into customers. There’s no better way to build your email list, offer exclusive discounts, and build excitement for your new product.

Get Started With OptinMonster Today!