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

Shopify, one of the leading ecommerce platforms, has empowered countless entrepreneurs to launch their online stores. However, having a store is just the beginning.

To truly succeed, it’s crucial to ensure your store is visible to potential customers. This is where SEO for Shopify comes into play.

In this Shopify SEO guide, you will learn how to optimize your store to rank higher on Google in 7 easy steps.

• Step 1: Optimize Your Shopify Site Structure
• Step 2: Improve the User Experience
• Step 3: Research the Right Target Keywords
• Step 4: Optimize Your Shopify Products Pages
• Step 5: Build Links to Your Store
• Step 6: Rank Higher With Content Marketing
• Step 7: Use the Best Shopify SEO Apps and Tools

How to Improve SEO on Shopify

Follow the seven steps detailed below to improve your Shopify SEO:

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Step 1. Optimize Your Shopify Site Structure

The way your content is organized on your page is very important to SEO success.

When shoppers are able to quickly and easily find the things they’re looking for, they tend to spend more time on your site and view more pages, which can help your search engine rankings.

How can you make your site easier to navigate?

Simplify. Don’t go overboard with categories and subcategories.

A simpler site structure makes it easier for search engines to crawl your site and rank your products.

An SEO-friendly, simple site structure might look like this:

You can see from the diagram that your products are only a couple of clicks away from your homepage, making it easy and fast for shoppers to find what they’re looking for and easy for search engines to crawl the site.

Organizing your content is easy with Shopify, using one of these structures:

Homepage » Category Pages » Product Pages

Homepage » Category Pages » Sub-Category Page » Product Pages

Remember, your site should be built for customers first.

In addition to product and category pages you will need to include an About page and Contact page on your site. These pages let shoppers and search engines know that you are credible and trustworthy, so don’t skip these pages.

Finally, include a search box on your page. Will it help with SEO? Not directly. But it will help visitors find what they’re looking for, which is an important part of eCommerce optimization so you can make more money from the traffic you already have.

Step 2. Improve the User Experience

Now let’s take a look at a few ways you can improve the user experience on your site, which will also help you to rank higher in search results.

Boost Your Site Speed

Site speed is all about accessibility. When your site is easy to navigate and everything moves quickly, visitors have no cause for frustration. This means that they’re likely to spend more time on your site.

To make your Shopify store faster, you can:

• use a fast, mobile-friendly theme
• use smaller, optimized images
• remove any apps you’re not using
• avoid using sliders

You can see SEMrush’s guide to speeding up Shopify for more tips.

Use a Responsive Design

Responsive design means your Shopify store will look great on any device, including desktop, tablets, and smartphones.

Responsive themes can greatly improve user experience and keep visitors on your site longer. Since Google looks at time-on-page as a marker of a site’s value, having a site that’s easy to navigate and read can improve rankings. In turn, improved rankings and better usability result in repeat visitors and increase conversions. Wonderful things for an eCommerce site.

Making sure your store works on mobile is important, since shoppers are buying using their smartphones more and more.

Step 3. Research the Right Target Keywords

No Shopify SEO guide would be complete without tips on keyword research – the foundation of SEO success.

But how do you find the right keywords to get traffic to your shop?

The best way to start isn’t with fancy tools, but just to make a list of at least five main topics that your customers care about and that are closely related to your product.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What search terms would YOU use to find the products you sell?

You can also find inspiration for these topics from places like:

• your own buyer personas
• searching forums and subreddits related to your products
• social media hashtags related to your products
• looking at the titles, meta descriptions, and image alt-text used on competitors’ sites

See our complete guide to keyword research for more ideas, and then check out these keyword research tools to expand your keyword list.

Step 4. Optimize Your Shopify Products Pages

At this point, you should have a list of keywords and a logical site structure. The next step is to optimize your store’s pages using your keywords.

Start with your top pages first. These will likely be your homepage, main product collections, and top-selling product pages. We’re talking the pages that are the most profitable and have the best conversions.

If you’re opening a brand new store, you should still optimize your homepage. There are a couple of easy ways to choose which other pages to optimize:

• Pages for the products that generated the most buzz building up to the launch of your store
• Pages for the products related to the most searched keywords you found (> 10K searches/month)

How to Optimize Title Tags for Categories

Now that you know what pages you’re going to optimize first, let’s decide how we want to name our pages across the entire site.

You should use your keywords in a consistent way, like in this example formula:

Keyword 1 – Shop for Keyword 2 – Store Name

Unicorn T-shirts – Shop for Unicorn T-shirts Online – The Store

How to Optimize Title and Meta Description for Products

Next, we need to write some titles and descriptions for our products and categories. Yes, you can use marketing copy from supplier websites, but your customers and SEO will thank you for original content.

Your keywords should fit into the copy naturally. If they sound awkward or are difficult to work into the flow, you may want to reevaluate your chosen keywords.

The alt text for images can also be optimized for SEO, but even this needs to fit naturally.

Check out our ultimate guide on where and how to use keywords in your content for more Shopify SEO tricks. And don’t forget to spend some time on your “out of stock” pages.

Step 5. Build Links to Your Store

Backlinks are used by search engines to determine how the wider community values your site. Think of it as word of mouth for SEO. It’s an off-page optimization strategy that relies on establishing your credibility and trustworthiness.

How can you get links to your store? Here are a few tips:

• Supplier/Manufacturer Links: If you sell products made or supplied by established companies, they may have a policy that authorized retailers can get a link. Email them to ask if they will link to your store.
• Industry/Influencer Voices: Reach out to industry leaders and influencers for interviews to generate both links and content.
• Mentions: You may already be mentioned in several places without being linked. You can use mention.com to find these mentions. Then, send an email asking them to link to your site with the mention.
• Broken Links: This requires a little bit of detective work to search out for broken links for products and services similar to those you offer. Once you find one, reach out to the owner of the site displaying the broken link to have them link to your site instead.

Since broken links can hurt SEO this is a mutually beneficial solution for both parties; they get to repair a broken link and you get a backlink.

We also have an ultimate guide to link building with plenty more strategies you can use to rank higher.

Step 6. Rank Higher With Content Marketing

Now that you have everything else in place, let’s talk content marketing.

Content is the reason people come to your site. As an eCommerce site owner, you may be tempted to skimp on content or may consider product descriptions enough content.

Trust us, you’ll have so much more success if you take the time to create original content that adds to your overall user experience.

Deciding what to write about can be daunting, but it doesn’t need to be. Make a list of all the things your customers ask you or anything you think customers may want answers to. Not product information, but real answers.

Your content is a chance to let customers and potential customers get to know your brand in a way that doesn’t involve selling. It’s also one of the easiest ways to rank for more keywords and get more backlinks.

Struggling to come up with content ideas? Check out this post with more than 100 topics!

Step 7. Use the Best Shopify SEO Apps and Tools

In this section, we’re going to cover 5 tools and Shopify apps that you can use to boost your site’s rankings.

1. Plugin SEO

• Multilingual
• Constantly updated as search engines change
• Automatically checks your shop and alerts you of problems via email

This Shopify app helps you target the SEO issues that are worthwhile to fix, helping you save time and money while still improving your SEO. It provides automatic, regular checking of page titles and headings, meta descriptions, speed, content, article structure, and more, all to make sure that your site is as optimized as it can be.

2. Smart SEO

• Cut down on time spent optimizing your site
• Eliminates the need to manually enter meta tags or alt tags
• Provides structured data to Google and other search engines to enhance search results

Smart SEO lets you generate relevant meta tags for product, collection, blog, and article pages in your Shopify store, as well as alt tags for product images, without having to make each edit manually. Additionally, the app gets your store information to search engines using JSON-LD data already structured in the way search engines need.

3. Booster SEO & Image Optimizer

• Increase traffic from Google image search
• Quickly and easily optimize images
• No coding knowledge necessary

Images are generally what sell your products, so it’s important to have plenty of them on your site. Of course, quality images can also be resource hogs, so you’ll definitely want to use an image optimizer like this one to keep your site speed up.

4. Yoast

• Check all pages and posts for SEO strength and get recommendations for improvement
• Edit multiple pages with a single click
• Always updated for Google’s algorithm

Yoast makes it really easy to optimize your site using the keywords that you choose.

5. SEMRush

• See competitors’ top keywords
• Find out which keywords your competitors rank for
• See which pages on competitors’ sites are getting the most organic search traffic

SEMRush can help you find overlooked and underused keywords that you can use to increase traffic and conversions.

Unlock the Full Potential of Your Shopify Store with OptinMonster

While optimizing your Shopify store for search engines is a crucial step towards achieving online success, it’s just the beginning. 

As highlighted in the article, SEO practices can drive organic traffic to your store, but converting that traffic into loyal customers is where the real challenge lies. This is where OptinMonster comes into play.

OptinMonster is not just about driving traffic; it’s about optimizing that traffic for maximum conversions.

With its state-of-the-art lead generation tools, you can create targeted campaigns that resonate with your audience, ensuring that visitors not only stay on your site longer but also take desired actions, be it signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.

Moreover, OptinMonster’s lead verification system ensures that you’re capturing genuine leads, reducing bounce rates, and enhancing your store’s credibility. 

By integrating OptinMonster with your Shopify store, you’re not only improving your SEO but also ensuring that every visitor counts.

In conclusion, while SEO lays the foundation for your online visibility, tools like OptinMonster help you build on that foundation, turning visibility into profitability. 

So, if you’re serious about maximizing your Shopify store’s potential, it’s time to harness the power of OptinMonster. Elevate your e-commerce game and watch your sales skyrocket!

Shopify SEO FAQs

1. Is Shopify good for SEO?

Yes, Shopify is generally considered good for SEO. It provides several built-in tools and features that support SEO practices, such as customizable headings, titles, meta descriptions, automatic sitemap generation, and robots.txt files. Shopify also supports SSL for all its stores, which is a factor Google uses for ranking.

2. What is SEO Shopify?

SEO for Shopify refers to the process of optimizing your Shopify online store for search engines to increase visibility and drive more organic traffic. This includes optimizing store content, enhancing site structure, improving user experience, and utilizing Shopify’s built-in SEO-friendly features like editing title tags, meta descriptions, and URLs.

3. Can you do SEO on Shopify?

Yes, you can perform SEO on Shopify. The platform allows for various optimizations, such as editing the title tags, meta descriptions, and URLs for your products and pages. You can also improve site speed, make use of blogging capabilities, optimize images, and build backlinks to enhance your store’s SEO.

4. How much does Shopify SEO cost?

The cost of Shopify SEO can vary widely depending on several factors, including your store’s complexity, your industry’s competitiveness, and whether you do it yourself or hire an SEO professional. Basic SEO improvements can be made at little to no cost using Shopify’s built-in tools, while professional SEO services can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month.

5. Which SEO is better: WordPress or Shopify?

Both WordPress and Shopify have strengths in SEO, but the best choice depends on your specific needs. WordPress, with its vast array of SEO plugins like AIOSEO, offers more flexibility and control over SEO elements. Shopify, on the other hand, provides a more user-friendly platform with essential SEO features built in, making it easier for store owners who prefer a less hands-on approach. Generally, WordPress might be better for those seeking deeper customization and control over SEO.

6. How do I check my Shopify SEO score?

You can use SEO audit tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to check your Shopify SEO score. These tools can scan your Shopify store and provide a detailed report on your SEO health, including issues and areas for improvement. Additionally, Google’s Search Console and PageSpeed Insights are valuable tools for assessing aspects of your site’s SEO performance and speed optimizations.

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)

The trend of online shopping has seen significant growth in recent years. It is expected to continue to grow, given how digitalization and the internet allow companies to sell without a physical presence.

Among consumers, factors such as convenience, a wider selection of goods, and competitive prices have contributed to the increase in online shopping.

If you want to start an online business or already have one, the following online shopping trends statistics will help you better understand the trends and changes in this rapidly growing ecommerce industry.

Let’s dive into the online shopping statistics that you need to know:

If you’re looking for specific online shopping trends, here’s a menu to jump straight to them!

1. Online Shopping Statistics: General
2. Online Shopping Statistics: eCommerce Stores
3. Online Shopping Statistics: Mobile
4. Online Shopping Statistics: Abandoned Cart 
5. Online Shopping Statistics: Technology
6. Online Shopping Statistics: Black Friday and Cyber Monday 
7. Online Shopping Statistics: Gen Z
8. Online Shopping Statistics: Payment Method

1. Online Shopping Statistics: General

Let’s begin with general online shopping statistics to give you an idea of the industry’s size.

In 2022, there were 268 million online shoppers in the United States. This number is projected to increase to almost 285 million online shoppers in 2025.

But Americans aren’t the only ones who shop online. People all over the world understand the benefits. Almost 50% of social commerce consumers in China have made purchases through social networks, giving it the highest rate globally.

According to recent estimates, global e-commerce sales will reach $58.74 Trillion by 2028. This represents a significant increase from previous years and indicates the growing popularity of online shopping.

Additionally, online retail sales are projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.6% from 2021 to 2028. This means that the online shopping industry is expected to continue growing at a rapid pace for the foreseeable future.

According to a recent study by Affilinet, men are more likely to shop online, with 84.3% making purchases compared to 77% of women. The average online buyer tends to be male, typically between the ages of 25 and 49.

The main difference between men and women is what they shop for. Men usually go for heavy-duty items like furniture and computers, while women typically shop for things like groceries and clothing.

Moreover, the most popular product categories purchased online include clothing and footwear, books, and electronics. This is not surprising given the convenience of shopping for these items from the comfort of your own home.

2. Online Shopping Statistics: eCommerce Stores

Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and AliExpress rank as the top e-commerce sites in terms of visitor traffic.

These four companies have become household names and dominate the online sales market. They offer a wide variety of products at competitive prices, making them the go-to destination for many online shoppers.

If you think you have no chance against the big hitters, think again. And, if you still need to get into eCommerce market, it’s a great time to start because, in 2024, it is estimated that there will be 12 million – 24 million eCommerce stores globally.

It’s about time you start optimizing your eCommerce store or launch a successful eCommerce site.

Since online shopping, in general, is growing so fast, the next statistic shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. In 2023, eCommerce retail purchases are expected to rise from 14.1% to 22%.

But it’s important to make sure that your eCommerce site is optimized for user experience.

Something as easy to fix as an inconvenient return policy deters 80% of people.

Including thorough details on your product pages is so important. 88% of customers think detailed product pages are crucial for purchasing.

Website design is also everything. Have you ever visited an ugly website? One that looks like this?

You probably have at some point. And if you haven’t yet, we hope you never do. And we hope your customers don’t either. 38% of shoppers will leave a website if it looks unattractive.

3. Online Shopping Statistics: Mobile

Mobile devices, Apple or Android,  smartphones and tablets, are increasingly used for online shopping, with mobile e-commerce revenue projected to reach $728.28 billion in 2025. This is not surprising given the increasing popularity of mobile devices and the convenience they offer for online shopping.

The average conversion rate for mobile e-commerce is around 0.55%. The average cart abandonment rate for mobile e-commerce is around 85.65%.

That’s why improving your SEO can help you catch those spontaneous shoppers.

SEO Guide SEO Made Easy—Ultimate Guide to Explode Your Traffic

Mobile shopping is quickly catching up to desktop shopping. It’s easier to do as people are often on the go. Mobile shopping allows for shopping from anywhere as long as there’s service.

The number of mobile shoppers in the US is expected to reach 187 million by 2024. That means the majority of your traffic will also come from mobile users. Because of this, optimizing your site for mobile is crucial.

People don’t only use their mobile phones to shop online, but 65% check for price comparisons while they’re physically shopping in-store. Checking things like price comparisons has influenced 51% of shoppers to purchase from a company other than the one they originally intended to.

Your store could be the alternative shoppers turn to, so make sure your mobile website is up to date on prices and information and is easy to find.

4. Online Shopping Statistics: Abandoned Cart

The number one reason for shopping cart abandonment is unexpected extra costs. Extra costs are responsible for 48% of all cart abandonment. And for a good reason too.

Nobody likes being hit with unpleasant surprises just as they’re about to make an exciting purchase.

With this information in mind, be honest and upfront with all the costs. If honesty isn’t your thing, you could lose out big time. With an average abandonment rate of 69.99%, eCommerce businesses could lose 3 billion per year or more.

Other factors contributing to cart abandonment are slow delivery (22%) and when internet users need to create an account before checkout process (24%).

But there are always ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment for your company. First, sending cart abandonment follow-up emails have an average of 45% open rate. And out of that 45%, 21% received click-throughs. That’s almost half!

Secondly, to reduce cart abandonment, you can offer a discount on the items left in the cart.

54% of shoppers will purchase the items in their abandoned shopping cart after seeing a discount on those prices.

5. Online Shopping Statistics: Technology

47% of consumers are open to using a chatbot to make an online purchase, and a study by Juniper estimates that chatbots will account for $112 billion in retail ecommerce sales by 2023.

For Millennials and Gen-Z consumers, a chatbox is the preferred support channel.

The main reason chatbots are so popular is that speed is always part of the equation when people want an answer. When people wait to speak with a service agent on the phone, it only takes 11 minutes before they get frustrated and hang up.

On the other hand, a chatbot will respond within a few seconds.

Another popular trend is voice assistants. If you have an iOS device, you’ve undoubtedly used Siri before. You might be surprised to know that voice assistant make up 20% of searches on Google. And 27% of the global population uses voice chat.

6. Online Shopping Statistics: Black Friday and Cyber Monday

As shoppers prepare to make online purchases, you should prepare to make crazy online sales.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still the busiest time of the year in terms of spending money. Did you know that in 2021, 155 million Americans shopped on this holiday? Each of these people spent an average of $430 per person.

But 93% of the biggest spenders, millennials aged 24-35, plan to shop during this weekend. And they spend an average of $419.52 per person.

The majority of shopping happens online, $8.9 billion. As you can imagine, shopping in a physical store on Black Friday could be a recipe for disaster. That’s why 50% of people stay at home and browse on their devices. On Cyber Monday, 53% of online purchases came from a mobile device.

Related ContentUltimate Guide to Black Friday & Cyber Monday Marketing [+ Calendar!]

7. Online Shopping Statistics: Gen Z

Although the oldest members of Generation Z are just now coming of age, their spending power is nothing to scoff at. Marketers must understand this generation’s unique needs and spending habits to stay relevant.

It’s predicted that Gen Z, born after 1998, will have $44 billion in buying power. As of now, 93% of parents say their Gen Z child influences household spending. And in just a couple of years, this generation will dominate 40% of all consumer shopping.

95% of this generation have a smartphone, which they spend nearly 10 hours or more per day on. Because of this, they are 2X more likely to shop on mobile devices than millennials.

54% of Gen Zers spend at least four hours daily on social media apps, and almost 38% spend even more time than that. 88% use YouTube, making it the generation’s most-used social platform. Instagram sits firmly in second, while TikTok and Snapchat tie for third.

85% of Gen Z use social media platforms to learn about new products.

8. Online Shopping Statistics: Payment Method

Debit and credit cards remain the most favored payment methods for online transactions. A staggering 70% of online shoppers prefer using their cards due to the convenience, security features, and widespread acceptance they offer.

With the introduction of EMV chips and secure online verification methods, card transactions have seen a decline in fraud rates by 15% in the past three years.

Digital wallets, such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Wallet, have seen a 40% increase in usage over the past two years.  60% of millennials and Gen Z shoppers prefer digital wallets for their online purchases due to their speed and convenience.

In regions like Europe and parts of Asia, 25% of online shoppers prefer direct bank transfers, especially for high-ticket items. Direct bank transfers are viewed as more secure, with a 10% higher trust rating compared to other payment methods.

In countries where online payment trust is still burgeoning, COD accounts for 35% of online transactions. Interestingly, COD orders have a 20% higher return rate compared to prepaid orders.

Services like Afterpay and Klarna have seen a 50% increase in adoption over the past year. 45% of users of these services are millennials who appreciate the flexibility in payment.

While still a niche, 5% of online retailers now accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum as valid payment methods. The volume of cryptocurrency transactions for online shopping has grown by 30% in the past two years.

QR code payments are dominant in countries like China and India, with 55% of online transactions in these regions using this method. Popular apps like WeChat and Paytm have integrated QR code payments, making it easier for consumers to adopt this method.

In conclusion, online shopping is a rapidly growing industry that offers convenience, variety, and ease of shopping.

The online shopping statistics outlined in this blog demonstrate the growing popularity of online shopping, trends, and changes that are taking place in the industry.

With the continued eCommerce growth trends, online shopping will likely continue to be a major player in the retail industry for years to come.

Now that we have finished talking about statistics of online shopping and discussed the industry’s potential, you must be wondering how to boost your online store’s conversions.

All online stores rely heavily on generating leads via popups. OptinMonster is the most powerful conversion optimization tool and email popups creator in the world because:

• OptinMonster’s powerful drag-and-drop builder allows you to create visually stunning optin forms optimized for the highest conversion rates.
• You can choose from the perfect campaign type to display the most attention-grabbing offers to your visitors for maximum engagement.
• You can detect your visitors’ shopping behavior and use smart triggers to display the right campaign to the right person at the right time.
• It allows you to use precision targeting to create campaigns that generate more leads, attract more subscribers, and increase total retail sales.
• You can create campaigns that react and adapt in real-time so you can easily personalize, segment, and target for incredible conversions.
• You can get the stats that matter and the tools you need to take action and improve your lead-generation strategy.

Also checkout:

• Ecommerce Growth Statistics: Key Insights Every Business Should Know
• Shopify CRO: How To Make More Sales From Your Current Traffic
• Content Marketing Statistics: Everything You Need To Know
• 40+ Email Marketing Statistics You Need to Know
• 95+ Mind-Blowing Digital Marketing Statistics to Learn From
• Ultimate List of Blogging Statistics and Facts

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.

Affiliate marketing, in a nutshell, is publishers, content creators, and digital marketers earning commissions by promoting other people’s products or services.

Does affiliate marketing really pay? It absolutely does. Influencer Marketing Hub estimates that global affiliate marketing spending will total $15.7 billion by the end of 2024.

In this guide to affiliate marketing, we’ll explain everything you need to know, including what affiliate marketing is, how it works, and how you can start earning money with affiliate links.

• What Is Affiliate Marketing?
• How Does Affiliate Marketing Work
• How Do Affiliate Marketers Get Paid
• Types of Affiliate Marketers
• How to Become an Affiliate Marketer
  • Create a Website or Blog for Your Niche
  • Choose Affiliate Products To Promote
• How to Start Affiliate Marketing and Make Money
  • Step 1: Create Content That Generates Affiliate Revenue
  • Step 2: Promote Your Affiliate Products in the Content
  • Step 3: Turn Your Visitors Into Affiliate Customers
  • Step 4: Optimize Your Existing Traffic for More Revenue
  • Step 5: Grow Affiliate Revenue from Your Email List

Before we get in too deep, let’s make sure we’re clear on the definition of affiliate marketing and how it works. The beginning of this post will cover the basics of affiliate marketing for beginners.

If you’re already a seasoned pro, feel free to jump straight to our section on How to Start Affiliate Marketing and Make Money.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is where individuals or businesses (affiliates) earn a commission for promoting another company’s products or services. By including unique affiliate links in their content, affiliates drive traffic and generate sales, earning a commission for each successful transaction.

It’s classic advertising in a less intrusive way. Rather than promoting a product on your website with visual advertisements like this:

You embed the product link in your content like this:

In the image above, the affiliate partner is Bluehost, which offers website self-hosting services. In fact, the link in the previous sentence is actually an affiliate link. If you were to click that link and make a purchase from Bluehost, our company would receive a commission.

Does that mean you can create a website, toss in a bunch of affiliate links, and watch the affiliate commissions roll in? Not quite, but we’ll get to that.

For now, you need to know the basics of how affiliate marketing works:

1. You recommend a product or service to your followers through your website, blog, or email list.
2. Your followers purchase the product or service using your affiliate link.
3. You get paid a commission for the sales made using your affiliate link.

Let’s break down this process into more detail to make sure you know exactly how to make a successful affiliate marketing strategy.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work

To understand how affiliate marketing works, it’s important first to understand the several essential components of the affiliate marketing system.

1. Merchants

A merchant might also be called a brand, seller, creator, retailer, or vendor. They create the product or service that needs promotion. They can be an individual, a large corporation, or anything in between. For merchants, affiliate marketing is both low-cost and low risk.  They usually only pay when the affiliate when a sale is made.

2. Affiliate

Affiliates, or marketers promote the merchant’s products and attempt to persuade potential customers to buy them. They’re often publishers or content creators. Through these partnerships, marketers receive payment for successfully promoting the merchant’s products.

3. Consumers

The people who click the affiliate links and ultimately purchase the product. The affiliate receives a commission based on the sale.

4. Affiliate Marketing Programs

Affiliate networks, or affiliate marketing programs, are intermediaries between the affiliate and the merchant. They offer a database of products for affiliates to promote. The affiliate network connects a merchant with affiliate marketers. They also generate unique, trackable links for each product or service.

For instance, Amazon Affiliate Marketing Program is the largest affiliate network for promoting consumer products. You can use the Amazon Associates program to create a custom affiliate link for any item sold on their platform. You likely see Amazon affiliate links regularly on various blogs and social media pages.

In short, affiliate marketers use affiliate networks to find products they can promote and to get unique affiliate links for those products. The marketer then includes that link in their website’s content. Consumers read this content and click the affiliate links. The network keeps track of all those clicks, plus any sales made through the link. Then, the merchant pays a commission to the marketer based on the number of clicks and sales.

How Do Affiliate Marketers Get Paid

Affiliates can get paid in various ways, depending on the program. Some common payment structures include:

• Pay per sale (PPS): In this model, the affiliate receives a commission for every sale they generate for the merchant. This is the most common payment method used in affiliate marketing.
• Pay per click (PPC): The affiliate earns a commission each time a user clicks on their affiliate link, regardless of whether they purchase.
• Pay per lead (PPL): The affiliate gets paid when a referred user fills out a form, signs up for a trial, or takes any other action the merchant considers a lead.
• Revenue sharing: The affiliate receives a percentage of the revenue generated by the sale rather than a flat fee per sale.
• Cost per action (CPA): The affiliate is paid when a specific action is taken by the consumer, such as filling out a form, subscribing to a service, or downloading software.
• Tiered commission: Affiliates receive a higher commission rate once they reach a certain level of sales or referrals.

Check out this article for more affiliate marketing tips to earn more income through affiliate marketing.

Types of Affiliate Marketers

In 2009, prominent affiliate marketer Pat Flynn categorized affiliate marketing into 3 types, unattached, related, and involved, to distinguish between affiliate marketers who have a close association with the product and those who do not.

1. Unattached

Unattached affiliate marketing is where the marketer has no affiliation or knowledge of the product or service. Such affiliates do not possess expertise or authority in the product’s niche and cannot endorse its use.

These marketers typically run PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns, relying on affiliate links to encourage customers to make purchases.

This type of affiliate marketing is attractive to those who seek to generate income without committing to the product or establishing customer relationships.

3. Involved

Involved affiliate marketers connect directly with the product or service they promote. These affiliates try the product and gain first-hand experience, believe in its quality, and can make claims about its use. Involved affiliates talk about their experience with the product when marketing it, resulting in a reliable and trustworthy source of information.

For example, review sites often used involved affiliate marketing.

2. Related

Related affiliate marketing, on the other hand, is a fusion of unattached and involved. These affiliates may not personally use the company’s products or services, but they connect to their target audience. They have established followings or influence within the product’s niche and can provide some level of authority.

For instance, there are many lifestyle bloggers and YouTube influencers who have large audiences interested in fashion. In related affiliate marketing, these content creators might promote clothing brands that they haven’t actually purchased from.

While related affiliate marketing allows affiliates to leverage their expertise to drive traffic, they risk losing the trust of their audience if they recommend a bad product or service they have not used.

Of these 3 types, involved affiliate marketing requires the most effort and time. However, the returns on investment are likely to be higher because you have built credibility and trust with your audience.

How to Become an Affiliate Marketer

If you want to learn how to become an affiliate marketer, there are 2 things you need to do first:

1. Create a website or blog in your niche
2. Choose affiliate products to promote

Let’s look at each of these in a bit more detail.

1. Create a Website or Blog for Your Niche

To make money with affiliate marketing, you first need a website.

When it comes to building your website, you have tons of options. But we highly recommend using WordPress.

With WordPress, anyone can quickly build a professional-looking website in minutes, even if you don’t know how to code:

WordPress has more tools to help their sites perform at a higher level than other website builders. That means more functionality across your site and a better user experience (UX) for your visitors.

WordPress is your way to go if you’re interested in making money with affiliate marketing. You can check out these tutorials if you need help building your site:

• How to start a WordPress blog
• How to make a website with WordPress (step-by-step-guide)

Once your website is built, you must determine which products you want to promote. That takes us to the second prerequisite for starting out with affiliate marketing.

Alternative: Influencers can use affiliate links on their Instagram pages, YouTube channels, or other social media platforms.

2. Choose Affiliate Products To Promote

If you’ve done the work to choose a niche, choosing affiliate products to promote should be easy. Choose products that fit your niche and relate to your content.

One of the best ways to select your affiliate products is by joining an affiliate network.

As discussed earlier, affiliate networks are businesses that connect merchants and affiliate marketers so both can earn more money. Affiliate marketers use these networks to choose the best products to promote on their sites.

There are many affiliate networks out there, but here are a few of the most popular:

• ShareASale
• CJ Affiliate
• ClickBank
• Amazon Associates

One of the benefits of these affiliate marketing services is they typically provide more sales data on the different promotional products. You can then use that data to increase your affiliate marketing profits.

For more information, check out our helpful post: Earnings-Per-Click: How to Win Big at Affiliate Marketing.

You can optimize your affiliate strategy by making data-driven decisions, rather than simply choosing products that appeal to you.

Get Started With OptinMonster Today!

Now that you have a website and have joined an affiliate network, it’s time to start monetizing your site with affiliate marketing.

Let’s get started!

How to Start Affiliate Marketing and Make Money

By following the 5 steps below, you can learn how to do affiliate marketing and start making money quickly.

Step 1: Create Content That Generates Affiliate Revenue

The basic meaning of affiliate marketing is simple, and it’s relatively easy to get started. However, building enough traffic to generate a significant income takes time and effort.

Many beginners publish random content and insert affiliate links within the article. That strategy may or may not work, but if you genuinely want to boost your affiliate revenue, you must ensure your published content reaches your target audience.

Your target audience is someone who wants to buy a product but is wondering whether or not the product is worth it. They’re searching for product reviews, lists, and ratings to help them make their choice.

Sometimes, the user may need help knowing which product will fulfill their needs.

As an affiliate marketer, it’s your job to help users discover the right product for their needs. By producing high-quality content, you can help them make a purchasing decision, and then you can navigate them to the product website to complete the purchase.

Pro-Tip: Your articles should target investigational intent keywords. These are the Google search terms that your target audience uses to research the product they’re interested in.

You can check out our guide on choosing the right keywords for more details.

Step 2: Promote Your Affiliate Products in the Content

Just like the keywords you target, you should take an investigational approach to your content. Focus on topics that provide the information you’re target audience is searching for.

Once you’ve done your keyword research and have your content ideas, it’s time to start inserting affiliate links in your content.

How you insert your affiliate links will depend on the specific article you’re writing.

For instance, you shouldn’t add 5 different affiliate links to a review post for a single product. Instead, your entire post should focus on driving traffic to that 1 product’s affiliate link.

On the other hand, if you’re showcasing the “Top 10 Tools for Solving X,” you’ll include affiliate links for each list item. Doing so will increase your chances of making more sales.

The goal is to insert your links as strategically as possible.

Here are a few tips to get the most out of your affiliate links’ placement:

• Only link where appropriate: Don’t add an affiliate link if it doesn’t fit your content. Irrelevant links will negatively impact the user experience (UX) and cost you more lost sales in the long run.
• Add links as early as possible: If you’re showcasing many products in 1 article, add your affiliate products at the top of the list. Most people won’t take the time to read an entire article. You want to make sure they see your affiliate links early on.
• Get more out of your site’s space: You can use floating bars, inline banners, and sidebar widgets to promote your affiliate products. These enhance the impact of your content and lead to more sales over time.

Here’s an example of affiliate links from a post by IsItWP. It lists the best recipe plugins for WordPress:

The first several items in this list are affiliate links. This strategy ensures that readers will see the affiliate links, while still allowing them to research all options.

Again, you want to promote your links often, appropriately, and as powerfully as you can.

Pro-Tip: Invest in an affiliate link plugin before adding hundreds of affiliate links across your site.

Imagine having to sort through and update hundreds of expired affiliate links. This task becomes even more difficult when you have no idea where you’ve placed them on your website.

You’re looking at hours of headaches. Plus, when you let your links expire, you lose out on tons of profit.

Fortunately, this is one nightmare that can be avoided with an affiliate management plugin. One of the best options on the market is Pretty Links:

Pretty Links is an affiliate marketing management plugin that lets you keep track of your affiliate links. It’s easy to set up and super user-friendly, even for beginners. Best of all, it lets you put your affiliate marketing on auto-pilot.

It also lets you cloak affiliate links to make them look short and neat. This makes them easy to share through emails and social media.

Whenever you need to update your old affiliate links from your partners, you’ll be able to accomplish it in minutes, not days.

Plus, if you do run into trouble, Pretty Links has an amazing support team to help you at each step.

At this point, you’ve created the right content and strategically placed your links, using an affiliate management plugin. Next, it’s time to kick things up a notch with targeted conversion campaigns.

Step 3: Turn Your Visitors Into Affiliate Customers

One of the biggest mistakes new affiliate marketers make is assuming they need 10x the traffic to get 10x the profit.

It doesn’t work that way, which is excellent news for you.

For example, let’s say you’re promoting a product that pays a $50 affiliate commission for every sale. Out of every 100 visitors who click your affiliate link, 2 of them buy the product. This gives you an affiliate conversion rate of 2%.

That means the CPC (cost per click) you earn is $1 per click.

(CPC = Total affiliate revenue / total traffic you sent)

If you send 2X more visitors to the affiliate product site, you could also double your affiliate revenue. Thankfully, you don’t have to drastically increase traffic to double your affiliate clicks.

Instead, you can boost your revenue with a conversion optimization campaign.

With conversion software like OptinMonster, you can increase your revenue by converting more of your existing traffic into affiliate customers. Without a doubt, this strategy is much easier than doubling your traffic.

Here’s how OptinMonster can boost your affiliate income:

a) Create a Popup Campaign That Promotes an Affiliate Product (And Increase Revenue by 30%!)

Lightbox popups are 1 of the best ways to catch your user’s attention.

Creating a popup campaign is the easiest method to convert more of your visitors into affiliate customers.

OptinMonster provides over 50 pre-built templates to help you make the right campaign for your affiliate product. We also offer many targeting rules and campaign triggers to ensure you’re showing the right message to the right people at the right time.

This is the exact strategy Top 6 Digital used to increase their affiliate revenue by 30%.

The company had a webpage to help parents choose the right car seats for their children. When the reader tries to leave this page, the following campaign would appear on their screen:

This simple popup campaign was hugely successful. It grabbed the audience’s attention, and over 17% of users clicked the affiliate link.

b) Display Campaigns When Users are More Likely to Buy

When it comes to popup campaigns, targeting is important. Targeting lets you control who sees your popups, as well as when they see them. For example, studies show that the best time to show a popup is when a user is about to leave your site.

With OptinMonster’s Exit Intent technology, you can show a popup that promotes an affiliate offer when your users are about to leave.

Our customers use Exit Intent along with Page-Level Targeting and see massive results. Page-level targeting allows you to create affiliate offers for specific pages on your site. So when a visitor is reading an article about the best hiking boots for winter, you can show them a campaign that highlights the EXACT affiliate product you’re promoting in that article.

Since the offer you promote in that campaign is highly targeted, it’s more likely to convert than a generic campaign.

The WordPress hosting company FlyWheel used page-level targeting to increase engagement by 660%. For instance, the popup above offers a guide to increasing freelance revenue. FlyWheel showed this popup only on blog posts related to running a business.

Or take the fitness company Crossrope, for example. They grew their email list by over 900% by catching abandoning traffic with exit-intent popups.

You can combine these strategies to skyrocket your affiliate clicks.

Step 4: Optimize Your Existing Traffic for More Revenue

This next step comes from a strategy that’s driven by something called “the 80/20 rule.”

The 80/20 rule, in this case, suggests that 80% of your profits will come from 20% of your content. While it’s not an exact metric, the basic principle stands firm:

Identify your highest converting content. Make those posts the priority for your affiliate campaigns. 

Once you know that a particular post or video is resonating with your audience, you can create a targeted campaign with OptinMonster to increase affiliate sales.

This is a much better plan of action than blindly making campaigns for every page on your site.

How do you get started?

Jump into your Google Analytics dashboard, identify the articles that bring in the most content, and then create targeted campaigns for those URLs.

And if you really want to level up your game, you should consider getting MonsterInsights:

MonsterInsights is the world’s #1 Google Analytics (GA) plugin. Many marketers love the idea of gathering data from Google Analytics, but they get confused, annoyed, or intimidated by GA’s user interface.

Rather than letting all that valuable information go to waste each month, you can get the same data delivered straight to your WordPress dashboard. This data includes a review of your site’s top posts:

Once you’ve identified which posts bring the most traffic, you can optimize your content and conversion campaigns to generate more affiliate revenue.

This strategy will ensure that you’re always prioritizing your most profitable content. That means you can save time and increase revenue as efficiently as possible.

Step 5: Grow Affiliate Revenue from Your Email List

No matter how you look at it, email marketing is still the best way to earn passive income. All of the other methods fall short in some way.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is great until Google changes its algorithm and your rankings tank. Paid ads can bring quick results, but only if you have the budget for a lot of trial and error. Paid ads require also constant care and attention to keep conversion rates high.

But your email list gives you a direct route to your target audience.

It’s full of people who are interested in your niche and have already engaged with your content. That means they’ll make an ideal audience for your affiliate marketing campaigns.

Unfortunately, many businesses struggle to grow their contact list to the point where monetization is possible.

That’s where OptinMonster comes in:

OptinMonster is hands down the best way to generate leads for your affiliate email campaigns.

Similar to how you use conversion campaigns to send traffic to your affiliate links, you can also use them to grow your email list.

You can create targeted popups, floating bars, fullscreen welcome mats, and more to entice your website visitors to join your list. Offer a lead magnet to convert even more visitors into subscribers. Lead magnets can be special offers, free ebooks or PDF guides, or coupon codes that users only receive by giving you their email address.

Here’s an example of an optin campaign you can use to grow your list:

Want more examples of lead magnets? Check out our list of 60+ lead magnet ideas you can start using today.

Once you’ve built an email list, you can send email campaigns with your affiliate links embedded in them.

Make sure that you read this post on how to create an affiliate email marketing campaign before getting started.

Email marketing is a great way to improve your revenue. You can use your email list to drive more traffic to your high-converting posts, or you can include your affiliate link in your emails. Either way, more people will see your affiliate links.

And, again, to grow your list, the best tool for the job is OptinMonster.

OptinMonster can help you capture more leads.  More leads mean a bigger subscriber and customer base, which means a higher revenue potential.

In fact, check out these success stories from some of the businesses that use OptinMonster with great success:

• How Adam Enfroy Got Over 11k Subscribers
• American Bird Conservancy Grew Their Lead Collection by 1000%
• AutoAnything Increased Daley Email Optins 2.5x

Get Started With OptinMonster Today!

These are just a few examples of people who grew their list with OptinMonster. You can have similar results and make even more money with online marketing.

We hope you found this article helpful. If so, you may be interested in reading the following posts:

• Affiliate Marketing Statistics All Marketers Must Know
• Best Tools for Affiliate Marketers
• How to Increase Affiliate Sales by 30% With 1 Simple Strategy
• Content Marketing Examples
• Sales Promotion Examples

Are you ready to start making more money with affiliate marketing? Sign up for your risk-free OptinMonster account today!

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.

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!

Sales promotion is a powerful tool that eCommerce businesses use to increase conversions, boost brand awareness, and generate leads.

Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, sales promotions can help you achieve your marketing goals.

In this blog post, I will share 23 real-life sales promotion examples of successful campaigns with you and explain how you can copy those examples for your own sales promotions.

1. What Is Sales Promotion?
2. Importance of Sales Promotion
3. Types of Sales Promotion Strategies
4. Other Common Types of Sales Promotions
5. Sales Promotion Examples

What Is Sales Promotion?

Sales promotion is a strategic marketing tactic designed to boost short-term sales and encourage immediate consumer action by offering limited-time incentives, discounts, or special offers.

It is a popular marketing tactic because it create a sense of urgency (FOMO) and exclusivity, encouraging customers to take advantage of the offer before it expires.

Importance of Sales Promotion

Sales promotion is important for several reasons:

Stimulates sales: Sales promotion offers such as discounts, coupons, and free shipping can attract customers and encourage them to purchase. This can stimulate sales and increase revenue for a business.

Attracts new customers: Sales promotions can attract new customers who may not have been interested in the product or service before. A business can entice new customers to try their product or service by offering a discount or free trial.

Builds brand loyalty: By offering promotions to loyal customers, businesses can strengthen the bond between the customer and the brand. This can lead to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth advertising.

Clears inventory: Sales promotions can help businesses to clear out old stock and make room for new products. This can reduce storage costs and generate revenue from products that may have been on the shelves for too long.

Creates a sense of urgency: Sales promotions are typically time-limited, creating a sense of urgency among customers to purchase before the offer expires. This can increase sales in the short term.

However, it’s important to use sales promotion strategically and not rely on it too heavily, as overuse can reduce the perceived value of a product or service.

Types of Sales Promotion Strategies

The following are, but not limited to, the most popular sales promotion strategies. Let’s look at each strategy with a classic sales promotion example for better understanding.

Discounts and Coupons

One of the most popular sales promotion strategies is offering discount codes and coupons.

One sales promotion example of a business using discount codes and coupons is the clothing retailer H&M. H&M is, a famous fashion brand that sells affordable and trendy clothing for men, women, and children.

H&M regularly offers discount codes and coupons to their customers through various channels. For example, they may offer a discount code to customers who sign up for their email newsletter or download their mobile app. The discount code can be used for a percentage off the customer’s next purchase or free shipping.

Buy One Get One (BOGO) Offers

BOGO offers are another effective sales promotion strategy.

An example of sales promotion using a Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) strategy is the online retailer Beauty Bay. Beauty Bay is a beauty and cosmetics retailer that operates exclusively online.

Beauty Bay frequently uses BOGO promotions to encourage customers to purchase and increase sales. For example, they may offer a free eyeshadow palette with the purchase of another eyeshadow palette or a free lipstick with the purchase of another lipstick.

Limited Time Offers

Limited-time offers create a sense of urgency and exclusivity, encouraging customers to take advantage of the offer before it expires.

Amazon is an example of a business using Limited Time Offers (LTOs) as a sales promotion strategy. Amazon is an eCommerce giant that sells a wide range of products, including electronics, home goods, books, and more.

Amazon frequently uses LTOs to promote products and increase sales. For example, they may offer a discount on a specific product for a limited time period, such as 20% off a popular tech gadget for a weekend only.

Free Shipping

Offering free shipping is an excellent way to attract customers and increase sales and the best example of it would be Zappos. Zappos is an online retailer specializing in shoes, clothing, and accessories.

Zappos offers free standard shipping on all orders with no minimum purchase requirement. Customers can purchase any item on the website and have it shipped to them for free, one of the most successful examples of sales promotion.

Cashback

Cashback offers are another popular sales promotion strategy.

An example of a business using cashback as a sales promotion strategy is Savyour. Savyour is an online marketplace that connects shoppers with retailers selling various products, including electronics, home goods, and more.

Savyour offers cashback to customers who make purchases through their platform. Customers can earn a percentage of their purchase amount back in cash, which is deposited into their account.

Referral Programs

Payoneer has an excellent referral program. It’s a payment platform for cross-border digital business.

Payoneer offers a referral program where users can invite friends to join Payoneer, and they both can earn money when their friend signup. The referral program incentivizes current customers to refer new customers to the platform, as you make 25$ just by telling your friends about Payoneer.

Contests and Sweepstakes

Contests and sweepstakes are an effective way to engage customers and create brand awareness.

Dove held a selfie contest, with the grand prize being a spa experience for two people.

Facebook Users were required to take a picture of themselves holding a Dove Beauty Bar. Then submit that picture in the comments section of the giveaway post.

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs reward customers for their repeat business and encourage them to continue shopping with the company.

Sephora’s Beauty Insider program is an example of a sales promotion loyalty program.

It’s a tiered loyalty program that offers customers a variety of benefits, including access to exclusive products, birthday gifts, free beauty classes, and early access to sales.

Customers can become Beauty Insiders by signing up for the program on Sephora’s website or in-store. Once customers become members, they earn points for every dollar they spend on Sephora’s website or in-store, which they can redeem for various rewards.

Other Common Types of Sales Promotions

A few other types of sales promotion ideas that brands typically use are:

• Percentage or dollar discounts
• Redeemable vouchers
• Free gifts or giveaways
• Rebates
• Free samples
• Free Trial

Retailers also offer:

• Pre-launch or exclusive offers
• Bundles
• Seasonal offers
• Regular daily, weekly or monthly deals

Watch out for those offer types in the examples below.

Sales Promotion Examples

Now, let’s get to those sales promotion examples. If you like a particular campaign, you can easily recreate your own version with OptinMonster.

OptinMonster is the best conversion optimization tool. It allows you to create eye-catching popups for your sales promotions easily.

OptinMonster comes with multiple eCommerce campaign types, like fullscreen mat, lightbox popup, floating bar, and countdown timer.

You can use OptinMonster’s prebuilt sales promotion templates to:

• Share discount offers
• Reduce cart abandonment
• Promote flash sales

And more.

You’ll also get to choose from special eCommerce targeting to control when and where you show your sales promotion.

Just follow our instructions for creating your first campaign, then customize it at will!

1.Macy’s

Let’s start the ball rolling with this email sales promotion example from Macy’s. It’s pretty simple, but effective.

It uses information about the site visitor to show them sales promotions they’re more likely to be interested in. In this case, the site visitor has already viewed printed dresses.

You can do this in OptinMonster with our Smart Tags feature.

Here are some of the things you can use to personalize sales promotions on your website:

• Site visitor’s name
• Date
• Country
• City
• Previous pages visited

And more.

Copy this example:

Here’s how you can implement Smart Tags with OptinMonster.

You might also want to check out 5 creative ways to personalize your optins to boost conversions.

2. Christmas Lite Show

This coupon campaign is a great sales promotion idea from Christmas Lite Show.

The beautiful background evokes the atmosphere of the annual show, and the headline highlights the company’s experience. It all adds up to a compelling reason to click the button. When visitors do, they see a coupon code with a countdown timer.

Christmas Lite Show converted 30% of visitors with this campaign.

Copy this example:

To do the same, create a countdown popup in the OptinMonster campaign builder. Then use a MonsterLink to create a clickable link on your web page or in your menu.

3. Cosmetic Capital

Cosmetic Capital saw an 300% increase in leads daily, using this floating bar sales promotion. The free shipping offer immediately tackles one of the biggest reasons for cart abandonment.

The timer adds urgency, and the shopper knows they need to act soon if they want to grab this deal. The button includes the word “exclusive”, making the visitor curious about the offer.

Copy this example:

You could create something similar in OptinMonster by using the floating bar campaign type and editing the colors to match your branding. Here are some more floating bar examples to inspire you.

4. Chamaileon.io

Chamaileon.io was able to increase conversions by 200% using this sales promotion, and here’s the main reason why this example worked so well.

They included a Yes/No form, and these are proven to increase conversions by as much as 18%. Why are Yes/No forms so effective? They’re based on a psychological concept called the Zeigarnik Effect. The idea is that people are more likely to finish an action they’ve already started. So, once they click the Yes button, they’re more likely opt in.

Copy this example:

If you wanted to achieve this with OptinMonster, you could enable our Yes/No forms in the campaign builder, as shown in the video below.

Then you can redirect visitors to a signup form when they click the Yes button. Here are some more creative ways to use Yes/No forms.

5. Stays.net

Here’s another example of an effective two-step optin from Stays.net.

Stays.net increased monthly sales by 10% using an on-click sales promotion. So, once the site visitor clicks on the link, they’re presented with the popup to start a free trial.

Copy this example:

You could easily include the shareable MonsterLink I mentioned earlier. Include it anywhere on your site to trigger a popup when customers click.

6. Fastrack

Fastrack managed to recover 53% of abandoning visitors with a simple sales promotion idea. The lightbox popup is a white box with matching the brand colors. This puts the offer on center stage, making it a no-brainer for people to sign up.

Fastrack showed this sales promotion popup as visitors were leaving their site.

Copy this example:

You could easily recreate this in OptinMonster and follow Fastrack’s example by choosing when the popup appears. By default, OptinMonster popups appear after 5 seconds, but you can change it using the Exit-Intent® rule.

You could also change that so they appear after visitors have scrolled. To do that, go to Display Rules and set the condition If distance scrolled.

7. Win in Health

Next on our list of sales promotion examples is Win in Health. The retailer keeps it simple with a green and white popup, making it easy for visitors to focus on the 10% offer. It matches their website colors perfectly.

The copy is clear and straight to the point. Even though it’s not explicit, there’s a sense of urgency here. Adding the words “Today’s Promotion” tells the customer the deal isn’t going to be around forever.

Copy this example:

To create appealing campaign copy, check out our list of copywriting templates.

8. Scott Wyden Imagery

How do you know you’re showing your sales promotions on the right pages?

Scott Wyden Imagery only show this 2-step optin on the cart and checkout pages when the shopper tries to leave the site. It recovers 21.06% of abandoning carts.

Copy this example:

You can get similar attention for your OptinMonster popups by adding the Exit-Intent® and Page Targeting rule.

9. Kennedy Blue

Kennedy Blue is another example of the effective use of OptinMonster’s countdown timer theme. This floating bar picks up one of the logo colors while contrasting with the site as a whole. That makes it super visible and very effective, and that’s helped by the white countdown block and the yellow discount block. This popup helped Kennedy Blue increase sales by 50%.

Copy this example:

If you’re using OptinMonster, you can easily set the countdown from within the campaign builder. Click on the countdown timer in the live preview to bring up the editing tools, the set the desired end date and time.

10. KnivesShipFree

Even if you’re not into knives, you’ve gotta love this giveaway popup campaign from KnivesShipFree. I like it because both the pictures and text make it clear what you can win. Plus, the CTA is crystal clear. This campaign ran on both desktop and mobile, giving the company more than $10,000 in additional sales.

Copy this example:

You can easily create this by using one of OptinMonster’s templates, then edit the text and the CTA button to create your own offer.

11. Maca Team

Here’s an example of referral marketing, which eventually leads to more sales. I know that people trust recommendations from friends and influencers more than ads, so this is a smart move by the Maca Team.

Here’s what I like. The background image is of the source product, with an overlay showing the offer. Plus, they have made it easy by including a button so visitors can copy the referral link easily. I also like the inclusion of social sharing buttons.

Copy this example:

To do this with OptinMonster you could easily create your own custom campaign using the Canvas theme.

12. Nashville Pedal Tavern

Party bike company Nashville Pedal Tavern has a sales promotion example with a difference. They’re not offering discounts. In fact, this innovative campaign earned them $2300 in just two weeks, simply by promoting gift certificates. Here’s the campaign.

This campaign works because it’s helping people feel good about themselves by giving others a fun experience. Simple as that.

And the genius of it is the Nashville Pedal Tavern only showed it to people who were really interested in their site. They set it so only visitors who’d been there for 30 seconds or more could see the campaign.

Copy this example:

You could do the same by adjusting the timing as described earlier.

13. Padstows

In this example, the image of happy customers inside the restaurant makes for a winning combination for Padstows. The optin campaign is beautiful and inviting, and the voucher is an added bonus. One thing the company could do is experiment with split testing the call to action. More compelling button text such as “Enter to Win” may boost their conversions even more.

Copy this example:

If you’re using OptinMonster, you can change the image on any campaign simply by clicking the image button. That’ll help you make an appealing optin campaign for your visitors. Check out our list of free image sites to find the right image.

14. Baublebar

Baublebar’s sales promotion is bright and in your face, so visitors won’t ignore it. Plus, it’s offering a discount, which is another win.

Copy this example:

I’ve already mentioned how easy it is to change text and colors in the OptinMonster campaign builder. You could also follow our guide to get your CTA right.

15. AutoAnything

Here’s another discount promotion, this time from AutoAnything. The image clearly conveys the brand, and there’s no mistaking the bold 20% discount offer.

AutoAnything increased email revenue by 20% using this sales promotion.

Copy this example:

Want to do something similar with OptinMonster? Use our lightbox popup, and upload an image.

Then you can edit the text and set display rules as usual.

16. Spinsterz

This sales promotion is the first thing people see when they land on Spinsterz’s website. These colors also contrast so they stand out.

Copy this example:

You could create something similar with a custom welcome mat in OptinMonster. This’ll appear as visitors land on your site and is a great way to introduce them to what’s on offer. See the video below to learn more about welcome mats.

17. Skates

Sometimes you want to target people who aren’t doing much on your site, in the hope that they will. That’s exactly what Skates.co.uk did and it resulted in an extra £2000 in daily sales. The popup itself is simple. It’s red to match the brand colors, with white writing, and the discount code in black. They showed it to inactive users with OptinMonster’s InactivitySensor.

Copy this example:

You can enable InactivitySensor by going to Display Rules and setting the condition If visitor inactive time.

18. Snack Nation

More leads means more sales, right? The next in our list of sales promotion examples are focused on lead generation. SnackNation offered free sampler boxes to people who signed up. That resulted in 1200 new subscribers each week and 15-25 additional daily sales.

Copy this example:

Snack Nation used a fullscreen campaign with a yes/no form to achieve this. I described how to enable both of those earlier.

19. Sportique

This is a really attractive fullscreen optin. Sportique has used the screen space to include a stunning image that fits with its active mission. I also like the informative wording in the email field, plus the accurate CTA. Those who sign up will have no doubts about what they’re getting. This campaign converts 4.9% of visitors and helped the brand triple its email list.

Copy this example:

You can edit the fields in any OptinMonster campaign. Just click on the email field to bring up the editing tools.

20. Urban Southern

Who doesn’t love a handbag discount, am I right, ladies? Urban Southern used a stark black and white color palette to offer a 10% discount to people who signed up. This campaign uses our Coupon template, and all they did was change the colors. The result? A 400% increase in sales.

Copy this example:

You can keep it just as simple as Urban Southern did. Create a new campaign using the Coupon theme. Then change the colors as described earlier to match your own branding.

21. Crush Empire

Crush Empire generated 460 sales using this coupon sales promotion.

You can choose to deliver the discount at another URL or via OptinMonster’s Success theme.

Copy this example:

An easy way to do this in OptinMonster is to edit the success message that appears when people opt into a campaign. You can easily add a coupon link to the success theme itself, or simply redirect visitors to a new page with the coupon.

22. Logic Inbound

Finding the best sales promotions for your business might require some testing.

Let’s look at one example.

This is a free trial offer, this time from Logic Inbound and ATLAS workspace. The optin converted at 25.71%.

Before using the above sales promotion, Logic Inbound was showing the below offer. But it only converted at 2.67%.

Copy this example:

Identify your best performing sales promotions using split testing. With OptinMonster, you can find the best performing designs, offers, copy, targeting, and more.

23. Cracku

Cracku increased conversions 300% using countdown timers. Countdown timers add urgency and encourage your customer to make a purchasing decision.

Copy this example:

You can easily add a countdown timer to any sales promotion using OptinMonster.

That’s it!

Now you have lots of sales promotion examples to use to fuel your own creativity.

As we’ve explored various successful examples of sales promotion, one common thread emerges: the strategic use of tools to optimize these promotions.

OptinMonster stands out as a premier solution in this domain. With its diverse range of features, from eye-catching popups to countdown timers, it offers businesses a unique edge to craft compelling sales promotions.

Whether you’re looking to share discount offers, reduce cart abandonment, or promote flash sales, OptinMonster provides the flexibility and efficiency to achieve your goals.

In a world where capturing a customer’s attention is increasingly challenging, it’s tools like OptinMonster that can make the difference between a missed opportunity and a successful conversion.

Ready to create a sales promotion that will win you more customers? Get started with OptinMonster today. It’s risk-free with our 14-day money-back guarantee.

Also checkout: 

• Email Marketing Made Simple: A Step by Step Guide [+ Examples]
• 5 of the Best eCommerce Marketing Strategies to Explode Your Sales
• How to Create a Live Sales Notification for WooCommerce
• 12 Ways to Use OptinMonster Follow Ups to Boost Engagement and Sales

It’s important to collect feedback from your customers and leads. That feedback can be related to the user experience (UX) on your site, market research, customer interests, the quality of your product, or the performance of your customer support.

With the right survey app, you can easily create, distribute, and analyze feedback surveys to improve your business strategy.

That’s why, in today’s post, I’m excited to share six of the best survey apps on the market.

• What to Look for in Survey Apps
• 6+ Best Survey Apps
  • 1. WPForms
  • 2. UserFeedback
  • 3. SurveyMonkey
  • 4. TypeForm
  • 5. Google Forms
  • 6. Jotform
  • BONUS: OptinMonster
• What is the Best Survey App?

What to Look for in Survey Apps

What you need in a survey app will depend on your business’s type, size, audience, and goals. However, there are a few universal characteristics you should expect in your survey app:

1. Ease of Use: The software should have an intuitive interface that lets you create and distribute surveys quickly. Look for drag-and-drop builders, customizable templates, and straightforward navigation to save time and effort.
2. Advanced Features: As your survey needs grow, advanced features become crucial. These features include conditional logic, diverse question types, and integrations with other platforms, such as CRMs (customer relationship management) and email marketing software.
3. Powerful Analytics: Creating a survey is just the first step. You also need to carefully monitor and interpret the results. Choose software that offers real-time reporting, visual data presentations like graphs and charts, and easy export options.
4. Scalability: Your survey tool should grow with your business. Whether you’re starting small or expanding rapidly, the software should support increasing response volumes and offer scalable pricing plans.

Fortunately, the online survey tools in this list check all these boxes.

Best Survey Apps

Apps	What This App is Best for	Free Plan?	Premium Pricing
WPForms	WordPress sites with a wide variety of survey and form needs		Starts at $49.50/year
UserFeedback	WordPress sites that need a dedicated survey plugin		Starts at $49.50/year
SurveyMonkey	Businesses that only need occasional basic surveys		Starts at $25/month
TypeForm	Businesses that need advanced surveys and extensive integrations		Starts at $25/month
Google Forms	Users who want surveys that seamlessly integrate with other Google tools		Starts at $6/month (Google Workspace)
Jotform	Feature-rich surveys with a top-notch visual builder		Starts at $34/month
BONUS OptinMonster	Precisely targeting your surveys to the right website users		Starts at $9.97/month

1. WPForms

WPForms is hands down the best WordPress form-building plugin available. The Pro plan includes a powerful and easy-to-use Survey and Polls addon that makes it the #1 survey app on our list today.

You can combine the Survey and Polls tools with other features like multi-page forms, email integration, and conditional logic to create highly engaging and detailed questionnaires.

We use WPForms regularly here at OptinMonster. I also installed WPForms on my own WordPress site and was able to create a form in minutes. You can build your survey from scratch or get a head start by using a premade template. The easy builder lets you drag and drop survey fields into place, including:

• Drop-down menus
• Multiple choice questions
• Single-line and paragraph text answers
• Name and email fields
• Advanced fields like file uploads, Likert scale, and more

Once you’ve placed the field, simply click on it to customize the Field Options in the left menu settings:

One of the things I love most about WPForms is its robust survey reporting features. Once you’ve published your survey, it’s easy to track the results. Here’s an example of the results from a survey that OptinMonster used for some of our customers:

I chose a horizontal bar graph to display the results, but you can also view the results as a pie, line, or vertical bar chart.

With WPForms, you get useful, real-time reports and graphs based on survey responses. This helps you collect and analyze your survey data to make smarter, data-driven decisions about your business.

You can also download these reports in an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file to import to 3rd-party marketing tools, such as a CRM platform like Salesforce or Hubspot.

And with their addons for offline surveys and form abandonment, WPForms ensures that you collect user data no matter what. It’s this type of functionality that makes WPForms the best survey app for WordPress.

You can also use a shortcode to display the survey results on any page of your site. You can even embed your WPForms survey inside an OptinMonster popup. Check out our instruction video:

Best for: WordPress sites with a wide variety of survey and form needs.

Is WForms Free? There is a free plugin that you can use for basic surveys and forms.

Premium Pricing: Starts at $49.50/year. For full survey functionality, choose the Pro plan at $199.50/year or higher.

2. UserFeedback

UserFeedback is a WordPress plugin dedicated to helping you collect feedback from your website visitors.

This software lets you easily build surveys, display them anywhere on your website, and monitor the results.

In my testing, I decided to create a website feedback survey. It was incredibly easy to get started with the Website Feedback template. It’s 1 of the 20+ templates available in the Additional Templates Add-on, which is included with the Pro plan or higher.

I added a question to the template, and I could choose between checkboxes, radio buttons, email capture, single text field, long answer, star rating, and Net Promoter Score.

Conditional logic is available for each question in your survey. I just turned on the Enable Conditional Logic toggle and chose my Display Logic settings:

UserFeedback provides 2 easy ways to display the survey form on your website: You can either embed it using a shortcode, or you can use the Targeting rules to determine when and where your survey will pop up for your website visitors.

The Targeting rules include:

• Which page or pages you want your survey to display on
• When the survey displays, such as immediately, after a certain number of second, after the user scrolls halfway down the page, or when a visitor leaves your site
• How many times each user will see your survey
• How long you want to run your survey
• Whether you want to start your survey minimized on the page

Best of all, UserFeedback even integrates with Google Analytics, providing you with further insights into your survey’s completion rate and audience.

Best for: WordPress sites that need a dedicated survey plugin.

Is UserFeedback Free? Yes, there is a free version with limited features.

Premium Pricing: Starts at $49.50/year

3. SurveyMonkey

No list of survey makers would be complete without mentioning SurveyMonkey. This free online survey tool lets you create and distribute unlimited surveys. I’ve used SurveyMonkey multiple times over the years, and it has continued to be an easy way to gather feedback.

It’s an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and all-around excellent survey app. SurveyMonkey’s dashboard is attractive and intuitive. You simply select the type of question you want to add and then edit it in the builder:

I logged in and was given 3 options to create a survey:

1. Start from scratch: Start with a blank slate and add the questions you want.
2. Use a quick template: Get a head start by customizing a premade survey.
3. Build with AI: Enter a prompt, and SurveyMonkey will use AI to build your survey for you.

These features are all free, but you’ll need to upgrade to a premium plan to use advanced options like conditional logic and accepting payments. You also must have a paid plan if you want to embed SurveyMonkey surveys as popups on your website. If you use their free tool, you’ll have to share the survey link with your audience.

Best for: Businesses that only need occasional basic surveys.

Is SurveyMonkey Free? Yes, it’s free to create basic surveys without conditional logic or website embedding.

Premium Pricing: Start at $25/month

4. TypeForm

TypeForm is a robust survey app that lets you create in-depth surveys. You can create interactive surveys to get more responses, turning boring surveys into friendly conversations.

In my testing, I was impressed by just how powerful TypeForm’s survey features are. For example, I was able to add videos, images, and GIFs to a survey in just a few clicks. I also created a survey using their Qualify Leads option. TrueForm’s AI technology used information from OptinMonster’s website to create an Ideal Customer Profile, which I could add to and edit. Then, it built a lead-qualifying survey for me:

The survey was far from perfect, as the AI didn’t fully understand OptinMonster’s features. However, it gave a great starting point and included some useful questions I hadn’t thought of. For instance, TrueForm suggested asking new leads whether they prefer webinars, tutorials, or case studies when learning about software. With this survey data, our email marketing and sales teams can send more targeted and helpful information to each potential customer.

What else sets TypeForm apart from tools like SurveyMonkey? Its extensive integrations. You can connect Typeform to:

• CRMs like Hubspot, Salesforce, and Zoho
• Email marketing platforms, such as Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Drip, Mailchimp, and ActiveCampaign.
• Payment platforms Stripe and Square
• Tracking software, such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Pixel
• And many more

Keep in mind that this advanced functionality comes at a higher price. At first glance, the pricing looks in line with SurveyMonkey’s paid plans. However, TypeForm severely limits the number of monthly responses allowed on its lower-tiered plans. For instance, the $25/month Basic plan only includes 100 responses per month, and you have you pay extra to increase that number.

Best for: Businesses that need advanced surveys and extensive integrations.

Is TypeForm Free? There’s a free plan, but you only get 10 responses per month.

Premium Pricing: Starts at $25/month

5. Google Forms

Google Forms is an excellent online survey tool like SurveyMonkey, and it’s completely free.

I’ve used Google Forms to create surveys, registration forms, applications, and more. It even includes basic conditional logic.

It’s an especially great choice for Google Workspace users, as it connects to Google Drive and Sheets. For instance, I’ve created forms that included a file upload field and was able to access those files in Drive.

I can view the results under Responses, or I can click Link to Sheets to sync the survey with a spreadsheet that will automatically update as new results come in:

You can build simple surveys, require users to enter an email address (to grow your email list), and gather the results quickly.

You can also use the embed code to add your form anywhere on your website or within an OptinMonster popup campaign:

Best for: Google Workspace users who want surveys that seamlessly integrate with other Google tools

Is Google Forms Free? Yes.

Premium Pricing: Starts at $6/month per user for full Google Workspace

6. Jotform

Jotform is a comprehensive form builder that you can use to create online surveys. It has an extremely easy drag-and-drop builder and high-quality templates to help you get started.

I was impressed by Jotform’s exceptionally clean and attractive user interface (UI). In fact, it may be the smoothest, least clunky experience of all the online survey tools on this list. That’s because you can edit your questions and options right in its visual builder:

Similar to TypeForm, Jotform offers a wide variety of integrations and advanced conditional logic. Jotform has the additional feature of letting you build fillable PDFs or convert your survey into one.

Best for: Feature-rich surveys with a top-notch visual builder

Is Jotform Free? The free version includes all features, but limites you to 5 forms and 100 montly submissions.

Premium Pricing: Starts at $34/month

Bonus App: OptinMonster

OptinMonster is the best lead generation software on the market. Our popups, floating bars, and other onsite campaigns make it SUPER EASY for you to encourage your visitors to fill in surveys. This means OptinMonster is a great online survey app that can be used in many different contexts.

Let’s take a look at 4 ways OptinMonster can help you create, collect, and promote surveys on your site:

• Embed forms within a campaign: Easily embed survey forms in your popups, floating bars, slide-in scroll boxes, and more. Then distribute and promote the survey across your site to a targeted audience.
• Create short surveys directly in OptinMonster: If you only need to ask a few basic questions, you don’t even need a dedicated survey app. You can add fields like dropdowns, radio buttons, checkboxes, and text fields right in our drag-and-drop builder.
• Redirect traffic for longer surveys: Create exit popups, fullscreen welcome mats, or other optin campaigns with a button that redirects users to your long-form survey. This lets you get more responses from your organic traffic.
• Target your audience: Create a unique user experience by personalizing your messages and targeting them to the right people. This gets more people engaged with your survey form.

OptinMonster’s Page-Level Targeting and Exit-Intent® Technology can detect when a visitor has completed their purchase and is leaving your site. You can then trigger a popup to ask them to take a short feedback survey to tell you about their experience before they leave.

Check out how Kennedy Blue increases sales by 50% using OptinMonster’s Exit-Intent® popups to promote their customer surveys and get valuable feedback.

At the end of the day, OptinMonster is a great survey app because it encourages the right people to take your survey.

And since you can integrate OptinMonster with your email marketing service, you can use your survey data to segment your email list and send more targeted email campaigns.

Want to try it out? Click below to start using the best survey app to get more survey responses.

What Is the Best Survey App?

WPForms is the best survey app for WordPress websites.

WPForms is flexible, easy to use, and loaded with features. It makes survey design a breeze. You can embed it with OptinMonster to create powerful survey popups on your website.

Plus, it does more than just create surveys. That means you can use WPForms to make any form on your website, such as:

• Newsletter signups
• Event registrations
• Payment collection
• And much more.

If you don’t use WordPress, then your specific needs will determine which tool is best for you. If you need to create robust online surveys with lots of integrations, then I suggest TypeForm.

I hope this list helps you choose the best survey app for your business, so you can start collecting important data right away.

Want to learn more about online surveys? Check out these resources:

• Survey Best Practices: Everything You Need to Know
• 9 Ways to Collect Customer Feedback on Your Website
• How to Create a WordPress Survey Popup

These posts will have everything you need to increase survey response rates, learn about your audience, and increase profits.

Want to target your surveys to the right people at just the right time?

Get started with OptinMonster today!