One of the most common pieces of advice you should be following in SEO is to get yourself independent from Google organic search results. The best way to do this is to build an email list and start publishing a regular newsletter. When you have a newsletter, you have people interested in your brand and visiting your site who are not tied to a search engine. If something happens and your site is removed from the rankings or otherwise drops, you still have a source of traffic.

That’s what these tools are for. They’re all designed to help you capture emails, in various ways. They have their pros and cons, which I’m here to discuss.

AppSumo/SumoMe

First on the list is one of the oldest and most venerable options out there, SumoMe from AppSumo.

You can see how the software works on the site I link, just click the green “try it now” button. You’ll see the screen fade and a window appear, with a CTA and a simple one-field sign up form.

SumoMe is essentially an exit intent script. It’s designed to trigger when the user is exhibiting signs of leaving, like the window losing focus or the cursor heading towards the close button on a browser. It also works on mobile.

On the pros side, SumoMe is used by a wide range of companies, including MailChimp and GetResponse. It’s incredibly easy to set up and get running, taking no more than a couple minutes to customize the pop-up and copy the script. It’s also free; that same “try it now” button, when you try it or click the skip button, leads you to the script you use to install it. You can also click a button to go to their WordPress plugin version.

JustUno

So, maybe you don’t like the exit intent pop-up. Maybe you just don’t like AppSumo, for some reason. In that case, you’re looking for an alternative, and that’s where JustUno’s Just One comes into play.

JustUno has a number of possible lead capture applications. It’s a lot harder to install and configure properly, but it’s also way, way more powerful. You can display sidebar tabs, you can run pop-ups, and everything in between.

You also have a wide range of targeting options. Rather than showing the pop-up or sidebar to everyone who comes through, you can set it to people who get to the cart, or people who have visited your site for the first time this session, or even for just returning customers.

The greatest power of JustUno, however, comes from incentives. You can offer a range of incentives, from discounts to prizes, to incentivize mailing list signups.

The biggest downside to JustUno is the price. They have a lot of advanced features, but they also limit the number of times the script can be used per month, as well as gating some of the best features, behind a paid account. It can run you anywhere from $8 per month all the way up to $304 per month.

WP Email Capture

WP Email Capture is a simple script for an opt-in form you can put on any WordPress blog. It’s a great solution for a non-pop-up based solution, in case you’re not a fan of how AppSumo does things.

WP Email Capture also has the ability to capture names, it works witih a variety of widgets, and it uses the built-in WordPress functionality to send emails. It has a dashboard, and it can export the conversions you get into a CSV for future use, including easy compatibility with Constant Contact, MailChimp and other mail services. It’s also perfectly free.

If you think this simple form is a little limited, they have an advanced premium version to buy. It comes with additional autoresponders, the ability to set up multiple lists, custom data capture fields, stat tracking and more. It costs $49, and comes with a bunch of extra tools to boot.

Exit Intent Scripts

The link above takes you to a freelance developer’s side, Beeker.io. Beeker, named after the muppet, is the founder of Navilytics and a web developer. The page in question is his tutorial and source code for a customizable exit intent script.

Yes, AppSumo is an exit intent script. Yes, it’s free, just like Beeker’s script. The difference here is that you’re getting full source code and thus full command over the script from Beeker. You can customize every iota of the HTML and the CSS. You can use third party forms. You can embed special fonts, including Google Fonts. You can handle cookies in any way you like. You can even add a time delay for the exit intent, which is very useful to prevent accidental triggers on early focus loss.

Consider this a free alternative for the Linux Guru on hand, or the developer who wants a little more control over their email captures.

ListGrabber

ListGrabber is the most skeptical entry on the list. It’s not a lead capture plugin for your site; rather, it’s a tool that scrapes various online directories and communities to find contacts relevant to your company. You can point it at specific sources and have it scrape for users, so it’s perfect for poaching leads from industry blogs or web forums. You can try it for free, but the full version will cost you the very significant $249. Be wary using this tool and the leads it generates! You’re not getting opt-ins, here, you’re sending out unsolicited messages. If you’re not careful, you can very easily be labeled a spammer for using it improperly.

Join the Discussion

1. 

   Watermelon

   says:

   July 24, 2015 at 6:53 am

   What about Link Booster from GetResponse?

   Reply

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