July 20, 2017

The 5 Best Lead Capture Software Tools for Growing Your Email List

Reading time about 8 min

Email marketing remains the most profitable marketing channel in terms of ROI.

The main steps to successful email marketing have gotten much easier thanks to email marketing tools like Sendinblue. These steps include:

But, none of those things actually matter if you forget about the first step…

You need an audience for your emails.

After all, if you don’t have contacts in your database, then you won’t be able to send your emails to anyone!

So, how do you actually start collecting these email addresses?

Like most answers in the marketing world these days, there is software to help you do it. Namely, lead capture software.

There are a bunch of different products out there that help you collect emails for your list, and it can be difficult to know which of them is the best option for you.

Luckily, we’re here to help! Read on to learn the 5 best lead capture software tools so that you can easily navigate through the options and find the best fit.

Which Lead Capture Software is Right for You?

There are a number of factors that you should consider in reviewing lead capture tools for your business or website. The 3 main categories are:

  1. Features – What are you actually able to accomplish in using this tool?
  2. Integrations & usability – Does this tool work well with the other tools and platforms that you are using?
  3. Price – How much is this tool going to cost?

To evaluate the different tools in this list, you should prioritize the above elements so that you can weed out any obvious “no’s” (Price can be a good litmus test — but only in the context of tools that already include essential features).

With that in mind, take a look at our list of the top lead capture tools:

The Tool for Everybody – OptinMonster

We’re starting off here with the cream of the crop, OptinMonster.

This tool provides the most functionality and usability at the absolute best price point in the market. It has a ton of very powerful features like A/B testing, multiple opt-in types, and advanced targeting that are usually only available on prohibitively expensive alternatives.

opt in form types - Optinmonster

In addition to the awesome functionality, OptinMonster is also very easy to use. With an intuitive editor tool, as well as the option for custom CSS, you can create the opt-in form of your dreams (hopefully I’m not the only one who dreams about awesome ways to capture leads!).

lead capture form design - Optinmonster

With the super powerful set of features and manageable price tag, OptinMonster is definitely the best tool for users regardless of individual experience level or business needs.

How does it stack up?

Pros

  • Variety of opt-in types
  • No traffic limitations on any account type
  • Integrates with all CMSs, ESPs
  • Customizable templates (can be further customized through custom CSS)
  • Advanced targeting (Referral source, exit intent, page-level, time triggered)
  • Opt-in personalization
  • A/B testing that is intuitive and easy to setup.
  • Much less expensive than other tools — without sacrificing any of the functionality

Cons

  • No free trial or free account
  • Custom CSS can be challenging if you don’t have experience, but the editor still gives you great ability to customize without it

The Tool for Beginners – Your ESP (Hopefully Sendinblue 😉 )

Email service providers (like Sendinblue) typically let you create opt-in forms that you can use on your website to collect subscribers. They are usually pretty simple in appearance and lack the ability to customize in more advanced ways.

lead capture form from Sendinblue

If you’re just starting out and you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, it might make the most sense to stick with the tools that are built into your email marketing platform. This will buy you some time until you have a better understanding of what you want to do on your site.

How does it stack up?

Pros

  • Included with your ESP at no extra cost to you
  • Completely integrated with your email provider already so you know the contacts are going to the right place when they sign up.
  • Sendinblue specifically allows you to create linked subscription pages as well, which are great for events or including in the footer of an email

Cons

  • Very bare bones, only basic functionality and customizability
  • Usually only includes a basic subscription form, not the other types of more visually appealing opt-ins (slide-ins, exit-intent pop-ups, overlays, etc.)
  • No specialized targeting or advanced analytics

The Tool for Small Businesses or Blogs – Sumo

For new websites looking to grow from a small amount of monthly traffic, Sumo could be a good option.

Lead capture form - Sumo

This tool offers a lot of powerful features that will help you capture leads and analyze the conversion performance of your website. With a pricing model that is focused on monthly traffic, you will have to be careful that you don’t grow too fast though!

How does it stack up?

Pros

  • Free account, but only for very basic usage
  • Variety of opt-in types and good analytics for paid accounts
  • Integrations available for paid accounts

Cons

  • Pricing gets expensive quickly, and there are limits to the amount of traffic you can have for your site
  • The free version lacks a bunch of the capabilities that you would want in a lead capture tool (and it has the Sumo branding)

The Tool for Large Enterprise Users – Sleeknote

Big brands have a much larger need for customizing and advanced targeting on every aspect of their website, including email lead capture forms.

Sleeknote is a solid answer to these needs. It is a really powerful tool with all of the advanced features that you would expect from a tool like this.

It also bills itself as more customizable than most solutions, but it comes at a price. For enterprise clients, this usually isn’t a problem. But, for the rest of us, there might need to be some extra considerations before signing up.

How does it stack up?

Pros

  • Really powerful features, including advanced targeting (page-level, cookie settings, referral source)
  • Customizable through the use of a drag and drop editor
  • Dedicated account representative at the high-end level accounts

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Basic plan (69 /mo) doesn’t include A/B testing
  • Pricing plans have (albeit very high) limitations on site traffic

The Tool for WordPress-only Users – Thrive Leads

With WordPress being the most popular Content Management System in the world, it’s important that lead capture tools and WordPress play nice.

While the tools above can be used on any CMS (or a homegrown solution), Thrive Leads is only available as a WordPress plugin. Despite the fact that it’s only available to WordPress users, Thrive Leads is a powerful lead capture solution that offers most of the advanced features seen in other alternatives.

The best part though — no subscription fees! Once you buy the plugin, you don’t have to pay any more money to use or update the tool.

How does it stack up?

Pros

  • One time fee with unlimited upgrades
  • Variety of different opt-in types
  • A/B testing
  • Some advanced targeting (exit-intent, page-level, time triggered)

Cons

  • Strictly a WordPress plugin, only available on self-hosted WP sites

The Bonus Tool – HubSpot Lead Flows

One last tool worth mentioning is Lead Flows from HubSpot.

This is a free tool that integrates well with all CMS and marketing software platforms, as well as with tools like Zapier. They also have some interesting features like contact data enrichment that is unique to this tool. Using this, you can get some extra insights into your contacts, including social media accounts and web behavior.

This is a great tool if you just want something free and minimal.

How does it stack up?

Pros

  • No cost
  • Variety of different opt-in types
  • Contact data enrichment
  • Easy to create designs with no coding required

Cons

  • Limited advanced targeting

Conclusion

Lead capture software is an important part of every email marketing strategy. Depending on your experience level, current stack of tools, or business type, you may require a different solution.

The best way to determine which solution is best for you is to figure out your priorities and look at the options.

Do you have a lead capture tool that we didn’t mention? Feel free to let us know in the comments below!

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