Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing methods out there in terms of ROI.
To build an email list, you have to collect email addresses. In order to do that, you need to use an email signup plugin on your website so that you can capture their information.
Getting your website visitors’ email addresses can help you turn them into leads, which you can contact over and over again.
Three of the most popular email signup plugins are Sumo, Mailmunch, and Thrive Leads. Today, we’ll compare all three of them to help you decide which one is the best for you.
What Is Sumo?
Sumo (formerly known as Sumo) is a free email capture tool that currently powers more than 917,000 websites. It’s a simple tool you can set up in under a minute.
To use Sumo, you must install the tool on your website. The tool supports automated installation on popular website platforms like WordPress, Shopify, Weebly, Squarespace, and Tumblr.
Alternatively, you can install the tool manually by copying and pasting the HTML code into your website’s script.
From your Sumo dashboard, you can create forms, emails, discounts, shortcuts, and manage contacts.
While you can use Sumo free forever, the website features a premium plan you can upgrade to. You can upgrade to this premium plan if you’re a larger business, and you can pay monthly or annually.
Sumo is part of the Sumo family of tools, owned by the Sumo group. Other tools available in the Sumo family include AppSumo, KingSumo, and SendFox.
Sumo Features
Sumo is a suite of tools, including signup forms, analytics, and social sharing buttons.
Signup and Contact Forms
Sumo has several different signup forms that you can install.
You can choose to collect email addresses through a popup, an inline form, a box in the bottom corner of your website that scrolls together with the user, a header bar at the top of your site that scrolls with the user, or a “welcome mat” – a large form above your site’s content. You can also set up contact forms on select pages.
Each signup form can be customized. There are many different design templates to choose from.
You can also change the display rules. For example, you can choose how much time should pass after someone enters your site before a popup appears or which pages a form should appear on.
If your goal isn’t to collect email addresses, you can also have the popup display a call-to-action.
Email Campaigns
If you’re not using an email service provider such as GetResponse or Aweber, you can store your collected email addresses on your Sumo account.
You can then send out emails to your subscribers through the Sumo platform. You can even schedule emails for later.
Social Sharing
Sumo lets you set up social sharing buttons on your website.
These buttons can be placed anywhere on your pages. For example, you can choose to have them below your content, above your content, or on the side of your page in a vertical row.
You decide which social networks to include.
Sumo has two great additional features that encourage users to share your content.
You can turn on image sharing, which will cause social sharing buttons to appear on an image if a user hovers over it with their mouse. You can choose to do the same if a user highlights a block of text.
Analytics
Sumo gives you detailed analytics for each form, including impressions, views, and submissions.
You also get detailed site analytics, such as page views, average page reading time, and more.
The best part is their heat map analytics. They let you see where users are clicking and scrolling on your site.
Sumo Customer Support
There’s only one option if you want to reach the Sumo customer support team – email.
Once you click the help option in the menu, the website automatically redirects you to your mailbox to send an email.
For resources, Sumo only features a blog and some examples of subscription forms created using the tool.
Overall, Sumo offers relatively poor customer support to users.
Sumo Pricing
Sumo has only two pricing plans i.e. Free and Pro Plan. Notably, the Pro Plan costs $49 per month for monthly subscription, or $39 per month when billed annually.
With the Free Plan, you can automate your email marketing process albeit with limited features
However, the Pro Plan provides you with additional features, such as push notifications, click-trigger popups, no Sumo branding, and autoresponder emails.
Pros & Cons
Sumo Pros
- Free account
- Easy to set up and use
- Detailed analytics
- Integrates with WordPress and Shopify
- Supports personalization
Sumo Cons
- Limited customer support
- Free account isn’t white-label
What Is Mailmunch?
Mailmunch is a platform for lead generation and email marketing. Although it’s workable for individuals and businesses, it’s an ideal platform if you’re a business.
Using the tool, you can collect random leads from people who visit your website, and convert them to returning customers.
Mailmunch lets you do this using forms, pop ups, landing pages, emails, coupons, and spin wheels. You can also generate leads from cart abandonment.
Notably, Mailmunch is a white label tool, which is one major reason why it’s ideal for business. You can brand your emails, forms, pop ups, etc, and none will feature the Mailmunch brand.
You can count on this tool if you need deeper insights into your audience, thanks to the audience segmentation option.
Mailmunch is a premium platform, but as a new user, you can try it for free without risk – you won’t need to enter your payment details.
Mailmunch Features
Mailmunch is a much simpler plugin that focuses only on helping you collect email addresses. It does its job well and is easy to use.
Signup Forms
There are several different signup form types available with Mailmunch. These include:
- A popup form
- A sidebar form
- A topbar form
- An embedded form
- A corner scroll box form, etc.
Each form can be customized. You can choose different colors, wording, fonts, and styles.
You can also set up display rules for each form, such as when or on which pages a popup should appear.
Landing Pages
Mailmunch also lets you set up landing pages. There are a number of themes to choose from.
This is an easy way to set up a WordPress landing page to collect email addresses without having to use a second plugin.
Email Campaigns
Mailmunch lets you set up email campaigns to send broadcasts to your subscribers.
In addition, you can set up an autoresponder email to welcome people who sign up.
Of course, you can also connect Mailmunch to Aweber, GetResponse, or any other popular email service provider.
Customer Support
The primary option for getting support with Mailmunch is the Live Chat. You can initiate a conversation with a support staff and get a reply within a few hours.
Aside from the Live Chat, you can reach the Mailmunch support via phone or email, and you can also submit a contact form. If you’re in the US, you can also visit their office in California.
Mailmunch also offers dependable resources to customers. As a result, you can get self-help using the help center.
It features multiple articles on different subjects, including getting started, installations, forms & popups, landing pages, email marketing, and more.
Mailmunch Pricing
Mailmunch is a premium email marketing solution with a pricing scheme that depends entire on the number of your email contacts.
Take, for instance, its pricing starts at $13.99 per month when billed annually, or $19.99 per month when billed on a monthly basis for 1000 email contacts.
With a subscription, you get access to things like analytics and A/B split testing. In addition, you get access to their library of premium form and landing page templates.
Pros & Cons
Mailmunch Pros
- Relatively affordable pricing
- Reliable analytics
- Premade templates
- Split testing
- Integrates with Shopify
- Intuitive user interface
- Top-notch customer support
Mailmunch Cons
- Limited customization options
- Limited free account
What Is Thrive Leads?
Thrive Leads is a popular email list building tool for WordPress users – and WooCommerce by extension. It’s useful to agencies, coaches, content creators, bloggers, and eCommerce merchants.
In addition to being an email list building tool, ThriveLeads is also a conversion tool. It can help you transform the emails in your list to customers with minimal effort on your part.
Notably, the tool is easy to use thanks to the drag and drop editor. With this editor, you can create and deploy almost any type of design you want.
Thrive Leads is also reliable for targeting. You can ensure you’re reaching the right contacts on your email list by targeting specific categories, tags, and posts.
Furthermore, one of the best things about Thrive Leads is that it integrates with a plethora of third-party email marketing platforms like MailChimp.
Currently, Thrive Lead boasts more than 114,000 users. It’s not a tool you can use for free, so to join the band, you must pay a subscription.
Thrive Leads Features
Thrive Leads is a premium WordPress plugin for users with more advanced needs.
Signup Forms
Thrive Leads has all of the form types that Mailmunch has, as well as additional ones, such as a screen overlay, a lightbox popup, and a footer box.
Form Designs
Thrive Leads has a comprehensive drag-and-drop editing platform that you can use to create your forms. There are dozens of beautiful templates to choose from.
Thrive Leads also lets you create multi-step forms.
Split Testing
You can set up forms with different designs or display rules and see which ones convert better.
Smart Links
One of the best things about Thrive Leads is that you can target specific visitors with specific forms.
For example, if someone already subscribed to your email list and visits your site again, you can have a popup that promotes a coupon code displayed to them.
Analytics
Thrive Leads has detailed analytics for your forms. You can see metrics such as your list growth and your conversion rates over time.
These detailed reports and stats will help you keep track of your goals and improve your performance.
Customer Support
On the Thrive Leads homepage, you can visit the FAQ section to get quick answers to questions you may have.
Notably, Thrive Leads is rich in customer resources. Some of the resources available on the platform include the knowledge base, Thrive Leads university, product tutorials, and guides.
As a Thrive Leads user, you’re automatically part of the sizable community where you can interact with other users.
You can reach the Thrive Leads support team directly using the Live Chat option in the support page. You can also submit a contact form.
In particular, you get the best support from Thrive Leads when you’re logged into your account.
Thrive Leads Pricing
Thrive Leads is not free. It costs $97 for one site.
You can also get Thrive Suite at $299/year which provides you with access to Thrive Lead and their other plugins and themes as well.
Pros & Cons
Thrive Leads Pros
- Modern templates
- Simple to use
- Integrates with third-party platforms
- Different customization options
- A/B test system
- Display rules
Thrive Leads Cons
- Expensive pricing
- No free account
Conclusion – Sumo vs Mailmunch vs Thrive Leads
All three plugins are great for building an email list.
If you are looking for a simple but awesome signup form plugin, go with Mailmunch. If you want more stuff like analytics and social sharing buttons, go with Sumo. They are both free if you only have one site.
Finally, if you have advanced needs and are willing to pay a premium price for a plugin that has better forms, more form types, better targeting options and more tools, go with Thrive Leads.
Tom loves to write on technology, e-commerce & internet marketing. I started my first e-commerce company in college, designing and selling t-shirts for my campus bar crawl using print-on-demand. Having successfully established multiple 6 & 7-figure e-commerce businesses (in women’s fashion and hiking gear), I think I can share a tip or 2 to help you succeed.