We are reviewing Convertbox today. It is a cloud-based opt-in tool that helps businesses get more leads and conversions.

With ConvertBox, you can:

• Engage your audience with more personalized messages
• Create multi-step funnels to segment and convert more visitors
• Utilize form fields and deep integrations to collect lead data
• Use surveys and quizzes for audience segmentation, capture, and conversion
• Etc.

Let’s get started with the review and see what features it has got to offer.

For a quick breakdown refer to the table below .

ConvertBox overview

ConvertBox is a feature-rich opt-in tool that comes with intelligent targeting rules, has the ability to set up multi-step funnels, split testing, conditional branching, etc. Its unique selling proposition is its one-time payment fee.

Do you know who owns ConvertBox?

Back in March 2021, ThriveCart acquired ConvertBox. At that time, after hearing this news, I was pretty sure that the future of ConvertBox is highly secure.

Because, ThriveCart is a top-rated all-in-one digital cart platform in the industry.

And, ConvertBox’s acquisition by ThriveCart unlocks aa new range of possibilities.

Added to this, recently in 2023, ThriveCart raised $35 million in a round led by LTV SaaS Growth Fund. This assures us of its solid backing. You don’t have to worry about its sustainability.

What do we like about ConvertBox ?

• ConvertBox is one of the simplest and most intuitive tools. It is very easy to use and has a very easy learning curve. As a beginner, you can get started with it in no time.
• It supports multi-step funnels. You can create multi-step opt-ins to guide users in product selection, ask questions to collect more data, show relevant pages based on the answers they provide, etc.
• It supports custom form fields. You can create your own fields to collect the data you need from the audience. Later, you can integrate ConvertBox with email marketing tools like MailChimp or ActiveCampaign for segmented messaging and personalized experiences down the funnel.
• It has built-in countdown timers that you can use to run time-sensitive campaigns. You can create a sense of urgency and provoke users to purchase the offer before the deal ends.
• To create highly engaging quizzes and surveys, it has powerful features like –
  • Conditional actions – Based on the buttons/fields/scores users have earned, you can show relevant opt-in steps and pages.
  • Skip logic – Add yes/no rules and show the questions based on the previous answers users have provided.
  • Conditional integrations – Send the leads to lists/tags choosing the integrations you have added.
  • Quiz scoring – Add quiz scores to evaluate the answers and make quizzes fun and interactive.
  • Progress bars – Show the step progress while taking surveys/quizzes with animated bars.
• It has a native split testing feature. You can create as many test variations as you want directly from the editor and see which converts better. Its in-depth split test analytics help you to analyze the campaign results and take action on improvements.
• It has around 15+ intelligent targeting rules you can use to display the right message at the right time. You can target by devices, the time users spend on the site, ESP tags/lists (through its email tools’ integrations), URL parameters (helpful in targeted ad campaigns), referral sources, goals, and much more. Even, you can combine multiple rules with logical AND/OR to make the campaigns powerful.
• Currently ConvertBox is offering a lifetime deal at $495. The pricing is affordable. Just pay once and use it for a lifetime. Unlike other paid subscription tools like OptinMonster, with ConvertBox you can save huge.
• Since it’s a cloud-based platform, you don’t have to worry about it slowing down your website. In contrast, WordPress may experience slowness due to plugin conflicts that could impact its performance.

What we don’t like about ConvertBox ?

• Unlike its competitors like OptinMonster or ConvertPro, ConvertBox provides very few opt-in templates (around 25+). Nevertheless, if you don’t find the relevant one, you need to build from scratch.
• As of now it lacks ready-made campaigns. You need to create the entire campaign from scratch. On the other hand, OptinMonster gives ready-to-use campaigns called playbooks (for things like lead generation campaigns, eBook delivery, offering upsells, etc.) that are created by successful brands which you can clone and use instantly.
• It lacks popup animations and effects . In case you want to display automated popups (with effects) to re-engage inactive visitors, you should add your own custom codes. A bit of coding knowledge is needed for this.
• ConvertBox doesn’t have an Adblock detection feature. If the users are using ad blockers, then you will not be able to show the targeted message to the user. To avoid this, you should use your custom domain with them so that it masks the default ConvertBox URL.

Upfront bottomline

ConvertBox is one of the easiest optin tools best suited for small to medium-sized businesses.

Its multi-step funnels, split testing, intelligent targeting, powerful segmentation, deep integrations, conversion friendly templates, help in lead generation and increase sales conversions.
Whether you are a blogger, marketer, entrepreneur, or digital publisher looking for a dynamic, behavior-based opt-in tool, ConvertBox would be the best choice.
Also, its lifetime pricing is appealing if you want to cut down the cost. Grab the deal at $495.

I’m personally using ConvertBox on this website. I was searching for SaaS-based optin solutions (not WordPress plugins) that are comparable or even better than Optinmonster preferably without a recurring fee.

ConvertBox was the only viable option I came across that comes with advanced features, a one-off price, and solid backing.

Get ConvertBox lifetime deal

ConvertBox opt-in types

With ConvertBox, you can create various types of popups like –

• Sticky bar
• Callout modal
• Center modal
• Full page popup
• Large embed forms
• Small embed forms

For each of these, ConvertBox gives plenty of templates. You can customize them as needed. Even, you can create opt-ins from scratch.

Compared to its competitors like ConvertPro or OptinMonster, the templates that ConvertBox provides are very less (just has around 25+ templates). Also, these templates may look pretty dated depending on your use cases.

Let me explain the opt-ins one by one.

Sticky bar –

You can use this to create notification bars, discount bars, announce special deals, product announcements, etc.

On one of my sales pages, I created a sticky bar popup to offer a coupon on my product that they can apply during checkout.

I can optionally time this sticky bar to pop up right when people are making a purchase decision using the trigger options (like scroll or time trigger).

Callout modals

Visitors see these opt-ins in the right- or left-hand corner of the pages they visit.

You can also use this for creating a live chat box (essential for customer support; helps visitors connect easily to clarify their doubts).

This popup is less distracting for users and easy to get users’ attention.

In the above screenshot, you can see a four-step callout modal. I created this to help users in making their purchasing decision.

Once they select an option, they will be shown the following steps. These are called multi-step opt-in funnels.

For each of the options users select, they will be shown 2 product choices to further make their decision much easy. (Analyse the screenshots, you will get it )

Center modal overlays – This popup displays in the middle of the page as per the triggers you set.

Full page overlays – This popup spreads over a full page. Be sure of the fact that this may distract users if the offer is not so special. Use this only when it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, the rest of the popups are sufficient.

Embed forms:

• You have both small (single-column layout forms designed for narrower areas like headers and footers) and large embed forms (single or split-column layouts designed for large wide areas).
• This can be helpful if you want to display messages inside the web pages and content.
• By default, ConvertBox has 3 display areas; homepage, blog post, and blog sidebar. Apart from these, you can create your own display area.

The best thing is, unlike the normal embed codes, ConvertBox supports dynamic embed codes. This means you can show different opt-ins in the same area depending on the targeting rules you set.

For example – you can create a custom page sidebar area and show different opt-in funnels to visitors based on the conditional rules.

• ConvertBox #1
  • Lead magnet for free training – Targeting new or unknown visitors.
• ConvertBox #2
  • Free trial/demo/discount offer – Targeting visitors who recently subscribed to a lead magnet.
• ConvertBox #3
  • Advanced training course – Targeting visitors on your customer list.

Bottomline: ConvertBox provides a decent number of popups. You can create multi-step optins to drive more conversions. Its dynamic embed forms are a great way to trigger unique pop-ups depending on the user’s behavior.

Triggers and targeting options

Let’s first discuss the triggering options first.

ConvertBox gives several triggers based on which you can show your optins to visitors. These include –

• Time on the page – Display the popup if the user is on the page for a certain duration of time.
• Scrolling the page – You can display the popup if users scroll the page for more than the time you set.
• Period of no activity – Show this if the user is inactive on the page for more than X seconds. This is a really great way to re-engage the user. Interestingly, you can add effects and animations to grab users’ attention and make them active again.
• Page abandonment – You can use this trigger to show the optin if the user attempts to exit the page. If you are into eCommerce, you can offer coupons/discount optins to recover the sales that would have been lost.
• Clicking a link on the page – ConvertBox gives you a unique code that you can add to your link. When a user clicks this link anywhere on your website, this will trigger a popup. Use this popup if you want to display info on any of the products or provide help guides.

You can combine multiple triggers to display the opt-ins.

Next will be discussing the targeting options available.

Targeting options:

You can either show opt-ins to all visitors or target specific visitors by setting up conditional rules like –

• Has visited the page.
• Not visited the page.
• Location includes.
• Location does not include.
• Is logged into WordPress.
• Device type is mobile.
• Device type is desktop.
• Much more (refer to the above screenshots to see all the rules).

Note: The tags and lists related targeting rules will only unlock if you areintegrated with any of the email service providers/CRM tools.

ConvertBox specifically calls them intelligent targeting rules. You can combine one or more rules with Logical AND/OR to make the campaigns more effective.

Here are a few of the scenarios:

• ESP tags –
  1. I can add a tag “Buyers” for all those who have purchased my product. Based on the tag added I can offer different upsells every time users visit the site. For managing the tags, you should integrate with tools like Mailchimp, GetResponse, or ActiveCampaign.
  2. If a user purchases upsell1, you can add a tag as – Purchased_upsell1. Now, you can use a conditional AND trigger – that has the tag “Buyers” AND “Purchased_upsell1”, to show the upsell2.
  3. This way you can avoid showing the same upsell to repeat customers.
• Referring site –
  1. If you are running Facebook Ads or Google Ads to direct traffic for your product landing pages, based on the URL parameters added, you can show unique optins for users. Track their interaction and show them relevant pages/products.

As you can see in the above screenshot, there are 3 conditional targeting rules applied. I have set to show the ConvertBox –

• If the number of sessions is exactly 2 AND if the device type is desktop OR
• If the user is on the GetResponse list cb-my-first-list.

With ConvertBox, you have the flexibility to choose how often you want this ConvertBox to show to each visitor.

This means, you can set the number of times ConvertBox should be displayed per session/day/week.

And finally, you can choose on which posts you need to show this ConvertBox.

Bottomline: ConvertBox has excellent intelligent targeting rules that you can combine using conditional AND/OR logic. With this, you have control over when and how you display your campaigns.

Design and customization features

ConvertBox has a drag-and-drop editor with around 8+ elements available to design the opt-ins (see the above screenshot). There is also a teaser box available that you can use to attract users to interact with your ConvertBox and get their attention. This way you can engage with customers, assist them, and help in getting their job done.

For scarcity marketing, you can add countdown timers. It would be helpful for running special campaigns or offers, say during occasions like Black Friday. You can even schedule the campaigns to run on specific dates and let them run on autopilot.

Let’s discuss multi-step optins.

With ConvertBox you can create multi-step optins that help you gather more information from the users.

I have created a 4-step optin for my roundup post i.e. Kajabi alternatives. This multi-step optin makes the purchase decision much easier for users. For skimmers who need quick answers, this is a conversion booster.

For each of these opt-ins, there are certain button actions available for you to further automate the opt-in tasks.

When a user clicks a button, you can set the following actions –

• Go to the next step.
• Jump to any particular step.
• Redirect to URL.
• Close the ConvertBox.
• Open another ConvertBox.

Along with these, you also have –

• Fire a tracking script – Add a JavaScript code like Google Analytics or Facebook Pixels code that will trigger when a button is clicked.
• Apply custom field name and value – When the button is selected the appropriate fields name and the value will be queued to the next steps.
• Apply quiz score value – You can add a quiz score value to easily segment the audience based on the scores and automate the tasks based on the final score. This type of score-based quiz helps in increasing engagement.
• Stop showing this ConvertBox to the visitor.

Note: To be honest, as of now, ConvertBox has very limited elements and customization features. If you compare this with tools like Elementor, the latter provides a huge set of beautifully designed templates. Also, it provides more triggers and targeting options. If you are already using Elementor to design your website and landing pages, you don’t have to invest in ConvertBox. In addition, if you are concerned about WordPress slowness or plugin conflicts, you can consider ConvertBox (if you require a cloud-hosted solution).

Split testing:

ConvertBox has a native split testing feature. You can create test variations right inside the builder. You have two types – cookied and the regular split test.

• The cookied split test shows each of the test variations randomly to the visitors. But each of them only ever sees one variation.
• While the regular split test also displays the variations randomly but each visitor may be shown more than one of your variations.

Bottomline: ConvertBox has a pretty decent popup builder with limited customization options. For more flexibility, you can use custom HTML scripts. If you need more design options and control over the popups, you can consider tools like Elementor as well (you will get both page builder and popup builder).

Reports and analytics

ConvertBox allows you to connect multiple domains (or websites) to it. For each of the opt-ins, it gives various metrics like –

• Views
• Interactions
• Interaction rate
• Leads
• Lead conversions

You can analyze the stats over a week/month/over any custom time period.

The best thing is, ConvertBox gives stats for each of the button elements as well. This helps you analyze how many clicks and conversions it is driving you.

Split test analytics:

For each of the split test variations, ConvertBox gives metrics like – views, interactions, interaction rate, leads, and lead conversions. You can analyze the graph to see the optin performance on each of the days.

Integrations

ConvertBox provides native integration with over 15+ tools and services. You can integrate with email service providers like MailerLite, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, Sendinblue, etc. to unlock more possibilities with tags, lists, and segmentation.

ConvertBox sends all these data to the email service provider.

• firstName – Contact’s first name.
• lastName – Contact’s last name (if provided).
• email – Contact’s email address.
• phone – Contact’s phone number (if provided).
• website – Contact’s website URL (if provided).
• convertbox_campaign_name – Name of the campaign submitted.
• convertbox_box_name – Name of the ConvertBox submitted.
• convertbox_box_id – ID of the ConvertBox submitted.

If you conduct webinars, you can use its integration with Demio to automate webinar-related tasks. You can add tags for webinar attendees, send an eBook or resources for those lists, segment them based on their journey or engagement, and much more.

If you are using Encharge for marketing automation, ConvertBox natively integrates with this as well.

• To send the lead data, ConvertBox creates an event named “ConvertBox Form Submission”.
• To further automate the tasks, you can use the event trigger + “ConvertBox Form Submission” as the event name.

To track user behavior and analyze in-depth stats, I recommend you integrate ConvertBox with Google Analytics.

ConvertBox also supports webhook integration. With this, you can create an event to pass the data to an app or any custom integration. You can go through this link to learn more about this.

ConvertBox and WordPress integration:

To integrate ConvertBox with your WordPress website, you can either install the ConvertBox plugin or just directly use the embed codes to display the opt-ins.

Bottomline: ConvertBox provides a good number of native integrations. Its integration with ESPs, automation tools, webinar tools, etc. helps in managing your online business smoothly. Along with these, you can also use Zapier and Webhooks integration to unlock more opportunities.

ConvertBox pricing

ConvertBox, as of now, has only one pricing plan i.e. the lifetime deal.

• It costs $495/one-time. It supports up to 10 websites, 250,000 views/month, unlimited opt-ins, etc.
• If you need access to more views, and more site usage, I suggest you go with the Pro plan that costs an additional $95, i.e. $590/lifetime.

ConvertBox and its alternatives

ConvertBox vs ConvertPro

ConvertPro is one of the best plugins available for WordPress. It is a product by Brainstorm Force, the team behind popular plugins like Astra, Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg, Ultimate Addons for Elementor, Schema Pro, etc.

If you compare ConvertBox with ConvertPro, the latter provides more optin templates (ConvertPro has around 50+ templates while ConvertBox has 25+). Also, the templates are beautiful and conversion friendly. On the other side, ConvertBox’s templates feel quite outdated and dull.

Are you thinking about whether ConvertPro slows down your site?

In short, the answer is no.

It was built considering performance in mind. Also, the team has said that its modular architecture avoids unnecessary loading of modules.

But note that the performance also depends on the plugins you use on the backend. Unless you are on a fast server with good RAM, it may slow down.

If you have an agency and need unlimited site usage, I suggest you go with ConvertPro. Its lifetime deal costs $399/lifetime/unlimited websites. While ConvertBox costs $499/lifetime/10 websites.

ConvertBox vs OptinMonster

Compared to ConvertBox, OptinMonster is feature rich and more powerful. It provides really good templates that look highly professional. It has unique gamified wheel popups, animated popups & effects, advanced traffic redirection, playbooks (ready-made campaigns that you can clone and customize), HTML & JavaScript triggers, ad block detection, and much more.

Notable features in OptinMonster –

• It has a Trulead feature that helps you filter out all bad emails, spam, and temporary email addresses. This helps in improving email deliverability.
• It has real-time behavior automation that tracks users’ behavior. Based on how users interact, you can display the right popups/pages/offers, increasing conversions.
• Smart tags combined with dynamic text replacement – This gives you more control over the personalization. You can use merge tags in the campaigns to display the content dynamically based on visitors’ interests.

ConvertBox vs Thrive Leads

Thrive Leads is also a WordPress plugin that comes as a part of Thrive Suite. If you are using this plugin, you need to be aware of the fact that it doesn’t come with a builder to design the landing pages or opt-ins. So, you have to use Thrive Architect (if you have bought Thrive Membership) or any of the page builders like Elementor or Leadpages.

Unlike ConvertBox, Thrive Leads has some interesting features like –

• Signup segue – to create one-click signup links.
• Supports lazy load – opt-in form is only loaded as and when required.
• Has built-in asset delivery for lead magnets.

You can buy Thrive Leads either as an individual plugin at $199/year or with the entire Thrive Suite which costs $599/year. If you purchase an entire suite, you will get access to Thrive Architect.

FAQs on ConvertBox

Wrap up

ConvertBox is the best tool you can use to build your email list. Whether you are a blogger, marketer, business owner, eCommerce store owner, or digital publisher, ConvertBox gives excellent features to bring in more leads and traffic.

Its –

• Intelligent targeting rules help you display the right message to the right people at the right time.
• Its multi-step funnels with powerful segmentation help you create campaigns that are relevant to the target audience.
• Its native split testing helps you try out different variations and see which converts you the best.
• It has a good number of native integrations unlocking more opportunities. Even you can integrate with Webhooks to further create events based on your automation requirements.
• Its lifetime deal is lucrative and saves money in the long run.

ConvertBox is the only tool that’s as advanced as OptinMonster and comes at a one-off fee.

I hope you found this ConvertBox review helpful.