OptiMonk was started in 2014, so they’re the new kid on the block. Their website claims they made their product out of necessity. This seems a bit far-fetched considering how many other popup applications there are. This is the guy that founded the company.
Loot at that smile! He must make a pretty good product.
Let’s find out:
OptiMonk Pricing
OptiMonk is a little bit too expensive. Here, have a look for yourself:
This kind of add on shouldn’t price smaller websites out of the market, but that is exactly what OptiMonk does here. There are a number of other optin programs that will be much cheaper, and will honestly provide you with much better services.
OptiMonk also has an Enterprise plan for anyone who needs more than 1,000,000 visits per month. The represenative I talked to claimed that Enterprise costs about an additional $5 for every 10,000 unique visitors. This is really only a concern if you’re part of the internet big-time.
OptiMonk Design
There are not a lot of templates to choose from in OptiMonk. They have a few different ones that should meet most needs, and the small number of templates would suggest that they expect users to customize the optins themselves.
This is not so. As you can see there are very few things you can edit. The only changes you can make are cosmetic, the layout and font are already set. You would think that $29/month would get you a bit more customization, but apparently OptiMonk follows a “one size fits none” approach. The baffling lack of customization renders this app almost completely useless.
OptiMonk Frontend Features
The popups are pretty bland, but the lack of customization makes them neat and easy to navigate. There is no danger of any of your customers getting confused. You can even set the opacity of the background color so your visitors have nothing to focus on but your popup.
That said, I don’t recommend it. The result is pretty frightening, especially if you choose a garish shade of pink. The above screenshot really highlights why OptiMonk is so frusterating. These are the most drastic design changes that I could create from this template, and it still bears a striking similarity to it.
They also offer a floating bar optin that scrolls with your visitors. It is quite rudimentary, but I suppose that it would also be a bit frightening if it was garishly designed. They also offer exit-intent, but it does not work quite as well as some of their competitors. It works most of the time, but I was able to trick it from time to time.
OptiMonk Backend Features
The backend works really well. This was initially surprising, but upon reflection it makes sense that an app with so few features would work pretty well. There are a lot fewer things that can go wrong.
The dashboard give you a basic overview of all of your optins, with some useful statistics. Sadly, my conversion rate was a little low. Apparently, it’s pretty hard to get popups onto Google. Who knew?
Anyway, the backend is quite user friendly. Navigating it was but the work of a moment, and I could easily see important information like account settings or statistics were just a click away.
OptiMonk Reports & Statistics
OptiMonk understands the importance of a good statistics page. Their reports section has a number of useful data and graphs that will help you to sharpen the spear that is your popup attack.
They do have a good A/B testing system, as you can see at the top of the page. You can add many varients of the same popup, so that you can choose the best one to be a full-time resident of your website. Bonus points for the live chat that appears down at the bottom.
The statistics themselves are super useful. OptiMonk gives you lots of pretty graphs, which I personally set a great store by. Seeing your data laid out graphically can really help to visualize what actions you need to take.
OptiMonk Flexibility
If you are looking for a popup application that can adapt to many different situations, OptiMonk is not it. The flexibility of their platform is laughable.
Their templates are not capable of any meaningful customization, and they are all geared towards rather basic popup uses. There is nothing to suggest that they are capable of anything more than basic couponing and email capturing. There are just too few to make OptiMonk really able to compete with other popup applications.
OptiMonk Extensibility
OptiMonk has a number of integrations.
Apps that work with OptiMonk:
AWebber
BigCommerse
CampaignMonitor
Dotmailer
Drupal
GetResponse
HubSpot
InfusionSoft
Joomla
Magento
MailChimp
PrestaShop
Shopify
VerticalResponse
Volusion
Webhook
WordPress plugin
iContact
I will freely admit, OptiMonk is no slouch when it comes to integrations. They have a fair few. Just look at that list! They shine when it comes to integrations with eCommerce apps.
OptiMonk Support
This is the one section where OptiMonk shines. They are really, really good at support. Their self-help section is detailed and varied. You can find the answers to most questions within its comforting embrace. They also have live chat and a dedicated phone support line. Very nice. Both of these are quite responsive.
They also have an option to schedule a session, ostensibly to get you up to speed, with one of their account managers. The account managers seem pretty involved. They list their emails on the website, and also have some friendly pictures to put you at your ease.
Conclusion
Despite the stellar customer support, don’t waste your time with OptiMonk. It is well made, but the lack of templates or any real design options cripples the app. They do have a great interface and reports section, but the important part is the popups. All the other features are secondary.
OptiMonk charges too much for an inferior product. They try to cover it up with a bunch of well done features that enhance your customer experience, but that is not as important as providing a good service for your visitors.
