Last year, we completely rebuilt our landing page builder to give you total drag-and-drop control over your pages (and even add some completely new page elements). Now, we’re excited to announce that we’ve done the same thing for Leadboxes®—the lightbox opt-in forms you can add to any blog or website to collect leads wherever your audience goes. Check out what’s changed: To celebrate, we’re offering something pretty neat: a brand new virtual workshop from Bob “The Teacher” Jenkins to help you get the most from these new Leadboxes. It’s called "Leadboxes Masterclass: 15 Hidden Places to Grow Your List," and it’s available only at the link below when you purchase any annual Leadpages membership. (If you already have a Leadpages membership, you pre-qualify, and we’ll give you access in your ConvertedU portal when it’s ready.) [cta-box] Considering everything marketers, entrepreneurs, and bloggers have already accomplished with the original Leadboxes, this update makes an already-powerful lead capture tool incredibly powerful.
A 60-Second History of Leadboxes (and Why Thousands of Marketers Rely on Them)
Here’s a standard Leadbox.
Looks simple, but these little pop-ups have been highly effective since we first added them to Leadpages in 2013. (Check out our original Leadbox launch video for some backstory.) Leadboxes allow you to turn any webpage or blog post into a major source of leads by simply using a button, image, or piece of text to trigger a pop-up opt-in form. They’re so effective and so easy to deploy that some of our customers have created hundreds of Leadboxes, gaining opt-ins from literally every page or post they publish. That includes places like …
- Sidebar widgets on your blog
- Your website’s navigation bar
- Inside your blog posts, so you can deliver content upgrades in exchange for an opt-in
- Links in your guest blog posts, so you can collect leads directly from a partner’s website
… and lots more. Why do Leadboxes work so well? They have a few big things going for them:
- The 2-step opt-in process: Back in 2013, we discovered that moving from a 1-step opt-in form embedded directly on a page to a 2-step opt-in form that appears only when someone clicks a button routinely boosted conversion rates by 30%. There’s some psychology behind this. When visitors have to click to see the form, they make a tiny commitment that makes them more likely to keep moving through the process and submit their information.
- The visuals: As time went on, we added two features to Leadboxes after tests revealed they consistently improved opt-in rates. One is the animated progress bar, another psychological motivator that tells visitors they’re within reach of the benefit you promised. The other is a space for an image, which you can use to help visitors visualize what they’re going to get.
- The simplicity: Once you’ve obtained that initial commitment to opt in, you want visitors to complete the form as swiftly as possible. By design, Leadboxes pop your offer into focus while minimizing distractions on the page.
These built-in advantages are so powerful that some of our most successful customers make very few changes to the default Leadbox template.
What’s New with Leadboxes
Even if you want to keep things simple, you should still go ahead and start using the new drag-and-drop Leadboxes builder. We’ve updated the default template with a streamlined modern look and all the integration options you get with the drag-and-drop landing page builder. But if you want to do more with your Leadboxes, you now have endless options. Completely control the design and content of your Leadbox. All the advanced design and layout options you get with drag-and-drop Leadpages now come with Leadboxes, too. Click here to see a Leadbox where I’ve applied some of these new styling options. While you’ll probably want to stick with a streamlined Leadbox in most cases, with this expanded canvas you can also build more complex popup windows. Need to add some extra context to an offer you’re hosting on a timed or exit Leadbox? Want to actually replace a short, single-purpose opt-in page with a Leadbox? Now you have all the room you need. Add countdown timers. Where better to remind people of a deadline than right on your opt-in form? With drag-and-drop Leadboxes, you get all the countdown timer options Leadpages gives you, including evergreen timers and the ability to hide or show sections when the timer runs out. That means that someone who clicks before your deadline runs out could see this …
… while someone who clicks a little too late could see a different offer:
Add videos. What if a brief personal video message could be just the thing to convince someone to opt in? Or maybe you’re using your Leadbox to offer a video course and want to show them a teaser clip. Now you can embed your video right into your Leadbox. Add your own code. Just like the drag-and-drop page builder, the new Leadbox builder offers an HTML widget where you can embed code from other widgets and applications. If you’re using interactive quiz or calculator apps to collect leads, now you can combine those tools with all the benefits of a 2-step opt-in process by embedding the code inside a Leadbox. You can also use the HTML widget to let clients self-book a consultation or other kind of appointment with you. If you use a booking app with an “embed calendar” option, just add it to your Leadbox. Add multiple buttons. You’ve probably seen pop-ups that make you feel a little guilty for opting out with a button reading something like “No, I reject this offer.” If you want to try this tactic in your own marketing, Leadboxes now let you do it. Just drag an extra button below your opt-in form and link it to the same page the Leadbox is on. (You may have noticed that’s what we’ve done with this demo Leadbox.) Add multiple forms. Yep, you can even add two (or more) completely different opt-in forms inside one Leadbox. You could try this for multiple webinar options, multiple mailing lists, or other cases where you have a couple of closely related options for page visitors. Add all the little extras that come with the drag-and-drop page builder. That includes things like bulleted lists, calendar widgets, and a huge gallery of icons, all styled just how you want them. Add your own tracking code. Drag-and-drop Leadboxes have their own tracking and analytics section. That means you could, for instance, add your Facebook pixel and show retargeting ads to anyone who clicked the trigger button but didn’t submit the form. Use Leadboxes to create any kind of lightbox or popup you can imagine. Though they’re designed to capture opt-ins, drag-and-drop Leadboxes don’t have to have an opt-in form at all. We’ve already seen customers reimagine Leadboxes as product-info lightboxes. These popups let visitors take a closer look at different options on a complex page, such as a catalog or service page. Just delete the form and add any kind of content you like.
Add, delete, move, resize, and rearrange your Leadbox elements. You can think of your Leadbox as a mini landing page in this respect. Create sections, move things around, add spacing to change the proportions … All the design features of the drag-and-drop page builder are now available with Leadboxes.
What Will You Do with the New Leadboxes?
We’ve covered a lot here, but it all boils down to one thing: you can now completely control the look, feel, content, and functionality of your Leadboxes. And of course, you still get all the regular features of legacy Leadboxes, plus a couple of upgrades:
- Integrations to send contacts to your email platform, CRM, webinar host, your own inbox, or a CSV file
- Built-in lead magnet delivery to send content upgrades, opt-in bribes, and other bonuses directly to new leads
- The ability to set a thank you page of your choice to move leads to the next step in your funnel, or—for the first time—just keep them on the page they were on
- The ability to publish your Leadbox as a standard 2-step opt-in form (triggered from any button, image, or link), a timed popup (for desktop visitors only), or an exit-intent Leadbox that appears when someone goes to close the page
Every Leadpages plan comes with unlimited drag-and-drop Leadboxes, which you can add to unlimited webpages, blog posts, sidebars, WordPress sites, and any other page you use for your business. And right now, when you start your annual Leadpages membership from the link below, you’ll also get a special bonus: a totally new virtual lead-gen workshop called "Leadboxes Masterclass: 15 Hidden Places to Grow Your List." Click below to get all the details and get started. [cta-box] If you’re already using Leadpages, you can start using the new Leadbox builder right away—just click on the Leadboxes tab in your account. Check out our Support guide for a step-by-step walkthrough. We can’t wait to see your drag-and-drop Leadboxes popping up everywhere. Got any questions about the new Leadboxes? We’ll answer them in the comments.
