Did you know? Almost 90% of visitors ditch your website without taking any meaningful action. Such a high bounce rate means your visitor-to-lead conversion ratio is poor, even if you get a lot of traffic.
This can drive down your sale & impact your business. So how to improve your lead generation mechanism? How to ensure your visitors don’t leave without taking any action? Well, that’s where Hello Bar comes into play.
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Hello Bar – boosting sales and sign-ups
A WordPress plugin can increase page views and engagement with an unlimited number of pop-ups, subscribers, and A/B tests. It provides premium-level support with design features and integrations and 100 pre-built themes for the same.
The Hello Bar developers claim it is one of the best Notification Bar tools in the market. But how good is it, really? Is it even worth your money? I will answer all your questions in this hands-on Hello Bar Review. So, let’s get started.
On this page
What is the Hello Bar tool?
Hello Bar is a San Diego-based website service developed by Mike Kamo & Neil Patel in 2011. The core idea behind this tool was to help websites generate more leads by adopting various strategies. Hello Bar was conceived as a notification bar that sits on a website & encourages your visitors to take some action.
What can you do with Hello Bar?
Although marketed as a notification bar tool for lead generation, it evolved over time & now it has become much more than your standard notification bar tool. You can use it to create pop-ups, and slide-ins, promote offers, get social engagement, grow your email list, drive calls & full-page takeovers too.
Now let’s understand how to use Hello Bar.
How to use Hello Bar on your website?
Hello Bar is designed to be very simple, user-friendly & easy to use. Here is the step-by-step guide on how to use Hello Bar. Let’s dive in.
Step 1: Create an account
Hello Bar is a freemium tool. So you can create an account here & choose a free plan for testing or begin with. It won’t take more than 5 minutes to create your free account on Hello Bar. Once the account is ready & you log in, you will be greeted with a clean & simple dashboard, as shown below.
As you can see here, the menu has multiple options, including “Install,” “Manage,” & “Targeting.” We will take a look at these options later in this Hello Bar Review.
Step2: Create a New Pop-up
Our primary goal is to create a lead-generating pop-up. So scroll down & click on the “Create New Popup” button. Once you click, you will be redirected to the page shown below.
Here, you can choose your end goal for creating a pop-up. You can select from “Get Phone Calls,” “Grow email list,” “Target a URL,” or whatever your goal is.
I chose “Target a URL” to drive more traffic to my certain blog.
Step 3: Choose the type of Pop-up
Once you click to select your goal, Hello Bar offers you multiple pop-up options. I was amazed by the pop-up variety these guys provide. Pop-up modal, Slider, Hello Bar, Push notification, Alert Bell, or Page Takeover- they have it!
I decided to choose their standard “Hello Bar.”
Step 4: Customize your notification Bar
Once you choose your notification type, you will be redirected to the Notification Design section. As shown in the image, there are multiple customization options on the left.
You can choose between simple text or designer fonts; you can alter the colour of the bar, add the URL that you want to target, add & customize CTA (Call To Action) button and add Count Down Timer too!
Once you are done with customization, you can preview how your bar will look on multiple devices like computers, tablets & Mobile Phones.
Step 5: Click on “Publish Now”
Now, you will be redirected to the “Manage” section. Here you can manage who should see your notification bar. Some predetermined options are “Mobile Visitors” or “Everyone.” I liked this feature as sometimes, you want to target traffic from a certain device.
Step 6: Install WP plugin, Snippet, or Code
Your pop-up is ready but to display it on your website, you will have to add Hello Bar to your website. Here is how you can add Hello Bar to your website, based on the type of website.
WordPress Website: If you are using WordPress Website, it’s very easy to install the Hello Bar plugin. Visit your website’s WP dashboard > Navigate to Plugin > Click on Add New> Search for “Hello Bar” > Install & Activate it.
Custom Website: If you can code & are using a custom website, just copy-paste the code that Hello Bar offers, as shown in the image below.
Wix Website: If you are using a WIX website, all you have to do is Copy your ID > Go to Wix account > Open Promote > Marketing Integration > click on the “Hello Bar” widget > click on “Go for it.”
You are all set to transform your website into a lead-churning monster!
Did you notice how simple it is to use the Hello Bar tool? Even I was surprised by how flawlessly this fundamental tool works. It offers a lot of customization. It’s easy to use & the best part is, it’s freemium.
Now let’s look at some of the best features that differentiate Hello Bar.
What are some of the best Hello Bar features?
Hello Bar is loaded with a lot of powerful features. Here is a list of some of the best I came across during my Hello Bar Review.
Impeccable Targeting
This is something I liked during my Hello Bar review. It allows you to choose whom you want to show your notification bar. This feature can be very helpful in enhancing the Visitor Experience & boosting your conversion rates.
An interactive notification bar personalized based on certain criteria will give users a feeling of human touch. This can directly impact your lead generation ratio positively.
Timely Targeting
Visitors often tend to leave a website without taking any meaningful action. That’s the reason why a lot of websites don’t generate many leads. But with Hello Bar’s Exit Intent Technology, you can target your visitors at the right time.
You can display the pop-up right when the visitor is about to leave your website. This can significantly boost your conversion by up to 40%.
Split Testing
It’s always good to keep testing multiple strategies for lead generation. Hello Bar team understands this & they offer the facility of Split testing or A/B testing to the subscribers.
Using this feature, you can test different designs & pop-ups on a single website & compare their conversion rates. This will help you understand which strategy works better & which one you should ditch. You save a lot of time & effort too.
Social Media Promotions
Who can say no to some good old Social Media Promotions!? So Hello Bar comes with multiple Social Media Channels to help you promote your website. This can significantly boost your traffic & increase your conversion rate. You can encourage your website on platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn.
Seamless Data Collection
This is something that I liked the most about Hello Bar. You get all your leads through tools like AWeber, Campaign Monitor, or MailChimp. It’s very helpful as you can access all the details from a single place & connect with them.
This takes off a lot of load from your marketing team’s shoulders.
Ease of use
As I already mentioned, Hello Bar is very easy to use, even for beginners. Its design is very simple, clean & clutter-free. Users can access each feature from the Dashboard itself, and navigation is flawless. It has everything that you would want from a great Notification Bar tool.
What is the Pricing Structure?
Hello Bar is a freemium tool. So if you are here just to test the tool or want to dip your toes before entering the pool, you can begin with the free plan. It offers many useful features like Notification Bar creation, customization & management.
But if you want to access all the features & unleash the true potential of Hello Bar, you will have to upgrade to paid plans.
It offers 3 paid plans viz.
- Elite Plan: $99/month (500,000 views/month)
- Premium Plan: $49/month (150,000 views/month)
- Growth Plan: $29/month (50,000 views/month)
Note: With the free plan, you can manage 5,000 views/month.
You can check out the detailed pricing & features of each plan here.
How is Hello Bar Customer Support?
When it comes to Customer Support, Hello Bar is on par with other similar tools. In fact, it’s better in the sense it offers multi-channel support.
In case of urgent queries, you can reach out to them via their email id. In all other cases, you can chat with their support staff. You can also fill up a contact form with your queries & submit it. They will reach out to you quickly with the best solution.
During my Hello Bar review, I experienced that their support staff is quite sound & very helpful. So 9/10 for Customer Support!
Who should use Hello Bar?
Hello Bar is designed for website owners, digital marketers, eCommerce website owners, bloggers, or marketing professionals. It is very simple & easy, so even a beginner can use it. And it’s equally useful for professionals too.
This tool can significantly bump up your lead generation & can help you boost your sales.
Hello Bar Pros & Cons
Like every other tool in the market, Hello Bar has some pros & cons. Here are some primary ones that I found during my Hello Bar Review.
Pros:
- Installation & getting started is super easy
- There are a load of templates for your pop-up forms
- It offers a fully scalable plan
- UI looks stunning & easy to use
- Free plan available
Cons:
- It’s a bit expensive for Small Businesses
- There is no on-call support
- Too many features can overwhelm the beginners
My final verdict: Is Hello Bar worth your money?
Look, Hello Bar is loaded with the features that very few competitors offer. The best part is, it is one of the oldest tools of a kind & is in the market even after 11 years. That speaks volumes about its usefulness. There is no doubt that it can boost your lead generation.
But for some small enterprises, the pricing can be a bit discouraging. Other than that, this is a great tool to have. I strongly recommend giving it a try for its free plan.
What are Hello Bar Alternatives?
Even after this whole Hello Bar review, if you want to explore Hello Bar alternatives, here is the list:
- Foobar
- Sumo Smart Bar
- Smartlook
- FireBar
- User Testing
- BugmeBar
- Smartlook
Hello Bar Review: Parting Remarks
I hope you find this Hello Bar Review useful. If you want a review on any other tool, you can let me know in the comment section. I will try & come with that too.
Till then, happy reading!
FAQs
Is Hello Bar a free tool?
No, it’s a freemium tool. That means you can use its free plan & it offers additional features with paid plans.
What does Hello Bar do?
Hello Bar is an additional marketing layer on your website. It encourages your visitors to take some action with timely & interactive pop-ups.
Can I use Hello Bar on a WordPress site?
You can use Hello Bar on a WordPress, Wix, or custom website.
Hello Bar review: Is this tool really what it claims to be?
Are you looking for the best notification bar tool for your website? Check out this detailed Hello Bar review.
4.5
Pros
- Installation and getting started is super easy
- There are a load of templates for your pop-up forms
- It offers a fully scalable plan
- UI looks stunning and easy to use
- Free plan available
Cons
- It’s expensive for Small Businesses
- There is no on-call support
- Too many features can overwhelm the beginners