Instapage review

A landing page builder with an impressive level of post-ad personalization

Instapage 21:9 Hero
(Image: © Instapage)

TechRadar Verdict

This leading landing page builder not only comes with intuitive design tools but also offers an impressive array of visitor behavior data.

Pros

  • +

    In-depth user behavior reports

  • +

    High levels of personalization

Cons

  • -

    Expensive entry package

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If your business model relies on attracting customers through paid advertising, then having effective landing pages is essential in order to maximize conversions. In this Instapage review, we'll run the rule over one of the leading landing page builders, whose creators claim that it can boost digital ad conversion rates by 400%.

We'll explore the top features behind this bold claim—including sophisticated levels of visitor personalization and multivariate testing—and find out why companies like eBay, Hello Fresh, Vimeo, and Eurosport are among the many already using Instapage.

For an overview of some of Instapage's rivals in an increasingly competitive market, check out our best landing page builders guide.

Instapage pricing

Instapage’s Optimizing package begins at $159 (Image credit: Instapage)

Plans and pricing

Instapage offers two pricing packages depending on your conversion requirements. Its entry-level package is called Optimizing, and can be purchased for a monthly payment of $199, reducing to the equivalent of $159 per month if you pay the full annual cost up front. 

Customers signed up for the Optimizing package will get everything they need to begin building effective landing pages, with headline features such as Instablocks, Heatmaps, A/B Testing, and Conversion Analytics all included. There are also no conversion limits, though there are some restrictions. There’s a limit of 30k unique visitors per month, 30 published landing pages, five workspaces, and five team members.

If you're likely to require more than that, then Instapage's Custom package may be for you. This can come with 1:1 Ad-to-Page Personalization, Real-Time Visual Collaboration, Audit Logs, and AMP Pages. Custom packages are priced bespoke to requirements, and interested parties can request a demo. The Optimizing package also comes with a 14-day trial.

Features

To avoid repeatedly recreating the same content, the Instablocks feature means users can pick from a library of preset design templates, or create new content blocks from scratch. Once you've created one, click Save to My Blocks to archive your content block for unlimited future use on other pages. 

Saving it as a global block will allow you to update hundreds of landing pages in a single click, with your changes reflected on every page where the block is used.

While the sophisticated nature of targeted ads on Google and social media makes it simple for businesses to create highly personalized ads, the post-click experience has not always been so personal, with ads often leading to the same generic landing page. 

AdMap

Instapage’s AdMap feature allows users to tailor post-click landing pages to specific adverts (Image credit: Instapage)

Instapage's personalization solution allows users to create unique landing pages tailored to specific ads, including multiple audience segments that provide unique experiences depending on the demographics of the visitor.

These personalized experiences can all be tested and compared with the main goal of optimizing conversions. Instapage comes with A/B and multivariate testing, with real-time analytics that give an in-depth view of visitor behavior. Its heatmaps are especially useful for tracking mouse movement, clicks, and scroll depth to understand how visitors have interacted with the landing page.

Interface

Instapage’s design elements and segments are clearly displayed (Image credit: Instapage)

Interface and in use

Instapage released version 3.0 in 2020, intending to simplify the user experience and promising a smoother, faster, and smarter interface. The result is a clean, minimalist, and functional focus, with call-to-action (CTA) buttons highlighted in royal blue. 

Designing a page is simple, with all key segments and design elements—such as headline, image, video, form, and button—listed horizontally across the top of the page. 

The tab option to switch seamlessly between desktop and mobile makes it easy to tweak your landing page based on device. The Create an A/B Test button is prominently displayed, allowing you to select which elements to A/B test.

Support

The Help center divides its articles by feature topic (Image credit: Instapage)

Support

Free resources provided to help customers use Instapage are plentiful, with a library of conversion marketing tutorials spread over blog posts, webinars, videos, podcasts, guides, and eBooks. Case studies from the likes of HelloFresh and Eurosport are also helpful to see how others have benefited from Instapages’ features. The 110 examples of landing pages built with Instapage are also great for generating ideas.

For more help and support, Instapage's help center features frequently asked questions, and articles filed by topic (e.g. AdMap, Landing pages, Analytics). If you still have no luck finding what you're after, users can submit a ticket to the support team, available Monday to Friday.

Security

Users can subscribe to Instapage system alerts (Image credit: Instapage)

Security

To be kept fully informed on the live status of all landing pages, Instapage provides a status page. Head here if you appear to be having any problems with your page(s), where you should be able to see any server outages, with past incidents also listed should you note a dip in traffic on a specific day in your analytics. 

To be kept fully abreast of any status or security issues, you can subscribe to receive email updates.

The competition

There is no shortage of rivals to Instapage when it comes to landing page builders, with the likes of Leadpages and Hubspot offering stiff competition. Certainly, those with smaller budgets may be tempted by the alternatives, especially as both come with considerably cheaper starter options (Leadpages’ entry package costs $27 a month, while Hubspot’s costs $45). 

But those with larger budgets will enjoy a higher level of sophistication with Instapage’s detailed post-ad personalization and testing features.

Final verdict

There’s no doubting that Instapage’s monthly subscription may, on first glance, seem a little on the expensive side. But, while its drag-and-drop page builder is intuitive and easy-to-use without requiring developer-level knowledge, where the platform really shows its worth is in the level of analytical detail and reporting available, allowing users to customize pages based on audience demographics and behavior. 

Alexis James

Alexis is a freelance writer and journalist from the north east of England. His love for creative technology stems from the day he was gifted his first ever digital voice recorder (a beloved Olympus WS 110), which brought with it the wonderful realisation that he'd never again have to rely on his iffy shorthand…