VPNmentor, started in 2014, has now become one of the biggest names in the VPN industry and they’ve got a pretty impressive story to tell. They provide some of the best security and performance in the business, and they’re one of the few companies that can actually keep your data safe from prying eyes.

Although the company started in 2014 but they bought the Domain on 2015-11-23.

Recently VPN mentor’s parent firm Webselense was acquired by Kape Technologies which also owns CyberGhost, ZenMate, ExpressVPN, Private Internet Acess, and Intego.

In this case study, we’re going to take a look at how they came to be one of the most popular VPN providers out there.

Main Obstacle They Faced – “Paralysis Analysis“

The team at vpnMentor saw that a lot of people were visiting their site but the conversion remained quite low.

They realized that they were facing the “paralysis analysis” phenomenon. This is when people tend to overthink their decision and get frozen in inaction.

After a little brainstorming, they understood that it was because their target audience was worried about making the wrong decision as they provided them with too many options.

Even though they kept the price low still people could not make the decision to buy as they were swamped by the number of choices.

Which Strategy Helped Them The Most To Solve This Problem?

Optimonk’s Service

After realizing that they need to cut down on the number of choices, they went ahead and hired Optimonk.

This service helped vpnMentor to create popups that would prompt the user to take action.

The message on these popups and bars was constructed in a way that would ease the anxiety of the users and help them make a decision. The message on the popup was direct and to the point.

It also had a strong call to action that helped increase its conversion rate.

Limited Time Discount strategy

In the popup, they offered 70% discount off their regular price which helped them trigger people’s emotions and get them to take action.

The strategy of using a limited-time offer is a great way to increase conversions as it creates a sense of urgency in the minds of the users.

It also helps people who are on the fence about making a purchase to finally take the plunge.

Changes They Made –

Old design 2016

Latest Design – 2022

As you can see one of the biggest changes they made was in their UI and UX design. This really helped them simplify the user’s journey and make it easier for them to convert.

They also cut down on the number of choices that the users had to make which helped increase their conversion rate by 7%.

Change In Banner

Here, you can see that the first word they decided to use is “WAIT”. This helped them to get the user’s attention and keep them on their site which results in a higher engagement rate.

Without wasting any time they directly got to the point and told about the 70% off which is a great way to create urgency.

They also used the word “NOW” which again helps in further increasing the urgency.

Furthermore, they also placed a CTA, showing the users where to click for availing of the discount.

This was a very simple yet effective change made by VPNmentor which resulted in a significant increase in their conversion rate.

Popup Strategy –

Another strategy they used was to create a popup that would be triggered when the user tried to leave the site.

They made sure that the pop-up was shown only to the people who spent at least 3 seconds or more on any of their pages as they didn’t want the popup to appear just as the user enters the site because that would be very intrusive and annoying.

They also made sure that the popup did not disturb the user experience and for that, they set the frequency of popup to 1 hour and limited it to appear for a maximum number of 2 times per visitor.

They decided to use Optimonk’s “visitors browsing one of these pages” feature to target every page except their blogs.

The strategy of using an exit-intent popup is a great way to increase conversions as it helps to capture the attention of people who are about to leave the site.

SEO Strategies They Used

Detailed Content

They started posting detailed reviews of their products and also pitched their user in the article by telling them about their latest offers and limited-time discount deals, this helped their visitors in making an informed decision about which they felt confident and were willing to pay.

Moreover, they also started a blog section on their site which further helped them in providing detailed information about their products to their users and attracting new ones by giving them fresh content to read on a regular basis.

Using keywords in Headings and & content

Headings are one of the most important aspects of SEO-friendly content. Not only do they help break up your content and make it more readable, but they also give you an opportunity to insert your target keywords and help your article rank higher in search engines.

The team at vpnMentor optimized their articles in a very SEO-friendly way. They made sure to use the target keywords in headings (H1, H2, sometimes even in H3) and content alike. This helped them rank their content on the first page of google which eventually brought more traffic to their website which eventually increased their conversion rates.

Take a look at an example. In this article, the target keyword is “best VPNs in 2022”. You can see how they used it in the title (H1), subheadings (H2), and throughout the content itself.

Of course, you don’t want to stuff your keywords in there just for the sake of SEO. That will not only make your content look bad but it will also get you penalized by Google. Use keywords thoughtfully and sparingly.

Optimizing Meta title & Description

They also worked on their meta titles and descriptions and made sure that they were keyword rich and accurately described the products they were selling so that people searching for those keywords could easily find them. This helped them in getting more traffic from organic searches which boosted their sales significantly.

High authority backlinks

The team at vpnMentor started building high-quality backlinks from authority sites in their niche which helped them in ranking higher on search engines and also increased the trustworthiness of their site in the eyes of their users. With the increased visibility and trust, they saw a significant increase in the number of users visiting their site and also the conversion rate.

Anchor Text

Anchor texts are the texts that are used to link one page to another and they play a very important role in SEO. They paid attention to their anchor text and made sure that it was relevant to the target keyword so that people searching for that keyword could easily find their site.

This simple but effective SEO strategy helped them in getting more traffic from organic searches.

Let’s Talk About The Results – 

All these strategies together help them achieve 240% increased sales in the US and 570% in susceptible markets like India and Eastern Europe

Their conversion rate increased by 8% and within a month of launching these campaigns, they had 5,347 impressions. Out of 5,347 impressions, they had a total of 604 visitors who clicked on the CTA meaning they had a conversion rate of 11% which is way higher than the industry average.

The main reason for the success of this campaign was that they were able to ease the anxiety of their target audience by providing them with fewer options and a strong CTA.

They were also able to create a sense of urgency by using the limited-time offer which helped push people over the edge and get them to make a purchase.

All these changes together resulted in a massive increase in vpnMentor’s conversion rate which helped them achieve their goal.

Latest Stats & Insights. 

As you can see in this latest Aherfs insight for vpnMentor, they have more than 529K organic keywords which rank on google and bring them organic traffic of 1.5 million visitors whose value accounts for 537 thousand US dollars! It all was possible because of the strategies they used.

Growth of VPNMentor

All-time growth Chart of VPN Mentor

1-year growth Chart

30 Days Growth chart

As you can see from these charts, VPNMentor has shown steady and impressive growth over the past year. This all was possible only because of the strategies that they decided to use and the necessary SEO changes they made to ensure their website ranked higher in search engines. 

Where They Got Mentioned

vpnMentor was mentioned  in some of the most popular and well-respected publications in the world, including:

• The New York Times
• BBC
• Forbes
• EL PAÍS
• Le Monde
• Der Spiegel

These are some of the places where vpnMentor has been featured. This kind of exposure has helped them to grow their brand, build trust with potential customers, and attract new website visitors.

Summary

SEO Played a big role in its success

The most important thing which helped them was SEO, they optimized the right keywords!

They used the right keywords in their title, description, and blog post which helped them rank higher in the search engine.

The discounts strategy grabbed a lot of attention. 

The second most important thing was creating a sense of urgency by using the limited-time discount offer strategy which helped push people over the edge and get them to make a purchase.

Using Optimonk their sale got increased 

Optimonk’s popup service helped them to grab their visitor’s attention even when they were trying to leave the page. They used their service in such a way that their intention was fulfilled without hindering the experience of their visitors. Optimonk made it possible for them to interact with their visitors in a way that was advantageous for both parties.

Abandoned users got re-engaged 

All this was a great success! Thanks to vpnMentors innovative strategy, they were able to bring their abandoned users back and get them interested in their product once again. This goes to show that even if users seem inactive, there’s always a chance to bring them back and get them interested in your product.

They made a lot of sales

Finally, the most important thing, they generated a lot of sales! Thanks to their strategy, they were able to achieve 240% increased sales in the US and 570% in super sensitive markets like India and Eastern Europe.

What We Can Learn From Them

Less is more –

sometimes, offering too many options can actually hinder conversions. If you’re facing a similar problem, try reducing the number of choices that your users have to make.

Think about the user’s journey –

make it easy for them to understand what you’re offering and why they should buy from you. A good design can go a long way in achieving this.

Create a sense of urgency –

using a limited-time offer is a great way to increase conversions as it creates a sense of urgency in the minds of the users.

These are just a few things that we can learn from vpnMentor’s story. If you’re looking to improve your conversion rate, try implementing some of these strategies and see how they work for you.