Thrive Comments Review 2021 – Turn Comments into Lead Conversions

Comment section of your blog is the most important yet the most ignored element in blogging. Whether you write lengthy, informative, and useful content; none of that matters until there’s a user feedback. Today, I will be reviewing a premium comment plugin that will transform your comment section into a platform to generate leads, views, and what not. Here’s Thrive Comments review for you guys!

There’s a reason why WordPress has placed the comment section below each post and page. I have seen a lot of bloggers removing the comments section to avoid comment spam. A few others bundle up various content syndication plugins, ads, or a bunch of related posts that many readers aren’t able to see the comments section on the blog.

Well, by ignoring comments section, you are most probably missing out on the valuable user-generated content to your blog as well as the quality engagement for each post. While we target participation through social media channels, we often forget that the blog section itself can be a great engagement platform if used wisely.

Let’s see whether Thrive Comments can help your improve engagement on your blog posts.

Thrive Comments Review

What is Thrive Comments?

Thrive Comments is a dedicated plugin for the default comment system on WordPress. Thrive Themes, known for its vast array of premium themes and other premium WordPress tools including Thrive Architect, Thrive Leads, has also developed Thrive Comments.

The very reason why I mentioned Thrive Leads here is to help you understand the importance of Thrive Comments on your blog. The whole idea behind creating Thrive Themes was to reward WordPress users an all-in-one solution to generate leads or sales. The team behind Thrive Themes have, for that reason, developed all the themes and tools to offer a conversion-driven website.

Thrive Comments is no different. It offers two necessary solutions that every comment system requires.

Solution #1: Encourage readers to post comments and engage with the author and interact with other readers via comments.

Solution #2: Add post-comment actions to drive leads or conversions. It can be directing them on favorite or related posts or a thank you page with CTA channels for a social share, newsletter signups, exclusive offers, etc.

The creators of Thrive Comments have taken the user behavior patterns into consideration and integrated elements such as upvotes, featured comments, badges, etc. to reward the readers for their loyalty.

That’s what works on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Thrive Comments adds the similar flavor by transforming the default comment system on WordPress.

Regular Comments Vs Thrive Comments

#Features & Benefits of Thrive Comments

The best part about Thrive Comments is the array of things this plugin lets you do with your default comment system. Once installed, you can quickly change your existing comment panel and make it ready to generate leads or boost more traffic to your blog.

Here are some of the exciting features and benefits of Thrive Comments:

1. Helps Build a Community

Thrive Comments is designed to drive engagement and consistent engagement on a platform is the key to build a community. Comments on your blog are a sure shot sign that articles interest your readers and they are engaging with you. The engagement can be for multiple reasons. Either they like the article and wish to know more or they have a different opinion and wish to discuss the same.

Whether criticism or praise, it’s a conversation and that’s beneficial to the blog. Thrive Comments also integrates social media into the system by allowing users to login via social media letting them comment seamlessly.

2. Better Comment Moderation

Comment moderation can be hectic for a blog that receives hundreds of comment each post. The work load spikes up even more if it’s a multi-author blog. Most readers comment on a blog to gain links to their own websites. Most of them just spam in the comments section with irrelevant comments and embedded text links within them.

Well, you can easily disable the “Website URL” field on your default WordPress commenting system with a simple click on Thrive Comments.

To ease up a load of moderating the comments, you can also allow the site users to directly interact with the comments besides the administrator. You can also add a list of keywords that you want to link when a moderator uses them in the replies.

The sorting feature also helps the moderators to find the comments for their posts, comments pending a reply, or comments on a single post or page. If an administrator or editor is moderating the comments, they can assign specific comments addressed to the authors for relevant action.

3. Page Speed Optimization

Thrive Comments does a brilliant job with the lazy load option which if enabled will load the comments area only when the user scrolls down. The post will open usually, but the comments section will load only when the user has reached the end of the post. It helps the page to load faster and utilizes the server resources well.

If your blog receives plenty of comments on a single post, then you can set your blog to display only a few comments per post. Load the next set of comments just when the user clicks “Load More” comments button. It will again help improve the page speed of the website.

In addition to that, there is an option to load the avatar images only when the user reaches the specific comment. No unnecessary HTTP calls unless necessary.

4. Comments Date

An interesting feature offered by Thrive Comments is the option to customize the timestamp for each comment. You can either choose the default fixed dates or go for the relative time as per your preferences.

You also get the option to hide comments date if required.

#Take Engagements Beyond Comments

You must know that the commenting section on a blog is merely a channel to add feedback, suggestion, or reaction to the particular article or post. There’s nothing else you can do once a user posts a comment on a particular blog post.

Well, not anymore!

You can take the engagements on your articles further even after posting the comment. That’s what makes Thrive Comments unique for WordPress users. With this conversion optimized commenting system, you can do wonders with your user engagement.

Here are some of the few actions that can take your user engagement beyond the comments:

1. Add Surveys

Once the users post a comment, you can redirect them to a landing page with a survey form. It can simply be a feedback form about your blog or something that can add value to your readers in the future. You can also invite a brand to host a survey on your blog and get a good load of response from your readers.

Remember, if a user is taking time to read the content and comment on the post, then they will most probably respond to the surveys. The saying, “Hit the iron when it’s hot” applies here the best.

2. Related Posts Feature

If you are not interested in a feedback from your readers, you can always take them to a page that displays related or relevant posts. It’s very logical that the users will be interested in knowing more about a specific topic that they just finished reading.

Shower them with a featured list of articles or related posts when they hit the “Submit” button. Taking the users to a page with relevant posts will also reduce the bounce rate of the blog and eventually boost rankings in Google.

3. Boost Affiliate Sales

You can also leverage your comments section to make some money through affiliate sales. Just contact a relevant product or service brand within your niche and show them the number of readers and comments you receive. It may be overall comments or comments to a particular post.

Ask them to create an exclusive coupon code for your readers and offer this coupon code to every reader who has successfully commented on your blog. If it’s an exciting service or product, the reader is likely to go for it, and your affiliate sales will pick up instantly.

4. Invite for Webinars

If you are an influencer and a blogger, then you most probably host webinars now and then. You can also set up a landing page before your next webinar schedule and redirect the users to a landing page created with Thrive Leads to join the webinar.

You can also use any other lead generation plugin and easily integrate it with Thrive Comments. However, I recommend Thrive Leads as it’s one of the best tool designed for lead generations.

5. Opt-in Forms

Well, if you aren’t interested in any of the above options, you can always redirect the users to an opt-in form. While you can display a site-wide opt-in form to generate instant leads by offering a helpful guide, cheat sheet, or a case study in return, you can also use the same strategy by redirecting your users after they post comments.

The site-wide opt-in form can be distracting or irritating times. I believe the best time to throw an opt-in form when the user is about to leave the website. Most users go after they post the comment and this is the best time to encourage them to opt-in.

#Installation Steps and Process

Installation and set up process of Thrive Comments is similar to any other WordPress plugin. Just download the plugin from the official website and upload it directly to the blog via “Add New” plugin section.

Once installed, hit the activate button and you’re ready to go.

There will be a new addition titled, “Thrive Dashboard” on the admin sidebar where you can configure the plugin as well as the comments section of your blog. If you already use any other Thrive plugin, the new Thrive Comments will automatically show alongside the list of list of other Thrive plugins.

#Setting up the Plugin

Just choose Thrive Comments, and you will find a list of different options for the plugin.

In the General Settings area, you can configure the comments area and change basic options that you find on the default WordPress comment system.

Next is Comment Conversion. Here, you can choose where you wish to redirect the users post comments. You can redirect the users commenting for the first time to a Thank You page with social share buttons, just Thank You message, Related Posts, redirect them to a conversion optimized landing page, or welcome them with an opt-in form.

You can also choose an action when the user returns to add another comment. Again, you can use the same set of options.

Furthermore, you can either let the user to log in through social channels or as guests. You can also allow or disallow guest users to add their website URL to control spam on the blog.

In the Customize Style option, you can choose an accent color to go with your blog theme.

You can also choose the type of timestamp to be displayed alongside comments.

Next section allows you to offer rewards to your loyal readers posting regular comments. You can enable voting within the comments section. You can setup badges to reward your loyal readers using this option.

In the Advanced Settings section, you can choose the user roles that can moderate comments on the blog. This option can be handy for a multi-author blog.

You can also add a list of keywords that you automatically want to link in the moderator replies.

With Thrive Comments, you can also optimize the site’s loading speed. Just choose the right option in the Page Speed Optimization settings and help your blog load faster for the readers.

That’s it. It can’t get easier than that. No need for any extra coding or technical changes. Thrive Comments will take care of everything.

#Why you need Thrive Comments?

Thrive Comments will transform your comment system and boost the user experience of your blog commenters. It will not only enhance the engagement on your blog but also sets up various channels to convert users to profitable leads.

Besides all the exciting features mentioned earlier, you also get comment analytics dashboard. No other WordPress plugin offers comment analytics.

A thorough analysis of the incoming comments will offer a plain view of user interaction on the blog. Such review will help you understand the user behavior patterns and let you optimize the website better.

The three main analytical sections of Thrive Comments are as follows:

Voting Stats: See which users are getting higher up votes and know your readers better.

Word Cloud: Check the type of comments the users are posting.

Comment Rate Comparison: Understand the flow of comments over time. Check if there’s a rise or decline in the number of comments you receive regularly.

Other than offering an analytics section, Thrive Comments is also the fastest loading comment plugin which makes it the best choice for a comment plugin. As explained earlier, you can choose to load the comments once the reader scrolls down at the bottom of the page.

You can also set the option to lazy load gravatars to load them when the user scrolls down to the specific comment.

Bundled with an array of features, Thrive Comments is a smart investment for bloggers looking to boost user engagement on their blog.

#Pricing

Well, Thrive Comments is a premium plugin, and every good thing comes with a price. This excellent comment plugin is no different.

The plugin is available for different prices based on the use. For a single site owner, the plugin will cost $19, thanks to the limited launch time discount. If you have multiple blogs, then you can opt for 5 License pack or 15 License pack for $23 and $48 respectively.

Pros

• Built-in Comment Analytics
• Fastest loading comment plugin
• Wide range of conversion options
• Supports multi-author blogs

Cons

• Not Free

#Final Verdict

Comments are the true reflection of a blog. If analyzed and optimized in a good way, it can open up the gates of user interaction and engagement. With Thrive Comments, you can easily take advantage of this simple yet powerful section and improve your conversion rates.

Just install and set up the plugin correctly and let Thrive Comments do the rest. Whether you want to boost affiliate sales, increase subscribers, or reduce bounce rate on your blog; you can do all that with a simple plugin.

Try it out today!