Lead Generation Tool Review: BDOW Made Us $100K

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There’s a receipt in my inbox from a few years ago that I still think about.

Deadline Funnel: several thousand dollars a year. Proof (the social proof pop-up company, also called Pulse): a few hundred a month. And a third tool for discount code pop-ups that I kept switching between before finally giving up on it altogether.

I was paying for three separate lead generation tools to do three things that, at the time, I was convinced were non-negotiable for a converting website. And they were non-negotiable. The strategy behind them is why my business works.

The tools themselves, though, were bloated, clunky, and quietly draining a few thousand dollars a year out of our bottom line.

Then I found BDOW!, and one roughly $50-a-month subscription replaced all three.

I’ll get to the feature breakdown and the competitor comparisons in a minute. But first I want to be really specific about the number in the title, because I don’t love a vague “this made me money!” claim, and I’m guessing you don’t either.

The $100,000 Isn’t a Metaphor

When I add up what three specific features (discount code pop-ups, social proof pop-ups, and evergreen countdown timers) have contributed to revenue across Brand Design Academy, our Showit template shop, DesignEdit, and Website in a Weekend, we are well past six figures. Comfortably.

It’s the kind of number that feels almost embarrassing to type, because the tool itself is so simple. But that’s the point. The simplest lever, pulled consistently, on every single page, for every single visitor, for a couple of years, compounds into something significant.

Here’s exactly how it happens.

What Is BDOW!? (And Why It’s One of the Best Lead Generation Tools for Creatives)

Quick context before the features. BDOW! was previously known as Sumo, and was acquired by Showit, which is why it integrates so seamlessly with Showit websites (including every template in our shop).

BDOW! now builds pop-ups, scroll boxes, smart bars, welcome mats, click triggers, inline forms, countdown timers, and social proof pop-ups, all in one dashboard.

Which means one tool now covers what used to take three.

If you’re looking for lead generation tools that actually convert visitors into subscribers and buyers, BDOW! does it all without the bloat or the three-subscription headache.

Feature 1: Discount Code Pop-Ups That Are Unique to Each User

This is the quiet workhorse. Someone lands on our site, they’re not ready to buy, and before they leave a pop-up offers them a discount code tied specifically to their visit. Not a generic “15OFF” that lives on coupon aggregator sites forever. A unique code, for them, that expires.

Why it works: it respects the visitor. It says, “you’re here, you’re interested, here’s a small thank-you for taking a chance.” It converts browsers into buyers without the “ick” of chasing them around the internet with retargeting ads.

Before BDOW!, running this well required a separate subscription and, honestly, a lot of friction every time I wanted to change an offer.

BDOW! vs. OptinMonster, Privy, and Other Lead Generation Tools for Discount Pop-Ups

Most discount pop-up tools on the market are either clunky (Sumo’s old interface was not great), expensive for what you get (OptinMonster adds up quickly once you need advanced triggers), or built primarily for Shopify (Privy).

BDOW! gives you unique codes, advanced display rules, behavioral triggers, and A/B testing without the Shopify-first limitation. It also plays nicely with every non-Shopify platform most creatives actually use (Showit, WordPress, Squarespace, Kajabi).

Feature 2: Social Proof Pop-Ups (“Amy in Santa Clarita Just Bought Brand Design Academy”)

If you’ve ever been on our site and seen a little notification slide into the bottom corner that says something like “Amy in Santa Clarita, California purchased Brand Design Academy,” that’s the feature.

This one is psychology, plain and simple. People want to know other people are buying. When a new visitor lands on a sales page and sees three or four real purchases tick by in the corner, the whole vibe of the page shifts. It stops feeling like a pitch and starts feeling like a room that other people are already in.

We used to pay for a standalone social proof tool to do this. It did exactly one thing. Now it’s just a feature inside BDOW!, running in the background, on every page, every day.

BDOW! vs. Proof (Pulse) for Social Proof Pop-Ups

Proof (now called Pulse, run by UseProof) was one of the first tools to popularize these little notifications. It works well. It’s also significantly more expensive for what you get.

Proof Pulse pricing starts at $29/month for up to 1,000 unique visitors and jumps to $79/month for 10,000 unique visitors.

That’s $79/month (almost $1,000/year) for a single feature.

BDOW! gives you social proof pop-ups alongside every other conversion tool you need, for roughly the same price Proof charges for social proof alone.

BDOW! vs. ProveSource, Fomo, and WiserNotify

The Proof alternatives have gotten better and cheaper in the last few years. ProveSource, Fomo, and WiserNotify all do social proof well. They also all do only social proof (or mostly social proof), which means you still need something for discount pop-ups and something else for countdown timers.

If you’re running three separate lead generation tools, you’re paying three separate monthly fees, managing three dashboards, and dealing with three scripts loading on every page (which slows your site down).

BDOW!’s argument against these tools isn’t “we do social proof better.” It’s “we do social proof well enough, and we do four other things you need, for one price, with one script.”

Feature 3: Evergreen Countdown Timers (That Actually Redirect When They End)

This is probably the single feature that has shifted the most revenue.

Here’s how I use it.

 A visitor opts in for a guide, joins the waitlist, or hits a specific page, and they get a limited-time offer (usually a discount on a template or a course) with a countdown timer at the top of the page.

The timer is evergreen, which means it starts when they arrive, not on some fixed calendar date. They get, say, 48 hours. When the timer ends, the page redirects, and the offer is genuinely gone for them.

No fake scarcity. A real window, personalized to their journey.

Deadline Funnel, the tool I used to use for this, is a well-built product. It just costs several thousand dollars a year at higher tiers, and once BDOW! added this feature I had no reason to keep paying for it.

BDOW! vs. Deadline Funnel: Evergreen Countdown Timer Comparison

This is the comparison that shifted the most money back into my pocket, so let me be specific.

Deadline Funnel pricing: Deadline Funnel starts at $49/month on its Start plan and scales up from there. The Create plan processes up to 10,000 leads/month through the API, and the Scale plan processes up to 100,000 leads/month. Once you’re running multiple campaigns and multiple products, you’re pushed into higher tiers quickly. Several thousand dollars a year is not unusual.

What Deadline Funnel does well: Real, authentic, cookie-plus-IP-plus-email tracked evergreen deadlines. Timers that sync across website and emails. Redirect when the deadline expires. It’s a purpose-built product, and it does this one thing extremely well.

Where BDOW! wins for most creatives:

• Price. One plan, roughly $50/month, covers timers plus everything else.
• Simplicity. One dashboard, one script, one install.
• Integration with Showit (since they’re sister companies).
• You’re not just getting timers. You’re also getting pop-ups, social proof, smart bars, and welcome mats in the same tool.

Where Deadline Funnel might still be the right call:

• If you’re running complex, multi-campaign evergreen funnels where leads move through five or six different deadlines and you need deep email-platform sync across ConvertKit, Kajabi, ActiveCampaign, and others with per-lead tracking at scale, Deadline Funnel’s specialization is genuinely useful.
• If you’re already running an eight-figure business with a dedicated funnel team, the extra depth might pencil out.

For most creative business owners running evergreen offers, BDOW!’s countdown timer is more than enough, and the savings are significant.

BDOW! vs. LoopOffer, Thrivecart’s Built-In Timers, and Other Deadline Funnel Alternatives

Newer tools like LoopOffer have entered the space at lower price points ($25/month and up). They’re solid if you only need timers. But again, you’re back to running multiple subscriptions.

Thrivecart has built-in countdown timers for checkout pages, but they don’t cover your sales pages, landing pages, or pop-ups.

BDOW! is the only lead generation tool I’ve found that handles the full stack (timers, pop-ups, social proof, lead capture) in a single subscription priced for small businesses.

The Math That Made Me Switch Lead Generation Tools

Before BDOW!, three tools:

• Deadline Funnel: starting at $49/month, often higher with scale. Call it roughly $600 to $2,000/year depending on plan.
• Proof (Pulse): $29 to $79/month. Roughly $350 to $950/year.
• A third pop-up tool: another $20 to $50/month. Roughly $240 to $600/year.

Conservative ballpark, we were spending somewhere north of $2,000 to $3,500/year on three subscriptions. Three logins. Three dashboards. Three support teams. Three scripts loading on every page.

After BDOW!, one tool: around $50/month. All three features, one dashboard, one login, one script.

Even if BDOW! had only contributed a fraction of the revenue I mentioned up top, the switch would have paid for itself many times over just in what I stopped spending. The revenue growth is the bonus.

Who BDOW! Is Right For

• Showit users (it’s the native integration, hands down).
• Course creators, designers, and template shop owners running evergreen offers.
• Small business owners who want one lead generation tool instead of three.
• Anyone currently paying for Deadline Funnel, Proof, OptinMonster, or Privy and wondering if there’s a simpler option.

Who Should Probably Stick With Deadline Funnel or Proof

• Enterprise funnels with complex multi-campaign logic and large dev teams.
• Businesses running 50,000+ leads/month through API-driven deadline campaigns across multiple CRMs.
• Shopify stores that want deeper Shopify-native integrations (ProveSource or Fomo may be a better call here).

Why I’m Telling You This

Because I think a lot of creatives and small business owners are quietly paying for three or four lead generation tools that could be one. I was one of them for years.

If your website is getting traffic but not enough of it is converting, these three features (discount code pop-ups, social proof, and honest evergreen countdowns) are some of the highest-leverage things you can add.

And if you’re already paying for them separately, you have permission to consolidate.

BDOW! is the lead generation tool we use and love. It’s made by the same team behind Showit, which is why it integrates so cleanly with the sites we build.

Around fifty dollars a month. Three features that used to cost us thousands. A hundred-thousand-dollar return.

That’s the whole story.

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Want to try BDOW!? Grab it here with the code DAVEYANDKRISTA for 50% off your first year. Set up your first pop-up this weekend and see what a few months of consistent social proof, smart discount codes, and honest countdown timers can do for your revenue.

And if you’re looking for a website that actually converts those visitors into subscribers and clients, check out our Showit website templates. Every template is built with conversion in mind, so your lead generation tools have something beautiful to work with.

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