Stop Using Pop-Ups On Your Website, No One Likes Them

I'm sure you've heard this before. It's tacky, annoying, and slows things down. Lots of them get automatically blocked anyway, and it creates a bad user experience. The list goes on.

But the reality is, if done properly, they can be extremely effective. Like it or not, pop-ups on websites have been proven to have extremely high conversion rates, when done the right way. As with everything related to digital marketing, there's a good way and a bad way. You either annoy people and lose them, or they love it and convert.

We won't dive too deeply into why you should be collecting email addresses. If you're not yet convinced on the powers of email marketing, I suggest checking out this great post from Shopify's Email Marketing expert, Mark Macdonald. https://www.shopify.com/blog/9196929...mmerce-success He explains all the facts and research, and compares email marketing alongside some other forms of digital marketing that may seem sexier and more exciting. But, the proof is in the pudding. Email marketing continues to deliver the highest ROI when compared to other digital marketing efforts - according to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing delivers a ROI in the range of 4,300%.

So let's start with talking about some things that we commonly see, and can all agree on that are tacky and just plain rude. No ones likes these measures, and while you may see some initial lift in your sign-ups, it will be short-lived and is not a good plan for the long-term.

● Making people feel bad for clicking "No." This is something that seems to be happening more and more often, and it's really quite surprising to me when I see reputable sites using this tactic. Guilt and fear do not create brand loyalty or long-term relationships. Resist the urge.
● Having multiple pop-ups that are intrusive and slow your site down. One is enough, and it'll be all you need if you do it right.
● Assuming that people should just hand over their personal information to you. Understand that you're developing a relationship based on trust, and you need to first earn this trust. Always prioritize giving value to your customers when creating any type of opt-in.
● Annoying the people who have already covered with forcing them to continue seeing the opt-in, over and over again.
● Making your pop-up the first thing the user sees. Delayed pop-ups feel less intrusive, and you're not stopping the client from navigating and reading.
● Making your pop-up too big or difficult to close. If your pop-up takes up the whole screen, this can confuse users and cause them to think they've landed on a different site altogether. If the user can't easily "x" out, it creates an extremely frustrating experience. You are blocking them from accessing your site, which is counterproductive to your business.


So if you want to have pop-ups on your site, how can you do it the right way?

● Don't be excessive, and don't use guilt tactics - forcing someone to click a button that says, "No, I'd rather keep sucking at this" will leave a bad taste in their mouth and potentially create a negative impression of your business. Select either a generic "No Thanks" or something witty like "Nah, I'm good!"
● Enable filters that allow you to select your audience. If someone has already signed up, they do not need to see your pop-up. If someone visits your site daily, maybe give them a week or even a month in between views so you don't turn them off.
● Ensure you're promoting the right message. Keep your brand voice in mind, and show consumers something that is eye-catching, interesting and clear. You need a clear call-to-action that quickly articulates the value you have to offer them.
● Track your results. Monitor the analytics and really pay attention to how many people are actually converting. If the number isn't good, you should reconsider what language you're using, and what you're offering. Split A/B testing is always recommended as well, as this can really help you figure out what appeals to your target market.
● Make it easy for people to find the ' x ' and close out the box. There is nothing worse than suddenly being unable to view the content you obviously wanted to see, because you don't want to sign-up for anything but can't see how to close the opt-in.
● Make sure your offer is good. People guard their emails addresses with their lives these days, and they will not give it to you unless you are offering them something valuable in exchange.
● Take the time to consider what "type" of pop-up you should have, and what makes sense for your customer base. Having a time-based pop-up is a good option - once someone has already been on your site for 90 seconds, you can be certain they're engaged and interested in what you're doing. Another good type of an exit pop-up, which is only going to appear when the user is about to leave. It's a great opportunity to offer them a discount or freebie. Having a content-based opt-in is good when your company targets varying customer segments - it allows you to be extremely targeted in what you're offering.


If you do it the right way, what type of results can you expect?

Well, let's a some actual case studies here for this one.

WP Beginner, a company that provides education resources for Word Press, which is arguably the most popular and widely used program for bloggers across the globe, experienced phenomenal results when they implemented an exit pop-up. Typically, they received 70-80 opt-ins daily - with their new pop-up, this jumped to 445-470 each day. That's a 600% increase. You can read the details of their experience here, and also learn about the tool they used to help them. http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutoria...-optinmonster/

Another great case study is from Mama's Lebanese Kitchen https://thrivethemes.com/10x-increase-case-study/, which is a website for Lebanese food and recipes. After getting some expert help that employed split A/B testing, used a 20 second delay and only showed the pop-up every 30 days, they were able to double the mailing list under 3 months, and achieved a consistent performance increase of 20-30%.

So the lesson here? When done right, pop-ups can be extremely valuable to your business.