Using Popups On Your Site? When Should They...POPUP?

[Jay Sullivan]

Here's a quick question, and i'm sure a lot of you will have different opinions on this...

if you have a popup on your salespage, how long do you leave it before it actually pops up?

I have an offer of a free wordpress theme AND a discount coupon inside a popup that appears after 8 seconds...it NEVER shows again for that user/visitor...unless they clear their cache/cookies of course!

What do you think the best timeframe is?

Do i "Reward" visitors, and show the popup after say 30 seconds...or let it popup as soon as possible?

I did have it showing after 8 seconds, but have since changed it to 30 seconds.

My theory being, when a visitor first comes to your site, and starts reading the main headings/titles and then a popup appears around that time, it could distract them and make them leave...after 30 seconds if they are still on the site, it means they are at least interested in what you have to offer, and would be glad of a popup that gives a 30% discount on the price of the product.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions on this?

[Sumit Menon]

What about on exit?

The other popups are annoying!

[RGallowitz]

I say the best time is when they see your ebook/software cover. When they reach that then bang, there comes the popup. The visual stimulation makes them accept the popup.

Originally Posted by Sumit Menon

What about on exit?

The other popups are annoying!

And yes...exit pops work well.

In the end...all this should be tested.


Regards,
Reinhardt

[Jay Sullivan]

Exit popups...hmm...i'm not a big fan of those, get sick of seeing them on clickbank sites...but as you say, it's not what i don't like...it's what can bring in extra sales that counts i guess...

All popups are annoying to some extent i guess!

One thing i have found out that is 1 customer bought within 7 seconds of arriving..if he had waited an extra second he would have had 30% off....crazy!

[seoFool]

I'm testing footer popups right now at seoFool.com

I'm calling it footer popups, I don't know if that's what they're really called...but they're the ones that glide into the bottom 1/8 or so of your web page like an ad as soon as the site loads.

They seem to me to be less obtrusive....but the site is new and I don't have a lot of hard data yet. I'll give it a few weeks and let you know how it goes...

[DAS_Matt]

On exit or on entry has always worked for me in the past. Never liked timed release consoles.

I remember when consoles first came about and you'd see chains of of like 6 or more exit consoles.

[Jay Sullivan]

Originally Posted by seoFool.com

I'm testing footer popups right now at seoFool.com

I'm calling it footer popups, I don't know if that's what they're really called...but they're the ones that glide into the bottom 1/8 or so of your web page like an ad as soon as the site loads.

They seem to me to be less obtrusive....but the site is new and I don't have a lot of hard data yet. I'll give it a few weeks and let you know how it goes...

Is that ultimate footer ads?

I know what you mean about those days Das...will give an exit pop a try some time...

[Alexa Smith]

For me, "never" is a very good time.

I often wonder what proportion of people who have decided that exit pop-ups work well have actually determined and proven this for themselves and their own sites, though I do accept that some have. (It's very easy to overlook the many people who leave a site intending to return to it, but then decide not to when they see the exit pop-up, and are lost as a result.)

[actionplanbiz]

just use that pop up immediately. is it like a hooving ad?

then i will use a OTO Exit Pop

[seoFool]

Originally Posted by Jay Sullivan

Is that ultimate footer ads?

Yep, that's exactly what I'm using....

[12holger34]

As a visitor I think all pop ups are annoying. But when it brings cash, good for you.

[actionplanbiz]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

For me, "never" is a very good time.

I often wonder what proportion of people who have decided that exit pop-ups work well have actually determined and proven this for themselves and their own sites, though I do accept that some have. (It's very easy to overlook the many people who leave a site intending to return to it, but then decide not to when they see the exit pop-up, and are lost as a result.)

Exit pop seems to work very well for me. except when doing safelists (i think). everyone is trying to farm credits and my exit pop stalls them creating a negitive emotion that they link to my site.

but for like ppc and stuff i helps big time. get to show your visitors 2 offers instead of 1. and in this case i usually catch them with the exit pop offer

[DAS_Matt]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

For me, "never" is a very good time.

I often wonder what proportion of people who have decided that exit pop-ups work well have actually determined and proven this for themselves and their own sites, though I do accept that some have. (It's very easy to overlook the many people who leave a site intending to return to it, but then decide not to when they see the exit pop-up, and are lost as a result.)

To each their own. I've personally never found that it hurt sales unless it was abused with multi-pop consoles.

[tommen]

I use a wordpress plugin called Action popup.It works really well on my site.

[mikemcmillan]

About a year ago I did some actual research on one of my sites. There are variables, but here is what I found in this case. I started with an immediate aWeber javascript popup. I tried 4-5 different delay times over a period of weeks. My best opt-in rate came after a 25 second delay.

Now, some will say that a delay that long means that a lot of people will click out before the pop-up appears, but the early click-outs probably wouldn't have opted-in any way.

Like others have said, and I agree, I'd prefer to let the visitor get through the header and down to the image if it's above the fold so that they have an idea of what the page is about.

[JohnMcCabe]

Don't have any data to report yet, but I'm experimenting with setting the pop timer for about 2 seconds less than the average time on page. I'm trying to catch them right before they actually decide to leave.

My theory is that exit pops interfere with an action they've already decided to take, so most will resist that which blocks their course. If I can show them the pop just before they finalize the decision to leave, I might be able to stall that decision long enough to get my offer read.

Again, no data, just theory...

[Jay Sullivan]

Exellent John, i never thought about that...just deciding on when they are actually planning to leave...

68% of my visitors leave within the 0-30 second time frame...hmm..is my sales copy compelling enough?

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Jay Sullivan

68% of my visitors leave within the 0-30 second time frame...hmm..is my sales copy compelling enough?

Could be brilliant - if the other 32% are all staying and buying?!

[Jay Sullivan]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Could be brilliant - if the other 32% are all staying and buying?!

OHHHH...How i wish that was the case!

[JR Griggs]

I have been experimenting a bit with this myself. Some of my business clients worry about their customers getting annoyed so we set the time at about 30 seconds. We did look at analytics and see what the average time on site was. For one of the sites the average time was only 22 seconds (a niche site). So we set the popup to 20 seconds.

I also look at my own experience. If a popup shows up within 5 seconds I usually just close it right away.