Do you use pop-up? Does it really work?

11 years ago

the only pop up I am using is facebook "like" and it works. the second time a person visit my site, they will hit the like button. of course you have to consider the bounce rate, if it increase the bounce rate, you should stop it ASAP. but some browser might find it disturbing to the user, so you might need to compete with pop up blocker.

"OMG pop up telling me to input my email address, how exciting!"
said no one ever

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Alexa Smith

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by konrud

Tell me from your experience does it really help to increase the number of subscribers?

I'm not willing to use them on my own sites, for all the reasons explained here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post4985800

Former clients of mine who have tested them thoroughly and methodically have abandoned them, after finding that although some people did opt in to them, they were still making a net loss by using them. And it's important to understand that that is a possible outcome.

The short answer is that you have to test it for yourself, and find out for yourself, because other people's answers may not help you.

There's one key mistake to avoid, though: don't imagine that just because some people opt in to it, you're necessarily gaining overall opt-ins. The important point to appreciate, about this (which some people contrive to ignore, and a very few people even choose to deny it altogether!) is that some people who would otherwise have come back and opted in at their second/third visit (as some visitors do) will fail to return after seeing the pop-up at their first visit, so you can lose people as well as gaining them, and the overall balance is what matters, not just "the fact that people do opt in to it".

Also note that some/most of the people who opt in to them are people who were going to opt in anyway, so they're not really "gains".

These are not terribly difficult points to understand, of course, but earlier discussions here have taught me that they do apparently pass some people by altogether!

Originally Posted by konrud

Does it annoy your readers?

Some, yes. That's inevitable. (That doesn't, in itself, necessarily mean that you shouldn't use one, though).

How would you feel if you disliked pop-ups and had some sort of pop-up blocker installed in your browser, and someone's pop-up still appeared when you were on their site? It would annoy you quite a bit, presumably?

Originally Posted by konrud

How often does such pop-up appear when visitors attend your site? Does it appear at once or only when visitor goes to another page?

You can "set" that for yourself. If you test one, make sure that it only ever appears once, for anyone!

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konrud 11 years ago

Thanks Alexa, very useful
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khooster1

11 years ago

I presume you meant Pop Up Opt-in.
This is kind of dated method.
Viewers usually regard this as spam banner.
I will leave the site immediately if there is any.

If you do need the pop up, do restrict it to
maximum once. Any thing more will
definitely annoy the viewers.

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EugeneFarber 11 years ago

I second the idea that you should test it.

But in general, yes...I would say they work. It's not a "dated" method by any means.

Sure, it might turn some people off. But those are also likely the people that are going to get turned off when you send them an email asking for a sale.
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- Alexa Smith Banned 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by EugeneFarber
  
  it might turn some people off. But those are also likely the people that are going to get turned off when you send them an email asking for a sale.
  
  What makes you think this, Eugene? :confused:
  
  I ask because all my own experience of "subscriber demographics" leads me strongly to suspect the opposite correlation, if anything: that the most highly responsive customers, who will buy the most from/through you in future, are exactly the ones who would be put off (and lost) by a pop-up. I can't prove it, of course, but judging by feedback (which I regularly invite, and get, from subscribers in many different, unrelated niches), that's certainly my impression. In general, in affiliate marketing, the potentially-best customers are about the easiest ones to lose, because they're the ones who are least trusting of "marketers" in general. And pop-ups certainly make you look like a "marketer". But these are exactly the customers who, if they decide they trust and respect you, and you never let them down, will buy and buy and buy. Small numbers of these subscribers are worth large numbers of others ... so for myself I wouldn't have any confidence at all in a pop-up which apparently gives you 10% extra opt-ins, because I'd expect that the 5% it's also losing you are worth far, far more to your business than the 10% it's apparently gaining you.
  
  The mistake is to monitor numbers of people, rather than incomes.
  
  That kind of "logic" just rests on the assumption that the biggest list is necessarily going to produce the biggest income - and that simply isn't true!
  
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paul nicholls

11 years ago

I have been using pop ups on my IM blog for over a year and they work fine as long as you set them so they don't show very often to the same person otherwise you will really annoy your traffic

this is what i do and it works fine

i only get around a 4% conversion from my pop up but it's better than nothing

and i often make oto sales from my pop up forms so they do serve a purpose :-)

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livo 11 years ago

From a personal point of view i do not mind a single pop up,its the ones that keep on popping up that really annoys the hell out of me
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Chiayee

11 years ago

I don't have phenomenal results with pop-up. The opt in rate is about the same with above the fold opt in box!

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jasonnjon

11 years ago

Pop-ups have got a lot of bad reputation.. Its most commonly associated as spam and more aggressive method of marketing.. If i were to land on a pop up page i would be furious.. If i know the site is worth it i might not exit, but if its the first time im visiting that site and have no idea abut the content or reputation chances are that i will move on to another site.

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EugeneFarber

11 years ago

I only meant that anecdotaly. It might turn some people off...but it's not necessarily a bad thing to turn some people off.

The pop up I use only show up once for first time visitors and you can easily close it out.

Popups stop working when they become annoying.

However, the key factor here is the content. What is the pop up for? If it's on a blog where you provide incredible content, then people are going to be just fine closing out the pop up form to get to the content they really want to consume.

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LukePeerFly

11 years ago

I have been using PopUp Domination on my blog for about a year now and it's definitely help increased my subscriber base. At the same time, most blogs in our industry have started to use it as well so a lot of us marketers are used to it and have even come to expect it. Would it hurt the user experience for your average "normal" user? Possibly.

Something I've found is that the more you customize your pop up the more likely you are to get subscribers. The one on my blog is pretty plain and could do a lot better. I know this because I created a completely custom modal (pop up) for my latest project, affposts, and it converts MUCH MUCH better.

So, I think the main thing you need to focus on is actually being creative with your pop up so instead of just being an annoying way to generate subscribers, you're using it to actually build engagement with the user so they WANT to continue on to your site. Another great example of this is on Neil Patel's blog.

Good luck!

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Bryan 11 years ago

This post is a little long, but I think it's necessary because I think people look at these type of solutions as the fast fix, and forget that they dealing with people and building a business. I don't think a yes/no answer will really answer this question if you're looking at the big picture.

I look at it this way, they're super annoying because they are obtrusive, and annoying a potential customer doesn't gel with me. If there is a blog I like to visit regularly, it bugs me that every page I go to has a pop up.

Why would I want to optin to a list if I haven't first read the content to see if it would be worth while? To get another worthless download or false promises? No thanks.

There are other ways of building a list of subscribers without being obtrusive. If you provide stellar content and make it convenient to optin like under a post, side bar, or above post, then you probably get qualified leads that really want to hear more from you.

How can you engage with visitor by jumping in front of them demanding their information before they can check out the content they want? If we're all honest with ourselves, we hate it, and we would be happy to sign up to a newsletter if we are impressed with content that we read.

Guru's talk about having a higher rate of conversion rate is always better, but when you're wanting to build a long lasting business relationship, having a little more conversions may have costed you some respect points, and maybe future sales.

Guru's like to brag about high optin rates and conversion rates, but as you may know their lifetime customer rate is low, their open rates are low, their refund rates are high, and to top it off the word spreads on forums and social networks on how they under deliver.

Think about it? You've probably encountered some salesmen off line that use scarcity and "jedi mind tricks" to get you to buy right then and there, but it's not the best experience for you and you'd probably chose to go elsewhere the next time. Even if you buy, you rather deal with someone that treat you well, and help you make a buying decision.

When you get the vibe that someone genuinely wants to help you, instead of "get" something from you, you can become a loyal customer, that will pay off more in the long run.

This post is a little long because psychology and trust is a big factor in marketing but too many marketers are focused on that fast fix they can get with mind games and tools.

People don't like being forced or nagged to do something. They want to make a decision by choice because they desire to do it. Help them make that choice and they'll respect you.

Marketers now days are getting to wrapped up too much with tools and mind tricks, instead of providing value and establishing trust, as well as learning how to persuade people to give them what THEY want without manipulating them. People hate feeling manipulated and it can cause buyer remorse.

I talk about this because no one just wants to build a bigger list faster. In the end the goal is to build a business and produce sales.

If you instil trust instead of manipulating or being obtrusive, people will want to deal with you more than the competition, and they'll spread the word as well.

So, does it really work? Think about what you want to achieve in the long run instead of the short term -- and how you want your subscribers and potential customers to view you. This should give you your answer.

Here are some questions to flesh it out:

- Do pop ups annoy you?
- Would you rather optin to a newsletter when you choose because you're a fan of what someone wrote?
- What kind of mindset and experience would make a person more responsive and create more sales?

In the end, if your goal is to build a profitable business with HAPPY lifetime customers, there could be a better way.
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jgant

11 years ago

People do subscribe with pop ups, but I don't use them. I may test again in the future ... I go in cycles, but I'm more and more of the view that they hurt more than help.

Do you like popups on sites you visit? I know I don't.

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retsced

11 years ago

The real question is not whether they work or not, but how much you want to annoy the crap out of your visitors. Personally I take a leaf out of my own book. I hate pop ups, so why on earth would I be such a hypocrite and subject my website visitors to them? Yes, they work, but so does in your face hyped up advertising, it doesn't mean it will help you in the "trust" department. Everyone to their own I suppose.

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yakim1

11 years ago

I usually don't use popups any more. I like peel ads. I also use a list building strategy that I call Voo Doo List building.

I make the optin form part of the sales letter where I give away a free report on the same subject as the sales letter's product.

The actual form code is in an iframe, so when people fill out the form and click the submit button the form code disappears and a message appears in place of the form code that thanks the new subscriber and tells them that it will take 5 or 10 minutes for the report to reach their inbox so they should continue reading below.

The visitor never leaves the sales letter and no popup is use and the conversion rate is much better because the people think it is part of the sales letter.

You can see an example here...

Business Blogger's Manual

In the example the optin is a ways down the sales letter. I see that I also put a peel ad on this sales letter to get the visitor on more than one list.

The way I have designed the peel ad, the visitor is brought back to the sales letter.

If you want to test the form go ahead because you can unsubscribe using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email message. This is just a demonstration.
I hope this has been helpful,
Steve Yakim

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RayJAnde

11 years ago

Using popup is not a bad idea.. If you really offer Promotions or kind of a subscription option, people will tend to click them and some of them will lead to possible sales (Always use a small centered popup, do not use massive popup windows..).

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CyberAlien

11 years ago

Originally Posted by RayJAnde

Using popup is not a bad idea.. If you really offer Promotions or kind of a subscription option, people will tend to click them and some of them will lead to possible sales (Always use a small centered popup, do not use massive popup windows..).

You should really read the entire thread... Are you saying this based off actual testing or is this just your theory?

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twister85

11 years ago

Personally, I don't like Pop ups AT ALL! I just hate when its pops up when I'am reading a sales letter. It just takes away the Interest of the audience from your sales page or website.

The master psychology: what makes People happy? when everything is going as they wanted.

And the pop ups are like " hey stop where you reading and look at me first". Its like forcing someone to do something they didn't expect. And that turns them down.

Shivam