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Do Pop-Up Opt-In Forms Work?

by Ghoster
11 replies
I tend to auto-close any popups that appear when I'm reading content. I don't think I've ever opted in this way, in fact. I find it annoying. Is this the consensus, or does this work on average Internet users? I'm online a lot, so I've been exposed to it all. I don't even see most kinds of ads anymore .

I'm considering using a slide-out opt-in form. Thoughts?
#forms #optins #popup #work
  • Profile picture of the author Jonwebb
    yes they work. Maybe not always, but the only way to get contact info is to ask... Over and over again
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  • Profile picture of the author artflair
    Originally Posted by Ghoster View Post

    I tend to auto-close any popups that appear when I'm reading content. I don't think I've ever opted in this way, in fact. I find it annoying. Is this the consensus, or does this work on average Internet users? I'm online a lot, so I've been exposed to it all. I don't even see most kinds of ads anymore .

    I'm considering using a slide-out opt-in form. Thoughts?
    Yes, they absolutely work but it is true that people get annoyed by them - I personally don't like them when visiting someone's blog or website but I'm using it on my own blog because it adds a constant flow of new email subscribers...

    I guess each person will just have to decide on their own, if they are going to use it or not...

    Good luck

    Art
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  • Profile picture of the author Chandrapaul
    YES THIS WORKS. IF U OFFER SOMETHING FREE THEN WILL WORK EVEN BETTER.
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  • Profile picture of the author MarketingBees
    Yes.

    They're annoying.
    People hate them.

    BUT look at your conversion rate and the number of optins you get with or without a pop up. If your main goal is to build a list then unfortunately you HAVE to use some form of pop up optin form.
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  • Profile picture of the author ShoppingSignals
    They absolutely work. You just can't argue with the numbers, even though everything else tells you to stay away from them.

    Fact is, they typically will not piss off your visitors too much, so they are worth at least testing. That is, unless your visitors are whiny cry babies who can't handle a little annoyance every once in a while. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Ghoster View Post

    Do Pop-Up Opt-In Forms Work?
    It's like almost everything else in internet marketing: it depends on exactly what you measure and exactly how you measure it.

    If you take a simple, quantitative approach, and infer from the fact that some additional visitors opt in to them that they "work", and if you assume that "the biggest list you can build from the traffic is necessarily going to be the list that produces the most income" (there are people who really believe that, sometimes without even stopping to think about it at all!!), then yes: they work. That's perhaps the way most internet marketers who bother split-testing things at all do split-test them, too. People who like that kind of reasoning, and the "These must work, otherwise marketers wouldn't be using them all over the place" philosophy of internet marketing need look no further, and wouldn't perhaps be very interested in any other perspectives, even if they did.

    But there are also other ways of determining whether or not they "work", and other people, perhaps willing to look a little further and examine some different and less assumptive perspectives, may (as so often) actually manage to learn some interesting things: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post4985800

    Originally Posted by Ghoster View Post

    I'm considering using a slide-out opt-in form. Thoughts?
    Split-test it carefully, over an adequate time-period, monitoring the right parameters (they're not always the obvious ones ).

    Originally Posted by ShoppingSignals View Post

    You just can't argue with the numbers
    I can and I often do - sometimes by adducing other, more relevant, more detailed, more accurate, less assumptively based numbers which allow for (and sometimes prove) the reality that smaller lists can produce bigger incomes and that there are reasons for that, believe it or not. I've posted about it extensively, elsewhere in the forum.

    Originally Posted by ShoppingSignals View Post

    Fact is, they typically will not piss off your visitors too much, so they are worth at least testing. That is, unless your visitors are whiny cry babies who can't handle a little annoyance every once in a while. :-)
    This you call "fact"? I'd hate to see your idea of a mere "theory"!

    You're welcome to your assumptions about my list-building business, and especially about your own.

    .
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  • Profile picture of the author threaldeal007
    They work great with a free gift.

    Just make sure to set a cookie so it will only popup once per visitor per 30 days or something so you don't piss them off, especially if they are visiting your site often.

    I use ninja popups (a paid Wordpress plugin) and it works really good.

    Just track everything to make sure it doesn't hurt the traffic numbers or conversions if you sell anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author FloridaIM
    They work.

    Got about 9 optins since yesterday for my ClickBank Product.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      As with many things IM, whether or not something "works" boils down more to execution than principle.

      Here are a couple of examples, totally fictitious.

      > You land on the home page of a site offering info you are interested in. Just as you're about to click on the title of the article you want, a popup obscures the screen. There's no obvious way to close the popup, just a vague headline, an image of a thick 3D book and an opt-in form. Do you a) fill in the form so you can read the article or b) hit the back button and try the next site on your list?

      A variation of this is the same popup or light box, only this time instead of an image there is an autoplay video with no controls and the volume preset to 100%. Do you watch the video, or do you back out and try something else?

      > You follow a link to an article, and as you reach the end of the article, a slider comes in offering you more content in exchange for your email address. There's an obvious 'X' button to make it slide back out of the way.

      Or the page is scripted so that as you move your mouse back to the top, a light box or popup appears, reminding you of the opt-in and the bonus for signing up. Again, there's an obvious close button, as opposed to those popups that take the browser hostage until the form is filled out or the browser closed.

      I don't know about you, but I'm far more likely to respond when the offer is presented as a choice rather than an attempt to take me hostage. Don't get me started on the so-called "viral" tools where you have to share the article you haven't even read yet in order to clear the popup and read it.

      Sorry, got a little worked up there.

      Bottom line, popups presented in a respectful way work without pissing people off. Disrespect people, and they may still opt in if they want the freebie badly enough, but good luck getting them to open/read/act on your emails...
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  • Profile picture of the author jamescanz
    I prefer pop-up forms when you actually click on a link and *POOF*...

    Then shows up the form.

    Kind of defeats the purpose of 'sneaking up on someone'...

    But yeah, another way to go about it using pop-up forms
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  • Profile picture of the author Developer99
    They do but the opt in ones that are responsive based on per click actions are the best
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