Exit pop - Annoying or useful?

You might want to test it out for a while and see how it goes, after all, it probably won't even help you with sales. I personally don't even bother with them anymore, I somehow grew immune to exit pop-ups But before that, they were annoying me indeed.

Use DHTML so it is opening with in your webpage vs. opening a new page and have it just slide in the top right corner with a special offer and it will help.

My opinion -> it is annoying!

When I go to any type of sales page for digital products, I ALWAYS look for an exit pop. I've been trained by our IM community that, if I try to click off the site, I'll normally get a discount by doing so, or I'll get "bonuses" just to convince me to buy whatever it is. I love the ones that have 2-3 pops because it really drives the price down for me.

-- j

For myself, I give them a large, fat, fulsome, unhesitating "no" (as do the people I know who've tested them properly - which is really difficult - and not been led astray by the number of visitors who opt-in/buy through them without thinking about re-visitors and split-testing incomes over a significant period.)

Some of the difficulties/paradoxes with them get an airing in this thread, and others here.

I am thinking about developing special Chrome extension to block all this annoying pop-ups. When I do research in IM niche after 10 minutes of visiting lots of products I feel that I want to visit just simple static website.

All these pop-ups, modal boxes, content lockers were in Web 1.0 and didn't die! They are still in Web 2.0. (I understand that Web 1.0 and 2.0 it's just mental issue).

Please - please - please! Invent other way to make people interested in your products!

I hate them and don't think they significantly increase sales or opt ins.

With that said, test it for a month and so and see what you get.

I personally find them annoying; but unless you are trying to sell to me that opinion means jack squat. Go test and find out what your customers think.

I am not a fan of exit pop-ups but would like to hear from people that do use them -- to share with us if they've found exit pop-ups to drive up their conversion rates and if so, by how much.

Regarding the use of exit pop-ups, I have seen basically two models - 1 where you are taken to a bonus product or report (as of this post, Jim Edwards uses this model on at least 1 of his sites).

The other is where you are taken (ad nauseum) to a page with a lower price. While this may entice a conflicted buyer into opening his/her wallet, what I see when I encounter these is a marketer who is devaluing his/her product.

Despite its enormity, the cyber world is actually pretty small when it comes to viral word of mouth. When people learn that your $47 product can be had for $27, it's no longer worth $47.

I am a huge fan of Dennis Becker, because instead of hype, his marketing strategy is not to devalue a product by reducing the price, but to add value by OVERDELIVERING on his product. To me, that is the ultimate "Marketing with Integrity", and a model I plan to follow.

Also, JaRyCu has it right on - to people paying attention, we've just learned to 'follow the pop-up trail' to the lowest price possible. But instead of enticing me to buy, it often makes me doubt the product.

I try to use exit pop on my sales page but visitors doesn't like it. It indeed convert more of sales. guess you have to let go of something to get another.

Wow, thanks, Ebiz Mom, what a pleasant surprise. You made my day.

I think it's generally annoying, but can say it probably does increase the sales because you are giving the user one last chance to buy before they navigate away from your site forever.

I personally can't stand them, but have, like JaYrCu mentioned, on occasion (if initially interested in the product) waited for the pop-up at the end to see if there is a discounted price.

Whatever you do, don't have more than one! Nothing is more annoying then a pop-up that won't go away because additional pop-ups keep displaying BEGGING for you to reply. It makes you feel as if your computer has a virus!!!

i have tested the crap out of that stuff with some very high traffic sites in many niches.

If done properly you will see more money in your bottom line if you use an exit popup. but doing it properly is not easy. That's the biggest reason you see people who have "tested" them and think they don't work.

proper testing requires that you know why most people are leaving you page. if people are leaving because they don't understand you product, then offering them an exit popup with a discount offer is not going to help one bit, and it will in fact annoy people.

in fact, i have even tested using different exit pages based on how far a user scrolls down the page, how long they are on the site, and which traffic source they came. Those variable all go into "why" a visitor is likely leaving without taking the desired action.

the purpose of the exit popup is to handle an objection of "why didn't you purchase". to do that properly, the first step is to know what the objection is.

its not nearly as simple as it seems on the surface.

I generally find them annoying... especially if I don't want the product...
But sometimes I look to lower the price... Unless I don't want the product => go to start...

I hate them and I'd never buy anything from someone who used this tactic. I get panicked when my little "x" button doesn't get me off a page. It makes me think of malware and viruses.

Many times, I'll bookmark a website and return later to buy. However, an exit pop-up is a deal breaker for me. It makes me think the seller is sneaky.

another good point to remember when talking about things like this is that what people say they do and what they actually do are often times very different.

many will say they hate webinars or popups when asked, but those same people have made purchases from webinars or subscribed using a popup.

Once is useful but three times per visitor is just damn annoying! Arrrgh...