How do you split test exit popups?

by rmx
14 replies
I'm looking for a way to easily split text different exit popups to try to get people to optin or downsell them if they don't make a purchase from my site when they leave?

So far they only one I've found that seems to do this is popupdomination.

Does anyone else split their exit popups? How are you doing it?

Thanks, RMX
#exit #popups #split
  • Profile picture of the author Bio Emma
    Originally Posted by rmx View Post

    I'm looking for a way to easily split text different exit popups to try to get people to optin or downsell them if they don't make a purchase from my site when they leave?

    So far they only one I've found that seems to do this is popupdomination.

    Does anyone else split their exit popups? How are you doing it?

    Thanks, RMX
    I used PopUp Domination for the longest time and regularly received headaches from it for the longest time too.

    I found that the analytic feature of PopUp Domination -- especially when split testing -- was absolutely horrid.

    If you still want to use the built in features of a plugin like this, may I suggest Pippity (non-affiliate link).

    There is always the chance that I was doing something "wrong" with PUD, but it seems that I am getting more concise numbers on a regular basis with Pippity.

    The one downfall? Pippity's designs are not as "flashy" or as "fun" as PUD's. But, if you have any experience with Photoshop, you should be able to spice them up a bit to fit the more generally accepted "Web 2.0" feel that PUD's pre-fashioned popups had.

    =====

    As for moving to a stand alone system for tracking split testing results, I am not completely sure. I have never moved away from WordPress plugins partially because I am scared of the learning curve and, second, because I paid for them ... and, dammit, I WILL use them.

    I know some people have spoken about using Google Analytics to track split testing, but I am not quite sure that it will work in this specific circumstance (ie., tracking the conversion rate of an exit popup). The only way I think of making it work this way, is having each exit popup redirect to a different landing page thus giving Google Analytics the ability to track conversions.

    Nonetheless, hope that helps -- and does not give you any more questions than you already have (which I am afraid might be the case).
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    • Profile picture of the author rmx
      Thanks Emma,

      Not what I wanted to hear you had trouble with analytics with PUD. I guess if it would at least rotate the popups I could get an idea of which was working better from the results if I made to different offers.

      I hadn't heard of Pippity.

      One thing I like about PUD from what I can tell is it let's you used popups on WP and non-wordpress sites. Also it seems to let you put in your own autoresponder codes if you use something other than the ones they mention.

      RMX
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      • Profile picture of the author kevinclanton
        With Visual Webiste optimizer, i was able to split test exit pops by making a multi-variant split test and placing the <noscript> tags around the exit pop content.

        I had to use a type of exit pop where the main content becomes hidden with javascript and the exit offer content goes from hidden to visible upon exit.

        Now visual website optimizer is in the main google analytics. I havent set up a multivariant test since, but i imagine the possibility is still there.

        Something to keep in mind is:

        If you are split testing multiple pages that have exit pops, make sure that the control page has a delay on when the exit pop is "armed". Otherwise when someone hits the control page and is redirected the exit pop will prevent the navigation to the proper variant page.
        You see this with optimize press' exit redirect feature and split tests.

        I had to rewrite a portion of that theme to fix that issue.
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        • Profile picture of the author rmx
          Thanks Kevin,

          Never thought of using that. Not sure I could figure out the technical side of your method though.

          RMX


          Originally Posted by kevinclanton View Post

          With Visual Webiste optimizer, i was able to split test exit pops by making a multi-variant split test and placing the <noscript> tags around the exit pop content.

          I had to use a type of exit pop where the main content becomes hidden with javascript and the exit offer content goes from hidden to visible upon exit.

          Now visual website optimizer is in the main google analytics. I havent set up a multivariant test since, but i imagine the possibility is still there.

          Something to keep in mind is:

          If you are split testing multiple pages that have exit pops, make sure that the control page has a delay on when the exit pop is "armed". Otherwise when someone hits the control page and is redirected the exit pop will prevent the navigation to the proper variant page.
          You see this with optimize press' exit redirect feature and split tests.

          I had to rewrite a portion of that theme to fix that issue.
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  • Profile picture of the author TimGross
    Dedicated split-test tracking scripts are the best, obviously, but I suspect a lot of people don't actually split-test when they should because it's too much work to go to the trouble of figuring out how to set it up.

    With that said, here's probably the world's easiest way to split traffic. Take everything between the dotted lines and save it as pagename.php, rename the two URL's in the header obviously, and start using it.

    It doesn't even officially split the traffic evenly, it just randomly assigns traffic to one or the other page, and as with flipping a coin, once you do it hundreds of times it's essentially even.

    -----------------------------------
    <?php
    if(rand(0,1) == 0) {
    header("Location: http://www.yoursite.com/page1.html");
    } else {
    header("Location: http://www.yoursite.com/page2.html");
    }
    ?>

    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
    <title></title>
    </head>

    <body>
    </body>
    </html>
    -------------------------------
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  • Profile picture of the author Yuma
    Originally Posted by Evan-M View Post

    give mowpop a try ( WordPress Popup Plugin | Wordpress Popup Plugin Software | MOW POP )

    it has analytics and can also rotate between as many as you like at the same time, plus a thousand other features!
    Thanks for this suggestion. I've been looking hi & low for a popup solution.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    Quite easily really.

    Same way to split test anything; rotation

    yourdomain.com/test

    make that domain your exit popup.

    Also, make that domain branch out into the variations you want to split test.
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  • Profile picture of the author obin94
    You can use googles experiments and create two exactly the same pages, with different popups. I think that would be the easiest way
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    • Profile picture of the author Yuma
      Originally Posted by obin94 View Post

      You can use googles experiments and create two exactly the same pages, with different popups. I think that would be the easiest way
      Will this work if you rotate the ads within the popup?
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      • Profile picture of the author obin94
        Originally Posted by Yuma View Post

        Will this work if you rotate the ads within the popup?
        If you use the same code, no. But if instead you had the code for the different ads on different pages that are all set up on the google experiments then it would work.
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  • Profile picture of the author DubDubDubDot
    Do yourself a favor and learn some basic PHP. Then you won't have to worry about third party bloatware slowing your site down. What you want to do is actually entry level stuff, so you won't have to memorize a 500 page book to do it.

    TimGross gives you one solution above that provides very simple functionality, but probably gets the job done for you.

    Here is a quick explanation of what's going on with the code.

    <?php
    Tells the server the code is PHP.

    if(rand(0,1) == 0) {
    Tells the server to choose a random number between 0 and 1. If the number is 0 then...

    header("Location: http://www.yoursite.com/page1.html");
    Redirect to that address.

    } else {
    If it isn't 0 then...

    header("Location: http://www.yoursite.com/page2.html");
    }
    Redirect to this address.

    ?>
    Tells the server the PHP code is done.
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    • Profile picture of the author celente
      Originally Posted by DubDubDubDot View Post

      Do yourself a favor and learn some basic PHP. Then you won't have to worry about third party bloatware slowing your site down. What you want to do is actually entry level stuff, so you won't have to memorize a 500 page book to do it.

      TimGross gives you one solution above that provides very simple functionality, but probably gets the job done for you.

      Here is a quick explanation of what's going on with the code.

      <?php
      Tells the server the code is PHP.

      if(rand(0,1) == 0) {
      Tells the server to choose a random number between 0 and 1. If the number is 0 then...

      header("Location: http://www.yoursite.com/page1.html");
      Redirect to that address.

      } else {
      If it isn't 0 then...

      header("Location: http://www.yoursite.com/page2.html");
      }
      Redirect to this address.

      ?>
      Tells the server the PHP code is done.
      we use a similar coding when we are testing too, and it sends an email everytime someone optings or buys from a certain sales page....makes testing and tracking a bit more to set up, but killer when you want to learn what is getting you the best results.

      Split testing everything is mandatory even popups.
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      • Profile picture of the author trevup
        Thanks guys. I heard a lot of good options here. I was going to purchase Exit Splash. Thanks for saving me cash and time.
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        • Profile picture of the author jagmal
          In case someone is still looking for a similar solution, www.connecto.io offers you this functionality and much more. e.g. you can A/B test between an exit popup and a popup that shows up on scroll or a top/bottom bar.
          Signature

          Founder, www.connecto.io

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