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Pop-ups have a reputation for being annoying, but that’s not the whole story. Not all pop-ups ads are considered annoying. In fact, pop-ups advertising is highly effective when done correctly – emphasis on correctly.
It’s entirely possible to create pop-ups ads that appeal to your website visitors and add to their experience.
In this article, you’ll learn about 11 effective ways to use pop-ups to get results, but first, let’s explore the science behind why this form of advertising is so effective.
Pop-ups ads work and there’s plenty of proof, including this study performed by Sumo that looked at 1,754,957,675 pop-ups. Based on the results, at 100 visitors per day, the average pop-ups ad will generate about 90 subscribers each month, while a highly effective ad can generate closer to 275 subscribers per month.
The study found the following:
This begs the question: if pop-ups ads are so effective, why does it seem like people complain about them so much?
Isn’t that contradictory?
It might be in part because some people tend to complain about things.
Many people who complain about pop-ups have likely subscribed to those same pop-ups they’ve complained about.
However, there’s another reason: Pop-ups are displayed to every visitor.
Your conversion rate is based on your view rate. Since pop-ups need to be viewed to be closed, they’re basically being seen by 100% of your visitors.
Your conversion rate might be high, but the percentage of people who close your ad will be higher.
The people who complain about pop-ups are likely the ones who aren’t converting, and that’s going to be a large number of people.
Now let’s talk about why pop-ups are effective. There are a few main reasons this form of advertising works so well:
Now that you know why pop-ups are effective, it’s important to grasp some best practices to ensure you aren’t annoying your visitors. Yes, there is a way to deliver effective pop-ups without annoying your visitors.
Even when visitors close a pop-up window, that doesn’t mean they’re annoyed. The best pop-ups will appear smoothly and offer visitors an easy and fast way to close it. Most people only become annoyed at pop-ups that feel intrusive and can’t be closed easily.
You’ll only get improved conversions to your landing pages when people want what you’re offering. Make your offer irresistible and make sure it delivers on the promise. Over-deliver if possible.
Pop-ups become intrusive when they’re not easy to close. Make sure you have a clearly visible “X” in the upper right corner that is fully responsive to both clicks and finger taps on mobile devices. Create a thick, solid colored border around your pop-up to make the “X” more visible.
Don’t be afraid of people closing your pop-up – you want people to close it if they aren’t interested. If they can close it easily, they’ll be more likely to return to your site. If your pop-up is a barrier to accessing your content, they’ll bounce and hesitate to return.
Once a visitor closes your pop-up, don’t display it to them again. Most pop-ups can be programmed to not show up for returning visitors who closed it out, and it’s wise to program yours this way. You’ll lose a chunk of returning traffic if people have to close out a pop-up every single time they visit your website. If you’re running a blog, this will become a huge barrier.
Make sure your pop-up offer is relevant to the content on the page people are viewing.
Your offer might seem relevant to every page, but if you have any specialty pages with content that isn’t a match, turn off your pop-up for those pages or come up with a different offer.
Your offer needs to be clear and understandable right away or people will close your pop-up if they can’t figure out what you’re offering.
Studies have shown that you don’t want to display pop-ups immediately, but you should wait about five seconds. This seems to be the perfect timing. Five seconds allows visitors to understand where they are before they’re asked to sign up for your email list.
There are two elements that should be absent from your landing pages: navigation menus and pop-ups. Visitors to your landing pages aren’t the same as regular web traffic – they’re expecting something specific and a pop-up will be a frustrating barrier to access. For instance, when they’ve already read and clicked on an ad to get to your landing page, they just want to get what they’re after.
Email signup forms generate less conversions when they have more form fields. Many people ask only for an email address, while others ask for a first name as well. The latter is ideal since it allows you to personalize your emails. Three form fields tend to get the most conversions. Ask for more than three pieces of information and your conversions will likely fall.
However, getting fewer conversions isn’t always bad. Just because someone signs up for your free offer doesn’t mean they’re your market. You want to discourage some people from signing up when they’re not your target.
Exceptions to this rule vary depending on your industry and target market. For example, if you’re targeting professionals who must hold a specific credential, you’ll want to ask leads to identify their credential on your signup form for two reasons: First, this will help you disqualify leads that aren’t your target market. Second, you segment tag leads based on their credential, which will help you market to specific sub groups.
A click trigger pop-up appears when a visitor intentionally clicks on a link or image. The advantage to this method is that your visitors want the information provided by the pop-up since they have to click to get it. It should be no surprise, then, that click triggers convert 12 times better than standard pop-ups.
This pop-up will show up when a user shows intent to leave your website. An exit-intent pop-up is usually triggered when a visitor moves their mouse away from the website and toward the top of the browser.
Most exit-intent pop-ups say something like, “Wait! Before you go, here’s an offer just for you…” and many offer a generous discount. Use this to your advantage because exit-intent pop-ups work!
This is similar to the exit-intent pop-up, but with a conditional twist. This pop-up will only show up if a visitor has an item in their cart when they start to leave the page. With nearly 70% of all shopping carts abandoned, you want to capture as many sales as possible by bringing people back to complete their purchases.
You won’t capture everyone, but you will capture some people. The reason you won’t capture everyone is simple: not everyone is looking to buy.
Many people add items to their cart to compare prices, get shipping quotes, and some use shopping carts as a “wish list.”
Although word around the ‘net is that pop-ups are annoying, now you know that’s not the case. It’s not that pop-ups are annoying – it’s that improperly implemented pop-ups are annoying. And by following the best practices outlined in this article, you can craft effective and unwanted pop-ups ads that will capture more signups from your target market while avoiding annoying those who aren’t interested.
Your revenue is directly tied to your ability to generate targeted leads, and pop-ups are one of the best ways to get those targeted leads.
When you have a desirable product or service, your ads will be welcomed by your visitors and they’ll be happy to sign up for your email list.
To recap: when your goal is to generate leads, pop-ups will prove to be an invaluable addition to your site. When properly implemented, pop-up ads will help you capture leads that you can nurture to conversion in order to generate the revenue you deserve. If you haven’t yet implemented this effective advertising strategy, there’s no better time to start than right now.
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