The complete guide to pop ups

Scroll Pop-Up: Scroll pop-ups work by “popping-up” only when your landing page or blog visitor has scrolled a certain amount down your page2. Timed Pop-Up: Depending on your business man

The

Complete

Guide to

Pop-Ups

Chapter 1:

What is a

Guide to Pop-Ups

A pop-up (in the terms we're talking about it in this article) is also called a

“modal window” Basically, it’s “any type of window that is secondary to a

parent window that usurps the parent’s control.”

The easiest way to think about it is as as a window that pops-up upon a

certain trigger (more on that below) and stops visitors from interacting with

the page until they complete a certain action

Something like this:

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from They’re in your face, loud, and shocking

They also work, and that’s what makes them awesome for your business

(when done correctly) Case studies have shown 1,000% increases in

subscribers lists by tens of thousands

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There are a couple primary reasons why they work:

1 Readers and visitors to your pages have short attention spans They

may not subscribe or submit lead information not because they don’t like what they see, but because they’ve been distracted, are bored,

or you don’t have a clear call-to-action button Pop-ups interrupt their leaving, putting an engagement opportunity front and center

2 Readers and visitors (particularly to your blog site) are focused on

your valuable content, which means they may not notice something obvious Pop-ups break through that focus

Anybody who is trying to leave your page will do so no matter if there’s a

pop-up or not People who may want to engage but were distracted or

didn’t notice your “ask” have a far higher chance of following through if

you integrate well-designed, timely pop-ups

There are five main pop-up strategies, and they should each be tested by

your business to determine which works best for you

Here’s how they break down (from the Wishpond pop-up tool):

5 Types of Pop-Up Defined:

1 Click Pop-Up: Different from the other up types below, click

pop-ups are an option for your page’s links Rather than opening a new tab, clicking on one of your links will open a pop-up This makes it far more likely that your page visitor will learn something, close the pop-

up, and stay on the original page (and possibly convert!)

2 Scroll Pop-Up: Scroll pop-ups work by “popping-up” only when your

landing page or blog visitor has scrolled a certain amount down your page I recommend you don’t show your scroll pop-up before the halfway point of your page

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3 Timed Pop-Up: Depending on your business (many affiliates have

found more success with a 10-15 second pop-up), timing your pop-ups can have a huge effect on conversion rates Most case-studies agree that the optimal time for your pop-up is less than or equal to 60

seconds after a visitor has entered your page Test this for yourself

4 Exit Pop-Up: Exit pop-ups are the most common (and my favorite)

kind Generally, they appear only when the cursor of your landing page or blog visitor reaches the top pixel of your page This, almost exclusively, means they’re interrupted before they have a chance to hit the “back” or “forward” buttons, create a new tab, head to their bookmarks, or type in another url The “Wait, before you go” pop-up I showed above is an example of an exit pop-up

5 Entry Pop-Up: Far rarer, entry pop-ups appear as soon as a visitor

arrives on your page Entry pop-ups are interesting as they appear after someone has clicked on a link they’re interested in, meaning they don’t always cause a bounce (even if they don’t cause a

conversion)

It’s important that you only have one type of pop-up per page Don’t

integrate a timed pop-up with an exit pop-up, as it will (rather than

doubling the chance of a conversion) simply come across as spamming -

something you really don’t want

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Discounts like Neil’s work fantastically, as viewers feel like they’ve been

picked out for something exclusive

Ebook promotion also works (especially when the content is relevant, as I’

ll talk about in depth below) Although your ebook downloads are most

likely featured on the side of your blog page anyway, putting the value of

a comprehensive guide front and center increases the chance of your

readers engaging

Here are a few more pop-up best-practices:

● Display the exit “X” prominently

● Utilize a third-party pop-up provider to ensure that your pop-ups

don’t show on every single page or more than once per unique visitor

● Ensure you’re utilizing cookies and tracking software so you don’t

show subscriber or lead prompts to people who have already converted

● Do the same with non-subscribers who have been to your site

multiple times and closed your pop-up multiple times (this is called spamming, and is one of the reasons pop-ups get such a bad rap)

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Pop-ups are effective so long as you’re not making people hate you.

Here are a few pop-up no-no’s

● Hiding (or having a “technical difficulty”) on the exit buttons on

your pop-ups This makes your visitor feel forced into an action (give them an out!)

● Don’t use pop-ups that look like a browser box These freak

people out (they think their computer is having an error) and will create serious distrust

● Don’t have your pop-up cover the entire browser and screen, leave

grey, darkened space around it

Here’s an example of a good pop-up:

Why it’s good:

● A clear and relevant USP/Headline

● Short and succinct list of benefits and value

● Single form field increases chance of engagement

● Obvious, color-contrasting CTA button

● Privacy statement makes it clear that we won’t spam you

● Grayed-out background focuses attention on the pop-up

● Obvious exit button calms pop-up viewers

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Often the best way of communicating an idea is to give you a real-world

example (also encourages you to believe the things I’m saying ) So here’s

a case study you might enjoy:

company called Health Ambition Initially the pop-up featured only an

email list prompt to subscribe to their newsletter Conversions were 59%

The next pop-up they ran prompted visitors to download a generic ebook

on “7 Better Breakfasts” no matter what page the visitor was on

Conversion rates on the page increased by almost 100% Awesome

But they kept pushing, not satisfied with doubling their conversion rates

(despite the fact that a 1% email opt-in rate on a blog is pretty damn solid)

They tried one more time, this time personalizing their pop-ups When a

visitor was on the “juicing” subject tab of their blog, the pop-up that

appeared featured a “juicing-specific” recipe ebook

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Here’s what I recommend for making your pop-ups relevant:

● Create different pop-ups (and content) for each of your product

pages, as well as each subject you discuss on your blog

● Engage with a 3rd party pop-up provider to create pop-ups specific to

your landing pages

● Feature the subject of your pop-up front and center (in the headline)

● Include an image that communicates the subject relevant to both your

pop-up and the content or product

Your landing page pop-up is far more likely to resonate with your site

traffic if it speaks to the thing they’re thinking about in that moment And

that means an increase in conversions, leads, and dollars for your

business

It’s not only enough for you and your business to test pop-ups as a

strategy, you need to test them against each other In fact, you may find

that one design, format, or strategy of pop-ups decreases your page’s

conversion rates, but another will double or triple your lead generation,

sales, or email subscribers

So don’t be too hasty with dismissing pop-ups Test it first (and, I hate

having to do this, but I just have to mention that Wishpond’s pop-up

Here are 8 ideas for testing your pop-ups.

1 Test your headline: The first thing someone sees when your pop-up

“pops-up”, you need to test it for size, color, location as well as copy

2 Test your design: What colors resonate best with your landing page

visitor? Something that contrasts with the page the pop-up is on, or the same color scheme? Test fonts, colors, font sizes, as well as overall message

3 Test your image: As I mentioned in “relevancy” above, your pop-up

may be more successful if it includes an image Test people,

products, or abstract images that communicate your subject.

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4 Test your form fields: Form fields are an art in themselves What

“ask” generates the highest conversion rates? In what order? Test to see if you should have your form field above or below your headline

To the right or left? Aligned or asymmetrical? For more on form fields, check out my article “Optimizing your Landing Page Form Fields for

5 Test your CTA button: See what copy resonates most with your

pop-up viewer I’d avoid the standard “submit” and get a bit creative with

it Also test colors, shapes, and sizes

6 Test your copy: Like your landing pages, your pop-ups should

communicate value quickly and obviously Test including a short list

of everything subscribers stand to gain from converting

5 Test your exit options: Do you receive complaint emails if you take

away the “x” at the top right of your pop-up but include a “no thanks”

option at the bottom? What about if you include the “x” but take away the “no thanks” option? What’s the conversion effect of allowing

users to close the pop-up simply by clicking on the grey background?

6 Test the “neg”: Many businesses have found success by including

two buttons in their pop-ups: one that reads something like “yes, I’d love to free access resources” and another that reads “no, I don’t want free stuff.”

Chapter 7:

Guide to Pop-Ups

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So what is the conclusion of all this? Should your business use

pop-ups?

Yes, absolutely 100%.

Should you test them first, implement them slowly and carefully and

A/B test them at every step?

Yes, absolutely 100%.

If it’s not already clear that you need to test the hell out of your pop-ups

(and even the idea of them) I don’t know what more I can do When used

correctly they can have a serious effect on your conversion rates, increase

your email list, boost lead generation and sales and result in hundreds of

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In order to make this easier on yourself, you really do need to find a

pop-up provider who makes it simpler Implementing the code required for

well-designed, optimized pop-ups is mind-boggling for most people

A/B testing is equally difficult (especially as most of your favorite A/B

testing tools (Optimizely, for instance) haven’t yet integrated pop-up

testing into their software

If you want to experiment or test out pop-ups in your own website, check

out Wishpond’s tools, or sign up for a free one-on-one chat with one of

our customer success leads

Thanks for reading!