Pop-ups are one of the most incorrectly used marketing tools on websites, so much so that browsers such as Chrome and Firefox have created pop-up blockers to help online users combat them. While pop-ups may seem like an excellent option for you to beef up your subscription lists, improve customer experience, or reduce your abandoned cart rates, they can work against you if you toss them on your website without any strategy.
Take a look at some of the best practices below when considering adding pop-ups to your site.
Do Create Visual Cues to Direct Your Visitors
Visual cues can include colors, arrows directing them to CTAs, cool animation, and attention-grabbing font styles and sizes. People will naturally skim a webpage or ad for the most relevant information. Online users want information fast and visible; they don’t want to work too hard to get to good stuff. Also, visual elements such as contrasting colors and eye-catching imagery can do wonders for increasing pop-up engagement.
Do Give Something Away
That can be free access to premium content, free trials, samples, and any other exclusive offerings that come to mind. Use pop-ups to help get initial buy-in from new prospects. Once they’ve opted into your marketing funnel, you can begin working your magic and guiding them down the yellow brick road to converting into buyers.
Do Cross and Up-sell
Pop-ups can be an effective way to offer additional products once purchases are complete. Try to find ways to implement pop-ups on purchase confirmation pages to introduce visitors to your other offerings. You’ll be surprised by how many ancillary items you’ll sell using this method.
Do Overcome Objections with Exit Pop-Ups
If you have a high number of abandoned shopping carts or exits on product pages, chances are that your prospects are experiencing last-minute buying anxiety, and your job is to reduce their perceived risk. Create exit pop-ups that speak to product guarantees or stamps of approval from credible sources and show consumers what they stand to lose if they don’t purchase your offering.
Don’t Use the Same Pop-Ups Forever
Consumer tastes change, and so should your offerings. Testing out different pop-ups can help you find the ideal offerings to achieve your goals. Create different themes for your pop-ups based on current trends, seasonal changes, new products, or visitor activity. For example, if you notice that a significant number of visitors visit a particular product’s page, perhaps you can create a pop-up showcasing its features on the homepage.
Don’t Bombard Visitors
Imagine walking into an apparel store, and three different salespeople approach you all at once. Well, this is how visitors feel when they go to a site that has pop-ups disrupting their viewing experience every five minutes. If you want to help lower your bounce rates, avoid using several pop-ups on the homepage or any one page. Conducting visitor tests can help you determine the right frequency and amount of pop-ups for ideal engagement.
Don’t Use Entry Pop-Ups
Entry pop-ups tend to annoy visitors the most. Why? Because your visitors barely have their foot in the door and you’re already asking them for something. They don’t even know yet if they like your content, and you’ve just interrupted their viewing experience with a random pop-up. Allow them time to peruse your site first before you go in for the kill.
Don’t Use Sounds
You don’t know what the visitor may be engaged in while they’re checking out your site. They could be listening to music or in a meeting, and the sounds of unexpected chimes and bird chirps can leave them a bit jarred. Lose the sounds; the pop-up itself is enough to get their attention.
Don’t Use Irrelevant Pop-Ups
Irrelevant pop-ups are ones that have nothing to do with the content or your services. Stick to one goal when creating pop-ups and don’t try to fill it up with long blocks of text or request too much information. If you want high conversions, then it’s best to focus on one primary objective with each pop-up.
Try not to go off gut instincts when implementing pop-up strategies. Instead, test out different ideas and see which ones convert the best. Always look to your analytics to see what you can improve.
