A website popup is an overlay that appears on the user’s screen. Popups can be used to entice a user to take any action, such as subscribe to your email list or download your ebook.
Website popups are often used for lead generation and should not be overlooked when designing a site. But, not all pop-ups are created equal.
Your popup is either going to be extremely effective, or it’s going to annoy your visitor so much that they leave the website.
That’s why you need to follow some basic rules when designing a popup for your website in order to optimize it and make people want to use them, not hate them!
Keep reading to learn the most common methods for optimizing website signup pop-ups.
Why Should You Optimize Website Signup Pop-Ups?
Email signup popup is an effective way to increase your website’s conversion rate. Why? Because the content that you provide on your site is not enough to convince a visitor to subscribe to your email list, a popup displays an additional layer of information that is relevant to your visitor, giving them an incentive to subscribe.
Another reason why signup popups are very effective is that they connect directly with people’s goals instead of emailing them about products or services.
People are informed about what’s happening on your site by seeing what kinds of things interest them. Optimizing website signup pop-ups are a great way to increase conversion.
Popup Optimization Best Practices
To design and optimize a website signup popup, some common best practices are listed below.
1. Use Popups For More Than Email Collection
Keep in mind that one of the greatest mistakes you can make is designing a popup just for collecting email addresses. You should also offer benefits like e-books, discount coupons, or other advantages while using your website.
In such a way, it will encourage visitors to come back to your site. They have the potential to bring in additional earnings down the road.
2. Create Multiple Popups
Respondents to sign-up popups can be divided into three categories. The first – “quick responders,” are instantly willing to sign up for anything, the second are those who need some convincing, and the third category consists of people who hate signing up for anything.
You want to target all three groups! So create multiple popups that have different designs and values so that you can target all these groups.
3. Use Multistep Popups
If you want to gather contact information from your visitors, a good strategy is to not make them take one decision but rather make multiple decisions in a certain sequence; we call this a multistep popup.
You’ll have a higher likelihood of gathering those leads if your popup has a sequence that delivers value to the visitor.
A good example is a website that offers discounts. A first popup may display a coupon code for the visitor’s first order, while the second popup could give them additional discounts on choosing various products and/or delivery times, etc.
The objective is to get them to make multiple decisions in order to gather more information about the user and their preferences.
4. Make Mobile-Specific Popups
Your visitors are using different types of devices and browsers when visiting your website, so make sure that you optimize your popups for those who use mobile phones and tablets. It can be done by testing responsive popups optimized for all sorts of devices.
Mobile-specific popups are very popular nowadays. They show the user different offers or information, correspondingly with their mobile device.
Such popups often offer the user quick access to their mobile app or give them the option to see a certain webpage on mobile or desktop devices. It is important that you think through how your users interact with your website and create a popup targeted toward them.
5. Use Real-Time Data As A Trigger
There are many possibilities to use real-time data as a trigger to show a popup. The most common option is to show popups based on the geolocation of visitors.
For example, if you own an e-commerce store and your popup shows different products in different locations, it will be most beneficial for you to show visitors what’s nearby their location instead of showing them unavailable items around them.
You can also use the visitor’s internet service provider information to offer free shipping or free returns based on their location. Another way is to track user actions while visiting your website and show a popup accordingly.
6. Use A Nice Design
The last best practice we want to mention is to use a nice design for your popups. It is important to show the value that you offer in a popup and not just focus on using it for collecting email addresses.
If you can provide them with valuable content which is actually interesting, people are more likely to subscribe and provide some information about themselves.
Suppose your popup isn’t attractive or doesn’t give them any valuable information. In that case, they may think that you’re trying to deceive them in order for them to provide their email address, which will lead to an increased number of bounce rates and unsubscribers.
The Bottom Line
Although there are some rules to follow when designing a website popup, remember that there is no one-size-fits-all rule, and it is up to you to experiment and create the best design for your website.
Use these rules as a starting point if you have specific questions on how to design the best popups for your subscribers or if you want to know more about the newest trends in this area of internet marketing.
