5 Of The Most Common Questions On Pop-Up Strategy
Pop-up strategy: one of the most controversial marketing methods out there.
One side will shout they are spammy, they are annoying, they are pointless to persuading website visitors to do something. The other side will shout equally loud that pop-ups are paramount in bringing in leads and purchases.
Both sides have a point. Website visitors historically hate the older style of lead capture – the flashy ‘You just won a timeshare in Florida’ window that jumps all over the screen type. They immediately make the visitor concerned about the validity of the website. On the other hand, a clean, simple opt-in strategy can turn a casual website visitor into a returning warm lead and ultimately a customer.
So, let’s break down the pop-up campaign argument.
Also called a lightbox or opt-in, a pop-up is an on-site lead capture strategy. Because of questionable marketing tactics that grew like weeds in the early 2000s, the term pop-up has an innately negative connotation. An opt-in can be a website banner, window, or any format of a message that appears on a web page that a viewer is perusing. It usually offers an incentive to click or take a certain action. There are endless types of pop-ups, from loud and flashy windows to opt-ins so natural that most assume they are a part of the webpage.
Here is a Pop-up on the Neil Patel page that is so understated it doesn’t consciously register as a pop-up:
How can I make pop-ups seem less spammy?
Content: make sure the message in the pop-up is valuable to the viewer. There is no point hitting someone with a pop-up if you don’t have a really good reason for them to read it. Pop-ups that offer true value will include info that directly improves the user experience on the site, with the product, or with the service.
Timing: this is a very important part of a pop-up strategy. Do you want the viewer to see the opt-in after they’ve read a portion of the webpage info? Or after they’ve scrolled through a certain section of the page? Or maybe right before they exit the page? Tailor this strategy to the goal of the lead capture. If you are trying to boost subscriptions, make sure you give the reader enough time to get sucked into the story before showing the opt-in. If you are selling a product, try ‘before exit’ timing to offer a last-minute discount before the visitor leaves your page.
The Number of pop-ups running: The last thing you want to do is blast someone with three different lead capture strategies on the same page within 30 seconds. I promise they won’t stick on your site for long. There are not many situations where you would want more than one opt-in active on a page, because any more than that and your entire website may seem spammy to the viewer. Make sure that your opt-ins are only running on relevant pages, and there is no pop-up overlap.
Where can I design pop-ups for my website?
Plugins: WordPress has an easy-to-use plugin to create simple quick banners and notifications. This is a good option if you want to show small updates or mini-offers to people who visit your site.
Third-party platforms: Platforms like OptinMonster are great for the companies wanting to dive in headfirst into a full opt-in strategy. These platforms offer custom design, tracking, timing, integrations, lead generation, testing… the options are endless. 
How do I track the success of my pop-ups?
Opt-in creation platforms: All opt-in platforms will include the success metrics of your pop-ups. You will know how many website visitors saw, ignored, or engaged with your lead capture strategies. These are great metrics to see side-by-side when testing multiple versions of opt-ins.
Google Analytics: You can create google analytics goals surrounding pop-up actions. This is a great way to assign conversion value to each goal achieved through pop-ups. It also allows you to see the results of all of your marketing efforts in one house, instead of needing to constantly hop from Google Analytics to the third-party platform.
Lead Generation: Make your opt-in incentives gated. That means every individual that wants the incentive your pop-ups offer need to give you their email. Not only is this a great way to track the interest in your offer, but you can use these email leads for future campaigns.
What should I be including in my pop-ups?
That depends on what the goal of the pop-up is. There are tons of different types of value you can add to your website visitor’s experience through lighthouses and pop-ups.
Gated content: Offer exclusive content that is only available to individuals who sign up through the opt-in. This is a great way to boost the size of your email lists.
Real-time Updates to the product or service: This can look like many things. If you are in the tourism industry or any other industry that works with reservations, you can turn on a pop-up notifying visitors that there are same-day openings for your service. If you are in a weather-related industry, you can notify individuals of any changes to your service due to last-minute weather reports.
Discounts: Offer exclusive and specific flash discounts on any promoted products. This is a great way to quickly boost engagement in specific products.
Opt-ins run on a spectrum from wildly helpful and successful, to totally damaging for your brand rep. The more effort and though you put behind your pop-up strategy, the less likely you are to annoy your website visitors.
Ready to jumpstart your optin strategy? Reach out to our team!
