Everything You Need to Know About Web Pop-Ups

There is a misconception that pop-ups are annoying and don’t work. This is wrong. Pop-ups can turn visitors into customers as well as keep people on your business’s site—as long as you use the right ones.

According to Sumome, the top 10 percent of high-performing pop-ups have, on average, a 9.28 percent conversion rate. Here, conversion rate equals to the number of people who saw the pop-up and took action.

How do you know which pop-ups work on different users with different preferences?

Let’s discuss a few scenarios and the types of pop-ups that will best suit your needs.

1) When a User Enters the Page

Your target user is on your page. You need to grab their attention. You need to engage them and get them to take action.

Entrance Pop-Up
This type of pop-up appears as soon as the user hits your landing page. The intent is to make them act as soon as they are on your site and before they lose their interest, but don’t annoy them. Add value to their experience without making them work for it. Asking a user to fill out a form as soon as they arrive on your site is annoying. Instead, provide an e-book download or get creative and offer them an interesting infographic.

Sidebar Pop-Up
This is a more subtle pop-up. It is also a better option if you want your user to fill out a form or if you want to direct your user to another page. Use a less-intrusive sidebar pop-up to recommend an article that the user might find interesting.

Scroll Pop-Up
This pop-up helps determine how long a user is staying on your page before abandoning it. Set a pop-up to appear after 50 or 60 percent of a page has been scrolled. This pop-up tells you about your user’s interest.

2) When a User Stays On the Page

Say you have a user who is interested in your page, but you still want them to fill out a form or perform an action. There are several pop-up options available.

Timed Pop-Up
Use this pop-up to keep people engaged after they’ve been on your page for a significant amount of time. This pop-up can be tricky if you don’t know how to schedule it properly. Research is crucial. The pop-up should activate right before the user is predicted to leave.

User Choice Pop-Up
This type of pop-up appears only when a user clicks on a particular link, word or image on your landing page. The user is aware that after clicking on the link they need to perform an action. This is the least intrusive pop-up, as the user is well aware it’s coming. One example would be asking the user to “click here” to read the e-book about a subject they’re seeing on your site.

[bctt tweet=”How do you know which pop-ups work on different users with different preferences? Read this to know more” username=”agilecrm”]

Footer Pop-Up
This should activate when a user scrolls to the bottom of your landing page. It’s a good way to understand how long the user is engaged and if the content on the page appeals to them or not.

3) When a User Decides to Leave the Page

When your user decides to leave your page without performing any action, you need to make them stay or provide them an action to perform. Two different pop-ups can help you accomplish this.

Exit Intent Pop-Up
This pop-up appears when it looks like a user is going to abandon your landing page. It’s straight forward. The pop-up plugin tracks the user’s mouse movement and senses when the user is about to leave. An exit intent pop-up needs to be alluring. A form will not work. Provide something that will stop them in their tracks.

Content Upgrade Pop-Up
This is useful when you are trying to get more email sign-ups. Just provide a content upgrade in the form of a checklist, e-book, whitepaper or video to make your user stay. You do, however, need to ensure that the upgrade is relevant to the content on the page.

4) When a User Navigates to Different Pages

Though you might direct a user to one page, they may decide to check out another part of your site. This can happen if the user’s interest is waning. Try one of these pop-ups.

Contact Form Pop-Up
Provide the user with a contact form instead of letting them wander. Especially if the user is spending time on a page because your product interests them, but they are looking for more information.

Tab Display Pop-Up
Maybe a user liked your site’s content and switched to another page to read more. Take advantage of this opportunity. Give them a tab display pop-up option. Here, the pop-up will expand only when the user clicks on it. The click is dependent on a 1-2 word action line that you will have on your tab. Use a line that is action-worthy.

5) When a User Clicks on Any Link

This can fall under user-choice pop-up or you can use other pop-ups as well. A user clicks on a link because they’re trying to engage with your content, so use pop-ups that are engagement worthy.

Video Pop-Up
The best way to interact with your user is to give them something visual. Something to watch that is entertaining and engaging. A video pop-up can give them more insight on the content or show the journey of your product. Remember though: don’t be boring. At the end of the video, you can have form or tab asking them to sign up for more such videos.

Content Upgrade Pop-Up
Mentioned before, but worth revisiting. Say a user wants more engagement and more value. In such a case, provide content that has more depth to it. Use infographics, guides, resource lists or spreadsheets. You can add any type of content upgrade, as long as it is relevant.

Targeted pop-ups can do wonders for your website and your business, just be sure to focus on your users’ actions and interests. Do research on your pop-ups and analyze which ones work the best—and never be boring.