Ahh yes, the almighty pop up.  They are the windows that pop up when you visit a website, either to ask you to enter your email to opt-in and receive something, or to ask you “Are you sure you want to leave?”  They are also known as lightboxes.

Most of us dislike them, yet they still work.  So we must be engaging with them right? How is this?

If done well, they will draw your attention in at the right time once you have given a user enough time to connect with your website. Just in case they did not sign up for something elsewhere on your site, you can give them one last chance to sign up as they leave.

After all, most visitors won’t return to your site once they see it once. That is why collecting their details upon that first visit is key. Then you can communicate with them again via your email marketing.

So what makes a pop up ‘not so scary’ in the eyes of your site’s visitor?

Do pop ups work? Here’s what you need to know:

• Set your pop up to appear as someone leaves your site
  Give someone a chance to browse your site before you dive bomb them with a pop up.  They need to see your website as trustworthy first before they take that next step with you.  Check out these tips on making your site credible.
• Set it to not appear again for at least 7 days
  You can tell your pop up to not appear again to the same visitor until after a certain amount of time.  This is important because if they end up coming back again shortly after their first visit, you don’t want to piss them off by trying to get their details each time.
• Tell them in your headline how your free item will help them
  This is not the time to be creative. Respect their time by clearly spelling out what someone will get if they end up filling in the form in your pop up.  Is it a report, video or ebook you are giving away?  Let them know and share the benefits they will get.

Here are 3 pop up plugins I recommend:

Dreamgrow Scroll Triggered Box
Visit the site
Cost: Free
More Info: An easy to install and set up WordPress plugin. An option for nice placement in the bottom of your site to not be too “in your face” to your visitors. There aren’t too many options for design unless you know CSS or someone who does.

Pop Up Domination
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Cost: $77
More Info: Good selection of designs and many templates to choose from.  Allows you to set the lightbox to appear based on cookies or people leaving your site.  This was one of the first pop up options I ever used and still use. Split testing is available so you can find out which box you set up converts the most, and then only continue using that one. Includes built in analytics for measuring.

Pippity
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Cost: Starts at $49
More Info: Beautiful templates and choice of when the pop up appears.  It also includes split testing and analytics.

 

Still not sure what a pop up even is or how it can benefit you?  I recommend checking out the sites above to get an idea.

Most people claim to not like pop ups, but those who use them in an unobtrusive way on their websites get amazing results (me included). I have tested this myself and it is true. When I use a pop up I get subscribers more than twice as much as when I don’t.

And yes!  I am a Walking Dead, zombie movie buff (thus the silly image I designed above).

How do you feel about this topic? Have you used pop ups or lightboxes on your site? Did they work for you? Do you detest them? If so why?