Pop-ups are a necessary evil. Many of us find them to be a nuisance and their inventor, Ethan Zuckerman, has even apologised for introducing them to the internet. However, pop-ups can be a very useful tool for advertisers and website owners – separating information from web pages into new windows in order to be more attention-grabbing.
The key to a successful pop-up strategy is to use them tastefully. This involves grabbing people’s attention without being too annoying about it. Below are some examples of pop-up content and how to introduce these pop-ups to your site in a tasteful way.
Types of pop-up content
Pop-ups are used for a variety of purposes. Some of the most common uses for pop-ups are included below.
Cookie consent notices
It’s legally mandatory for every UK site to ask visitors for consent to store cookies on their device. Cookies are small pieces of data that are used to remember individual users – which can be useful for auto-filling passwords or generating tailored ads. While some internet users are happy to share their data, others prefer to keep it private for security reasons. By using a pop-up to ask users upfront whether they want to accept cookies, you can determine straight away what their cookie preferences are. There is typically no other way to make sure visitors choose their cookie preferences beyond using a pop-up.
Live chat box
Many company websites now contain pop-up live chat boxes. Live chats allow website visitors to easily ask questions to a virtual assistant via instant message. This is more convenient than having to call or send an email. Most live chat boxes connect you with a real person, but a growing number of companies have been using bots instead (bots reduce the need to hire a staff member and can provide instant answers 24/7). If you choose the latter, it’s worth taking your time to search for the best chatbot for website use as some bots are better quality than others. Whether you choose a real persona or a bot, it could be worth triggering an automated ‘can I help you today?’ message to visitors as a pop-up. This can encourage visitors to ask questions and increase leads.
Lead magnets
Another way to generate leads through pop-up is to use lead magnets. These are pop-ups designed to turn visitors into leads in a single click. They include promotional offers that can direct visitors to a certain page, forms that encourage visitors to get a quote there and then and requests to sign visitors up to a mailing list so that visitors receive promotional emails. Studies show lead magnets can increase sign up rates by 155%. It’s therefore no wonder that they’re so popular.
Third party ads
The traditional use for pop-ups is to display third-party ads. Such adverts are less popular on modern websites because they are generally considered the most annoying of all pop-ups. However, they can be an effective way to generate some ad revenue on your site – because they’re harder to ignore, they tend to generate more clicks. Just consider the fact that users with ad blocker tools will not see these ads. You also need to be careful as to which third-party pop-ups you allow as some may contain viruses.
Abandoned cart reminders
If you own an online store, an abandoned cart reminder pop-up could be a great way to increase sales. Many visitors add items to their ‘cart’ when browsing online stores, but leave without checking out – either because they have second thoughts or forget. By triggering an abandoned cart reminder when visitors try to leave your page, you may encourage some of them to follow through with their purchase. Such pop-ups could alternatively be triggered when visitors return to your site.
Incomplete form alerts
When placing forms on your site, it may be necessary to prevent users from submitting a form until they have filled in all mandatory boxes. An incomplete form alert pop-up can tell users exactly which field is incomplete so that they can proceed. This can tell users exactly why their form hasn’t been submitted rather than requiring them to work it out for themselves (which could put off some visitors).
Age verification messages
Age verification messages are required on websites with age-restricted content (such as online stores that sell alcohol or adult sites). While underage users can still easily lie and claim they are over the minimum age, having such a message is still important for protecting you legally. Such pop-ups may ask ‘are you over 18?’ with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, or may require you to enter your date of birth (typically a more robust form of age verification which is more likely to put off underage users).
Exit confirmation messages
A final common use for pop-ups is exit confirmation messages. If a visitor is half-way through entering a form or half-way through a check-out process, and they decide to leave your page, you can trigger a pop-up to appear with a message like ‘are you sure you want to leave?’. This can be useful for users who may have accidentally closed the tab. For those who intended to leave, it can meanwhile prompt them to think twice before leaving – reducing lost leads.
How to use pop-ups tastefully
While there are many useful purposes for pop-ups, their effectiveness largely comes down to how you implement them. Most of us find pop-ups to be annoying because they interrupt us, but it’s possible to make them feel less intrusive, as a few of these tips explain…
Think carefully about the placement
Full-screen pop-ups are the most intrusive type of pop-up because they completely prevent you from doing anything else on the web page until you take action. Therefore, they should be used in moderation. By incorporating pop-ups that only cover part of the screen, you can allow visitors to still browse and attend to the pop-up in their own time. Most visitors will still not be able to ignore the pop-up and may have to take action if it covers something they’re reading, but they won’t be as aggravated by them. Such pop-ups could take the form of a banner at the bottom, a banner at the top, a sidebar pop up, a pop-up covering half the screen or a pop-up in the corner of the web page (the bottom right corner is the most common place for live chat boxes).
Don’t trigger them all to appear on arrival
Bombaring visitors with several pop-ups the moment they land on your site could lead to a high bounce rate. Visitors who are in a hurry may not have time to fight through pop-ups to see your content, and so may leave and try another site. This is why you should consider triggering pop-ups to appear at different stages of the visitor’s journey. One solution is to trigger pop-ups on a timer, so that they only appear after a certain amount of time spent on a page. Another option is to trigger certain pop-ups only if a visitor returns to your site (this is a good strategy with lead magnet pop-ups, as return visitors are more likely to genuinely be interested in your product/service). You can also trigger pop-ups to appear once a visitor has scrolled a certain way down a page or after visiting a certain amount of web pages on a site. This ensures that visitors are already engaged in your website’s content before hitting them with pop-ups.
Be playful with pop-up messages
Pop-up messages can often be made less annoying by incorporating some gentle humour. This could include embracing the fact that pop-ups can be annoying by opening messages with statements like ‘Sorry to interrupt you there’ or ‘oh no, a pop-up!’. Alternatively, you can have fun when labelling call to action buttons. For example, when asking people to sign up to a financial blog’s mailing list, you could consider alternatives to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ such as ‘yes, i want to save money’ and ‘no, i don’t want to save money’. These types of pop-up messages may have a cheeky charm that encourages some visitors to reconsider their answer. Just don’t take them to the extreme, as they may appear rude.
Make it easy to close pop-ups
Some pop-ups try to encourage users to interact with them by not making the exit button obvious. It’s fine to not provide a close symbol if it’s mandatory that users interact with your pop-up (as may be the case with an age verification pop-up). However, if it’s just a lead magnet, there should be a clear ‘X’ button in the corner or ‘no thank you’ message. If visitors feel they’re being trapped into submitting a form or signing up to a mailing list, they may choose to exit your site. Allowing users to easily escape pop-ups shows that you’re not trying to hassle them into a purchase.
Conclusion
It’s worth experimenting with lots of different types of pop-up content. But it’s important to use these pop-ups tastefully by thinking carefully about their placement, triggering them to appear at different points on the user’s journey, using friendly wording in messages and making it easy to close them.
Feature image by Mohamed_hassan on Pixabay
