Pop-Up Marketing

What is a pop-up?

A pop-up is just a window that appears suddenly on a website and shows a short message. They can take various forms:

• text
• graphic
• video

Pop-ups can be displayed in different places and at different times, such as on the homepage, when scrolling through a blog article or after adding products to a shopping cart in an online store. Most Internet users have also experienced “mandatory” pop-ups since the introduction of GDPR. These are the windows where visitors are asked to agree to the site's privacy policy or terms and conditions. Pop-ups asking users to accept cookies are just as common.

Pop-up in marketing – roles

Pop-up is an effective tool to use in marketing automation. They can serve a variety of purposes, such as:

• encouraging visitors to stay on the site – a pop-up may appear when a reader, after browsing a few subpages, returns to the homepage,
• acquiring leads – this kind of pop-up is designed to encourage visitors to your website, e.g. to download an e-book, fill out a form, etc.,
• informing about promotions, discounts – pop-ups are ideal when you want to boost an ongoing promotional campaign,
• newsletter signup – with a box that asks people to sign up for a newsletter, you can collect the email addresses of potential customers and get more subscribers. 

Types of pop-ups

What are the types of pop-ups? The most common are: 

• Exit pop-up – this one appears to a user when they want to leave the website. The purpose of such a pop-up is to encourage the visitor to stay on the site,
• Welcome mat – this type of pop-up restricts access to the site's content by blacking out all or part of it. A user must close the window to see the site content,
• Push notifications – these are small-sized notifications that feature a very short message. A user must agree to receive such notifications, 
• Floating bar – a thin bar with a message. Although you might not think of it as a pop-up, you can still use it that way and decide when and where it appears on your website. 
• Slide-in – a window that slides out from the right/left side of the site or from the top/bottom.

When should a pop-up appear on the site?

When the popping windows should be displayed on the site? There is no one right answer to this – it all depends on the function the pop-up is supposed to perform as well as the specifics and expectations of the organization. Most often, pop-ups appear: 

• immediately after entering the site – this approach is effective when you want to alert your audience to something important (e.g. a new collection of clothes that has just arrived at the store) or you have a special promotion (e.g. on the occasion of the upcoming holidays). It's crucial that a pop-up like this offers the consumer some sort of value, 
• after spending some time on the site – a user who has spent some time on the site is most likely interested in the content. A pop-up can encourage them to browse an online store's offerings or sign up for a newsletter, for example. If a visitor has spent x amount of time reading a particular article, a pop-up can be used to recommend similar content,
• after scrolling down the page to a particular moment – this approach is often used on one-page sites. A pop-up asking a visitor to sign up for a newsletter, for example, can appear when they have scrolled 70% of the text. 
• after a consumer has added a product to their shopping cart – in this case, a pop-up may encourage a user to look at a product that is somehow related to the selected item. For instance, the pop-up may suggest adding shoe care polish to a customer's shopping cart when they purchase shoes from an online store. 

Pop-up – what mistakes to avoid

Pop-ups are a great marketing tool, but if used improperly, they can have unfavorable effects. What are they?

• Higher bounce rate 
• Poor brand perception 
• Lower ranking in search results 

What can be done to avoid these risks? How can I get the pop-up do its job? Avoid these mistakes: 

Too many pop-ups

No one likes it when too many pop-ups appear on a site. They then make it hard to consume content, and instead of being associated with modern marketing, they remind people more of sites from the early 1990s. If we have too many pop-ups on a site, users may get annoyed and leave, never to return. Even if they don't do that, it's likely that they won't pay attention to the messages that pop up in the windows.

Pop-ups that can't be closed easily 

When designing pop-ups, make sure that a sign (usually a cross) that lets a user easily close a pop-up is clearly visible. Otherwise, a visitor to your website may get annoyed and leave quickly. What's more, a pop-up that is hard to close can lower your site's SEO ranking. 

Pop-ups that make it hard to get to website content

That includes big windows that cover most of the page. Such practices are not welcomed by Google. Even if this kind of pop-up gets more clicks, it's not worth it as it will affect your site's credibility. What's more, large pop-ups that obscure the page content won’t make a user more likely to read and respond to them in the way the company wanted. 

Poorly designed pop-up

Did you know that the average user's attention span is less than 9 seconds? That's really not much time to get them interested in the message. Therefore, don't make it even harder by using an illegible font, small letters, or too much text in a pop-up. Pay attention to how the elements are arranged – a visitor should be able to see the most important information right away. Choose colors and graphics appropriately – so that they reinforce rather than disrupt the whole message. 

Invisible button

This is a serious mistake. After all, if you want a user to sign up for a newsletter, make it as easy as possible for them. A visitor shouldn’t waste time looking for a button in a window. The button's design should stand out and it should feature a short, clear message ("Sign up," "Get a discount," "Enjoy the promotion"). 

Lack of optimization for mobile devices

More and more people are using only mobile devices. This is especially true for Gen Z – this generation is called “mobile first” for a reason. That's why it's so important to ensure that pop-ups on your site are user-friendly on any device. 

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How to create a pop-up?

There are several ways to develop pop-ups: 

• Owners of websites and online stores based on popular CMS, such as WordPress, can use the available plug-ins, whether paid or free. The upside is that you can create a pop-up yourself without programming skills. The downside is the limited ability to modify and customize the available templates to suit your needs.
• Pop-ups can also be designed and implemented by a marketing agency. The advantage is that you know the job will be done by professionals.
• Another option is to outsource the task in a model that involves ordering the services of top marketing automation experts on demand. The biggest plus is that the expert can be matched accurately to the job and that the work is done quickly.  

Want to use pop-ups in your marketing strategy? Contact us and we'll design and implement pop-ups that will help you reach your goals.