Grrrr! How annoying are pop ups (when they are done incorrectly)? A recent poll showed that over 80% of people surveyed found an opt-in pop up irritating and clicked it away immediately.
Why?
I’m willing to wager the main reason why so many click it away is because the pop up loads too soon. When set to immediate load, you’re not allowed any time to even see what you’ve landed on – like standing outside a store and having the sales person jump on you when you haven’t decided to come in yet!
How to set up your pop-ups for minimum annoyance
Used correctly, pop ups can be amazingly effective for sign-ups and sharing important information.
1) LOCATION
Pop ups should be in the right place. What’s the goal? Where is it most relevant to interrupt customers to achieve that? Pop ups don’t always have to be about email sign-ups, maybe you have an important shipping message (eg, you need to display shipping hours over Christmas).
2) TIMING
Timing is everything. If you’re a blog, your prompt could be at the end of your content or on exit – one last chance to grab their attention. If you’re an ecommerce store, you might want to delay 60 seconds to let your visitor get a feel for what you offer, before your pop up loads. (vary the delay depending on your websites visitor behaviour)
3) COPY
You have about half a second to grab visitors attention, getting your copy right is critical. Don’t forget to have some fun with it which I’ve done on my new newsletter confirmation screen.
Be memorable by bringing some personality into the way your brand interacts with your customers online.
4) TEST
Some pop up plugins have A/B testing – it’s not tricky, set up two versions and see which one performs better.
5) UPDATE
Ensure your pop up is up to date and relevant. If you’re still offering a winter discount and it’s mid Feb, well, yeah.
6) FEATURES
Use all the available features of your pop up plugin. If you can, set the pop up so that once a visitor has signed-up or dismissed they don’t get presented with it again and again and again – that really is annoying. Some pop up plugins allow you to present an alternate offer once first offer is completed or dismissed.
If you’re not sure how these guidelines fit into your business, get in touch for a chat with me.
