The Power of Pop-Ups
why you need one - and how to create one that generates a tonne of leads
Ok, let's be brutally honest here. Pop-ups are not everyone’s cup of tea. You’re browsing a website, minding your own sweet business when suddenly, BOOM! A pop-up slaps you right in the chops.
But that’s exactly why they work - they’re designed to disturb. To grab attention. After all, the website owner worked hard to get traffic to the website, and just allowing you to leave without even saying hello is a crime.
So yes, pop-ups are intrusive, but guess what - they work. The fact is that most online advertising is just too passive to generate decent results. For example, did you know that statistically, there is more chance of being involved in a plane crash and surviving than you are of intentionally clicking on a banner ad?
Just hoping customers come to you is wishful thinking. We’ve become way to time-poor to go looking, in fact we’ve become experts at ignoring online advertising.
But why, exactly, have humans become so good at filtering out passive advertising? After all, online ads didn’t even exist a couple of decade ago.
Well, here comes the science bit…
There is a group of nerves at the stem of our brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). The RAS filters out unnecessary stuff so the important information gets through. The effect of the RAS is why when you buy a new car, you suddenly notice a lot more of the same type and colour. They were always there, but previously, your RAS filtered them out.
And that’s why you don’t notice most online ads. Their passive properties make it very easy for your RAS to ignore them, and focus on the reasons you clicked on the site in the first place.
But here’s the thing. Pop-up cuts through the RAS. You can’t ignore it. It’s similar to having to watch a YouTube ad before you can skip it, or a TV commercial before your favourite programme comes back on.
There is no question whether someone has seen your pop-up. They definitely have. So they were presented with two options. Close it. Or fill it in. Ignoring it was off the table.
Sumo recently ran a survey of 2billion pop-ups and discovered that the average conversion rate was 3.09%. Good ones converted at 10% and excellent performers had conversion rates of 60%.
So, what makes an excellent pop up? Here goes…
Timing
Like in comedy, creating an effective pop-up requires you to get your timing just right.
One of the biggest pop-up gripes is they often appear the moment the page opens. It’s like the car salesperson pouncing the moment you walk onto the car lot. You aren’t going to buy the first car you see without test driving it, or at last sitting in it first.
Sumo identified that: ‘of the top 10% of pop-ups, only 8% had pop-ups appear in the 0-4 second mark. And the majority of those were on pages where the pop-up was expected to appear quickly.’
But how long is too long? If you leave it too long there’s a danger your prospect will click away before the pop-up appears.
So how do you work out the optimum time for your pop-up to appear?
There are a couple of ways:
a) Average Visit Time
To get your timing right you need to measure the average amount of time your visitors are spending on the page using Google Analytics. Wisepops suggest setting your pop-up at 50%-60% of the average visit time.
b) Engagement Levels
Josh Schwartz at Chartbeat sampled 25million user sessions across a variety of sites to understand engagement levels. He discovered that the greatest engagement rates were where the user had scrolled ‘below the fold,’ i.e below the part of the page not visible when first clicked upon.
If people are engaging with your content, they are much more likely to respond favourable to a pop-up, so it would make sense to try to catch them at this point of their journey.
Positioning
Another big gripe concerning pop-ups is how they are big and brash, covering the whole of the page and rendering the site unreadable. We’ve discussed the advantage of this i.e. they can’t move on until the user had ‘dealt with’ your pop-up. But think about how you can be less intrusive, but still catch the prospect's eye. A ‘hello bar’ features at the top or the bottom of the screen, and doesn’t interrupt the user experience. You are much less likely to piss the user off. But there is also a chance you will be overlooked entirely. The secret is to test it and analyse the results.
Context
How relevant is your pop-up to the content on the page? One type of pop-up doesn’t fit all. Your pop-up needs to relate to the content the user is digesting, and promise additional value to what is already there. The Sumo survey identified that context has the biggest effect on pop-up conversion. Amazon are the masters at understanding context. ‘Customers who bought X also bought Y’ taps into the importance of keeping offers relevant. Offering a free inheritance tax calculator on the homepage of an accountancy firm would potentially be out of context, but a great incentive if the user was on their inheritance tax page.
Messaging
How clear and personable is your messaging? Clarity really matters. What will the user get in return for their mobile number? Ambiguity will kill your pitch so your headline and copy needs to say exactly what’s in the box. Sumo identified that ‘Click Here for Coupons’ created 30% more conversion than ‘Hungry?’ You need to be clear and direct.
value
For someone to share their mobile number with you, you are going to have to provide a whole heap of value. Remember, offering a discount may be incredibly valuable, but only if the prospect is ready to buy. A study by Chet Holmes identified that only 3% of prospects are in the market to buy right now. So offering a discount code, although it has literal value, may not tickle the fancy of 97% of your audience.
The following incentives are often used to deliver value:
Free Video Series
Free Seminar
Free Analysis/Report
Free Training Course
Free How-To-Guide
SizzleDeck pop-ups are easy to create and embed on any website. By experimenting you will find out what works best for you in terms of timing, positioning, context, messaging and providing value.