Using website pop-ups is nothing new. When web development was new, pop-ups were used only for ads, but now they are shown for many different purposes. Almost any website you visit will have some kind of a pop-up on one or more of its pages. Most of these pop-ups have a call to action button on them. Whether it is to get a downloadable ebook from the site, sign up for a newsletter, subscribe to a blog, or enter a contest, different types of pop-ups are literally found all over the internet.
If you have a website and are thinking of adding effective pop-ups, it will be good for you to first read about the pros and cons of using a pop-up on the website. We will cover those in this post first and then discuss briefly how to create pop-ups that help you increase your website conversion rate. So if you plan on using pop-up for your website, be sure to read this post until the end.
The Pros of Using Website Pop-Ups
Here are a few advantages of using different types of pop-ups on your website.
1. Low Cost
Website pop-ups do not cost much. Even if you get a web developer to create a website for you, he won’t charge you much extra for adding effective pop-ups to it. If you build a site on your own using a website builder, most likely, it will provide you with a ready-made pop-up feature. If you have a website on WordPress, there are several plugins that you can install and use to add pop-ups to your web pages.
2. Visibility
Website pop-ups can be made to appear on any web page and on any part of the web page. If you want a pop-up on website to appear at the center of the homepage, you can design it that way. If you want it to appear on the bottom right, it can pop up from there. Even if a pop-up is minimal, it will appear very prominently, because after all, it will pop out of the page.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
3. Conversions
This is the most significant benefit of using website pop-ups. In fact, most of the websites use effective pop-ups for this very reason, that is, they help you increase the conversion rate of your site. They work very well in this regard. They make it easy for you to convert your site visitors into subscribers and ultimately to your customers. An effective pop-up increases the subscriptions on your website by about 35%, which is huge.
The Cons of Using Website Pop-Ups
Along with the benefits, there are some disadvantages of using pop-up for your website as well. These cons are described below.
1. Annoyance
This is by far the greatest disadvantage of using website pop-ups, and for sure, all of you will agree with this. Actually, as much as some people might love pop-ups for some reason, others really hate them. Why is that? It’s because pop-ups can be so annoying at times. Here are a few reasons why.
- They can cover a page or your entire screen when you are reading a blog post.
- They can make you click on the wrong places by suddenly appearing and spoiling your view.
- They can make you think something is wrong with the web page you just opened.
- They can be difficult to close if the cross is too small, blurred, or appears after a few seconds.
- They create confusion by interrupting your browsing experience.
- They might offend you by pushing something in your face that you’re totally not interested in.
- They might make you wonder if your internet connection is slow.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
2. Pop-Up Blockers
The next disadvantage is that users have started using pop-up blockers due to the increased use of website pop-ups by web developers and website owners. Users have heard that Google is about to begin cracking down on pop-up ads. That might make all your pop-ups go to waste.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
3. Spammy
If you are using a pop-up for your website, one should be enough. If you use too many or add a pop-up to every web page, your website might begin to appear like spam. The general impression of site visitors is still that most types of pop-ups are advertisements. Therefore, overusing them might turn your site visitors away and increase your bounce rate.
Innovative Ways to Create and Use Website Pop-Ups
Here are some interesting and innovative ways to build a pop-up on a website.
1. Hide a Form in a Pop-Up on Your Landing Page
The more fields a website form has, the lower is its conversion rate. That’s why it is not a good practice to place lengthy forms on web pages. But what if you really need all that information from your users?
You can create a long-form with many fields but hide them behind a website pop-up. This kind of pop-up is called a click pop-up, whereby users will keep clicking a button on the pop-up to proceed to the next section of the form.
In other words, as users will fill up the fields one by one, more fields will open up for them to see. This way, they won’t get bored or fed up with filling up a lengthy form.
2. Give a First Time Sales Discount
This is one of those types of pop-ups that users do not find annoying. That’s because it offers them a sales discount. Users also know that they will only be shown this pop-up once, so if they want to use the discount or coupon, they better read everything written on the pop-up before closing it.
3. Offer a Content Upgrade
This is similar to the previous point. It is another incentive to entice your site visitors to read the pop-up carefully before closing it. Remember, your site visitors are most likely in the middle of reading or viewing something when the pop-up suddenly shows up in their face. It is just like someone thrusting their head into your face when you are trying to read a book.
Thus it is important to offer something of value in the website pop-up, or else your site visitor might want to exit your website straight away.
4. Combat Shopping Cart Abandonment
This is also called an exit intent pop-up. Its purpose is to make an attempt to change the consumer’s mind to go back and complete their purchase. These types of pop-ups are not so annoying, but they might not be too helpful either.
How to Add an Effective Pop-Up on a Strikingly Website?
To add a pop-up to your Strikingly website, take the following steps. If you are currently on a free plan, you will need to upgrade to our Pro plan to use website pop-ups.
- From your Strikingly editor, click on ‘Settings’ and then on ‘Promotions’.
- Select ‘Pop-ups’.
Image taken from Strikingly
- Choose among the types of pop-ups available. We offer pop-up designs for email forms, announcements, and age verification.
- Customize your selected website pop-up.
Image taken from Strikingly
Tips to Make Effective Pop-Ups
Here are some tips to help you make attractive and converting website pop-ups.
- Match the pop-up design with your web design and theme so that it can complement your website. But maintain something in it that distinguishes it from your website content. This will help in grabbing the site visitors’ attention towards it.
- Experiment with new layouts to capture visitors’ attention. If you regularly change your website pop-up, use different designs at different times. This will keep your website interesting and appealing.
- Increase readability by using plain colored blocks on background pictures.
- Add a call to action button as the center of attention to get more clicks and conversions.
- If it is a pop-up for email subscription, use very few form fields. Usually, only two fields are enough, asking users to fill up their name and email address. The more fields you add, the fewer people will feel like filling up the form.
- Make sure the pop-up is responsive enough to open smoothly on different devices.
There are many design elements that you can use to design an effective pop-up for your website. You can keep changing the pop-up on the website when you change your marketing campaigns. This kind of consistency in your marketing content makes users build trust in your brand, which in turn can increase your sales.
If your website is built on Strikingly, making changes like this is easy and quick. Everything can be edited on your website from the editor. Our features are designed in a way that our users do not have to go through technical difficulties in revising their websites. Our goal is to provide full support to our users in building and maintaining their sites. That is why we have been able to get thousands of individuals and organizations who are successfully running a website on our platform. We believe if they can do it, you can do it too!
