Pop-ups are handy windows you can add to your store for collecting visitors’ email addresses and SMS consent—and nurturing these visitors into customers.
The burden of complex coding work for pop-up creation is handled effortlessly by eCommerce marketing platforms like Sendlane. This means you can dedicate your efforts to designing pop-ups that are not only visually captivating but also result in maximum sign-ups and conversion rates…
…and this article is packed with pop-up best practices to help you with just that.
4 Practical pop-up tips for eCommerce brands
When implemented well, pop-ups provide an extra avenue for visitors to interact with your brand beyond your existing store content. They help visitors get more out of their time on your website—and ultimately feel more satisfied with their user experience.
So here are four practical pop-up tips you can use to boost user engagement, with pop-up examples for websites to match.
Offer value on each pop-up
Unless they’re huge fans of your brand, visitors usually need some kind of freebie or incentive before they’ll subscribe to a pop-up.
Such incentives are called “lead magnets” in email marketing terminology, and can include:
Discounts
Free shipping
Quiz results (if you’ve set up quizzes to help visitors find the perfect product for their needs, for example)
Resources (such as ebooks, informational newsletters, and early access to new products)
Once you’ve decided on your lead magnet, promote it prominently on your pop-up. Then watch as visitors sign up in droves!
Example of offering value on each pop-up
This pop-up on the Levi’s store provides amazing value. Visitors who sign up get not only a 20% discount on their first order but free shipping too!
Levi’s store pop-up with lead magnet
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2. Segment your contacts based on their pop-up inputs
If your pop-ups collect information on contacts’ interests and characteristics, segment your contacts based on such data.
Doing so helps you engage each contact segment more effectively (and possibly close more orders!)
Check out this example of what we mean.
Example of how you can segment your contacts:
Let’s say you’re like Sea to Summit, and offer your newsletter in multiple languages to cater to an international customer base.
So you could create a pop-up that asks visitors for their preferred language:
Sea to Summit preferred language pop-up
Then, in your email platform, segment your contacts based on their preferred language accordingly!
Here’s how we’d create in Sendlane a segment of contacts who want German-language newsletter content, for example:
Our company is a database provider company. You can get phone number list data for telemarketing from us. We sell various types of data for low buy cell phone number list cost telemarketing. With our cell phone number list you can do telemarketing business with other countries. Many of their traders have found success with our database.
Sendlane preferred language segment
This way, when you’ve prepared your German-language newsletter, you can send it to just contacts in your German-language segment…
…and not contacts in other language segments, who may unsubscribe if they receive newsletters in a language they don’t understand.
3. Make your pop-ups eye-catching
If your pop-ups don’t stand out, visitors are going to scroll past them without giving them a second glance.
Use large headings, images, and bold colors to make your pop-up, well…pop out from the page!
Example of an eye-catching popup
We just love this pop-up on the Wild Souls store:
Wild Souls eye-catching pop-up
Its black lip image instantly grabs your attention, as does the bold “Join the Wild!” heading.
Also, extra points for the pop-up’s unique shape. I mean, how many pop-ups have you seen that are curved like that?!
4. Gamify your pop-ups
Try turning the subscription process into a bit how to schedule social posts of a game that entices visitors to play (and provide their email addresses while they’re at it).
What will visitors get when they subscribe? Lady Luck will decide.
Example of a gamified popup
On miMaO’s website, visitors can spin a discount roulette:
miMaO discount roulette pop-up
All they have to do is to submit their email address, and they could be on their way to getting an easy 2€ to 4€ off their order!
3 Tips for creating pop-ups for different customers
Different customers have different interests, traits, and preferences. How can your pop-ups cater to them all?
Check out these three tips and accompanying pop-up email examples.
Survey your customers’ interests
The best way of learning your customers’ preferred newsletter content is to ask them directly!
To do so, add to your pop-ups custom fields that correspond to each preference option. Your customers can then conveniently share their preferences with you when signing up.
Example of a pop-up that surveys your customers’ interests:
For example, Stitch & Story asks visitors to indicate cm lists whether they’re interested in yarns, patterns, or collabs when they subscribe:
Stitch & Story customer interest survey pop-up
You bet the store will use this info to tailor its newsletter content for contacts after that! (Probably using the contact segmentation method we discussed above, too.)
Ask customers for their birthday
Apart from asking visitors for their interests, you can ask for their birthday.
With this info in hand, you can send them birthday discounts on their special day—or month—and nudge them toward shopping your store.
Visitors get themselves a discounted birthday gift, while you get a sale. Everyone wins.
Example of a pop-up that asks customers for their birthday:
On this Noe Valley Bakery pop-up, visitors have the option of entering their birthday when signing up.
