How to Effectively Use Popup Messages for Marketing

No, I’m not suggesting you launch a popup shop, restaurant, bar, or some other experience within a physical space – though that would be so fun! I’m talking about popup messages for marketing on your website.

You’ve seen popup messages on the sites of your favorite brands. The messages typically ask you to sign up for a newsletter list. And you know why you see them so often? They work!

Take this blogger, who grew his email list by over 500%, all because of popup messages. Yowza!

The success of your popup message relies on getting three things right:

1. Timing
2. Placement
3. Messaging

Timing

Timing is very important when it comes to popup messages. A popup that appears two seconds after you land on a website is intrusive and annoying – you’ve barely had time to look around. Wait at least 10 seconds.

With that said, there’s no such thing as the one perfect time for your brand. Is 10 seconds ideal? Or maybe 20? You won’t know until you test timing. Only then will you know what works best.

You also want to avoid showing the same popup to people who have already subscribed to your email list. Again, it’s super annoying and puts a damper on the experience that person has with your brand.

Placement

Popup messages can appear in different places. The most common placement is smack dab in the middle of the screen.

However, you have options. Popups can slide in from the right, left, top or bottom. They can also follow the visitor as he or she scrolls down the page. Again, you won’t know what works best for you until you experiment.

Messaging

Unlike timing and placement, there are hard-and-fast rules for messaging. Your popup messages must:

• Have an attention-grabbing headline – asking a question is a great idea.
• Be relevant to the visitor – if someone is already signed up for your newsletter, can you show them a different popup message?
• Be useful – it must be something that your audience actually wants.
• Be offered in the right place at the right time – otherwise they’re annoying.
• Use a very specific call-to-action, like “Sign up for our newsletter” – these convert better.

And yes, you do want to test everything here as well:

• Copy vs. no copy
• Button colors
• Headlines
• Offer
• Call to action

As you can see, there is a common theme when it comes to popup messages: test, test, and test some more. Stick with it, though, because you will land on the formula that works best for your brand – and then you’ll see the email sign-ups roll in.

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