Unwise and illogical use of pop-ups

I’d say that having pop-ups on your site should be avoided as much as possible, or altogether. Or at least implemented in a thoughtful way.

Most pop-ups interrupt your visitor’s journey, appear at the wrong time and at best are no more than a distraction. And usually they don’t offer enough of an incentive to justify being so intrusive.

Pop-ups that are there to coax people into signing up to your mailing list can indeed work as intended. If you have enough visitors and return visitors to your site, some will take the bait.

They do work or they wouldn’t exist… All kinds of pop-ups, welcome gates and slide-ins, whatever their purpose, can grab attention or give your visitor that extra little push that makes the difference. They can even be genuinely helpful, such as an important notice, or a helpful reminder.

But – pop-ups are generally more of an annoyance. Your new visitor may already have to respond to a GDPR pop-up, with a sigh…and then is immediately, or soon, hit with a pop-up they didn’t ask for. Pop-ups that appear after a delay, when your visitor has started reading a page are rude and intrusive.

People generally instinctively ignore and close pop-up windows, due to ‘pop-up blindness’ from having experienced so many unwanted or irrelevant pop-ups online. Pop-ups that aren’t adverts can still feel like unwanted adverts.

Consider a pop-up, for example that appears immediately when someone arrives at your site. If they’re a first-time (or one-time) visitor, how likely are they to respond if they haven’t yet arrived at the content they were looking for, or don’t yet know anything about you? Especially if it’s asking them for personal information!

It’s wise and logical to always provide value for your visitor before asking for anything in return. Pop-ups however, ask people to give you something (their attention, their email address…) before you’ve provided anything of value.

While it’s fine to ask for personal information, it generally works much better after you’ve given value, began a trusting relationship, brought a person toward the bottom of your marketing funnel, or even after making a sale.

Don’t assume your website needs or would benefit from pop-ups. Your visitors are having to click CLOSE on pop-ups all the time. I bet going to a website without pop-ups can even be a relief for some.

Why create these barriers to your content? Try/test different methods – for example, having your optin forms and adverts etc. within your content at relevant places where it’s a natural progression for the reader to respond to your offer or message.

Pop-ups can work as intended, but just because a lot of website owners use them it doesn’t mean they’re a good idea. Test things yourself, don’t follow the crowd, and never just assume a pop-up is the way to go.