Tips to build smart pop-ups

Have you ever been bombarded by pop-ups that make you leave the website quickly? Imagine you are reading something important and a pop-up covers the page, asking for your email or trying to sell you something. Now think about your audience on your website. Nobody likes being interrupted.

Now, pop-ups are important for your brand to educate your visitors and enhance their experience instead of just distracting them. In this blog, we’ll show you how to create pop-ups that add value, are timed right, and don’t shoo away the audience from your website.

How to build smart pop-ups

1. Value for the user

Before you even think about timing or design, the first goal is to build a pop-up that gives value to the user. The user finds the pop-up intriguing only if it adds value to them. If the user does not find the pop-up valuable, they bounce out of the website.

• Give out a free guide, template, checklist, or tips related to the page they’re reading.

• Alert the visitors about discounts, early access, or exclusive content can motivate engagement.

• Show them the benefit or value they are getting out of the pop-up message.

2. Content relevance

It is important to stay relevant to the user and pop up the right message on the right page, at the right time. When your pop-up feels like a natural extension of the user’s journey, it doesn’t disrupt the experience. It, in fact, grabs their attention and pushes them to take action.

• Make the pop-up on the page more contextual. If someone is reading a blog post about social media marketing, show a pop-up offering a free social media toolkit or an in-depth guide on improving engagement.

• Match the pop-up with the visitor’s journey. If the user scrolls below half the page, it is clear that they are interested in your content. This can be the right time to pop up a good offer related to the content on the page.

• When users try to leave the page, retain them with a pop-up that comes with an offer and ask them if they really want to leave.

3. Brand relevance

The pop-up on your page needs to look like a pop-up of your brand. Many pop-up makers are offering fixed templates. Choose a tool that can help you create pop-ups that adhere to your brand tone and design guidelines. It needs to look like it is from your brand and not another brand’s advertisement popping up on your website.

• Keep the pop-up visually consistent with your website’s fonts and colors.

• If your website is playful and conversational, your pop-up should reflect that. Keep the brand tone the same.

• Use your logo or visual elements that your visitors associate with your brand to make the pop-up familiar to them.

4. Trigger timing

This is the most crucial part of any pop-up you are about to create. If the pop-up pops late, it misses its use. If it pops up at the wrong time, it makes the users annoyed. It should grab attention without irritating your visitors.

• Don’t show your pop-up immediately when someone lands on your site. Let them get a feel for your content. The ideal time is to pop up a meaningful pop-up 10 seconds after the user lands on the website.

• Show your pop-up only after a visitor has scrolled through 50-70% of the page. This ensures they’re engaged with your content, not just skimming.

• Trigger the exit pop-ups when a visitor is about to leave your site.

• Do not trigger multiple pop-ups. Having several pop-ups show up in quick succession is a major turn-off. Stick to one per session.

5. Look and readability

Pop-ups are different from banners. However, some websites display pop-ups as wide as banners. Some pop-ups turn the user’s curiosity, instead of being attention-grabbing. The design of your pop-up matters just as much as its timing. An overly complicated or cluttered pop-up can frustrate visitors and cause them to close it instantly. You need to make sure you have a clean pop-up that has a simple and yet effective message.

• Stick to a simple, minimalistic design. Avoid too many images, fonts, or colors that can make the pop-up look cluttered.

• Visitors don’t want to read a paragraph in a pop-up. Use fewer words that convey the entire message.

• Always have a call to action for the pop-ups. The button you want users to take should be immediately noticeable.

6. User control

Giving users control over the pop-up experience makes them more likely to engage on their own terms. One of the biggest turn-offs for users is feeling forced into something. If your pop-up traps users or doesn’t give them a way to easily exit, they’ll feel frustrated and leave your site.

• Always include an obvious ‘X’ button in the corner to let users close the pop-up if they’re not interested.

• Let users snooze the pop-up, so it disappears temporarily and comes back after a certain time.

• Instead of forcing visitors to enter their email to close a pop-up, offer them the option to dismiss it right away.

7. Mobile optimization

People do not visit your website only on laptops. You need to make your pop-ups available for any size of screen size. With more than half of web traffic coming from mobile devices, your pop-ups must look good and function well on smaller screens.

• Ensure your pop-up automatically adjusts to fit the screen size, whether it’s a phone or tablet.

• Use slide-ins or banner-style pop-ups instead of full-screen overlays, which can feel overwhelming on mobile.

• Make sure the close button is large and easy to tap.

Build your pop-ups with WEMASY’s Pop-up Tool

Now that you know the best tips to create attractive and engaging pop-ups, it's time to put them into action. Start building them with WEMASY’s Pop-Up Tool. You can easily design, customize, and launch pop-ups that align perfectly with your site’s goals. It can all be done without any technical skills or writing a single line of code. Try it today.