It’s been a long time since pop-ups went from being considered annoying to being accepted as part of many sites’ marketing campaigns says Peter Decaprio.
But, is there really a justification for the continued use of this type of “marketing” strategy? Are people finding value in them? And what about e-commerce stores and apps/websites that are offering actual products or services? Are these types of sites benefitting from using them?
The answers may surprise you…and they might even make you think twice before adding your next popup to your site.
For today’s piece, I’m going to lay out 7 ways to increase sales with pop-ups (and why you’re wrong about popups).
My hope is that by the end of this piece, you’ll have a different perspective on what you thought about popups and why…and maybe even change your opinion.
1) Pop-Ups Work… But Only Under the Right Conditions
If there was one thing I could say with 100% certainty it would be that the use of pop-ups is not all good or all bad. Peter Decaprio says there are definitely reasons to use them (like driving conversions), but at the same time, they’re not without their own drawbacks (like driving away customers).
But before I get into those specifics, let me first talk about how much value pop-ups really deliver by getting this out of the way:
Pop-Ups Aren’t Your Problem… Bad Traffic Is
Bounce rates and other “conversion problems” that you’re having on your site? You know, the ones where a ton of people are coming to your site, but very few of them are actually converting? Well, guess what…
If pop-ups really did their job, many of these companies would have the opposite problem. In fact, one blogger recently wrote about how he found a client who was so pleased with their use of pop-ups that they’ve been calling him for advice on how to create more effective pop-up campaigns.
In other words…pop-ups aren’t necessarily the cause of your conversion problems (you might thank your lack in traffic instead), but they can be absolutely used in place of it explains Peter Decaprio.
Why? Simple: Pop-ups are a tool that’s used to target the right people.
If you’re doing your job as a marketer/salesperson, this should be one of your main priorities. You want to make sure that the traffic that lands on your site is qualified and fits with what you offer…otherwise all those clicks and bounce rates really don’t mean much, do they?
This means improving things like targeting. Ad copy or landing pages could be more effective at increasing conversions than pop-ups inherently are. So stop blaming popups for issues with conversion rates because it’s most likely not their fault.
What Is A Good Conversion Plateau for Your Site (& Why)
Before I get into the specific benefits of using pop-ups. I figured it would be a good idea to talk about what could be considered a “good conversion plateau” for your site.
This is where things get a little tricky because every industry and niche has different expectations.
If you were running a social site like Reddit or Tumblr, the best-case scenario might be 100 people signed up/downvoting on posts in 1 day…or even 100 new members joining in 1 month. For these types of sites, the more traffic the merrier…so they wouldn’t consider anything below 5k-10k visitors per month as being bad despite only having 100 conversions.
But if you’re trying to run an e-commerce store that sells products online, then this changes things. Your goal should be to make sales…not page views (which are what social sites are about).
With this in mind, let’s look at what you’d consider a good conversion plateau for an e-commerce store might be:
Let’s say that the average order size for your site is $100 and you make roughly 5 sales per day (roughly 3000 visitors). If this were the case, you’re barely getting your feet wet. You’re literally leaving tons of money on the table: /
But let’s take the same example but change it around a bit to hopefully show why pop-ups can benefit your business even more. What if during those 3k visitors per month, you increased conversions by 300%? How? Through pop-ups. You can do this by…
Targeting visitors who are leaving your site (meaning you know they’re interested in your products)
Using specific messaging to convince them to buy something new instead of later. And since it’s easier to make a purchase on a mobile device. Give customers the option to view all shipping options
In other words, with targeted traffic and a good understanding of what motivates customers. You could easily triple your sales per day using a combination of retargeting ads and pop-ups. Peter Decaprio says this is why I believe that some businesses might find more success. In increasing their traffic rather than focusing solely on conversions from those already on their site.
Conclusion:
Pop-ups Can Benefit Your Site…If You Do It Right
Now that we’ve gotten the “why option” stuff out of the way. Let’s talk about how you can actually use pop-ups for your own site. Because if you don’t like ’em and they’re not helping your conversions. Then there ain’t no reason to be using them.
