3 Ways You Can Use Pop Up Forms for Good and Not Evil

popup-optimization-guide-blogbanner

If only everything in life – growing your business, maintaining a healthy diet, etc. – were easy. (Imagine a world where carrots tasted as good as cake, amiright?)


But what if I told you there really is a simple way to grow your email list and ultimately boost your business? An opportunity that’s easy as pie – just minus the guilt.

A pop up sign up form is one of the fastest ways you can grow your email list, and all you have to do is create it and add it to your site.

Sure, not everyone loves the pop up form. But when you look at all of the business owners (like Noah Kagan of SumoMe) who were able to use them to grow their subscribers lists, it becomes a no brainer.

Not totally convinced yet?

Here are three tips to help you craft the perfect pop up form your audience will love:

Tip #1: Bring value to your audience

If you build a pop up form with the intention of helping customers, it can bring a ton of value to your audience. Not only does it raise awareness of your informative emails, it gives you another chance to convince your site visitors that you can help them.

What’s one of the most impactful ways you can create a pop up form that shows your value? By tweaking the message in your sign up form.

Instead of telling visitors to sign up for your email list, explain why they should. Whether you send educational articles, exclusive discounts or company updates, your readers will have a clear understanding of the benefits of joining your email list.

When your pop up form sets clear expectations, your audience will be much more receptive to it and more likely to take action.

Another way to bring value to your audience is to offer an incentive in your form. By giving away a great discount, free eBook or other downloadable items, your visitors will have more reason to sign up to your list. Incentives also give you a chance to prove your worth before they even receive your first email.

Tip #2: Don’t interrupt the user experience

Not all forms have to pop up in the middle of a screen and shade the background content. To ensure your site visitors aren’t interrupted when reading your content, consider other ways to use a pop up form.

A form that slides in from the side or bottom of your web page, for example, still gets the job done, just in a less intrusive way.

In addition to where your pop up form appears, you can also change when it shows up. Instead of having a form pop up three seconds after a person lands on your homepage, add a delay of 30 seconds. This gives your readers more time to learn about your business, so you’ll be less likely to interrupt their experience.

Pro Tip: If your website is synced with Google Analytics, use it to determine the average time users spend on the page to help you time your pop ups.

And of course, make sure it’s mobile friendly! Considering the number of users that access websites through tablets and smartphones, your pop up form should fit well on the screen and be easy to close.

There are plenty of different types of forms to choose from — you just have to find out what works best for you and your audience!

Tip #3: Test your changes

Implementing these tips can have a major impact on your subscriber list. But to ensure that any changes you make are what you audience wants, you’ll want to test them and implement one change at a time.

Can’t decide what incentive to feature on your form? Run a split test by offering two options, such as an eBook or product discount, to identify your audience’s preferences. Whichever gets the most engagement is the winner!

Once you’re done testing, the job isn’t over yet! Consider testing other changes you’d like to make to your form.

Pro Tip: To guarantee your form is always up to date, add calendar reminders to perform new split tests.

Get Started

Want more actionable tips on how to take your pop up form to the next level and collect even more subscribers?

Check out our latest email marketing guide: 6 Tips to Optimize Your Pop Up Forms and Grow Subscribers! It’s packed with tips and case studies of businesses that grew their lists with pop up forms. Download it now:

 

popup_blog

5 Comments

  1. Timox

    3/20/2015 7:54 pm

    Monica,
    Thanks for this. I’ve been looking at LeadPages as a means of collecting email addresses in exchange for an offering such as a discount coupon. Rather than asking readers to join the newsletter (which seems increasingly less attractive) I’d be simply offering a discount and then pointing out in the pop up that the newsletter is also part of the deal so they receive further offers etc.
    One reason I like LeadPages is that it’s so easy to use on Facebook. Does SumoMe work on social medai and do they still have the blue tab on the side of the screen?
    Also, does AWeber have to confirm the opt in if a reader has asked for a discount coupon and is informed that a newsletter is part of the deal? If so, do they receive the coupon or the opt in confirmation email first?
    Appreciate your comments.
    Thanks,
    Tim

  2. Vishal

    3/23/2015 2:26 am

    Pretty informative post! The selected topic is an really good one for consideration and really different concept. Thanks much

  3. Vishal

    3/23/2015 2:41 am

    Nice and very informative post. thank to share with us.

  4. Monica Montesa

    3/25/2015 4:21 pm

    Glad you found it helpful, Vishal!

    – Monica

  5. Essay Creator

    4/1/2015 2:00 am

    Excellent Work in article it’s a very helpful for me thank to share this info.