Pop-ups got a bit of a bad rap in the latter part of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Pop-up ads first appeared in the late 90s on the Tripod.com hosting site. Their creator, Ethan Zuckerman, says he wrote them in response to complaints about banner ads. Instead of cluttering up websites, the advertisements would open in a new window.
Though Zuckerman himself didn’t invent the pop-up window, he later apologized for the nuisance that pop-up ads became. But the technology is experiencing a bit of a renaissance thanks to sites like Shopify.
The simple fact is that the technology works. Pop-ups offer an opportunity for sellers to create a strong call to action, whether it’s to announce a sale or to collect an email address.
As Shopify itself points out, in one test, pop-ups drove 1,375% more email captures over a sidebar opt-in form. Another showed that implementing pop-ups saw their email subscribers approximately quadruple in number.
Collecting emails is a powerful visitor conversion tool for online retailers. With the right email marketing campaign, it can help bring customers back to the site and keep them returning.
Knowing Your Options
There are a number of powerful tools that can help you create effective pop-up ad campaigns. We’ll look at those a little further on. But first, we want to discuss the different types of pop-up ads.
Click Pop-Ups
Click Pop-Ups are activated when a visitor to your site or landing page clicks a specified link, image, or word. These are the only type of pop-up that happen because of an action, making them the least intrusive option.
Time-Based Pop-Ups
Visitors are presented with a pop-up after a predetermined amount of time on the website. If you decide to use these types of ads, it’s important to not scare your traffic away by setting the timer too soon You also don’t want your visitors to miss it because they left the site before the advertisement was displayed.
Scroll-Based Pop-Ups
These appear when a user or visitor has scrolled to a certain part of the page. These are often found on blogs and are similar to time-based pop-ups, as you’re engaging with someone who has demonstrated a certain amount of interest in your site and its content.
Entry-Based Pop-Ups
These advertisements are shown as soon as the homepage or another designated page loads. These can be an effective, if not dangerous, way to engage your visitors. The pop-ups appear before anyone has seen the content of your site but if wielded correctly, they can be a very useful tool.
Exit-Based Pop-Ups
These are only shown when a visitor is about to leave the site. They’re also known as Exit-Intent Pop-Ups.
By tracking the user’s cursor, the pop-up app will determine when someone is about to click the back or close button on their browser and will display the advertisement as a last attempt to solicit an email address or offer a discount.
There are other types of pop-up ads that exist, but these are a handful of the options available to online marketers. Now it’s time to take a look at some of the best apps for dropshippers and other sales companies using the Shopify platform.
Pop-Up Window
This application starts at $5.95 a month and offers a free seven-day trial. The tool allows you to create standard, customizable pop-ups for your store.
To create your ad, you simply need to upload an image that you want to display in the pop-up, configure a few other options – like deciding to turn on the email signup form – and you’re good to go.
The tool offers its own designs in case you don’t have your own image. It also offers a tutorial on how to quickly create your own professional designs.
Email Pirate
Email Pirate is slightly cheaper than the previous listing at $4.99 per month, and it also provides a free seven-day trial. The application allows you to create fully customizable pop-ups for your store. On top of that, it offers a host of other features for online retailers.
The Smart Builder Feature allows you to create professionally-designed templates. The Exit Popup Feature creates targeted campaigns for those about to leave the site.
The Smart User Tracking helps create targeted messages about a specific page or category. The Coupon Functionality allows you to offer visitors who provide their email address with a coupon a discount on their purchase.
And finally, the tool allows you to analyze clicks, views, and conversion rates with its built-in analytics functions.
Sumo
This app comes in an unsupported and branded free version, but most businesses will probably want to opt for the Small Pro iteration at $29 per month.
Sumo offers highly customizable designs to help you match the look and feel of your shop. You can customize what triggers the pop-ups to appear and change settings so they won’t display under certain conditions. It also offers options for mobile display.
Pixelpop
This tool offers six types of pop-ups and four different pop-up shapes. The basic plan is free and includes up to 500 pop-up views per month. The next plan is $12 a month and comes with up to 10,000 pop-up views each month.
The service also features a number of different pop-up styles, including boxes or bars in the corners. That means you’re not displaying the same time of ad every time. The app also integrates with Mailchimp.
Justuno
The free Justuno plan offers 5,000 visits per month, which can be a good option for low-traffic sites. If you opt for the Pro plan, it will cost you $19 a month.
The app offers highly customizable designs to help match your site’s look and branding. You can also determine where on the screen the pop-ups, banners, full-page takeovers, navigation bar, and corner slide-ins will appear.
You can be sure to remain SEO compliant given that JustUno makes you create separate desktop and mobile campaigns. You can target visitors on exit, page views, time on site, visit frequency, geo-locations and much more. The app also integrates with most email service providers.
Conclusion
No matter what, there are many options out there for online marketers looking to take advantage of pop-up ads.
The method can be a very effective tool to help generate visitors, sales, and ultimately more dollars. Most of these Shopify apps offer a free seven-day trial, so play around with them all and find the one that suits you best.
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Sam loves to write on technology & related stuff. Ecommerce, mobile and internet marketing equally drive her interest. Likes gardening and experimenting with new recipes. An avid reader and absolutely mad @bout donuts 🙂
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