Is Your Lead Capture Pop-up Harming Your Reputation

Imagine this…  My attention is snagged by a post and catchy image, and I click over to your website to check out what you do.

It’s the first time I’m visiting your site. I’m thinking, “hmm who is this interesting, witty person.”

Just as I get to the end of the second sentence, BAM! out pops a gigantic, ‘do you like what you see, sign up to get my awesome tips’ lead capture pop-up. If I could have gotten a little farther or could see through your total solar eclipse pop-up, then maybe I’d know how to answer that.

It’s like waving your business card in my face asking if I want to work with you before you’ve even asked me my name. Well, that’d be a, ‘HECK NO!’

BAM! Your pop-up offer is a total turn off. Get some quick tips on creating an attractive pop-up!

TWEET THIS

Lightbox pop-ups and lead captures like the ones you can create using Popup Domination and Pippity have their place – an important one. If I’ve been browsing your site and I’m clicking off of it, by all means hit me up with a, ‘hey, before you go…’. Or if I’ve browsed a minute or scrolled down a page, then I’m likely interested so give me a way to get more information from you.

But, please…don’t hit me up two seconds after I land on your site because here’s what it tells me.

1. You’re desperate.
2. You don’t give a crap about me or whether I’m really interested in your content – you just want my email address so you can sell me.

And, if I haven’t gotten out of dodge the first time you hit me up two seconds in and you surprise me again just a few seconds after, now you’re telling me you didn’t care to learn this tool and best tactics when you installed it.

So YES, while you want to capture attention on your site and have your audience comment, subscribe or buy, you can do it in ways that don’t interrupt those precious few seconds when they’re forming a first impression of you. If you have a pop-up feature on your site, take the time to revisit it to make sure creating a positive first impression for your brand.

Here are a few best pop-up practices I’ve learned:

1. Set your pop-up to appear 30-60 seconds after a visitor arrives on your site. This is timing setting.
2. Set them to appear when someone clicks off the page to another page or tries to exit you site (if it is less than the time allotment you set for #1). This is usually found in the filter settings.
3. Make sure your headline pops (pun intended). You’re looking for conversion of sacred info – a.k.a. a person’s email address. Treat it like your BEST sales pitch, not just a generic statement about offering tips.
4. BENEFITS, BENEFITS, BENEFITS! Keep them short, but focused on what the subscriber is going to gain by joining your list. Get them excited about the valuable information you’re giving away for free!
5. Don’t just set it and forget it! Look at your conversion rates for sign up and look at the value of the contacts joining your list. Are they your ideal target? Keep tweaking until you get higher numbers of subscribers that fit your ideal customer.

Happy popping!

Share with us in the comments below: 
Have you experienced someone selling you before you can even say hello or a great example of the opposite?