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No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

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Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#3
I'm not sure the headline succinctly conveys the prime message of the article, which is that modals have replaced pop-ups as a nuisance.

In general, I agree. My reaction to most modals is to simply close the tab. Often it's halfway through an article. I can't be bothered to finish it if I'm being interrupted rudely.

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#5
The full-screen modal-with-windowshade newsletter prompts are super annoying. But I realize bloggers will always want to "expand their reach," to use the distasteful marketing term. I'd much prefer the prompted blinded in from the side quickly, or ideally, appeared in the site's sidebar. I'm guessing they're used everywhere because you could drop in a code snippet to do everything for you, and a vast majority of code snippets are the "in your face windowshade" variety.

I don't know what to do about this situation other than to write my own paste-in package for newsletter signups, which I don't really have time for. I guess the best thing I can do is announce: if your newsletter prompt doesn't cover the main content of the page, I'm much more likely to subscribe (~20%) than if it's a modal + windowshade (0%).

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#7

Yes it's annoying but they work: "sticking a big ole pop-up in their face can be one of the most effective ways to jolt their attention & grab their email for a return visit." Peep Laja. https://conversionxl.com/popup-defense/?hvid=2EcGFw

I'm in the newsletter business (and don't use these modals out of principle) and the folks I chat to about it confirm the same - they work really well.

But, I counter, so does spamming or making 10000s of automated phone calls.. and we've agreed those things are damaging and unethical - I agree with Dave, it's about time we as an industry considered full screen modals to be dirty and unwelcome.

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#9
This is what happens when you mindlessly optimise for metrics like user signups - not surprisingly, you get more signups when you block the content with an obnoxious modal but after a few years, you wonder where all your users went. How much value do you really get from a user who was forced to sign up with a gun to their head?
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