31–40 of 143 posts
The only pop up window I really hate is Quora's, because in order to remove it without signing up for an account I have to go into the developer tools and delete its enclosing div. Quora, I don't want to sign up for your site, and I don't want to "complete" an account I don't have. I just want to see the answer to the question you were somehow the top search result for.
I'm struggling with this now and I could use some insight. I absolutely share OP's loathing of these pop-ups. On the other hand, I'm just starting to try to drive traffic to my physical-product website (through PPC ads, facebook marketing, etc). I KNOW I need to try to collect some contact information. But I cannot find a way to do it that isn't appalling. - Collect on landing page? How do they know if they want to s…
You know, the age of ACTUAL pop-up windows really sucked, and it was amazing when browsers rendered them largely obsolete by limiting how websites could launch another window but at least all of those had the X in the SAME EXACT PLACE. The new crop of lightboxed modal popups that are now ubiquitous are 100 times worse since they: - are modal - often work poorly on mobile - have as many different dismiss mechanisms as…
The only pop up window I really hate is Quora's, because in order to remove it without signing up for an account I have to go into the developer tools and delete its enclosing div. Quora, I don't want to sign up for your site, and I don't want to "complete" an account I don't have. I just want to see the answer to the question you were somehow the top search result for.
or just add ?share=1 to the URL
Not even if you leave the site and come back. Not even with share=1. You have to ban it from using your Google account to regain control.
As much as I hate this tactic - and I dont use it - it's really attractive because it works _so_ well for collecting emails / signups / likes / whatever. You might piss off one person, but 10 more sign up. You decide if it's worth it or not.
Here's a real example:
In March I added a delayed popup to my blog to invite people to subscribe for future updates about user acquisition. It was on a delayed timer so that the reader has a chance to at least get part-way through the post. Also, if you closed it out once then you wouldn't see it again for something like 30 days.
Since then, it's been seen by 11,848 people, of whom 232 (1.96%) signed up.
Most blog readers come for the article, not for the blog or the company. They read the article then carry on with their lives, even if the article was very helpful or interesting to them.
Here's how I see it: I now have 232 people who are actually interested in learning about user acquisition, and gave me permission to send them more helpful posts. I wouldn't have this if I never asked them to enter their email. I realize the price to pay for this is mildly annoying the other 98%.
With that said, I'm trying to minimize that annoyance. I'm now experimenting with a less invasive prompt; a thin bar at the top of the screen, that also hides when you're scrolling down (presumably reading). If it still gets subscribers _and_ is less annoying to the others, then I'll keep it.
tl;dr - Companies know and don't care that popups are annoying, because they're effective. Some companies care a little and try to make the popups less annoying to those who wouldn't have signed up anyway.
I'm struggling with this now and I could use some insight. I absolutely share OP's loathing of these pop-ups. On the other hand, I'm just starting to try to drive traffic to my physical-product website (through PPC ads, facebook marketing, etc). I KNOW I need to try to collect some contact information. But I cannot find a way to do it that isn't appalling. - Collect on landing page? How do they know if they want to s…
The only pop up window I really hate is Quora's, because in order to remove it without signing up for an account I have to go into the developer tools and delete its enclosing div. Quora, I don't want to sign up for your site, and I don't want to "complete" an account I don't have. I just want to see the answer to the question you were somehow the top search result for.
You know, the age of ACTUAL pop-up windows really sucked, and it was amazing when browsers rendered them largely obsolete by limiting how websites could launch another window but at least all of those had the X in the SAME EXACT PLACE. The new crop of lightboxed modal popups that are now ubiquitous are 100 times worse since they: - are modal - often work poorly on mobile - have as many different dismiss mechanisms as…
Maybe a Machine Learning model to prevent scripts from executing if the classifier indicates it will spawn a lightbox...
I've never understood this design. Someone came to your website to do something. Why is the first thing you do is give them a bad experience?
Because it works. I had a small deals aggregator site which got most of its traffic from Google. When users landed I knew they were interested in the content, and I showed it through a semi-transparent background and forced them to enter their emails before being able to click through. I remember conversions going from 10-20 new emails per day to over 100 emails per day.
1. Am I measuring the quality of the email addresses before an after the introduction of the popup?
2. Am I measuring the number of visitors who abandoned my site (closed my page) immediately after I interrupted their visit with my popup?
Ultimately, the question ought to be: what am I really measuring? Is it the number of new rows in my emails table or the impact on brand perception and ultimately bottom line?