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F*** those popups – signing up those who deserve it

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Re: F*** those popups – signing up those who deserve it

#61

Post by [deleted] »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #18
astazangasta wrote: post #8

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.

[deleted]

Re: F*** those popups – signing up those who deserve it

#62

Post by untog »

gk1 wrote: post #36

In case you're wondering why anyone would use these _obviously_ annoying popups, here's why: If done right, they actually work. 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 s…

Do you have stats on how many users left the page when shown that prompt?

Re: F*** those popups – signing up those who deserve it

#63

Post by sukilot »

ak39 wrote: post #40
rokhayakebe wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Ok fair enough. But, if I were you, just to be 100% excited about this strategy, I'd ask myself these questions: 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…

As a web marketer, I am paid to generate leads, not revenue. Revenue is someone else's problem. Yay non-owner employment.

Re: F*** those popups – signing up those who deserve it

#65

Post by gk1 »

mikeash wrote: post #50
gk1 wrote: post #36

In case you're wondering why anyone would use these _obviously_ annoying popups, here's why: If done right, they actually work. 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 s…

How many of those 232 signed up because they want to receive e-mails from you, and how many signed up because they thought they had to in order to proceed? If you put up a prompt saying "enter your e-mail address" then a lot of people will obey regardless of your reason for prompting. Most computer users don't really understand computers and have no idea when a site would legitimately require an e-mail address and wh…

For my case, I should clarify that I also have double opt-in enabled for my email list, which means someone doesn't _really_ get added to the list until they click a verification link in their email.

So if anyone did enter their email just to continue, they're not counted in that 232. I don't think that's likely, though, since the message was clear about what it is:

> Want more users?

> OK, that was a cheap trick. Of course you do.

> The real question is... Do you want to learn the hard way, or would you rather get battle-tested lessons and case studies about user acquisition sent to you about once monthly?

> [Yes, keep me updated](button)

I agree, though, that many companies are doing this absolutely wrong, and one of the ways to get it wrong is not being clear about the value of entering your email.

Re: F*** those popups – signing up those who deserve it

#66

Post by userbinator »

gk1 wrote: post #36

In case you're wondering why anyone would use these _obviously_ annoying popups, here's why: If done right, they actually work. 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 s…

subscribe for future updates about user acquisition

There is something about doing user acquisition on a blog about user acquisition that I find strangely amusing... and perhaps your visitors have already become desensitised to it, as this is what they're looking for.

Re: F*** those popups – signing up those who deserve it

#67

Post by jarman »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #3

Are there any good pop-up blockers for ads like these? I know one of Firefox's original USP's was having a built-in popup blocker because popups were so annoying back then, so why not for these?

Such popups are not distinguishable from any other part of the page, so only sure way to get rid of them is to burn everything with NoScript.

Re: F*** those popups – signing up those who deserve it

#68

Post by notdanariely »

alyx wrote: post #56
gk1 wrote: post #36

In case you're wondering why anyone would use these _obviously_ annoying popups, here's why: If done right, they actually work. 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 s…

"I realize the price to pay for this is mildly annoying the other 98%." To me this does not make sense, and is exactly the reason I avoid annoying users in my applications (advertising or otherwise). Because you definitely have numbers to back up the effectiveness of the popup (although I would argue it is not effective). What you don't have is of the 98% you annoyed, how many will not return because of the annoyance…

My other comment in this thread addressed this, but basically, I think it's a filter for removing those site visitors unlikely to become customers, allowing a company to focus on people who are receptive to the medium (popup) as well as the message. These people are going to be easier to advertise to, because they don't get pissed off when you put an ad in front of them.

The software analogy is invalid, because those people are already your users or customers. In the case of reading the article, think of a popup as a criterion filter in much the same way as 419 scammers use poor english.

Re: F*** those popups – signing up those who deserve it

#70

Post by wernercd »

alyx wrote: post #56
gk1 wrote: post #36

In case you're wondering why anyone would use these _obviously_ annoying popups, here's why: If done right, they actually work. 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 s…

"I realize the price to pay for this is mildly annoying the other 98%." To me this does not make sense, and is exactly the reason I avoid annoying users in my applications (advertising or otherwise). Because you definitely have numbers to back up the effectiveness of the popup (although I would argue it is not effective). What you don't have is of the 98% you annoyed, how many will not return because of the annoyance…

People have been mildy annoyed by adverts for decades: TV Commercials.

Just because it's mildly annoying, doesn't make them any less effective either. There wouldn't be millions spent on Super Bowl slots if they weren't effective (although the SB is an outlier with regards to adverts).

Except for really bad popups, I can find an x, click it and move on - or ever so occasionally actually sign up for something...

It hasn't been until recently that you could timeshift or torrent TV shows consistently to not see the commercials. They do show that mildly annoying can still be effective and profitable.

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