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7 Exit-Intent Popup Mistakes that Are Hurting Your Conversions (& Quick Fixes)

If there’s anything we can all agree on it’s that exit-intent popups are useful in multiple types of scenarios. And the end result is the same in each – getting more leads to stick around or even convert.

At least, that’s if your strategy actually works. There are some brands that implement exit-intent popups without testing or evaluating their strategies.

But lucky for you, that’s exactly the best way to learn – from others’ mistakes.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the top mistakes brands are making with their popups and what you can do to avoid doing the same.

So let’s get to it.

1. Asking for Too Much to Opt-In

Collecting data from your prospects is key to developing personalized strategies that convert. But your aim for exit-intent popups shouldn’t be to collect as much information as you possibly can.

Why? Because you’re going to run prospects away. Think of it like this – if the user was getting ready to leave your site and then see a popup with a long form asking for all sorts of personal information, what are the chances of them sticking around to do it?

Not likely.

Instead, you should focus on obtaining the most important data – their name and email address. Plus, it’s found that fewer form fields can lead to a 120% increase in conversions. The idea is to make the sign-up process quick and easy so they’re more likely to do so.

A name and email may not seem like much, but it’s all you need to start interacting with the prospect. From there, you can watch how they engage with your emails to better tailor future communications to suit their needs.

2. Making it Difficult to Close Your Popup

There’s a thin line between being a great advertiser and a sleazy one. You want to stray as far away as possible from the latter, which is why we urge you to never make it hard for users to close your popups.

Not only is this frustrating for the user, but it’ll cause them to lose any trust they have in your brand. User experience is everything when it comes to consumers. In fact, 55% of consumers say they’re willing to pay more for a better customer experience. And 67% of customers say poor experiences are their reason for leaving a brand.

A popup without a visible “close” or “X” button isn’t going to deliver that, nor is it going to convince users to fill out the form just to close the box. So make sure these buttons are easy to find and click on with a mouse or finger.

3. Not Offering Quick Sign-Up Options

Most of today’s consumers are connected to Gmail, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other platforms that have their email and name details. There are some brands actively using quick sign-up options that allow users to subscribe to their site or newsletter at the push of a button.

However, there are many others that don’t.

Allowing users to sign up with their email or social media credentials is a big win, especially for mobile users. These consumers are on devices with small screens that are difficult to type on. So if you can make it so they can subscribe and log in by pushing a button, then they’re more inclined to do so.

4. Not Giving a Special Offer to Sweeten the Deal

Nearly every site a user visits have popups asking for their subscription to their blog, email newsletter, or channel. But why should they subscribe to yours – or any of them for that matter?

Consumers today are looking for a deal wherever they shop so it makes sense to include a special offer to convince them to subscribe. For instance, you can offer a discount, free shipping, a free trial, or free consultation.

Just make sure that whatever you’re offering is actually sought-after by your audience or they’ll ignore it and your exit-intent popup.

And that brings us to the next important mistake to avoid.

5. Interrupting Your Customers in Vain

You’re eager to get the attention of the visitors of your site, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of you losing them. After all, the whole point of your exit-intent popups is to drive prospects to your site not away from it.

This is why it’s essential to have popups that present amazing deals. Otherwise, you’re disrupting the user experience and that can be about as annoying as being harassed by a salesperson while you shop.

So to prevent your site from feeling like an overbearing salesman, you should pop up with something that’s irresistible.

For example, in this popup from Zaful, subscribers are offered a $100 worth of coupons and ongoing exclusive deals. Now, that’s something any savvy shopper wouldn’t want to pass up!

6. Interrupting Visitors at the Wrong Time

This goes hand-in-hand with the last tip. You don’t want your popups to show up with a worthless offer, nor do you want it to pop up at the wrong time.

While you can choose to have your popups show up when users are about to leave, you can also have them show up at other times. For instance, after a user’s been on the site for a certain amount of time.

Or after they scroll down to a certain point on the page. The key is to have it show up at the right time. Waiting until they scroll 60% of the page is a good idea because this shows the user’s intent and interest in your site.

This also makes them more likely to subscribe to your popup offer. You don’t want your popups to show up immediately or right when they scroll to a critical CTA. Test out different time frames and locations of a page to see what works best.

Keep in mind the intent of the user – if they’re on your product page shopping, then this isn’t a good time to send a popup. However, once they’re about to click away from the screen, you can have a popup offering a discount on the items they were looking at or for the items in their shopping cart.

Make sure to use analytics tools to keep an eye on the behaviors of your audience so you can better serve up popups at the right time.

7. Not Considering the Customer’s Journey

It’s naive to say that all visitors to your site will subscribe to your popup simply because you offer a discount. This wrongfully assumes everyone who visits your site is at the same stage of the buyer’s journey and are ready to purchase.

However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Just as you create content for different stages of the buyer’s journey, so should you do so for your popup campaigns. You can create different versions of popups to show up based on the user’s intent.

As mentioned earlier, if a user is on your product or service page, then chances are they’re looking to buy. However, if they’re on your blog, browsing through content, then they’re likely still in the beginning stage looking for information.

In this case, it would be better to send a popup that offers a free e-book, course, consultation, or videos to help them learn more.

Then for first-time visitors, you can prompt them to follow you on social media. This will allow you another way to interact with the prospect and potentially earn their business that way.

Start Building Exit-Intent Campaigns that Convert

With the right tools, you can begin creating popup campaigns that drive more revenue to your business. Again, it’s all about your analytics – if you’re looking over your data and keying in on user’s behaviors, then you’ll be better equipped to serve up the right popups at the right time.

Poptin is one such tool that can help you build high-converting popups. Its features allow you to target users by traffic source, the frequency of visits, and even by unique behaviors. For instance, you can show a popup after a certain time-frame, page location, or click on a certain link or image.

Sign up for a free account today to begin creating code-free popups!

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