Hi I suppose there are two ways at looking at this one from the visitors perspective and from the web site owners. Recently I've noted more and more various popups on sites. On a personal note I hate them but are they a good marketing tactic? Chris
Bad. Very bad in most cases. They do a great job at irritating visitors and making them avoid your site next time they need something related to its subject. However, although I think they shouldn't exist in any shape or form, they would make sense if your website has absolutely no long term goals and you're just looking for visitors to visit you once. I still think there are better ways to monetize, but it would make sense in that case if the return is good.
It's a matter of testing. When done properly, they can help catch attention (although I'd perhaps use some sort of DIV popup instead of a new window - since popup blockers catch the latter) - and they can increase lead rate (and even help user). 90% of the time they are probably bloody annoying, and if done wrongly - they are sure to alienate the visitor. In the end: it's a matter of testing. Test without and with them, and compare results.
It all depends on where and how they are implemented. There are certain web pages where a visitor is really going to visit only once and is never ever likely to return. Such a page is a great candidate for an exit pop-up, especially if you have labored long and hard, and may even have paid, to drive the traffic to that page. The type of page I'm talking about is a salesletter which is selling only one product. It has only one purpose, to get the web visitor to click the Buy Now button. The average visitor, they say, spends only about 8 seconds and won't bother reading the rest of the sales copy. Well, I want to catch the visitor before he/she leaves the page. I must know why they are not buying. Is the product too expensive? Is the web site hurtful to the eye? Does the visitor have any feedback for me so I can improve my product/service? - Of course, any kind of response will be gratefully rewarded with a valuable gift, a free report, free membership to a paid site, etc. This sort of approach minimizes the annoyance generally inflicted upon the hapless surfer. I suppose you may be interested in a specific example of the sort of implementation I am alluding to. Earlier today, I contacted several vendors on PayDotCom. I needed their permission to promote their products. Why the permission? Because my cloaked affiliate link will open their sales page in my domain, with an exit pop-up waiting to spring into action if the visitor abandons the sales process. So far, every vendor is enthusiastic about the idea. My signature exemplifies what I've explained. Click it and tell me what you think. solavar
I cant stand pop ups either, but i have seen some that are just so attracting. If you gonna use 1 use a exit pop up
I believe they are one of the least effective method of advertising or getting one's attention available online. Possibly only worse than those audio messages that trigger when visiting a site.
I always work by the rule of thumb that if I hate it I wont include it on a website I own.... I think thats the best way forward
Can we give this post a nice shiny blue ribbon? If it is a site where your visitors don't come back, use them. But do it ONLY one time!
That's pretty good rule of thumb (golden rule), BUT... sometimes it doesn't hurt to get 3rd party opinion (or asking those customers). I've noticed sometimes I've become too stubborn to see what would be good for customers and not what *I think* is good for the customers.
They are not a very good marketing tactic. Although say about 7 years ago I do use one on my very first new site where it was just a popup of paid search results. I managed to get a good amount of clicks from each popup so I guess people did look at them and click on some stuff on them. But personally that was years ago and not many programs allowed that sort of thing then and therefore I don't do it now. Even if that was allowed by adding ppc search results on a popup page I still wouldn't do it as it would just de-value your website.
Popups are very bad in the site gets irritated. Thats why popup blocker from google yahoo even windows itself introduced
Hi Everyone It's amazing what you can start with a debate, and I'm sure in some ways they may have a place. However for me I'll stick to not putting them on sites, because they annoy the life out of me Thanks Chris
I think they will just annoy visitors; whenever I see a popup I just close it withought looking at it.