Cyber Monday Ready: Online Store Popups
Written by
Karen Hayoun
It’s that time of year again when customers can't help going crazy over the latest deals and steals. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the busiest online shopping days of the year. This means lots of frenzied ecommerce sales, so getting your customers’ attention is no easy task. One of the best ways to stand out and beat the competition is to use website popups on your online store. Popups are a great way to get visitors' attention while offering an incentive to make their purchase.
Types of website popups
When a popup is implemented on your website, you can decide how it works. For example, you can determine when it's shown to visitors. Using a website builder that has an app store or plugin, such as Wix, is the easiest way to go.
There are several kinds of popups, and they each serve a different function. Here are some of our favorite popup options for your online shop:
Instant entry popup
These website popups show up the moment a visitor enters your website. They’re great if you have a current sale or discount to advertise. Let's say you have a line of products that are 50% off during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You can add the details of the product to the popup, and anyone who clicks will be sent directly to those products. Because users need to close the popup to view the site, the popup deal is tough to ignore. This actually makes it very effective. But be sure to use this approach only when offering something really worthwhile. Otherwise, you might annoy your customers.
Exit popup
This type of popup is used for sales, lead generation, building email subscribers, and more. It’s activated when a user moves the mouse over the top of their browser. This indicates they're about to leave your site by closing the tab. You can use this type of website popup to give last minute discounts or benefits to convince customers that they should stay and check out the amazing offer you have for them.
Forgotten cart items
You’ve probably come across these popups when shopping. They show up right when you’re about to leave a website and you’ve left a few items in your cart. Some shops will show you a message reminding you that you haven’t completed your purchase. Others will offer a small last-minute discount as an added incentive. These popups are very effective, especially when used together with an email for logged in shoppers.
Timed popups
This kind of popup is time-activated, allowing you to show a message or discount to visitors who've been browsing your site for a specified period of time. Depending on the app, plugin, or provider you're using, you'll be able to define when the popup is activated. Most let you schedule in 10, 30, or 60-second increments. Others let you test out which time gets the best results. This can be good for product pages in order to get users to act.
Scroll-activated
Usually used on product pages and blog posts, this popup is activated when a user scrolls past a certain section on a website page. It can be very effective because you essentially know what they were just looking at before the popup is activated. Imagine you have a clothing shop and a blog post about the best outfits for winter. You can automate a popup with a discount on coats right when the user scrolls to the section of your article mentioning about coats. This kind of popup is best for specific shop pages.
Choosing a pop-up type
How do you know which popup to use? Think about how your shop is set up and what discounts you have to offer. You can use more than one type of website popup, but don’t overdo it. You want to make sure customers don't feel attacked by popups and move on. Here are a few things to consider:
- Got a blog? Connect relevant articles that can be used to promote certain products or sales and add scroll-activated popups.
- Timed popups can be used on product pages and shopping carts. If a user is spending a long time on a product page, consider adding a popup. This lets them know you’re available if they have any questions. If they stay too long on the checkout page, you can give them a time-limited coupon to get them to complete the purchase.
- An exit popup that shows up when someone is about to leave your page can be a great tool during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It's very effective and can be used throughout the site during the sale season. Take note, however, to avoid bombarding the user with popups. If you have other popups working on specific pages, take precautions so users don’t get too many popups at once.
- If a user is about to leave without completing their purchase, you can show the “Looks like you still have items in your cart” popup. Be aware that you’ll have to choose between this one and the exit popup. Otherwise, customers might find your site is too spammy. Some sites prefer to use an exit popup and then email users that have left without completing a purchase.
- If you’ve got an amazing sale going on, use the instant entry popup. It lets all your visitors know the big news. What’s the difference between this and a giant banner at the top of the page? With a popup, you can offer an additional discount code for users that enter their email. This way you incentivize them to make a purchase with the code while also growing your subscriber list.
How to implement popup
Popups can be implemented using many different tools available on various website builders. If you’re using Wix, there’s an app market to add features to your site. If your website builder doesn’t have an app or plugin that works for you, you can use an external service like Wishpond or Wisepops. These let you create a popup by simply copying and pasting the generated code on to your site to implement.
The benefit of using these types of apps is that you don’t need any development or design experience. Each app is a bit different, but they all have simple interfaces. In addition, each is easy to use and understand. This means that even a novice can quickly add a website popup in no time.
Conclusion
Popups are important tool year-round to get your customers' attention and encourage them to make a purchase. But they're absolutely critical during the holiday shopping season. During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, ecommerce shops are fighting for customer attention. This means you must be able to stand out from the crowd and pull out all the stops. With the right popups and discounts, you can increase sales and really make the most of this lucrative time.
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