Case Study: Website Pop-ups, Useful or UX fail?

Are those popups you find on nearly every website useful? Or are they just wasting users’ time? We set out to learn more.

The Goal

Our team recently came across an article discussing the value of using popups on a website. According to their findings, no one was engaging with their popup, other than to dismiss it. Tens of thousands of people–every user–was clicking away. It sounded like a major user experience (UX) fail, but could it really be accurate? The numbers almost sounded too absolute to be true. At Alt Media Studios we can’t leave a good digital marketing question unanswered, so we decided to run a trial to see what we could see. Could we replicate the original findings?

The Strategy

We drew randomly and found a client who used a popup on their home page that’s only seen by new visitors. It’s a monthly giveaway that asks for the user’s email address to enter. They’re also informed (of course) that they may receive promotions in the future. Options on the popup were “sign up” and “no thanks.” Users could also exit via the close button, or they could use their “Esc” key on a keyboard to dismiss. 

We were interested to learn how and if our client’s site users interacted with the popup. So we ran a trial that lasted roughly five months, give or take. We tracked and then analyzed user responses to the popup. Our results told a more realistic story than the article that originally prompted this test.

The Results

After five months, we checked our stats, and here’s what we found.

• 83,146 total popups
• 63,299 (76.13%) used the close (“X”) button
• 17,034 (20.49%) used the “No Thanks” link
• 80 (0.10%) used the "Esc" key on keyboard
• 2,733 (3.29%) signed up for the giveaway

So, no, we did not recreate the epic negative sweep that we read about. These are more realistic results that are closer in line with what we expected. But it doesn’t end there. We have some thoughts.

The Takeaway

This was a fun exercise. It was also interesting that our assumptions were proven correct, and that there were actually some folks who positively engaged with the popup. What does that tell us, and you? Firstly, don’t just assume anything. Testing is vital to ensure that what you’re doing is working. 

Secondly, just because something isn’t working, doesn’t mean it can’t work. Maybe you just need to tweak parameters. Maybe the message or the offering in a popup will never attract a user, because it isn’t offering what they’re looking for. In this case, the client was giving away products, things that site users are already looking for and interested in–2,733 users saw value in that offer and volunteered their email address as proof. If you’re getting no positive engagement, it’s worth changing one or more elements of the popup and testing again. Do this until you discover the right formula, or eventually conclude that maybe your audience just isn’t the popup type.

Thirdly–and we’re a little loath to say this since we, like most people, don’t love encountering popups in our everyday browsing life–but popups do work…sometimes. Clearly, over 3% of folks who encountered our client’s popup signed up, and without that popup they may not have acquired that valuable contact information that can be used for countless future connections. And if you play with the offerings, it’s even possible to score more conversions than that. Of course there’s a tradeoff, as most people agree that popups are annoying. Best case scenario is what they did here–only present a popup on the home screen, the first time you visit the site. That’s a good practice that we’d recommend if you are determined to have a popup on your site. It’s minimally invasive, and it could be just the spark needed to ignite engagement. 

So, now that we’ve told the whole story about what we found after running a quick test on popup reactions, are you intrigued? Would you try popups on your website? Are you rethinking or planning to fine tune your digital marketing and conversion rate optimization strategies? Make sure you’re working with a digital marketing agency who gets what you’re doing. You need a partner who is up for a challenge, and ready to get into the data to find the best, most effective and customized solutions for you and your business. That’s how you engage your audience and build relationships. That’s how you work toward success.

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