Exit Intent Popups have been steadily growing in the world of online marketing. You have probably seen one yourself while browsing your favourite website or e-commerce store.
An Exit Intent Popup basically “pops up” when a user attempts to leave a web page. The copy on the popup then tries to convince the reader to leave their email or continue what they were doing, such as making a purchase.
To do this, exit intent popups use Javascript and the web browser to track the movements of the user. Once it is indicated that the person is moving their cursor to the “x” icon at the top left or right hand side of the screen, the exit pop up is activated.
The technology surrounding an exit popup is not that complicated, however it can be one of the most effective tools for helping to convert bouncing traffic. Exit popups are also very easy to install, but first let’s take a look at why they work.
Why Are Exit Pop Ups So Effective?
When someone wants to leave your website, usually they are:
- Ready to leave as they have gained all the necessary information
- Bored or uninterested with your content
- Frustrated as they can’t find what they were looking for
- Distracted and perhaps sidetracking to elsewhere
- Looking for a coupon code or cheaper or comparable product or service elsewhere
- Not interested in purchasing your products or services
- Not satisfied with what your products or services are offering
- Turned off by the price, refund policy or terms of service agreement
- Feeling doubtful about trusting your brand to deliver what it has promised
These are just some of the reasons that visitors will leave your website and return to the giant ocean that is the world wide web. This can be devastating for your business, as chances are you have spent a lot of time, work and money to get them to your webpage in the first place.
This is where exit intent popups come into play and can help you to convert some of these exiting visitors into leads that may eventually turn into paying customers.
Exit popups are both psychologically and tactically brilliant. They stop your visitor for a brief moment in time which automatically primes them to consider whether they want to take action based on your exit pop up.
This can be very difficult to do, as often visitors are “blind” to things like pop ups. However, because exit intent popups are relatively new, visitors are still not desensitised by them, making them the perfect strategy to help increase your conversion rates and boost your list of leads. In fact, some companies have reported success rates with their exit pop ups of up to 70 percent.
The call to action on your exit intent popup will really determine how successful it is at getting people to carry through with the “intent” or desirable action.
If you can work out the main reason behind why visitors are leaving your webpage in the first place, then your call to action on your exit intent popup can be far more successful at boosting conversions.
For example, say a significant percentage of your visitors are exiting at your checkout page. Perhaps offering a exit pop up with a coupon code or a discount in exchange for their email can help to motivate them to return to your site.
Just the same, if your visitors are dropping off once they have read your amazing blog posts, maybe your call to action on your exit intent pop up could invite them to join your newsletter or sign up to your email list to receive updates.
There are so many effective ways to use exit intent popups to help draw users back to your webpage and turn them into life long customers.
The good thing about exit-intent popups as well, is that you can create different pop ups for different pages. This way you can offer your customers specific call to actions for whichever section of your sales funnel that they are on.
Here are some examples of how to use exit-popups:
- Shopping cart coupon
- Sign up to receive a discount
- Contest notifications
- Member only promotions
- Newsletter sign up
- Event Ticket Promotions
- Pre-launch opt-in
- Free promotional events or whitepapers
- Growing email lists
- Redirecting traffic to other content
- Customer support
- Recommend other products or services
These are just some of the many ways you can use exit pop ups to help grow your lists and increase awareness about your products and promotions.
But Don’t People Hate Pop Ups?
Some people complain about pop-ups being too invasive or tacky, however statistics show that around 10 to 15 percent of traffic that is exiting from your page can be converted by using exit intent pop ups.
That means 10 to 15 percent of the people leaving your site end up in your email list or end up carrying through with their purchase. For most brands this can make a world of difference to both sales and profits.
When done right, exit intent popups can also look seamless with your page and non-invasive. They can also potentially add value to your existing landing page.
Here are some examples of how you can make your exit pop up integrate seamlessly into your landing pages:
- Have your exit pop up match the overall theme and style of your webpage
- Make sure the copy and typography used on your exit pop up is similar in style to your landing page
- Make sure your exit pop up does not look like an ad (avoid cheesy stock photos and salesy headlines)
- Make it look like the exit pop up is part of your brand, for example by including your logo
- Give users the option to close the exit pop up and return to the page
- Don’t have more than one exit pop up (having more than one starts to look spammy)
Think of it this way, your exit pop up should really be like the trusty side kick to your landing page. It should have the same offer and tone and a very similar design, but it should also offer something slightly alternative that helps to compliment and juice-up the effectiveness of your landing page. Almost like your exit pop up is the cherry and sprinkles to the chocolate sundae that is your landing page.
Testing your exit pop up on your own site and landing pages will be the only way to truly tell how your visitors resonate with it and respond to it.
You may also need to experiment with adjusting your copy and call to action to help create a sense of urgency. After all, your exit pop up is truly the last thing standing between your visitor turning into a lead or your visitor never returning to your web page ever again.
How to Make Your Exit Pop Up Actionable and Enticing
In order for your exit intent pop up to be effective it has to inspire your users to take action immediately. It also has to help create a sense of urgency in order for them to stop what they are doing and go back to your site.
It can be very difficult to convince someone to change the direction that they are going in, but with powerful copy and catchy call to action, your exit pop up can do just that.
As Unbounce aptly states-
“An exit overlay (popup) is like a second page view served only to abandoning users- try using it to amp up the urgency and entice visitors to make a last-second purchase or opt-in.”
Creating a sense of urgency can help to motivate users to make a decision, and hopefully if your copy is strong enough, that decision will lead to an opt in or purchase.
Some tips to writing strong copy on your exit intent pop up includes-
- Offering a no-risk option such as “get a quote” or “receive our information packet” rather than “buy now”
- Clearly stating the benefits of following through with your call to action, perhaps in a checklist form
- Reminding them of the process, for example “Get a Quote in just 60 seconds…”
- Offering something immediate by using words like “Now” or “Limited Time Only”
- Using arrows or a directional cue to point to the call to action
- Offering something of value to your readers such as a coupon code, free shipping, whitepapers etc.
- Making the content exclusive, for example- “Only 100 spots available” or “Offer ends today”
- Trying to grab their attention with buzz words, for example “free”, “win” or “exclusive”
- Grabbing their attention using capital letters, exclamation points and red/green text
- Keeping your text short and sweet, remember you only have their attention for a few seconds
- Using social proof to assure users to sign up, for example, “Join our community of 2 million…”
- Using actionable call to actions that communicate immediate value such as, “get my free ebook” or “start losing weight now” as compared to just “order now”
Again, it is important to test the copy on your exit intent pop up to see what resonates with your audience the most. It is also important to remember however, that no matter what content you include, your exit pop up should follow these general rules and guidelines, as they have been proven to work:
1. Make your copy clear and concise (remember, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention)
2. Make your copy actionable
3. Use buzz words or keywords
4. Create a sense of urgency
5. Make a call to action button that communicates immediate value
6. Use an arrow or directional cue to point to the call to action button
These six steps will help you to ensure that your exit pop up is primed for optimal conversion rates and follows the highest standards in the industry.
It will also help you to narrow down why users may be abandoning your page in the first place. If you do have a landing page that has a high drop off rate, an exit pop up may in fact be the perfect remedy.
As Unbounce states:
“If a high percentage of users are ditching your landing page, an exit overlay is fertile ground to test a last-second offer that counters any objections they may have.”
This is especially helpful if you are offering a product or service that is niche or somewhat new or controversial in the marketplace.
To do this, your exit pop may offer your visitors something less threatening or demanding such as a quiz, free e-course or a free trial offer. When you offer a “try before you buy” type option or more information in your exit-pop up, it may help people to feel more assured and trusting of your brand, products and services.
You can also use exit-popups to add more value to your landing pages offers as well. In many ways this is a sales technique that can help to sweeten the deal and make your offer appear all that more appealing.
How to Take Your Exit Intent Pop Up to the Next Level
So you have an exit intent pop up that is converting fairly well, but where to from here? How can you beef up your exit intent pop up to double or even quadruple your conversion rates?
We have a few sure fire ways to help-
1. Provide Not One, But Two Call to Actions
This may seem highly counterintuitive, but sometimes offering two call to actions can help direct your visitors in the direction of your choosing, especially if one of the call to actions is obviously a lesser or more negative choice.
A great example of this comes from Social Triggers, they ran an exit pop up with the title “Would you like to become an SEO Badass?” Underneath that their two call to actions were-
- Yes, please make me a badass!
- No, I want to continue dwelling in my mom’s basement
By offering a yes (positive) and a no (negative) call to action, it helps to direct the user to the most desirable course of action. Most people don’t want to live in their mother’s basement, so the “No” option suddenly becomes highly unappealing.
By creating two call to actions, you also reaffirm what the visitor is receiving. In the example above, by clicking on “Yes” the visitor assumes they are going to receive some tools to help them master SEO. Even though Social Triggers have not explicitly stated what the visitor will receive, their call to action is “attention grabbing” enough to peak peoples curiosity.
Experiment with offering a “positive” and “negative” call to action to see if it can help boost conversions and achieve a more desirable outcome.
2. Delay the X closing icon or button
In order to not be annoying, your exit pop-up should have a closing button, however, if you really want to make sure that your visitors are paying full attention to your message, you may want to delay its appearance.
When you delay the appearance of the closing button, it also gives your visitor the option to click elsewhere- hopefully on your call to action.
Research has found that those who delayed the closing button on their exit intent pop ups recorded increased conversion rates of up to 20-30 percent, compared to those who had the close button from the very beginning.
3. Segment Your Visitors to Target Them With Different Messages
By segmenting your visitors, it helps you to offer a more tailored experience and can help you to provide more appropriate call to actions.
Of course, you may not be able to send a specifically tailored message to everyone that comes to your site, but you may want to segment your messages to-
- First time buyers vs. returning customers
- Visitors who have just landed on your webpage vs. visitors who are nearing towards the checkout
- Visitors who have products in their cart vs. visitors who do not have products in their cart
- Visitors who are subscribed to your email list vs. visitors who are not subscribed to your email list
The segment you choose will of course depend on your brand and the products and services it offers, but by offering different messages, it helps your call to action to become more relevant. It also ensures that you are not bombarding visitors with the same message over and over again, as in time this can lead to “blindness”.
4. Make it Lightning Fast
The average attention span of someone online is between 6-8 seconds, and this number is slowly decreasing every year. This means that your exit pop up needs to load, be read and acted upon in this short time frame.
In order to ensure that your visitors are not left hanging and that your exit-pop is actually visible before they exit the page, it is important to ensure that-
- Your exit pop up has a minimal design with compressed images that load quickly
- Your exit pop up has immediate impact
- Your exit pop up doesn’t use special fonts that need embedding
- Your exit pop up uses simple HTML and CSS so they are compatible across browsers
- Your exit pop up uses preloaded content
- Your Javascript is compressed to decrease the bandwidth requirement
If you operate a WordPress site, there are many great plug-ins that will help you to design and configure your exit pop up so it loads fast. Experiment with the software that works best for your site and ensure that your pop up is also trackable and offers analytical tools. Most plug-ins can also be synced with Google Analytics.
5. Make it Mobile Friendly
If you are like most businesses, chances are majority of your customers are accessing your webpage from their mobile device. For this reason, it is important to make sure that your exit pop up is responsive. This not only allows you to cater to mobile visitors but it also ensures that your pop up doesn’t interfere with your mobile experience.
Most brands that make their pop up responsive see a 10-15 percent increase in conversions, so work on optimising your design, or creating a separate mobile exit pop up altogether.
Conclusion
You work hard to get visitors to your site, so why not try everything you’ve got to keep them there?
Creating an exit pop up can be a great way to retain visitors who normally would have just left your webpage, never to return again. This can be invaluable and can help your brand to increase conversion rates, boost sales and boost profits.
Exit Intent Popups are also super easy to install and can often be easily tracked through existing analytical software such as Google Analytics.
Exit popups can also be easily be tailored to suit the message of your brand or landing page, and can help to sweeten the deal that your landing page is offering in order to entice your readers to stick around and follow through.
In order to create a super effective exit pop up that converts your exiting visitors into leads, it is important to ensure that your exit pop up offers a strong benefit and a strong call to action. This helps your visitors to know exactly what to expect and what they are signing up for.
In fact, having an exit pop up has been shown to help improve conversion rates an average of 10-15 percent, which can be huge for your brand in the long run.
To summarise the steps for creating an effective exit intent pop up, ensure that-
1. You understand your audience and why they are leaving your page in the first place
2. Your exit pop up design is similar to your landing page and doesn’t look salesy
3. Your exit pop up uses simple and effective language that is easy to read
4. Your exit pop up offers something of value to your readers
5. Your exit pop up has a strong, actionable call to action that warrants an immediate response
6. Your exit pop up loads quickly and is responsive
There are so many great reasons to use exit pop ups and so many ways they can help turn your landing pages into well-oiled conversion machines.
Does your site have an exit intent popup? If not we can create one for you – get in touch.
More great examples below:
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