Exit Popups - Love 'Em or Leave 'Em?

[suziphillips]

I personally believe exit popups have been abused to the point where they are now hurting conversion rates of people who use them. One exit popup is ok, and I am not bothered by just one. But those sites that are just plain in your face to the point where you want to strangle the guy who makes it seem impossible to escape them... that's the guy who is ruining it all for everybody else who uses exit popups. They are annoying. And over use and abuse of them is changing the way I personally look at the credibility of the site owner using them.

So I ask your opinion and experience with exit popups. Do you think they help or hurt business?

[Gene Wolf]

The only opinion I can give, being a newb to JV, is from the client end. I have no idea from the conversion end. These exit popups annoy me so much I'd like to hunt down the person using them and then hunt down his/her parents. *laughs* Seriously, I find them highly annoying and if I go to a site that uses them I would seriously consider not buying a product if they were used.

While I'm new to IM from the JV side I'm not new to selling on the web. One of the things I've learned over the last 10 years is you make it as easy as possible for someone to purchase a product. You make their experience as pleasant as possible at the same time. Imagine if you were in a store and as you were leaving a sales clerk rushed up to you and locked the door saying, "Wouldn't you really like to look at....." or, "If you stay a little longer we can give you an additional 5% off!" I'd never go back to that store and I think many people would feel the same way.

[Nathan J. Hockley]

As a marketer I DON'T hate them. This is because I look at sales pages to gain knowledge and not as a potential buyer. Most of the people who write that they just hate them is because they are looking at the product from a buyers perspective. These are the 'marketers' that are obviously still looking for that sugar rush of a new project to start rather than staying on track.

Exit pop ups can be really effective.

WHEN USED CORRECTLY!

In the MMO/Biz opp niche it is pretty much used with every launch and info product site we come across. Some times we see 4 or 5 pop ups all offering discounts or no bonuses or the final push to capture that email address with something free and then trying to sell them on the product again (or they just go straight into the affiliate product promos).

As everyone here sees a lot of these offers on a constant basis I'm pretty sure 99% of us would hit the OK button without delay.

Some would say these pop ups do many things:

- increase opt ins
- increase sales all be it discounted

But they can also be hazards!

- decrease customer satisfaction (especially when someone buys your product, goes back and sees they could have gotten 50% off if they just pressed exit and they didn't want to ridiculous bonuses anyway!)
- hinder your branding.
- desperately trying to get the sale by ultimately 'begging'

They are ultimately a given these days but my thoughts are that they would be quite effective with niche products. As many of those prospects wouldn't be familiar with the never ending circle that is the MMO niche!

But you can still perform this incorrectly.

Personally I would say keep it to one exit pop up. With my most preferred option being gathering name and email or just email. I would then slowly deliver content to them over a few days and then try to sell them on the offer again. But test different ways to see which on converts better or which ever is your preference.

- Offer the product again with no changes.
- Offer that does not include the bonuses and does give a small discount (This is better than the no bonus + discount in the exit pop up sequence in my opinion)
- Offering a trial. Pay $4.95 now and then after 3-7days the rest will be deducted.

I believe just going for the opt in will give you a better opportunity to sell them on you being an expert and your product as a 'must have'! Doing all of this at once in the exit sequence definitely wont convert as well.

[earnme97]

I personally believe exit popups have been abused to the point where they are now hurting conversion rates of people who use them. One exit popup is ok, and I am not bothered by just one. But those sites that are just plain in your face to the point where you want to strangle the guy who makes it seem impossible to escape them... that's the guy who is ruining it all for everybody else who uses exit popups. They are annoying. And over use and abuse of them is changing the way I personally look at the credibility of the site owner using them.

So I ask your opinion and experience with exit popups. Do you think they help or hurt business?

Personally, It has now become a bit bugging. Because I know that an exit popup will either direct me to a squeeze page or a discount page.

I think as people experience it again and again, they might get a bit bugged up too!~

Just my 2 cents

[paulbarrs]

Suzi.

I think you'll like my take on exit pop ups in this video I recorded a few months ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px-NgDXHB84

Paul Barrs

[Justin Atlan]

Paul this video is awesome hahaha.

Great take. Very true.

From the affiliate perspective it's good...sorta...good if it's free traffic (I really see that I get a considerable amount of sales after the pop up gave them a cheaper price).
Annoying for subs, I hate sending people stuff that's super hyped and goes to crazy pop-ups.

From the vendor perspective it's good. It works. Just don't go crazy guys. I'm using one exit pop-up for my new product!

Justin

[paulbarrs]

Paul this video is awesome hahaha.

Great take. Very true.

Just don't go crazy guys. I'm using one exit pop-up for my new product!

Just one - yes. I could even allow 'two' if they used different methods, but never any more - certainly not 7 !!

LOL

Paul Barrs

[Fabian Tan]

When I first came across exit pop-ups, I used to
get annoyed when there was more than one exit pop-
up on the sales page. Now I almost expect them on
a sales page, so I don't find them annoying
anymore. Most prospects also know now it's a great
way to get a discount.

From my experience as a merchant though, exit pop-
ups always increases sales. Would sales be higher
without them? Perhaps, but I wouldn't know for
sure. What I do know is that prospects are opening
their wallet almost immediately after the exit
pop-up appears, rather than waiting days to come
back to the page to maybe buy the product or never
buy it at all.

So if you ask me, use exit pop-ups, but perhaps
limit them to two at most for a sales page. One is
for a discount offer, and the other might go to
your squeeze page to capture leads for follow-up.
They definitely work; it's just important to
remember not to overdo them, like anything else.

Fabian

[Samuel Junghenn]

This question should not be answered with
"what people think", you can never go off
your gut or what you think is good or bad.

Everyone should be spit testing everything.
Some markets/sites they can increase profit
and some they can hurt profit (not sales),
but you will never know unless you test.