You have seen them. The small windows that surprisingly pops up on your screen, right after you enter a URL, asking you to sign up for a Newsletter or worse…to sign up for a contest.
They really take a toll on how your site is seen by viewers . This method of self promotion has been around since the beginning of the internet and their popularity comes and goes.
Right now it appears the Pop-Up Newsletter sign ups are again being recommended by the so called “influencers”. But…are they really worth it?
Granted, there is a small percentage of people who will fill out the information the POP-Up window requires making the Pop-Ups have some value. However, it appears a very large number of consumers see them as an aggravation and will leave a site that has Pop-Ups.
I have no argument that every blog site should have a call to action of some sort, but does it have to aggravate a viewer? The answer is No!
What I have found to be more effective is to just be frank with your viewers and place the call to action within the content of the blog or in view in the sidebar, but use a POP-Up.
Survey Says
Recently, I attended a business networking event where I asked 23 of the people I met there how they react to Pop-Up sign up windows on web-sites and all 23 reported to be very turned off to Pop-Ups.
15 of them felt that if a site has to resort to using a Pop-Up to gather information it was not a site serious about its image as viable resource for viewers.
4 of the people I surveyed said they had used Pop-Up in the past on their site as was suggested by their paid social media consultant and found their site’s popularity took a nosedive in viewer traffic.
2 of the people in my survey said they have been told by a number social media experts to use Pop-Up to sell their product, but ,decided not to after receiving negative comments to their survey from their dedicated followers.
The remaining 2 people in my stand up survey just felt the Pop-Ups was unnecessary, were obtrusive and gave them the impression the owner of the site they viewed was desperate.
What Works
I was surprised by nearly all of the people surveyed remarking when I asked what form of communication would they prefer offered as a promotion or call to action.
22 of the 23 said they would rather see a Video placed on the landing page or embedded in the article they were reading from the owner of the site making the call to action.
Only one of the group said they preferred a ‘Click For More Information” button.
It, again, did not surprise me that nearly everyone preferred viewing a short 30 to 45 second video making the call to action.
Facetime Preferred
When I asked these individuals what they liked about a call to action video the majority said the video gave them an opportunity to get a feel for the ‘tone of business’. This meant the video gave them a feeling if the call to action was sincere or a gimmick.
A video from the owner of the business..the president of the company, or someone in a leadership position… gave them a more “reassuring” feeling the call to action was “trustworthy”.
Embedded Videos The Way to Go!
So why are so many sites still using Pop-Up sign up windows? That is a good question. The only answer I have is Pop-Up are cheaper. The question then is, can a business afford the negative image a “cheap” Pop-Up window gives them?
Let me know how I can help.
