Collecting leads is crucial for any business to have long-term success when running promotions. And one of the best ways to collect leads is to use email popup forms on your website.
Many will tell you that pop-ups don’t work anymore. But they couldn’t be any wrong.
Nikki McGonigal, a renounced blogger, used to have a sidebar to collect leads, which was generating 0.4% subscribers. She switched to using a popup instead and the subscriptions shot up to 5.5%!! That’s about 1375% growth!
In fact, the average conversion rate of email popups is about 11.09%!
The challenge here is to understand what type of popup forms to use and on which page to generate the maximum number of leads.
Today, you will learn the best ways to use pop-ups to capture leads.
After reading this article, you will learn
- What an email popup is, and why it works?
- What type of email popups should you use and when?
- Examples of good email popups that can get you high results.
Eventually, you will be able to plan the right way to use popups on your website and capture more leads.
So let’s get started.
What Is An Email Popup Form?
Think about a few websites you visited recently. Have you seen a case where you were browsing, and a small window appeared asking you to sign up for a newsletter or maybe offer a discount if you subscribed?
That’s an email popup form.
It’s a simple way to ask for a visitor’s email & name (and maybe phone number) by offering some sort of value.
And since it’s a popup, it’s hard to miss.
How Effective Are Email Popups?
The success of pop-ups depends a lot on how well you execute it. Seemingly it depends on
- The value you are offering to give the email.
Almost every blogging website has a newsletter popup with a promise to deliver quality articles every week and no spam. - Size of the email capture popup
As per Hubspot’s survey, 50% of the respondents believe long email popups can discourage opt-ins. - Design of the popup form
It’s best to keep a simple popup with less congestion and proper color that doesn’t feel annoying.
Also, an image is more effective than just plain text and opt-in fields. - The page where you initiate the popup
Be sure to make a relevant value offer for opting in based on the page the visitors are at.
For example, if it’s an article about copywriting, then offering a copy script as a lead magnet would be a great idea. - Timing of the popup
It depends on what niche you are in. In e-commerce, people would appreciate a popup with a coupon discount in 3-5 seconds.
But if you are, let’s say, a SaaS software business, then people would want to browse a bit before getting a request to opt in.
If all of these are done properly, then you can expect to get a good number of opt-ins from visitors (provided that you are driving relevant traffic).
Email popups can convert 3.8% of the visitors into leads.
Hence, you should continue using email popups on your website, and if there aren’t any, set up one.
7 Types Of Popups To Initiate Lead Capture
You could use many different types of popups to capture leads. However, not all will give you high results.
Let us look at 7 different types of email capture popups that you can use to collect more leads. And then, we will look at examples of popups that have worked for companies out there.
1. Instant Email Subscription Popup
This is a type of email popup that appears instantly after a page loads within the first 3 seconds.
Usually, e-commerce sites use such popups to offer a free coupon or special offer. Some businesses also use these email popups to highlight their upcoming new tool and request users to join the waiting list.
Many blogs or PR sites use such popups on specific pages to get email subscriptions.
2. Email Popup After Specific Time On Page
Businesses such as SaaS firms or service providers would prefer people to browse their websites a bit before requesting them to register or subscribe.
In this case, you may set a fixed time, maybe 60 seconds, after which the lead capture popup will appear.
This can also be used on specific articles that are informative. For example, suppose you are reading an in-depth article about home gardening tips. Let’s say, after reading for a minute, an email popup appears stating “Loving these gardening tips? Subscribe to get new interesting gardening tips every week!“
The concept here is, that within 1 minute, you have a chance to read some part of the article. If the article is well-written, then you will be hooked already and won’t mind getting weekly emails on similar topics.
3. Lead Capture Popup on Button Click
You could hook the email popup to a CTA button so that the opt-in popup appears when a person clicks on the button.
This works really well when you are running a targeted lead generation campaign using a lead funnel that has a dedicated landing page for the lead magnet or the promised value.
For example, suppose you want to use a free ebook to collect leads. So you may create a 2-step funnel with a dedicated landing page for the ebook and a thank you page. On the landing page, you may set up an email popup on button click. Basically, you may have multiple CTA buttons to trigger the same popup form.
This will work well because people will rather read more about the ebook and then decide if they want it or not. People will not simply fill out the opt-in form and leave it for later.
You may use the same approach to invite people into your next free webinar or join an early bird list for a new launch.
4. Email Capture Popup On Specific Page Action
This is a custom popup that you may trigger on specific actions on the page, such as clicking a certain number of times, scrolling to a specific section, or hovering over a certain element on the page.
This will work well if you want to get curated leads from your blogs.
For example, suppose you have a guide on setting up a web agency. Now, suppose you want that when a person reads till the part when they have to consult with a business consultant, a popup will appear to opt-in for a free consultation. If the person reading the article is serious about opening an agency soon, he will definitely consider getting a free consultation.
What this will ensure is that most of your leads will be easier to convert when you run a conversion funnel.
5. Scroll Triggered Popup To Get Leads
This is exactly as it sounds – an email popup will appear once a person scrolls down on a page.
Normally, when you create a landing page for a targeted campaign, you already share what your lead magnet is in the Paid Ads or the mediums where you promote your funnel to bring in traffic.
So, in the first section, you would directly make a benefit-rich CTA or use a video to convince the person to take the free lead magnet.
Hence, visitors will already be hooked right when they land on the page. A scroll at that time means the prospect is more curious. Hence a popup on scroll will make total sense.
However, the success of this lead capture popup will depend on how good your copy is.
6. On click Popup To Capture Email
The on click popup basically means when a person first clicks on a page, a popup may appear to ask the visitor to subscribe.
Usually, this approach is mostly used by e-commerce sites to offer a coupon or to request a registration.
Here, a click is an indication that the visitor is curious to learn more or browse more products. An email popup with a discount would be a great way to give an extra push to the prospect to try and make a purchase.
7. Email Pop-up On Browsing Frequency or Purchase History
This approach is a great lead capture tactic for online shops.
Basically, when someone has visited your site once, if he comes back again, you may track his browsing history to find out if he was browsing any specific product.
Then. you could trigger a popup to ask the prospect to claim a coupon while personalizing the copy by mentioning the product that the prospect was browsing before.
The same can be done for logged-in users based on their purchase history instead of browsing history.
Since the prospect has already checked a product out or is interested in a certain product, a discount would be a good way to convince them to purchase it when they visit the website a second time.
And on the process, you could collect their emails.
15+ Email Popup Examples And Why They Work
Let us look at some real-life email popup examples and why they work.
This may help you plan your popup design and copy the right way.
1. Newsletter Popup Examples
Asking people to subscribe to the weekly newsletter is probably the most common value offered in email popups. And it still works quite well, as long as you ask for the email subscription correctly.
Let us look at a few examples.
i. Mangools Newsletter Popup
Mangools is an amazing website with a large collection of blogs related to SEO and Keyword Research.
They usually have a newsletter popup on button click.
This works quite well because the menu is sticky, and the CTA to subscribe to the newsletter is always visible. Once you click on it, a popup appears with an image that aligns with the category of the content you are reading, a text explaining what you will get, and a simple opt-in form.
ii. BloggingWizard’s Unique Email Subscription For Newsletters
BloggingWizard is one of the best websites to get detailed guides on how to blog the right way and several strategic articles on several marketing strategies.
They have a popup set up based on scrolling past 60-70% of an article.
This one is really good because of the unique way they ask for the email. You can see they used an image of a cartoon-like wizard to match their brand, and the copy states the exclusivity of the emails they will send to subscribers only.
Moreover, they only asked for one piece of information – the email. The CTA has a contrasting color to make it more noticeable.
Overall, a great email popup.
iii. WPBeginners Simple Newsletter Popup
WPBegginners set up a timed popup to ask people to sign up to their weekly newsletter on WordPress-related content.
As you can see, this popup is straightforward. If you found value in their blog, then you won’t hesitate to subscribe.
iv. The Hubspot Newsletter Popup
Hubspot is well known for its amazing articles, besides being a great tool. And they have a great pop-up to invite people to subscribe to their mailing list.
The best thing about this popup is they are not only promising quality tips but also highlighting how many people trust them, and how they will honor privacy protection as assurance.
2. Discount Popup To Capture Email – Examples
A discount popup is commonly used by e-commerce sites or other businesses running a promotion to get leads. Basically, you ask for the visitor’s email address in exchange for a discount coupon.
This helps in two ways:
- You get to collect leads easily.
- It will excite prospects to make their next purchase ASAP.
Let us look at a few real-life examples.
i. Woven Store’s 10% Off To Register With Name & Email
Woven Store is an amazing online shop in the UK that specializes in women’s clothing, household items, and other accessories.
They have a pop-up setup for first-time visitors or prospects with no account.
The headline and the image are the apples of the eye here. They are perfect for interacting with new visitors convincing them to provide their names and emails, and eventually making them register.
ii. Hydrant’s $5 Off For Email Subscription
Hydrant is all about keeping you hydrated with its unique dissolving drink mixes that are packed with balanced electrolytes.
They are offering a $5 incentive to sign-up with emails.
This one’s straightforward. If you want a discount, you sign up with your email. However, the colorful image makes it more exciting.
iii. AppSumo’s Popup With 10% Off For Email Subscription
AppSumo is currently the number one lifetime deal hosting firm for software and SaaS tools. They are using a strategic popup to insist new visitors to submit their emails, along with permission to send future emails.
The specialty of this email popup is that the main value is apparent at first glance due to its large font. Plus, they have carefully added a sentence below the title and above the opt-in form to get permission to send future promotional emails.
You will realize you are permitting them to send marketing emails, but you will still submit your email because you will be excited about the discount.
3. Gamified Popups To Capture Emails – Examples
Sometimes, it’s better to offer something out of the box to grab the attention of the buyers. A great way to do that is to include some sort of game as part of the email opt-in process.
This is a unique email popup strategy that often works well if you have good offers in place.
Following are some great examples of gamified popups.
i. Christmas Spint The Wheel Popup by Optimonk
Optimonk is a renounced popup builder that has several gamified templates, and their spin-the-wheel popup templates are amazing.
Here’s one of the templates:
The great thing about this template is it goes perfectly with the festive mood of Christmas, thanks to the color and design. Plus, the mystery of how much discount people may get is another exciting aspect.
ii. Pick A Gift Popup by PopupBuilder
PopupBuilder is a great tool to help you create gamified popups easily and one of their best templates is the “Pick A Gift Popup” which allows visitors to pick a random gift box to claim a discount, coupon, or store credit.
You can see that the design is simple, and the idea is clear – the prospect has to choose one of the boxes after providing his email to claim a reward.
iii. Creating Gamified Email Capture Popups by SmashPops
SmashPops is one of the best popup builders to create gamified email capture popups for your website. They have some amazing gamification ideas that will be brilliant for the holiday season.
Let us look at a couple of their best gamified popup templates.
This popup has an interactive game where a person has to guide the claw machine to grab a random gift, which may be a discount, free shipping, etc.
But, to drop the claw, the prospects have to submit their names and email addresses. Pretty exciting stuff.
The slot machine discount generator is another of their unique gamified popups where a person gets a feel of a slot machine. People who has been to a casino or played a game of slot machine will love this.
4. Free Resource Popup To Capture Leads – Examples
Offering a free resource is the easiest way to attract leads, and it will also help you identify targeted customers – people who take the free resources is probably interested in what you have to offer later. (Though it will depend on how well you planned your lead magnet.)
Let us look at a few real-life examples.
i. E-Club Membership with Free Cookbook by Sienna Sauce Co.
Sienna Sauce Co. is a growing company that offers premium sauces of various flavors.
They are using a pretty good free resource – a cookbook and a free membership in exchange of an email address.
The reason this works really well is because the free cookbook is something that their target audience will love. It’s perfect to not only attract cooks but also to convince them to purchase more sauces to follow those recipes.
ii. Email Popup On Button Click To Collect Product Guide by ROOM
Room is a great online shop that has stunning interior decor for both homes and offices. And they are using a button-click popup to offer a product guide that people can collect via email.
They have a sticky menu with a button to request a product guide. Upon clicking, a popup will appear to collect the email and the country. This is mainly aimed at businesses and decorators.
iii. Free Student Tool Box As Email Capture Popup by Your Guitar Academy
Your Guitar Academy is pretty popular for guitar lovers and students who want to learn to play guitars. One of the things they are doing to get more clients is they are offering a free Student toolbox that includes handbooks and guides to learn guitar more efficiently.
The popup is brilliantly designed with a nice image while highlighting the “Student ToolBox” with an underline. The underline will ensure people read the text below it. The opt-in form looks simple, which matches the simplicity of the website quite well.
iv. Personalized PDF Format via Email Popup by Converflow
Convertflow is a brilliant marketing software along with a website full of valuable resources for marketers. They have an interesting approach where they are simply offering to send a PDF copy of the guides people are reading.
Initially, a popup appears that asks the reader if he would like a PDF copy of the guide he is reading. There is no form; only a CTA button. Upon clicking on this button, the opt-in form appears.
What they did brilliantly here is, first, they managed to use color contrast to keep the focus on the popup, and second, they made the reader decide first before revealing what information was needed. And the uniqueness here is they have used a 2-step opt-in form, which is rare but very effective.
5. Future Updates & Notification Email Popup
These are ways to make people subscribe with the expectation of getting future notifications on new products, discounts, deals, or launches.
Let us look at a relevant example.
i. “Stay Notified For Future Deals” Email Popup by Electronic Express
Electronic Express is a popular online marketplace for electronics, and they are using a simple popup to collect emails – a promise to inform people about future discounts.
It’s a great message – get the inside scoop. The title will make prospects curious and will consider joining the list.
How To Set Up An Email Popup On Your WordPress Site?
In WordPress, you will find several plugins to help you create popups. However, you should find a tool that is easy to use and can be connected to your email marketing tool along with proper lead management.
You may consider using Mail Mint, an easy-to-use email marketing tool for WordPress that comes with its own lead form creator.
Using Mail Mint, you will be able to design and execute most of the email popups you learned about here and assign them to specific pages on your website.
Plus, the plugin has great lead management features, including segmentation and custom contact details. And it has several automation triggers to allow you to run email campaigns easily.
- Get Mail Mint Now!
You may also try using its free version first to check out its lead form builder firsthand.
Conclusion
Email popups are super easy to create, and, as you saw, several large brands are actively using pop-ups to get more leads.
Depending on your niche, decide what sort of email popup you can use. As long as you can promise some value to the visitors, you will be able to get high conversion rates, i.e., more curated leads.
In the long run, you will have a large lead list that will help you run successful promotional campaigns to grow your business.
So go ahead and start using email popups now.
