In this post, we’ll show you how to sell more from your Shopify store with popups.
Why use popups, you ask?
BOOM! is a makeup brand for women of every generation designed by supermodel Cindy Joseph and serial-entrepreneur Ezra Firestone. The duo achieved an 18.2% increase in revenue from their Shopify Store in just one month using popups.
Let’s see how you can achieve similar results.
What is a popup?
A popup is an overlay that appears on your website. It displays a secondary offer for visitors based on their site behavior and level of customer awareness.
Shopify store owners typically use popups to drive sales with a discount or offer. For example, visitors that drop an item in their cart and then try to leave a site are often hit with an exit-intent popup.
Here’s a Shopify popup, created with OptiMonk, tempting shoppers with a personal discount:
How to use popups the right way
For some people, popups are annoying. Inappropriately-triggered popups can feel invasive, and it can distract people from whatever they were reading or looking at.
Many people instinctively exit websites because the popups are overused and poorly done. Hence the bad rep.
But when done right, they can be one of the most effective forms of digital marketing.
To make a great impact, you need to understand these best practices.
1. Show popups at the right time
Don’t be invasive.
This means not interrupting your visitors’ browsing experience. Especially when they first land on your homepage.
Implement event-triggered popups that appear after a visitor completes a specific action. It helps to ensure that you’re not “in the face” of your visitors.
They can help support a visitor’s buyer journey by only giving them the right message when they need it.
For example, you can trigger exit-intent popups and inspire someone to buy when they’re about to leave your store. You can also create an upsell popup on Shopify when customers add a product to their cart.
2. Limit the frequency of your popups
Returning visitors are especially put off by seeing the same popup every time they visit your site.
It can also be irritating to be repeatedly offered something you have zero interest in.
The ideal approach? Show your popups to each visitor two to three times—with a 3-5 day gap.
3. Don’t show multiple messages during one visit
Don’t overwhelm your visitors with a ton of popups. They can disrupt the browsing experience, lead to a fast exit, and put visitors off returning to your store.
Try to limit the number of popups you show to 1-2 per visit.
4. Differentiate between cold and hot traffic
Hot traffic refers to people who are excited to buy from your brand. Maybe they’ve visited your store a bunch of times, watched your YouTube channel, or opened your weekly newsletter multiple times.
Cold traffic refers to people who are just discovering your brand.
Your strategy for cold v.s. hot traffic has to be different to convert your visitors and boost brand loyalty.
For example, the people who make up your hot traffic are primed and ready to buy. It’s the perfect time to show them a popup offering a time-sensitive 15% off deal.
In contrast, you need to build trust with your cold visitors. An ebook can do that.
Use a popup that asks for their email address or contact info to promote that ebook.
5. Offer an irresistible incentive
Your offer has to be exciting enough to get your visitor to act on it.
Whether it’s purchasing now or sharing contact details in exchange for an intriguing ebook—provide a unique, super-valuable offer they can’t resist.
6. Make sure it looks good on mobile
Over 50% of people who shop online use a mobile device. To entice these users, you need to create mobile-friendly popups.
Creating intrusive mobile popups can spike your bounce rates and drag down your SEO rankings. Google’s rules around intrusive interstitials state that your popup shouldn’t take up the entire screen unless your visitor’s been scrolling for a few seconds.
When it comes to styling your popup for mobile, go for bold, contrasting colors that visitors can’t miss. Never choose shades that blend your popup and store background together.
In addition, make sure that your font and button size are big, fully readable, and clickable on a phone.
5 popup use cases to sell more on Shopify
You now know the best practices for creating high-converting popups. Let’s put them into action.
1. Stop cart abandonment with time-limited deals
Cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges for Shopify stores. The average cart abandonment rate is 69.80%.
Popups are a great way to convert cart abandoners into customers.
Personalized discounts can draw visitors back in.
And they work especially well when you include a countdown timer. Check out Tiny Beast Designs’ popup below.
A countdown timer brings a sense of urgency—pushing visitors to act and move through your checkout.
2. Increase average order value by displaying free shipping conditions
Shoppers will be happy to spend more on a purchase if it means free shipping. A recent study found that customers would rather get free shipping than receive their purchases faster.
You can hack this desire by offering free shipping once shoppers hit a certain spending amount. This will spike your average order value (aka how much shoppers spend with each order).
Check out how BioZoo does this with a subtle, super non-invasive sticky bar:
3. Welcome returning visitors with a personalized offer
Personalization is the practice of using a visitor’s data to personalize the customer experience. It’s one of the biggest hypes in marketing. And not without good reason.
80% of people say they are more likely to do business with a brand that offers personalized experiences.
You can tap into the craving for personal digital experiences with a just-for-them welcome message that showcases their most recently viewed products.
This approach builds a deeper connection with your visitors and reminds them where they left off in the shopping journey. It compels them to move forward with their purchase.
Check out this example from the OptiMonk popup library:
4. Promote seasonal offers
Seasonal promotions are a popular go-to for ecommerce stores because:
- They take advantage of an existing shopping fever (e.g. on Black Friday or in the run-up to Christmas).
- They create a sense of urgency, driving shoppers to act on the offer before their time is up.
The modern customer journey is often complex and drawn out. People can take days or months to compare competing products, dive into reviews, and weigh up prices. But the persuasive power of urgency can help speed up the process.
See how BlendJet aced their Halloween promotion popup:
5. Recommend relevant products on exit intent
An exit-intent popup tracks a visitor’s moves and shows them a message just as they’re about to leave your site.
The most effective exit-intent popups can have conversion rates as high as 10% to 60%.
Boost your sales by upselling relevant products to visitors who are about to bounce without buying.
This expert example combines this tactic with the seasonal offers tactic shown above:
Sell more with popups
Done right, popups can be a welcome addition to your visitor’s shopping experience.
Popups are the number 1 superpower for conversions. By matching your messages to the right visitors, you can spike your sales and win lifelong customers.
Want to see how other stores are using popups to drive more sales? Check out this article on how to boost revenue with popups.