Why People Don’t Like Website Pop-Ups & How You Can Make Them More Likable
As a business owner, it’s important to understand why website visitors do not like pop-ups. I’m going to share with you several reasons why people strongly dislike pop-ups, based on my own personal experience and the input that I’ve received from others.
Before I get started, I want to say that I understand why a business would use a pop-up on its website. Pop-ups can be used as a chat box, instigate a sale in the form of a discount code or an offer, it may give the opportunity to receive a newsletter, or provide value in the form of an upsell or download. The possibilities are endless, really.
With that being said, many times, pop-ups can turn away the visitors that you want to find value with you. Here are a few reasons why:
Pop-ups are intrusive. When people are browsing the web, the last thing they want is for a pop-up to suddenly appear and disrupt their experience. There was a study done by NNGroup that determined pop-ups are the number one reason people abandon a website. I can relate to that. I really dislike it when I’m on a site and am in the middle of reading a description of an item or an article and viola, there’s this image in front of my face. It breaks my concentration. It’s especially annoying when the pop-up has nothing to do with why I was using the site or if I’ve already gotten or used what is being mentioned in the pop-up.
Pop-ups can be annoying. Not only are pop-ups intrusive, but they can also be very annoying. As I just mentioned, the break in concentration or in reading can be annoying, and sometimes even trying to figure out how to close the pop-up is frustrating. Something else that makes pop-ups annoying is when they “follow” you. Each page of a site should not have the same pop-up set up on it if it’s the same visitor on the site navigating from one page to another. This will very likely get you to have someone leave your site faster than you can blink.
Pop-ups can be irrelevant. I touched upon this above, but pop-ups that don’t pertain to me as a visiot or follow me around the site, are irrelevant. If you’re not using targeted pop-ups to ensure that you’re speaking to the visitor where they are in their journey with you, the pop-ups can quickly cause a disconnect. If I as a customer have already opted into your email list, I’m likely already getting your discounts and so I don’t need to be asked again to sign up. Additionally, if I’ve been on your site for two minutes and have already closed the pop-up box(es) on the pages that I’ve visited, I don’t want to have to continue to close them as I navigate your site.
Pop-ups can be invasive. Too many pop-ups on a page or site can take up too much space on the site. I’ve been to sites where there’s a chat box in one corner and an email opt-in box in the other corner, and seconds later, this big box pops onto the middle of the screen for something else. We’re not talking cookie policy acceptance here, we’re talking opt-in here, opt-in there, oh, and how about opt-in here too? It’s suffocating – there’s too much of the overall web page view being covered in pop-ups. Ultimately, it’s invading the visitor’s time spent on your site and very likely covering important content at the same time.
Pop-ups can be malware traps or appear to be one. Another reason people dislike pop-ups is that they sometimes serve as malware traps (a scam), where when you enter your email information and once you click download or submit, you could end up downloading malware onto your computer.
Now before you get too irritated with me for saying some visitors don’t like pop-ups or mentioning examples of what kinds can turn visitors and customers away, please understand that I know why they’re valuable tools for marketing. However, your site needs to provide a pleasant overall experience for its visitors as well as help your online customer service and marketing strategies hit the mark.
An argument could be easily made that aside from marketing tactics, pop-ups are essential, especially in regard to cookies. Opt-in to accept cookies pop-ups are simply a convenient approach to telling users about the cookies and other tracking technology on your website, and it’s not viewed by visitors as a form of advertisement. Typically, cookie pop-ups don’t pop up on the screen after you’ve been there a few minutes and have started reading or navigating the site and they’re to be expected in today’s world.
How do you make your pop-ups an asset and not a pain point for your visitors?
Be sure your pop-ups provide value. People won’t be bothered by pop-ups on your site if they’re valuable to them or if they expect them. For instance, if I know that every time I visit a specific brand that I purchase from often, I’ll see a discount code or an offer pop-up on each time I visit their site, it’s a perk, even if I don’t use the code or offer. However, if I’m visiting a website that offers information and I’m reading an article about something that piqued my interest and I’m in the last line of the first paragraph and a pop-up blocks the whole screen and says something like, “If you love this article, check this one out and sign up for our latest and greatest newsletter!” I’m not going to be so cuddly, even if the recommended article is spectacular and I was appreciating your content. The pop-up interrupted my experience on your site – it took my concentration off of your interesting article to force me to focus on other content that you created. Kind of like when a child asks you to look at a picture that they drew for you and then they run off and come back with their favorite storybook and ask you to read it. You happily agree and begin reading the book to them they run off and bring back a talking stuffed toy and they keep pulling a string so the toy speaks or sings over your reading. When you stop reading, the child tells you not to stop and points to the page where you should be reading from. It’s all a bit disjointed and slightly chaotic and for some people, it’s simply just too much noise. In instances similar to this on your website, it will cause them to check out (click away).
Make your pop-ups easy to navigate. One of the very first things I’d recommend is to be sure that how to close the pop-up is easy to find and see. Whether it be a good use of your color scheme or the location of the close icon or button itself, please don’t put it in the center of the pop-up. I have seen this I don’t know how many times on mobile pop-ups. There’s a giant “x” that shows in the middle of the box, which makes it look unprofessional for one, but also makes it so that you can’t read the box itself or enter information into the pop-up to actually use it as it’s intended to be used.
Use proper triggers for your pop-ups. Consider using a pop-up that displays after certain actions are taken on your site and make the actions taken logical action to the subject of the pop-up. For instance, if the visitor clicks on your cookie policy page, don’t make that action instantly trigger a pop-up for your latest discount or newsletter opt-in. There’s no connection between your cookie policy page and why a potential customer would want to get more information from you regarding your latest news or incentives at that point; they weren’t reading an article written specifically by you nor were they looking at your products.
Another factor to consider, as I mentioned regarding my personal experience – if you can, customize your pop-ups so that visitors don’t keep getting the same pop-up repeat over and over and over all over your site. If I, as a visitor, have to close the pop-up once and then two more times, I’m probably just going to leave without actually finding what I was looking for from you.
Don’t be greedy. By the way, when you have an opt-in, understand that many people will not submit their personal information if they strongly do not want you to have, under any convincingly valuable reason, their email address and/or phone number. I admit, giving out my email address isn’t always easy and my phone number, usually, no matter how fantastic the offer is, I abandon the form or pop-up. You don’t get my phone number to send me SMS messages whenever you want because I opted in to get your newsletter and also, I always wonder – how do I know you’re not selling or sharing my information or are going to target me for something else entirely? So consider not asking for too much information in your pop-up.
In other words, make your pop-ups, their content, their locations, when they appear, and their timing makes sense to your site’s visitors so that your reason for utilizing this tool helps you to meet your goals instead of hindering them and possibly turning away valuable consumers.