Do you like my little pop-ups?

I’ve been asked a few times about how they work, so it’s easier for me to plonk it all down in a blog post about them than to keep explaining.

I use a funky, versatile, but a little bit spendy, tool called Convertbox* (affiliate link).

Before you click on the link and see how much it is (you will need a deep breath first), I’ll give you tour of the ways in which I’ve used it so far.

Keep in mind that I’m probably not using it to its full potential because I haven’t looked at any of the training on it.

And, I suspect that a lot of the things I use Convertbox for, you’d be able to achieve with other tools, like pop-up plug-ins and your email marketing provider. They may not be as flexible in terms of appearance, or the stats they give you, but to save a few hundred $$$ it’s definitely worth exploring alternatives (yes, I’m an affiliate for Convertbox, no I’m not going to tell you that you must buy it and it’s the only way to do this stuff because it probably isn’t).

And I’ve included stuff that I’ve tried out, but then decided isn’t for me - in case my experiments spark any ideas for you.

Side note: If I use the term ‘we’, I mean Amber (my very amazing tech, website and design assistant) and I.

#1 Button plus pop-up form on an opt-in page

The button is embedded in the page, and the  form takes over the page after the button is pressed.

Here’s what the Marketing Messaging De-mystified opt-in page looks like:

And then after I click the button, this box pops up (I had to take a photo of the screen because the screenshot wouldn’t include the pop-up).

I like this because:

• It makes the opt-in page look neat and tidy with just a button on display rather than the full form
• I like that the user is saying ‘yes’ by clicking the button. There’s a theory (not mine) that this initial action compels them to complete the form-filling because our brains don’t like to back-track on a commitment. I don’t have enough stats on this form yet to know whether it converts better than just embedding the form, but I’m happy to give it a try.

#2 Opt-in box embedded in the bottom of a blog post

We add a little bit of code to the bottom of the blog posts to display that form.

We could’ve done this with my email marketing platform, MailerLite* (affiliate link), but it looked prettier with Convertbox.

#3 Sales Page Save Exit intent

This takes over the page if the user moves to close the window or click on the URL bar.

I use this when I have a sales funnel for a course, but I don’t want to add the opt-in box directly to the sales page because the sales page is for selling. So instead I use an exit-intent pop-up to get the attention of someone who’s looked at the page and is leaving without buying.

#4 To promote a specific affiliate programme on a blog post

When FEA was running a promotion, I shared the blog post about my interview with Carrie Green, and then added this pop-up.

The pop-up appeared on the bottom left of the page after they had been on the blog post for a few seconds.

The button went straight to the sales page via my FEA affiliate link.

#5 Contact Box

This box is embedded into the page.

The button goes to a Formaloo form to collect some information so I can get back to them.

We use this Convertbox on the bottom of pages that have been designed to help people navigate the site.

For example, I have a page, especially for people who need help re-writing their website, and it shows them all the resources I have to help with that. I’m working on a mini-course about these Audience Arrival Lounges….but it’s not ready yet.

We could definitely have made this box up just using Divi (the WordPress theme I use) - but it was quick and easy in Convertbox, looks good, and we’re able to collect stats about how often it’s seen and used.

#6 To display testimonials 

Testimonial sliders give me the grumps. They usually slide too fast, and don’t adapt to the different lengths of testimonials - so if you have one massive one, it makes all the small ones look lost in a sea of white.

So we tried out using Convertbox to display testimonials.

It’s embedded in the page, so it doesn’t pop-up and readers can’t close it down.

But I’m not in love with how it looks, and you can’t navigate back through the testimonials once you’ve been through them, so I probably won’t use it like this again.

#7 To suggest the next blog post

I do (try to) suggest next steps blog posts or resources at the end of each blog post, but this little pop-up is more eye-catching and is really handy if I’ve got a particular blog post that I want to send people to as I can set the pop-up to display on every page/post.

It pops-up on the bottom right of the screen, and only covers a small proportion of the page. I could also use a little pop-up like this to offer an opt-in or drive people to a sales page.

#8 Pop-up over a sales page to drive people into my sales funnel - I don’t do this anymore

Until recently I used two-tier pricing (Lizzy Goddard talks a bit about this in her Make a Flash For It course*), which meant during sales I would reduce the price a bit.

But then I felt sad for the people who came to my sales pages in between the sales and would have to pay full price without ever getting the chance to buy at the reduced price, so I used this pop-up to take over the page and invite them to a free training, and that would also start a 5-day email sequence (combined with Deadline Funnel) offering them the course at the reduced price.

I’m not against this strategy at all, it just was a bit fiddly and stressful for me, so now I’ve ditched it and the price is the price.

#9 Flash offer for a course without a funnel

Exactly the same story as above, but for smaller courses that didn’t have a sales funnel attached, I used this pop-up that took over the sales page before they had the chance to hit the ‘buy’ button and pay full price - it gave them the opportunity to buy at the discounted price.

#10 Advertise a related opt-in - embedded at the bottom of the page

I use this at the bottom of blog posts that relate to creating or selling offers.

I like that I’ve got space for an image next to the blurb to make it more persuasive, so I can do a pretty good job of ‘selling’ the freebie without having to drive them to a separte opt-in page, or cluterring up the blog poist too much.

#11 Course help

This pop-up appears in the bottom right of the screen whenever you’re inside my course platform. The button makes an on-page form pop-up and the question gets emailed over to me.

I’m not in love with this and will probably change it, so if you’re looking at one of my courses and don’t see it there, that’s because I got rid of it.

I don’t like:

• Having my face there when sometimes my face is also on a video inside the course, it’s just too much Laura face.
• If the user clicks the x, this pop-up is gone for the duration of their visit and they don’t see it again if they change their mind and decide they do want help after all.

#12 Announcement Banner

You can do these with or without a countdown timer, and you can set it to appear on specific pages or the whole site

Like this (I didn’t actually use this one because Amber had already created a better one in Divi but I could use Convertbox to do this if I wanted to).

#13 Temporary Fix

I guess this is kinda the same as #12…but I was pretty pleased with my quick thinking in an emergency so wanted to share it here.

My checkout provider ThriveCart (affiliate link) went down for the first time in the 2 1/2 years I’ve been using them. It was mid-launch and I knew affiliates were sending people to the sales page so I set up this banner as a temporary fix.

Then when ThriveCart was up and running again, it was easy for me to just switch a toggle in Converbox to turn it back off.

And now it’s ready and waiting for me if I ever need it again in the future.

#14 Link to open for more info

Voxer office hours are a BIG part of many of my offers, but not everyone knows what they are yet (how though because I do NOT shut up about my love of Voxer).

I didn’t want to clutter up the sales page with an explanation, especially as lots of people would already understand what I meant.

And I didn’t want a link that went to my Voxer coaching and office hours blog post because the only links that go on my sales page are the buttons for my main call-to-action (which is usually ‘buy now,’ but not always).

So instead I added a link offering more information….

And then after I click the link this box pops-up with the additional info.

I wish I could make the information link stand out a bit more - that’s a job for me to pass on to my support team - but it’ll do for now.

#15 Remind Me Later Exit intent

This is the opposite of a waitlist page. Instead of directing people to a page where they can’t yet buy the thing, and then asking them for their email address, I opened the cart for this launch W-A-Y early, and then added an exit intent pop-up for people who weren’t ready to buy yet, so I can send them a reminder nearer the deadline.