Popups serve as powerful tools for capturing leads and grabbing visitors’ attention. They do this through strategically timed prompts, like exit-intent popups or newsletter sign-up forms.
To understand better, I will give you a scenario. Imagine you own a shop, and a first-time visitor (potential customer) walks in; you would first welcome them warmly, show them your best deals or products, and if they seem interested, even offer a discount to compel them to buy something.
Now, in the digital world, popups are like that warm and friendly shop owner. They are customized designs put on websites to act as proactive agents for delivering targeted, valuable messages to customers in exchange for their email address, a purchase, or simply some time on your site.
They create a win-win situation for both the shop owner and the visitor. The visitor gets something useful like free shipping, exclusive deals, valuable content, early access to new products, or a discount, while the shop owner gets valuable insights and valuable leads.
The exit-intent trigger can be quite valuable in retaining visitors, but relying solely on it can limit you. To further understand the import of exit-intent triggers, we will use a friendly illustration.
Let’s imagine a shopper in an online store, browsing the store on what to buy, and filling his/her cart with products. Then just as they want to leave the site, an exit-intent alarm blares, and a popup appears.
The message on the popup reads – ‘Wait! Instead of leaving empty-handed, get 10% off if you buy now!’ Now as enticing as this trigger appears, it may only snag a few last-minute purchases.
The downside to it is that the store owner will miss out on lots of potential customers who never got close to leaving. This is to say that exit-intent popups are not perfect.
To add to the above limitations, exit-intent popups might not work on mobile devices or with fast navigation, and sometimes users close the site without triggering the exit-intent popup.
After considering these limitations, what is the way forward?
The solution is to not solely depend on exit-intent triggers, but to employ other effective triggers to your site.
These triggers will work hand-in-hand with the exit-intent trigger to enhance engagement and skyrocket conversions.
In this article, we will be considering 5 very advanced popup triggers that most blogs are missing out on but are very powerful.
They are not really popular so they are not utilized most often, but you will find out everything you need to know about them in this article and how effective they can be.
5 Advanced Popup Triggers Ecommerce Stores Are Missing Out On
Below are the lesser-known but powerful popup triggers that most stores are missing out on:
- Cart Abandonment
- Product Page Scroll Depth
- Geo-Targeted Popup Trigger
- Time Spent on Site/Specific Page
- Referral Popup Trigger
1. Cart Abandonment
While shopping both online and physically, distraction is inevitable. For instance, an online shopper who has filled his/her cart with products can get sidetracked by a funny video.
After watching the video, they head back to check out, but their cart is empty. That, right there, is called cart abandonment, and is the bane of every e-commerce store.
Not to worry, there is a solution to this problem, and it is called the cart abandonment popup. The popup reminds the shoppers of their chosen items, addresses concerns and even offers incentives like free shipping, and/or discounts.
Magically rescuing your shoppers at this critical decision point is a game changer because firstly, you catch your customers at the crossroads and reel them back in.
Secondly, your popup does not offer generic products but the particular ones that your shopper had left behind. Thirdly, the popup acts as a lifeline to return them to their shopping before they get completely distracted.
Hence, e-commerce stores that have not started using them are missing out BIG TIME! Further studies prove that 15% abandoned carts can be recovered and converted into sales.
2. Product Page Scroll Depth
The product page scroll depth popup targets mainly customers who have shown significant interest in a product page and nudges them towards purchase.
For instance, if you organize an art exhibition, you would want to whisper fascinating details that brings the artwork to life to the customer who is captivated by a mesmerizing exhibit rather than the indifferent customer hanging outside the museum.
Product page scroll depth popup is important because it catches engaged shoppers who are actively interested in the product. It also tailors the popup to offer relevant assistance to the shoppers.
There are different ways it can tailor popups – first, is highlighting limited-time deals for the indecisive reader. Second, is offering related items for someone browsing the features.
Third, is showing reviews to the shopper who is nearing the bottom of the product page. Fourth is answering potential queries for the curious/confused shopper.
Another importance of product page scroll depth popup is that it builds credibility and trust through offering helpful guides.
This personalized approach can in turn boost conversions, increase average order value, and gather valuable insights. On the other hand, ignoring can cause the store owner to miss out on valuable opportunities.
3. Geo-Targeted Popup Trigger
The Geo-Targeted Popup Trigger aims at tailoring popups based on a user’s location instead of showing the same bland message to everyone.
To bring it closer to home a simple illustration will be used. Imagine you are from the Igbo tribe in Nigeria, and you travel for a vacation abroad. You stroll through a charming local market and meet a friendly vendor who greets and interacts with you in your own language.
The vendor now offers you a taste of an Igbo delicacy that perfectly suits your preferences. These popups act as a global team of friendly vendors that each speak the local language of a place and offer something special in that language.
The popups also offer them something extra special in that region, give localized products recommendations, mention upcoming local events, give free shipping to nearby areas, and gives them the option of paying for it in their currency.
4. Time Spent on Site/Specific Page
The aim of this popup is to gauge the duration of a user’s engagement on a product page and then deploy popups to interact with these visitors who have invested significant time.
Let’s break it down – in a scenario where you own a cozy bookstore and a voracious reader walks into the store, and loses themselves in browsing the shelves.
Then, an hour later, you offer them a cup of tea/coffee and guide them as they find the next literary adventure. The above is a mental picture of how a time-based popup can work wonders for your e-commerce store.
That is to say, instead of annoying or interrupting your visitors with popups the moment they enter your store, you can wait till they’ve shown genuine interest.
Then you tailor your popup to the areas they have shown interests and spent more time on. Remember the bookstore owner above? Good, it’s just like that bookstore owner suggesting a heart-pounding read to a thriller lover.
After you must have tailored your popup, you nurture the indecisive shoppers who need time to consider. It gently reminds them of cool treasures they might have forgotten and bring their interests back to it.
5. Referral Popup Trigger
This trigger is also referred to as ‘Word-of-Mouth’ marketing and it’s a strategy used by e-commerce owners to make their customers market their goodies in exchange for a reward.
This is properly exemplified in a situation where a loyal customer is raving about a delicious new restaurant that they just discovered and manages to invite most of his/her friends to the restaurant.
For every friend he/she brings, the waiter offers him/her a free desert. Hence, this is used when a customer actually makes a purchase or signs up to offer a sweet incentive to customers encouraging them to share their love with friends and family.
This trigger can be very effective for organic growth because people are most likely to buy products recommended by the person they trust. It is way more effective than an ad campaign.
There’s no promotion more powerful than a satisfied customer spreading the testimony and bringing you new leads like wildfire.
To End With,
Now that you are better informed, you may as well ditch the generic one-size-fits-all popups. You now know five (5) advanced popup triggers that you can use as a weapon to boost conversions, gather valuable insights and reduce bounce rates.
Employ these five (5) advanced popup triggers – cart abandonment, product page scroll depth, geo-targeted popup trigger, time spent on site/specific page, and referral popup trigger – and watch your customer satisfaction and sales soar.
Please note that you must not use all 5 at a go. You can experiment with each of them and discover the one that works best for your e-commerce store.
You can use the A/B testing format where you showcase two versions of your website – ‘A’ and ‘B’ – to different groups of visitors. They could be different in all areas – in headlines, button colors, or even popups.
This experiment will help you compare which one performs better, and has more website actions like purchases and/or signups. It will also help you to perfect your timing, offer, and design for your popups.