11 Effective Website Pop up Examples That Convert

Website popups are one of the most versatile promotional tools available to you as a website owner.

You can use them to collect leads, promote sales offers, collect feedback from visitors, or display messages to site visitors at the right time.

However, popups are only effective if they are relevant, well-designed, and used in a way that doesn't annoy the site visitor.

So, how can you create a beautiful website popup with a high chance of engaging prospects and customers?

In this article we'll cover everything you need to know about website popups and how to use them to maximise their effectiveness on your landing pages. 

We'll also share a curated collection of website popup examples to help you design your own. Let's get started!

Website popups are mini-windows overlayed on a webpage’s main content that are used by website owners to showcase offers and highlight key information. 

When designed properly, popups are an effective promotional medium for generating more leads and passing along crucial information.

They come in different forms including:

• Modal Pop-Ups: These are your go-to pop-ups. They pop up right in the middle of your screen, usually dimming the background. They're like the good old friend who demands attention – perfect for newsletters, offers, or feedback forms.

• Video Pop-Ups: The showstoppers. They bring life to your site with video content that can be educational, promotional, or just plain fun.

• Gated Content Pop-Ups: The gatekeepers of your premium content. They require some form of action, like filling out a form, to access special content. A great tool for building a qualified audience.

• Fullscreen Overlays: Similar to interstitials, but a tad less intrusive. They're like a temporary new page within your page, offering a focused space for sign-ups or big news.

• Floating Bars: These are the persistent ones. They stick around either at the top or bottom of your page as you scroll, perfect for ongoing promotions or important notices that need constant visibility.

• Slide-Ins: As the name suggests, these slide in from the sides, usually at the bottom. They're the less intrusive cousins of modal pop-ups, great for suggestions or additional content without overwhelming the visitor.

• Notification Pop-Ups: Small, subtle, but effective. These guys sit in the corner of your page, gently nudging visitors with quick info or alerts. Think of them like a friendly tap on the shoulder.

• Exit-Intent Pop-Ups: These are the clever ones. They pop up right when a visitor is about to leave your site, giving you one last shot to offer something irresistible or capture an email.

• Welcome Mats: These roll out the red carpet as soon as someone lands on your site. Covering the entire screen, they're fantastic for making a grand offer or a bold welcome message.

The most interesting quality about popups is that you can specify when they will appear on your website and on which page. 

You can program your popup to show up once your webpage loads, when the site visitor has spent a pre-determined duration of time on the page, when the visitor scrolls down to a point on the page, when a button or link is clicked, or when the customer is about to leave the page.

This allows you to use your knowledge of user behavior to target your customers in situations when they are most likely to pay attention to your message or seriously consider the benefits of your offer.

One thing that we must first get out of the way is that website popups are intrusive; they forcibly divert the attention of the site visitor from the page's content, and many people don’t like them.

Yet, provided your popup is well-designed and you offer a clear benefit, there is a good chance that visitors to your website will click your CTA button instead of tapping the X icon to block out your popup. 

A study by Sumo shows that the average conversion rate for the medium is 3.1%, and the top-performing popups have a 9.3% conversion rate. Those numbers compare favorably with email marketing, which has an average conversion rate of 2.6%, and the 3% average rate for social media marketing.

This is why we recommend you use them; they are really good at convincing customers and potential buyers to sign up for discounts, newsletters, memberships, and other promo offers.

The popups we will examine in this section have been organized into six categories according to their marketing and informational roles. 

This helps us better understand how the designers tried to achieve their goals and the considerations that guided their decisions.

These popups are used to convince a potential customer that a brand should be trusted. 

The social proof contained within the popup can be anything, but it’s usually a testimonial from a current customer or statistics that showcase the number of customers who have bought the product on offer. Below are two examples of social proof popups.

A Los Angeles-based food company, Pressed Juicery sells a wide variety of plant-based, nutrient-rich food to its customers.

Its banner popup uses a testimonial from a real customer as its social proof, and it’s programmed to be triggered when the site visitor wants to leave the page.

This popup is by Pandora that makes and sells jewellery to women online and at its brick-and-mortar stores. 

Its banner popup differs from Pressed Juicery's because instead of a testimonial, it showcases the number of customers currently viewing the item as its social proof.

It is a type of popup that informs customers about an ongoing or upcoming sale and provides the information buyers need to take advantage of the offer before it expires. 

The popup is typically used to generate buzz about a new product and to boost sales for slow-moving items.

Bidabo is a UK-based apparel company sells baby coveralls and dribble bibs that are designed to be easy for parents to clean and maintain.

Its banner popup is programmed to activate once the page loads, and the semi-transparent background blocks out the main text to keep the site visitor focused on the content of the popup.

This popup is by a Danish company Christopher Cloos that makes and sells high-quality, minimalist eyewear to a global customer base.

Its banner design largely follows the same principles as that of Bidabo, except for its use of a countdown timer to highlight the limited duration of the offer.

These popups are designed to help convince departing site visitors to stay longer and reconsider their uncompleted purchase. 

Research by the Baymard Institute shows that the average cart abandonment rate is 70%, and anything that can help bring that number down on your eCommerce website can have a significant impact on revenues.

This New York-based company Ready Set Judy manufactures and sells essential survival kits that help its customers prepare for emergencies caused by natural disasters. 

Its banner popup is triggered when a customer tries to leave the website without completing the purchase of a product(s) that has already been added to the cart.

This popup is by a New York lifestyle company Kate Spade that markets and sells clothes, bags, shoes, jewelry, and other accessories.

Its banner popup is also triggered when the customer tries to leave the page, but it is different because it uses free shipping as its incentive instead of offering a discount like Ready Set Judy.

This type of popup exists purely to comply with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) requirement that each site visitor must give explicit consent for the use of cookies to collect their data. 

The banner is almost always triggered once the visitor lands on the website.

This is the UK’s most popular cheese brand The Laughing Cow, with 90+ years of history and a wide range of cheese products.

Its fullscreen cookie popup is activated as soon as the visitor clicks the link to the page, even before the main content appears, seemingly with the goal of ensuring full compliance with GDPR rules.

This popup is by CookieYes, a cookie design and management platform that is used on thousands of websites worldwide.

Its cookie popup is a slide-in popup that is triggered after the visitor spends some time on the website. The popup only covers the lower portion of the webpage to ensure the site visitor can still view the main content on the website.

It is a type of popup that is used to offer free items or services (lead magnets) to potential customers in exchange for their email details.  This popup is one of the most effective tools for building an email list.

Hello Fresh is a Germany-based meal kit company that prepares and delivers recipes to its customers on a weekly basis. 

Its popup is a time-delayed, sticky popup that appears as a small bar at the bottom of the screen after the visitor has spent some time on the website. 

It will then expand into a banner popup that blocks out the rest of the screen when the small bar is clicked or tapped.

Brand Growth Experts is the website for an eCommerce influence podcast that has published hundreds of episodes containing actionable strategies that business owners can use to grow their online stores.

Its popup is also a time-delayed banner popup that is triggered after the site visitor has spent a few seconds on the page.

The difference is that it combines elements of a social proof popup and a giveaway popup.

This popup is used to collect feedback from customers about a company’s product or service when they are browsing the company’s website.

This can be very effective because a website is one of the few online channels that gives a brand complete control over when and how customers can view its surveys.

This popup is by a Pennsylvania lifestyle brand Urban Outfitters that markets and sells on-trend clothing, shoes, bags, and home accessories to its fashion-conscious customers.

Its exit-intent popup is triggered when the customer is done with the checkout page, and it's a relatively small banner positioned to the right of the screen.

It's clear from the 11 website popup examples we have explored above that popups are very versatile, and the right popup for you will depend on your conversion goals. You must also take the user experience of your site audience into consideration.

To set up and manage popups effectively, you will need a robust tool like OptimizePress’ Overlay Popup forms. 

The forms come in over 30 designs with done-for-you page copy and input fields to ensure all you have to do is modify the text and design elements in the drag-and-drop editor to suit your vision for your popup.

OptimizePress is the leading funnel builder and landing page builder that is affordable and designed for solopreneurs and founders who need to get their pages live fast.

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