Best Practices for Ecommerce Pop Ups That Won’t Push Users Away

Pop ups aren’t dead, but they will be soon if ecommerce sites, online retailers and all other kinds of websites don’t hit the brakes and think strategically. There’s a way to directly speak to website visitors without making them want to look into installing browser extensions to sift out the noise.

There’s an incredibly fine, delicate line between engagement and disruption in today’s web-based ecommerce advertising scene. If a retail site is too pushy and invasive with pop up communications, potential customers can easily be put off instead of excited to make a purchase or sign up to a mailing list.

Let’s talk about why online retailers are driving users to turn to pop up blockers and how you can tweak your ecommerce pop ups to win customers over instead of annoying them enough that they’ll want to take matters into their own hands.

Pop up blockers exist for a reason

You probably don’t have to be told why a pop up can be a valuable lead generation tool. Essentially forcing someone to read a vital titbit of information, just as they’re about to leave a site, can potentially convince a sale. It’s really tough to show someone all the reasons why they should be sticking around in the short amount of time they spend on your site. Bounce rates are so high, and every second counts.

But ecommerce sites and customers don’t always see eye-to-eye, and it’s all-too-easy to simply find a good pop up blocker for Chrome that will dash all hope of letting your customers know they can get free shipping, or a discount, on their order. Some browsers have blockers built in, and many free options also block cookies pop ups, social media ads, and all other annoyances, in seconds. In forums and social media sites, there’s no end to discussions surrounding which blockers to get. It doesn’t take a lot of convincing to get a frustrated person to check them out.

The overtly negative reputation was earned quickly because in the early days, pop ups appeared randomly, were intrusive, and were designed in deceptive ways. People learned fast that paying attention to them was not a worthwhile use of their time.

When pop ups are poorly-made, it makes sense to filter them out

When an online shopper is in the zone, taking a look at options on a site based on their budget, style or some other, unknowable metric, the last thing they want is a pop up covering up their screen, disrupting their initial motivation for being there. This is even worse when the pop up is full of useless, irrelevant instructions telling them to hand over their email address for no discernible reason. Pop ups have gotten such a bad rap online for three main reasons: either they’re irrelevant, intrusive, poorly-timed, or they’re an unfortunate combination of all three.

When considering adding pop ups to a marketing strategy, it’s helpful to keep these main reasons in mind, and design yours so they actually add value at the right place and time.

Pop ups still have power to convert, if done right

A quick poke around the biggest ecommerce sites proves that pop ups haven’t gone anywhere. Even the pushiest ones work great, as long as they’re presented at the right time and are offering the right things in the right ways. It’s also really easy these days to make pop ups, with more than a handful of services offering their help to make exciting ones. Many, if not all of them, promise online retail brands they can help promote sales, boost conversions and get you more leads.

Your pop up must be thoughtfully-made

Okay, so how do you do that? What even is a well-made pop up? In essence, it’s a carefully-timed piece of information that makes life easier, or more affordable, for the user it’s presented to. Here’s what the biggest retail names think about when creating theirs:

• Deception isn’t cool: Add a big X at the top of your pop up that’s easy to click on and doesn’t take them to another part of your site.
• Value first, always: If it’s not going to put a smile on the face of your website visitor, think twice about it. The value could be in the form of a discount, exclusive access or a limited-time offer. According to some independent research, the average conversion rate for pop ups featuring limited-time daily offers was 29.59% in 2024. This means it’s worth your while to avoid making your value-adds generic.
• User specificity: You have all this data on your users, so use it. Tailor your pop ups so that when a user with an abandoned cart returns, they’re reminded of their history on your site. Maybe also give them an extra discount to sweeten their personal deal.
• Don’t always start with a pop up: This can quickly overwhelm your visitor. Maybe wait a bit, give them some time to breathe and think before showing them why they should stick around and browse some more.

Don’t rely only on pop ups to provide information

People all over have installed pop up blockers and this means yours will be filtered out by lots of users. So, don’t only share your cool discounts and email list perks using them. Put the information on banners and in the check out section too. Otherwise, the people using blockers won’t know what you have to give them.