Comments on: Increase List Sign-ups 327% with Testing

By: Kris

Kris — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:41:35 +0000

Hi John: It would be useful to know if you gather any demographic and geographic information on respondents? For example, age and sex and city/region/country. I’d like to know if pop-ups have a better reach/acceptance with one group or another.

By: Sherice Jacob

Sherice Jacob — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:29:07 +0000

I think the sticky note did so well because it was unexpected. Lots of people are used to (and seriously annoyed by) drop-in windows and too familiar with the normal sidebar subscription (I wonder if it’s going the way of “banner blindness”?) Sticky notes are “new” and a novelty – so they work well for right now!

As a side note, one of my websites experienced three times the number of subscribers when I used a lightbox ad (where the background of the page fades and the ad gradually appears in the middle). Probably for the same reason as your sticky ad works!

By: Joe Dager

Joe Dager — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:55:41 +0000

I really struggle with things like this when I go to recommend it to customers. Of course, I know the answer test it. However, when most small business have limited traffic, is it really an effective strategy? I think so many times that on a small business site the people that are there went there for a reason. Now, I can see it announcing an event or a retail store using it as a sales flier but if people are coming there already and only 20% are newbies, I question the merits. I like it, agree with the results, but are the results the same with 50 people a day vs. thousands???

By: Nicaragua Surfing

Nicaragua Surfing — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:41:45 +0000

Testing like this is fantastic. Specific results for you to make future decisions on.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:03:28 +0000

Thanks John. I have played around with different locations for my email sign-up and different headlines to see whether there was a change in results.

I have shied away from pop-ups because they can irritate me but yours on your main site is quite tasteful.

Looks like you have persuaded me that it is at least worth spending some time on looking at what you can do.

By: Shawn Kinkade

Shawn Kinkade — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:09:38 +0000

John,

Thanks for sharing and the results are interesting, but are you at all worried about driving people away? Certainly the setting to not hit people repeatedly will help, but there are sites that I immediately shut down if popups (or sounds…which are worse imo) start happening.

Can you tell if you’ve chased anyone away?

Shawn

By: John Jantsch

John Jantsch — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:36:28 +0000

@Lisa – putting them on multiple pages can help – you have to balance being a pain – look at your server logs and you may get a sense of pages that are the most frequent entry points for your site other than your home page. Some services also have the ability to hold the pop up from showing multiple times as someone surfs around your site, make sure you use that setting so someone doesn’t get multiple showings.

By: Lisa Braithwaite

Lisa Braithwaite — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:30:06 +0000

John, do you only use the pop-up on your homepage, or do you include it on other pages as well? And have you tested that?

I’m just trying out my first pop-up and I’m not sure where to put it!