Okay, I landed on a website today, that belonged to apparently one of the biggest management consultants of today. One second after I landed on his website, I was greeted by an Entry pop up. Yes, I am referring to those forms which obstruct everything else and beg for your email address, right after you land on their website. It is annoying. You might find this strange coming from a marketer, but guess what, I am a human being first.
The Marketing Funnel
Let’s go through the marketing funnel again: Awareness —> Interest —> Consideration —> Conversion —> Loyalty.
The jump from Awareness to Interest takes time. When you ask a girl for her phone number the moment you meet her, you definitely look like a psychopath. Sure, some may think of this behaviour as bold and would get attracted to it, but most will not. Even if the relationship begins with this kind of start, most wouldn’t survive in the long run. Yes, there can be exceptions, but when it comes to success factors, would you rather trust exceptions than rules? I wouldn’t!
Through entry pop ups, you are asking for the visitors contact details way too early. And worst still, most of them are obtrusive – they interfere with the visitor’s experience of landing on your website, and can increase your bounce rate.
So should we never use entry pop ups?
A girl is more comfortable sharing her phone number with someone she has already interacted with. Similarly, the returning visitors of your website will be more comfortable sharing their emails with you. You should make use of browser cacheing to identify if the visitor is ‘new’ or ‘returning’ and show entry pop ups to only the returning visitors.
To sum it up
It will be exciting to see a study on Entry pop ups, and how leads generated through them fare in the long run. Considering ‘loyalty’ and ‘repeat business‘ as success parameters, I am assuming that entry pop ups work in some cases, because I see marketers using them all the time. They have never seemed to work for any of the brands I have marketed.
As marketers, we should take your own wise judgement, and not just run after new pieces of technology. Technology is the means to an end, not the end itself.
Happy Marketing!
