E-COMMERCE
Pop-ups - use them or not?
You've probably seen them as a visitor to an online store or website: Pop-ups. Some find them annoying, while others have recognized their potential. Often, you can save a few euros with the offers displayed. Other pop-ups, on the other hand, only advertise newsletter sign-ins or subscriptions. What is important here is the placement or the time at which the pop-up "pops up".
The right app for your Shopify store
Some Shopify themes already offer integrated pop-ups in the online store. Here you can find a list of these themes: Shopify-Themes with integrated Pop-Ups
However, pop-ups are often very limited in terms of design, information, display duration and timing, and dimensions. For those who prefer more individuality, we now present three pop-up apps from the Shopify app store.
justuno
The pop-up and marketing platform for Shopify stores offers many possibilities around conversion optimization. From pop-ups to banners to a wheel of fortune, there is a lot to choose from. At Justuno you can design your banners and pop-ups individually. So if you like completely customized designs and want to include your CI in your pop-ups, you are in good hands here. The plug-and-play program is easily integrated and requires no prior knowledge. To create really good ads you should only have some design skills and possibly a design program like Photoshop or Affinity Designer. Another advantage of the app are the A/B tests. So you can test in advance to get the best out of the banner and ads. Justuno offers a free version for Shopify stores up to 5,000 visitors. After that, the monthly price of the app is based on traffic and starts at $19 per month.
Privy
Privy focuses on collecting email addresses and increasing newsletter followers. It is also the most used app for pop-ups, banners, etc. in the Shopify app store so far. Here, too, there are hardly any limits to the settings options. From the handling of the design, Justuno is still slightly ahead for us, although the CI and an individual design can also be implemented optimally with Privy. With Privy, you can also integrate an automated email system, which allows you to automatically send emails to your customers through the app when an order is cancelled, for example - the biggest difference for us compared to the other apps. So if you don't use an automated mail system like Mailchimp yet, Privy is the right choice for you.
Privy offers up to 3,000 automated emails per month as well as a free version of its app. The Plus version with additional features starts at $24 per month offers up to 12,000 emails per month.
AIVA Overlays
AIVA Overlays provides overlays for your Shopify store. By overlays, we mean pop-ups, banners, slide-ins, and more. As a slightly "younger" app in the Shopify appstore, AIVA focuses on placing ads at the right time, to the right audience. So you can test ads for different audiences or at different events, like purchase abandonment or page abandonment. Designing ads is presented in a very simple drag-and-drop system. Design-wise, not quite as many options as other apps, but suitable especially for beginners who don't necessarily use design programs.
AIVA Overlays prices offer a 14-day free trial. After that, the app remains free as long as it stays under 5,000 store visitors per month. Up to 20,000 visitors, AIVA Overlays costs $49 per month, and offers additional capabilities.
The right information
The question is what you'd like to achieve with the ad. Again, the rule is: "As much as necessary, as little as possible."
The following points should your ads include in any case:
- What does the customer get? (e.g. voucher code)
- What do you want in return? (e.g. e-mail address)
- How long is the offer valid? (e.g. only today)
- Are there any requirements for the offer? (e.g. minimum order amount)
Make a clear statement and let the customer know what they are getting. Avoid meaningless pop-ups.
Your offer
The offer is perfectly suitable for A/B tests. What is better received, percentages or absolute amounts? Basically, of course, this depends on any minimum order sums and the product prices. The higher the average product prices are, the more suitable an absolute amount is.
Example: the average price of the products is 500€. In this case, you should apply the law of large numbers. A 10% coupon is equivalent to a 50€ coupon. Purely psychologically, the majority of people would rather pay attention to the 50€ voucher. However, since you can never determine this exactly, such a case is perfect for a test.
The seriousness of the offers also plays a role. If your average price is 500€, like in the example, a 5€ voucher doesn't look very appealing and your ad has little chance to achieve good results.
The right timing
This is also a point that lends itself very well to testing. To avoid scaring away first-time visitors to your store, we would advise against displaying a pop-up directly. Take a close look at your store's key figures beforehand. For example, if your bounce rate is too high, your ad may appear when the customer is about to leave the page (when the mouse moves to the close icon). If you want to optimize the rate of abandoned purchases, display the offer just before the abandonment. This way your customer will get the last incentive he is missing to actually buy.
Which functions?
Important, especially from a legal point of view, is the closing option. Usually, this function is indicated with an X in the upper right corner. Some apps offer the function of displaying the X only after a few seconds. We advise against this option, as the customer could decide to then immediately leave the store if there is no closing option.
If you want to give voucher codes or coupons, display them directly in the pop-up after the customer confirms. It is important that the code is copyable and not incorporated into the background image. Some apps even offer the possibility that the code is saved and automatically applied in the checkout.
The right design for your store
Maintaining a clear corporate identity in the store is enormously important for many store operators. So you should continue your design and your color palette in the pop-ups as well, so as not to create a break in style. Basically, there are no limits to the design of the ads, although you should try to remain quite simple. Pop-ups are usually not viewed for very long, so the message and your offer must reach the customer quickly and clearly. Complicated designs make it difficult for your customers to recognize the offer.
