5 Proven Tactics to Make Your Discount Popups Work

Effective, attention-grabbing discount popups can increase your website's conversions, boost sales, and grow your email list. They're also a great way to offer potential customers discounts and deals to entice them into making a purchase. 

However, it's essential to know how to do popups right. Poorly designed ones prompt website visitors to leave the page faster and never visit again, adversely impacting conversions and business revenue. 

Discount popups are extremely popular in e-commerce. When done right, they can boost customer engagement and drive repeat purchases. 

In this blog post, we'll teach you the five proven tactics to make your discount popups work. Let's get started!

Five Proven Tactics for Effective Discount Popups

Here are the five strategies that you can use to create effective discount popup campaigns for your e-commerce website: 

1. Craft Irresistible Offers & Messaging

Most business owners fail to understand the need to employ specific tactics to ensure that visitors stay on their websites longer. This is where a clear value proposition becomes important.

To encourage potential customers to stay on your website, you must craft offers that are irresistible to refuse. A discount popup, for example, can attract attention and compel some visitors to make the purchase. 

There are a few effective ways to offer discounts on your website. In the popup example above, the business is offering free shipping with 20% off. It's simple, easy to read, and non-intrusive for the visitor. You can even use the A/B test to experiment and determine what works for you.

While the popup isn't overwhelming for potential customers, it creates a sense of urgency, which makes this extremely effective. The countdown timer is a fantastic way to compel website visitors to take action. 

Also, pay close attention to the customized "No thanks, I'd rather pay full price" button. This makes the visitor think twice before skipping the deal. 

Using engaging and persuasive terms or phrases can have a significant impact on the visitor. These include the following: 

• Limited-time offer
• Save up to xx%
• Don’t miss out
• Hurry, limited stock left!
• Flash Sale

See what works best for your brand. Visit your competitor’s website and check out what they’re doing. Take inspiration and add your own twist to the discount popup to attract more visitors to take the deal. 

2. Design for Attention & Clarity

Whether selling products or services, curating eye-catching designs for discount popups is essential. These will not only look good on your website but also capture the attention of visitors. 

Here is an example of a well-designed discount popup that aligns with the company's branding and looks attractive:  

There are a couple of things to note in the abovementioned popup, and these include: 

• It has an eye-catching, colorful design that resonates with the website's branding. 
• While the image looks like the emphasis is on the female model, it naturally leads the eye towards the $8 discount offer. 
• Although the discount popup is well-designed, there is still room for improvement. For example, you can make the call-to-action (CTA) button more prominent and choose colors that contrast with the background.
• This discount popup needs a sense of urgency. Incorporating a countdown timer, as seen in the previous example we explored, could enhance its effectiveness.

3. Perfect Your Timing & Targeting

If the popups are not done right, they can be incredibly annoying. Timing can play a crucial role in prompting potential customers to stay on your website longer. 

Here are the most common strategies for popups to work for your e-commerce business: 

A. Exit-intent Popups

According to Episerver's "Reimagining Commerce" report, 92% of website visitors are not there to buy anything. However, that doesn't mean they don't want to learn more about your business and its products or services. 

When a visitor visits your website and decides to leave after a while, you can prompt them to stay with a perfectly timed exit-intent popup.

Check out the following example of a business's pricing page: 

This popup is effective for several reasons. It doesn't have a countdown timer, as you want your visitors to take the time to explore instead of rushing them, as the latter could cause more harm than good. 

Wishpond's exit-intent popup doesn't convince website visitors to buy the product. It aims to inform potential customers about speaking to a company representative to learn more about their software and its benefits. 

You can use exit-intent popups to offer discounts or deals. In the abovementioned example, the software company can also configure a free trial popup when the website visitor is about to leave the page. 

B. Targeted Popups

Whether a user is on a page for too long or about to leave the website, targeting popups based on the user's behavior offers many advantages. These include the following:

• It re-engages potential customers with personalized messages. 
• Delivering popups at the most opportune moments can increase conversion rates. 
• Targeted popups based on user behavior, demographics, or browsing history can improve relevance and effectiveness. 

In 2023, SalesCycle reported a 79.53% cart abandonment rate. Here are the most common reasons for this: 

• Extra or unanticipated costs
• Complicated checkout process
• Payment information required
• Unsatisfactory return policy
• Buggy website

To reduce cart abandonment, e-commerce business owners can configure discount popups to look like this: 

What makes this popup work is its timing and the primary cart abandonment issue it addresses (extra or unanticipated costs). It prompts the visitor to make the purchase by offering a 10% discount. 

This popup grabs the visitor's attention with its bold font and contrasting colors. The discount in orange makes it more prominent, and the "take 10% off" CTA is compelling.

C. Retargeting

A website may have visitors who are yet to convert. In such cases, retargeting popups can re-engage users interested in your products and services and encourage them to take action with a strong, clickable CTA. 

Here's an example of a discount popup of a cosmetic brand retargeting existing users: 

By offering a bundle that includes the item the user was interested in at a discounted price, businesses can target website visitors and convert them into purchasing customers. The CTA is actionable, and a countdown timer is included to encourage action. 

4. Strong Call to Action (CTA)

A popup without a strong CTA is like a book without a conclusion. It leaves the website visitor hanging, trying to figure out what to do next. A compelling call-to-action can lead to conversions. 

Hydrant, for example, offers a $5 discount code in a popup that looks like this: 

What you'll notice about this discount popup is that it convinces the visitor to use the coupon with a "Get $5 Off" CTA. It also reiterates what potential customers are losing out on if they exit the website with a secondary call to action:" No discount, thanks." 

5. Track & Analyze for Improvement

Monitoring popup performance with analytical tools helps you gain insights into how users interact with your popups, enabling you to optimize their design, improve user experience, and increase conversions.

Without analytical insights, it's like shooting an arrow in the dark, as you'll never know what's working for you and your website. The following are the key metrics that you should track: 

• Conversion rate: This shows the percentage of visitors who took the desired action, such as signing up for the newsletter or providing an email address, after seeing the discount popup. 
• Click-through rate (CTR): A high CTR suggests a higher percentage of people clicking on your popups. If your click-through rate is low, you may want to redesign your popups and make them more engaging. 
• Bounce rate: This is a metric that shows the percentage of visitors leaving your website after seeing a popup. A high bounce rate could be an indication that your popups are intrusive or annoying. It may be time to reconsider its design or placement.
• Scroll depth: When people scroll down without clicking on your popup, it indicates a need to revisit its design, as it may lack visual appeal or fail to offer value.
• Time on site: This shows how long visitors stay on your website. The greater the duration, the more engaged and interested they likely are. If people are leaving your site, you may need to create popups that offer value or provide a better user experience.

By using data, you can refine your discount popups to gain more clicks. Analytical insights can help measure user engagement, identify obstacles, and personalize content based on users' behavior.

Pro tip: Make sure your discount popups are SEO-friendly. 

Final Thoughts on Tactics to Make Your Popups Work 

For effective discount popups, it's crucial to craft irresistible offers, ensure a design that aligns with your branding, perfect the timing, target popups based on user behavior, and include a strong call-to-action.

Once you've configured the popups, you must track and monitor them using different analytical tools to refine them further. If you want to go further, consider exploring personalization and gamification. Also, read this guide to avoid the 10 common mistakes when using coupons.

Get started with Coupon X today to increase your conversions, user engagement, and sales!