6 Website Popup Examples That Do Way More Than Capture An Email Address (Templates Included)

Website popups can do way more than just capture a few email addresses.

In the hands of a savvy marketer, popups can also be used to:

• Grow your email & SMS lists
• Recover abandoned carts
• Upsell/cross-sell
• Make personalized product recommendations
• And more!

All you need is the right strategies and a tool to help you implement—such as a popup builder or Shopify popup app.

But what does a high-converting popup look like? And how do you make sure the one you use is going to work for your site and specific needs?

This post is sure to get you inspired as we look at six of the best popup examples from successful companies around the web. We cover examples from a range of different popup types, and then give you a whole host of ready-to-use templates to help you go from idea to launch in minutes 🙌

What is a website popup?

A website popup is a box that appears in someone’s browser when they land on your website, usually overlaying the default content on a page. You can use popups to get someone to do something without having your message lost on a crowded page as it’s typically the only thing a visitor focuses on when the popup appears.

How do popups work?

We know that website popup boxes appear when somebody lands on a page. 

But, what’s interesting is that they can be configured to appear only in certain situations. This includes:

• Exit intent. An exit intent popup is triggered once a visitor's mouse moves out of the main browser viewing pane, signaling an intent to leave.
• Time delay. Where a popup would appear after a specified set time frame. E.g. if someone's been on the same page for two minutes without converting already.
• Scroll-point. Where a popup appears once a user has scrolled past a certain percentage of the page. E.g. like the footer of your homepage, after they’ve already scrolled past your existing lead magnet forms.
• On-click. Where a popup appears upon the user clicking a specific button or link on a page.

A quality popup tool will also allow you to target campaigns towards specific visitors. For example, setting a popup to only appear on a specific URL, or to people coming from a set traffic source, in a certain location, or even according to data you already hold on them in a CRM.

SEE MORE: 6 Must-Know Popup Design Principles to Generate More Leads (Examples Included)

Now we know what a website popup is (and how they work), let’s take a look at six great website popup examples to inspire your own.

1. Bombas' two-step email + SMS popup example

This popup from Bombas is a great example of using two steps to reduce friction in the signup process:

The initial step above shows a simple email capture in exchange for 20% off—a pretty standard strategy. However, enter your email and you're taken to a second step:

This does two key things:

1. Gives the code there and then to encourage spending
2. Promises further promotion codes if you simply add your phone number for SMS marketing

Some people get put off when a brand asks for their phone number. So, by only asking for it on this second step, Bombas ensures they at least get an email address conversion—and minimize the number of people dropping off who don't want to give their phone number.

You'll also notice that there's a two-tap button that appears if you close the popup without converting:

This gives people a "second chance" to open the popup again and easily signup for the discount if they weren't quite ready when it first showed—helping Bombas maximize its conversions.

2. Judy's cart abandonment popup example

This popup example from Judy shows how you can recover people from abandoning their cart before they've even left your store:

The popup triggers on exit-intent—but only when someone still has an item in their cart that hasn't been fully checked out and ordered yet.

Judy also has different popup images that show, depending on which particular item has been left behind.

In the image above, you'll notice that it shows the product in question in the cart and what it looks like with the discount applied. This is a great way to encourage people to check out—people who were about to leave anyway!

3. Huda Beauty’s "join the family" popup

We already know that website popups are a great way to capture your visitor’s details to market to them later. This one by Huda Beauty shows how simple your offer can be:

See full example

It nudges a visitor to “join the family” in return for their email address. 

And, as a special bonus, they’ll also get sneak peaks of products and special offers if they become a subscriber. (Considering 70% of people open marketing emails to get special offers, it’s a smart way to get visitors engaging with your website popup.)

4. Nordstrom's add to cart upsell popup example

The moment a shopper adds an item to their cart is a great time to recommend further products to them that are related or complementary.

That's why the add to cart upsell popup strategy works so well.

This campaign from Nordstrom is a great example of this in action:

It fires as an overlay on a product page as soon as you add something to cart, showing:

1. The item you added
2. Related items frequently bought together

It also makes it super easy to just ignore and head to the cart to start checking out, should that be what the user prefers to do.

Once you're on the cart page, though, Nordstrom keeps reminding you of the related items with strategically placed embeds.

First, down the side:

Then, at the bottom:

It all works well together for Nordstrom to maximize how much each shopper spends per session.

5. Amelia Gray Skincare's quiz popup example

This popup from Amelia Gray Skincare does a great job engaging undecided visitors with a quiz:

The popup appears on lower purchase-intent pages, like the home page, collection pages, etc. Essentially, any page that someone might be in "browse mode" instead of full on "purchase mode."

This means people who are undecided and wondering what product is best for them can find an easy solution—just answer a few questions in the quiz, and receive a personalized recommendation.

All this results in higher sales as people feel like they've been guided to the right place. Plus, Amelia Gray is still able to capture leads by email-gating the final results page after someone completes the quiz:

So, if a quiz respondent doesn't follow through and purchase there and then, the brand can follow-up with specific emails and retargeting ads relevant to the product that's been recommended.

6. Cuddle Clones in-cart cross-sell popup

Want to increase your average order values (AOV)? Then experimenting with a cross-sell popup like this is an absolute must.

Cuddle Clones fires this off as soon as someone enters the cart page with a golf-related product added:

The great thing about this is the relevancy.

It's not just random products being recommended. The cross-sell items are specifically related to the golf club headcover that's already been added.

This means people are much more likely to be interested in the cross-sells being made—increasing the chances of them being added to cart 💪

How to create an effective popup message

You’ll notice that the website popup examples we’ve shared each have a unique offer. That’s the secret to making the maximum number of visitors engage with your website popups. 

Think about what website visitors want once they complete the goal.

Using the example of a popup asking to join your email list, your offer might be that subscribers get access to:

• Special offers
• A discount code for their first purchase
• Exclusive content

The bottom line? When writing a website popup, make your ask easy, clear and genuinely enticing to the person reading it. You want to make it feel like a "no-brainer" for them to take action.

Bonus tip: Make sure to also invest in quality ecommerce web hosting to ensure your whole store experience (including any popups and calls-to-action) load at the expected speeds.

Ready to create a website popup that turns website visitors into leads and customers?

We’ve got a whole library of popup templates to get you started.

Simply choose the template that best suits the message you’re giving. Then, customize it in ConvertFlow with your brand colors, fonts, copy, etc. and embed it on your website!

Using ConvertFlow's Shopify integration, you'll also be able to do all the special targeting and triggering needed to create the advanced popups in this guide (like cart abandons and cross-sells based on cart activity).

Here's a few templates to get you started: