7 Exit Popup Ideas to Convert Abandoning Visitors into Customers

If you’re curious about how exit popups work – or how websites detect when a visitor is about to leave, the technology behind it is known as exit intention recognition.

A popup app (Getsitecontrol, in our case) tracks mouse movement and triggers the popup when a cursor approaches the area for closing or changing browser tabs.

You've probably seen these popups many times. On ecommerce websites, they usually offer a discount or a free shipping coupon in exchange for an email address.

Apart from email forms, you can use exit popups to display coupon codes, promote sales, conduct surveys, and more.

Let’s look at 7 exit popup ideas and figure out how they work.

7 Exit popup ideas to stop visitors from leaving too soon

1. Offer a “come back” discount in exchange for an email

Turning a visitor into a subscriber can be very valuable in the long run — especially if they’ve spent time exploring your website before heading to exit.

Think about it. You’ve already piqued their interest! Now if you get their email address, you’ll receive permission to show up in their inboxes, too.

By sending special offers and timely recommendations, you can remain at the top of their minds, drive repeat website visits, and generate conversions.

Besides, some visitors may genuinely like your online store or your content, but they may overlook subscribing, especially if your website lacks a prominent email opt-in form.

And since you probably don’t want to ask them to join as soon as they open the site, inviting them right before leaving might be a good idea — as long as there’s an incentive.

Stocks & Green, a gardening brand, uses exactly this tactic to grow their email list:

To incentivize visitors to join, Stocks & Gardens offers a £3 discount on the first purchase. If you are hesitant about using discounts, you can use other lead magnets, such as free shipping, participation in a giveaway, or access to a closed VIP sale.

💡If you’re planning to start SMS marketing, instead of collecting emails, you can collect phone numbers.

2. Offer a limited-time, irresistible deal

Good deals are inherently tempting and can persuade visitors who are about to leave to take another look at what you have to offer.

Again, if providing a discount isn't feasible, alternatives such as free shipping, buy one get one (BOGO) offers, or product samples can work equally well.

Unlike the previous exit popup example, this one requires no signup and offers an immediate value – an offer one can apply only if accepted right away.

This approach works especially well if you want to prevent shopping cart abandonment in your store. For example, you can implement this exit-intent popup on the shopping cart page and present it to those visitors who were about to abandon selected products.

This is how Brighter Shaving, a razor shop, approaches customers who leave products in the cart:

Since you aim to convert those who were on the verge of leaving the website, make sure you stick to the exit-intent popup best practices: display a generous offer, make it super easy to apply, and use attention-grabbing creatives.

3. Ask visitors why they are leaving

Do you want to understand why people are leaving your website without converting? It's a reasonable question, and the best way to find out is by simply asking them.

Consider adding an exit popup that prompts visitors to provide feedback before they leave.

As a rule of thumb, keep the survey concise, engaging, and to the point. For example, if you have assumptions about why people might be leaving your website, include them as selectable options instead of asking an open question. Most people have no desire to fill out a lengthy survey when they’re already on the way out.

Here is how Mordeco, a home and lifestyle accessory brand, does it on their website:

Now, should you display an exit survey on every page of your website? Not necessarily. The best practice is to add it to strategically important, yet underperforming pages.

For example, if you have several landing pages you’re driving paid traffic to, identify the ones where visitors drop out the most, and place the exit survey there. Finding the reasons why people don’t convert on these pages will help you reduce the bounce rate and optimize your funnel.

4. Offer personalized assistance

Sometimes visitors leave without taking any action because they couldn't find the answers to their questions and were too busy to search for your contact email.

This might be your case if you notice that visitors spend a considerable amount of time on your website, but the conversion rate falls far below your expectations.

If additional information is what your visitors need to continue a customer journey, you can address that and offer assistance.

Just before a visitor closes the website, display a contact form to politely offer help and demonstrate that you care about their needs:

Some people may prefer email communication, while others may prefer a callback. To determine which option resonates better with your audience, consider split-testing the pop-up form and analyzing the results. Then choose the more popular communication option.

5. Promote a current sale or deal

Another way to grab the attention of a visitor who is leaving your website is to invite them to an ongoing sale or notify them of a unique offer they don’t want to miss:

True Classic, a male clothing brand does exactly that. If you attempt to leave their website after browsing it for a while, you’ll see a pop-up reminder of a 50% off sale. So if you’re at least mildly interested in their products, you’ll want to explore it.

Not running any sales? Other scroll-stopping options can be an offer on your bestseller, an invitation to a giveaway, or a new collection promo.

6. Display your best customer review

Every marketer knows: if visitors spend a significant amount of time browsing your site, and then leave without converting, they must have a strong objection.

You can try to pinpoint the most common objections of your customers with an exit survey. You can also throw in a discount. Or you can use your best customer review to convince them to stay.

This is how Thinx, an underwear brand, does it:

This approach can work especially well if your product is new in its niche. Not everyone wants to be the first to test a new product, so in this case, social proof can make a big difference.

💡In addition to the text review, you can use ratings or any other user-generated content (UGC), including photos or GIFs of your customers using your product.

7. Run a giveaway or a contest

The last exit popup example we’ve seen working well for ecommerce brands is an invitation to a giveaway:

Like any other email signup form, this one is designed to help you grow your list. The difference is that instead of offering a discount to everyone who fills out the form, you pick a product and give it for free to one of the randomly chosen participants.

Here is an example from Rover Pet Product, an Australian pet brand:

The key to success with this approach lies in two things. First, the product you’re giving away must be enticing enough to convince people to trade their emails. Second, you want to avoid inviting people who only join for the sake of a giveaway.

Instead, you want to make sure they’re actually interested in your products.

How do you know they’re interested? Here are some indicators:

• They’ve spent over 30 seconds on your website
• They’ve scrolled more than 50% of a landing page
• They’ve viewed more than one page

Use your web analytics tool to decide which indicator is right for you, and add it to the targeting conditions of your exit popup.

Are exit popups any good? (Statistics)

Exit-intent popups may have a questionable reputation, but when used right, they can convert insanely well.

Exit-intent popups can save between 10% to 15% of abandoning visitors, according to Conversion Sciences.

Our own research on popup performance shows that the numbers vary depending on the type of offer you’re presenting.

Exit popups offering a discount in exchange for an email address can convert up to 7% of abandoning visitors. Meanwhile, exit popups offering a coupon in the shopping cart can convert up to 13.5% of abandoning customers.

With these numbers, exit popups are certainly worth trying. Why? Because whether you’re investing time in organic methods, or money in advertising – you’re paying for your website traffic either way.

It’s a shame to lose conversions you could have easily saved.

How to create an exit popup for your website

Creating exit popups is easy with Getsitecontrol. It takes less than half an hour, even if have no coding or design knowledge. See it for yourself 👇

Step 1. Pick a template

In the first step, you need to log into your Getsitecontrol account and pick a widget template:

If you’re new, the app comes with a 7-day trial and requires no credit card to register. So you don’t have to commit if you don’t see the results you anticipated.

Step 2. Change image and text

Next, you can edit the text on the template and place your own image – or choose one from the built-in gallery:

Step 3. Apply the exit-intent trigger

Once you’re done with the content, use the Targeting settings to choose a page or pages where the popup should appear, and select the exit-intent trigger.

Note that you can set complex triggers by combining exit-intent with the time on site, number of pages, and scroll depth. This can be useful if you want to target the most engaged visitors.

Step 4. Set a follow-up email automation

If you’ve chosen to create an exit popup with an email signup form, you can set up a follow-up automation. This means that you can send automated emails to everyone who joins your list and tag them based on the links they click within your email and their characteristics, such as location or newsletter preference.

Use follow-ups to welcome new subscribers, introduce your bestsellers, and send them a first-purchase discount:

Here is a detailed guide to creating follow-up automations that will help you get started.

Step 5. Publish the exit popup on your website

Ready to launch your abandonment-stopper? Then connect Getsitecontrol to your website, if you haven’t done it yet, and activate the popup.

As soon as the popup starts collecting views and clicks, you’ll see them right on the widget card in your dashboard. For a more detailed report with respondents’ locations and traffic channels, head over to the Statistics section.

Final thoughts

If you decide to try exit popups on your website, and you worry that they’ll ruin your customers’ experience, think of it from your visitors’ perspective.

Imagine you’re about to leave a website. This means, for whatever reason, you aren’t willing to spend any more time on it, right?

At this point, if you see a popup that brings no potential value to you, you’ll certainly consider it annoying. However, if the popup contains something you can benefit from – say, a discount or useful content – you may reconsider the decision to leave a website.

If you’re selling products or services online, consider offering a first-purchase discount, a demo, or a webinar on the exit popups. Blog owners see great results when offering content upgrades and cheat sheets.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to having a relevant value proposition and a clear call to action.