How to Add an Exit Popup to Shopify — Easy Guide with Templates

Nina De la Cruz Nina De la Cruz 6 min read

If you own an online store, you’ve probably noticed that a large percentage of visitors leave without completing a purchase. Unfortunately, this is very common in ecommerce. But this doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it.

One proven tool to help you tackle the abandonment issue is exit-intent popups. For example, if a customer is leaving after adding a product to the cart, you can remind them about it and offer a discount 👇


According to our data, popups like this one can save up to 13.5% of carts from abandonment.

Alternatively, you can display an exit-intent popup to invite your store visitors to join your newsletter and offer a coupon for next time 👇

In this case, you’ll also be able to send follow-up email automations and encourage subscribers to come back to your store.

There is a lot you can do with exit-intent popups on Shopify. In the guide below, we’ll show you how to add one to your website within a few minutes – using the Getsitecontrol app.

You’ll be able to decide where to display the popup, customize its design, and craft a follow-up email automation.

Let’s get started!

How to create an exit-intent popup in Getsitecontrol

Before getting started, make sure to add the Getsitecontrol app to your Shopify store. The installation process takes a couple of minutes and requires no coding experience.

Step 1. Select a template

Once you’ve done that, log into your dashboard and pick a popup template from the premade gallery:

The premade gallery features popup templates that are already preset for the most common scenarios, and it’s the fastest way to get started. For our scenario, we’ve picked an email form.

As an alternative, you can explore other designs in the dedicated gallery of exit-intent popups:

The exit-intent templates in the Getsitecontrol gallery

When you find a template that fits your purpose, follow the prompts to add it to your dashboard. From there, you’ll be able to customize the copy and design.

Step 2. Edit the copy

Once in your dashboard, click on the popup text and craft your irresistible offer. For example, you can type something like: Before you go… want 15% off?

Editing the copy of the template

After that, switch to Page 2 and check the submission success message. If you’re offering a discount in exchange for an email, you can display a coupon code here or inform your subscribers that they’ll receive it via email.

The submission success message on Page 2 of the exit-intent popup

In the example above, the first button allows customers to copy a discount code. To set this up in your popup, click on the button, hit the +Add action link, and select Copy to clipboard. Proceed to paste your code:

How to assign a discount code to the button click in Getsitecontrol

This way, when a customer clicks the button, the code will be automatically copied to the clipboard, so they can use it at checkout.

In the following sections, we’ll also show you how to deliver the discount code with a follow-up email automation.

Step 3. Adjust the design

To change the color theme, style, or font on your popup, open the Theme menu and toggle the controls.

For example, you can apply one of the pre-made themes or edit the elements of your popup individually:

The Theme section of the dashboard and pre-made themes

If you’ve selected a template with an image, click on the image and follow the prompts to replace it – either with your own creative or with a stock image or GIF from the built-in gallery.

The built-in image and GIF gallery

Repeat this process for the second page of your popup.

Step 4. Set up the exit-intent trigger

In the next step, you’ll need to select the pages where you want to display the popup and set up the right trigger. To do that, use the controls in the Targeting tab.

The main control you’ll need here is called Start displaying widget. Select “exit-intent” among the available options and make sure to remove default triggers if there are any:

The targeting settings of an exit-intent popup

Other controls are optional but they might interest you as well. For example, by default, the popup will appear on every page of your website. However, if you want to display it only on certain pages – in the shopping cart, for instance – type their URLs in the Include field at the top of the screen.

You can also target people who are abandoning your store while having products in the cart or customers with a certain cart price.

To learn more about this, read our in-depth guide to using targeting settings.

When you are done working on your targeting settings, Save & close your popup, but don’t activate it just yet.

Step 5. Prepare a follow-up automation

There is one last step to perform before you can send the popup live on your store. You need to set up a follow-up automation to deliver the promised code to your subscribers’ inboxes. To get started, click the Follow-up button at the bottom of your popup card:

The Follow-up button at the bottom of the popup card

Proceed to add an action to your automation. From the Actions menu, select Send email:

Selecting ‘Send email’ from the Actions menu

Select a template from the premade emails gallery. Then go ahead and adjust the content of the email using the built-in editor:

Premade email template by Getsitecontrol

You can change the text, replace the image, paste your own coupon code, and set up a countdown timer to create a sense of urgency.

Once ready, hit Save & close.

The email will be sent to those who fill out the form automatically. You don’t need to use any 3rd-party email marketing software for that.

💡 For all the steps to set up a follow-up automation, watch our video tutorial.

At this point, the exit-intent popup is ready. If you activate it, every visitor leaving your website will see it, according to the conditions you’ve selected.

3 Examples of exit-intent popups for Shopify

Now that you know the basics of creating an exit-intent popup, let’s cover the 3 most popular cases for using them.

1. Reminder about the products in the cart

Sometimes, your customers may simply get distracted and forget that they’ve added something to the shopping cart. You can use an exit-intent popup to remind them about that and redirect them to checkout. To incentivize them to complete the purchase, you can also offer a discount:

In this scenario, you want to display the popup sitewide and target only those who have at least one product in the cart.

2. Last-minute coupon offer

If you assume that people are leaving your store without purchasing because they changed their minds, use exit-intent popups to overcome their objections.

For example, a higher-than-expected price is the most common reason why people abandon their carts on Shopify. To overcome this objection, you can simply offer a discount or a free shipping coupon.

💡 Remember to create a discount coupon code in your Shopify dashboard before assigning it to the button click. Find out how to assign automatic Shopify coupon codes to a popup button click from this tutorial.

3. Abandonment survey

If you want to find out why people leave your store too soon, the best tactic is to ask them directly.

For example, you may notice a higher-than-usual bounce rate on one of your landing pages, or an increasing cart abandonment rate. To find out the reasons, use an exit-intent survey:

You can make this survey popup a part of your research and either display it sitewide or on selected pages. For example, if you want to survey visitors leaving one particular page, go to the Targeting tab and add the URL of that page in the ‘Display widget on’ field.

Alternatively, you can display the survey to those who leave despite having products in the cart – or those who haven’t picked anything at all.

Try exit-intent popups in your Shopify store today

When used right, exit-intent popups can serve as a gateway that prevents potential customers from silently leaving your store. Some of these popups help you convert visitors you probably wouldn’t be able to convert otherwise. Others help you understand customer objections and overcome them.

At the end of the day, exit-intent popups can help you dramatically increase sales.

Ready to try them for yourself? Then pick your goal and add one of these beasts to your Shopify store today with Getsitecontrol.

Nina De la Cruz is a content strategist at Getsitecontrol. She is passionate about helping small and medium ecommerce brands achieve sustainable growth through email marketing.

You’re reading Getsitecontrol usecase collection where we talk about the best practices for using website popups. This usecase is a part of Grow on Shopify section.

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