How to add a pop-up email capture form to Shopify

Source: https://getsitecontrol.com/usecase/shopify-email-popup/

Nina De la Cruz 7 min read

If you own an ecommerce store, you know how challenging it can be to acquire new customers. That’s why successful store owners do everything to retain buyers and build long-term relationships with them.

Of all marketing channels, the best one to retain customers is email.

But collecting email addresses can be a challenge on its own. And that’s where pop-up email capture forms for Shopify come in handy. Here is an example 👇

You can display it a few seconds after a visitor lands on your website to greet them and offer a welcome discount. Once they join your list you can reach them via email with new offers, collections, and recommendations.

Below, we’ll show you how to create an email capture form using Getsitecontrol – an easy-to-use popup builder app for Shopify.

Once we walk you through the setup process, we’ll review 4 popular email popup examples. You’ll get plenty of ideas and actual templates to use in your store.

Before getting started, we recommend finding Getsitecontrol on the Shopify App Store and installing it on your website. The app comes with a full-featured 14-day trial, so you’ll have enough time to see if it actually works for you.

Once you’ve installed the app, follow the steps below.

Step 1. Select a template

To get started, log into your Getsitecontrol dashboard and click ~~Create widget~~. Then proceed to ~~Premade widgets~~ and pick any email capture form from the gallery:

Next, you’ll be able to change the text, font, and style of the popup to make sure it matches your branding.

Step 2. Adjust the text and image

To change the text on the popup, just click on it and type your copy.

To replace the image, click on it and proceed to ~~Change image~~. You can select another photo from the built-in stock library, upload an image from your computer or even from your store.

Finally, go to the second page of the form and repeat your steps: adjust the message and image. For example, you can thank your new subscribers for joining the list and provide the discount code right away:

In a couple of moments, we’ll also show you how to send the discount code to the subscriber’s email without using any 3^rd-party software.

Step 3. Set up audience and page targeting

To specify when and where to display the popup, click ~~Next →~~ to switch to the ~~Targeting~~ tab. You’ll see 6 targeting controls allowing you to set popup displaying conditions. Take a closer look at them on the screenshot.

These settings indicate that the popup will be displayed:

on every page of the website,
to first-time visitors only,
after they spend 3 seconds on the site.

On top of that, the popup will stop displaying (5) to those who have filled out the form. However, those who closed the form without signing up will see the popup again in 1 day.

Step 4. Craft a “Thank you for joining” email

Even if you’ve displayed the discount code on the second page of the form, it’s a good practice to also send it to your new subscribers via a follow-up email.

To craft that email, open the ~~Follow-up~~ tab and either pick an email template from the gallery or edit the suggested one:

This follow-up email is your chance to thank new subscribers for joining your newsletter, deliver a discount code for their next visit, and most importantly, encourage them to come back to your store:

💡 You can also create a sequence of emails that will be automatically delivered to subscribers at the pace of your choice. If you’re looking for inspiration, here is a guide to writing welcome email sequences.

The last tab is called ~~Integrations~~. It allows you to save new emails as contacts in your database and assign tags to them.

You can also use this tab to connect your email marketing software, webhooks, Zapier apps, and your Shopify customers list.

Depending on how a customer interacts with a popup, their information gets captured. If it’s a new customer, they automatically get added to your Shopify customer list. If the same customer interacts with another popup in the future, the information about them gets updated.

Using field mapping, you can assign tags to customer profiles and use them for your future campaigns.

Once you save your edits and close the dashboard, follow the prompt to activate the popup, and it will instantly go live on your website.

Now that you know how things work, let’s review other Shopify email popups you may want to use along with (or instead of) the welcome offer.

4 Shopify email popups to use in your store

The secret sauce for creating a high-converting email popup is to display it at the right moment and to provide value to visitors instead of just inviting them to subscribe to your newsletter.

Below, we’ll review 4 more ideas to help you come up with your own popup. Feel free to grab any of the templates for your store.

An exit-intent popup is a popup displayed right before a visitor leaves your website. Powered by exit-intent detection technology, it is a proven way to prevent page abandonment while growing your email list.

Here is how it works. When a visitor’s mouse is moving towards closing the page, the app launches a popup like this one:

To proceed with this scenario, all you need is to switch the popup displaying conditions from ‘automatically’ to ‘exit intent’ in the ~~Targeting~~ tab.

Notice that if you want to display this popup in the shopping cart only, you’ll need to include your shopping cart URL in the first field. Depending on your strategy, you can also target new or returning visitors — or both.

💡 Learn more from our guide to using exit-intent popups on Shopify.

Scarcity is a proven tactic for increasing sales, but it can be used for email list building, too. Consider offering a limited-time deal in exchange for a subscription. To nudge visitors into acting faster, you can even add a countdown timer like this one:

This example will work well as a welcome popup, an exit-intent popup, or a delayed popup. To add a countdown timer on a popup, you can use custom images, GIFs, or tools like Countdownmail. It allows you to generate a custom timer and embed it anywhere including your email, your website, or an email popup for that matter. Read a detailed tutorial here.

Getsitecontrol allows you to toggle targeting controls on a deep level and display irresistible offers to your customers based on their shopping behavior.

Specifically, you can use the following information when displaying a popup:

Which product they have added to the cart
Which vendor they have added to the cart
The number of items in the cart
Shopping cart total price and more

Suppose you’re a mattress company, and a customer has added your best-selling mattress to the cart. However, at the last moment, they changed their mind about the purchase. Before they leave, you can offer a special discount for that particular mattress – because you already know they want it!

This Shopify email popup kills two birds with one stone. First, you get a new email subscriber. Second, you increase the chances they will make a purchase now that they have a discount code.

Unlike the previous examples, this popup will display the code right after a customer signs up – which means their buyer journey can continue without interruption.

To implement this scenario, you’ll need to open the ~~Targeting~~ tab and find ‘Show widget to customer if’. Then, select ‘Shopify’ and choose the option you want to use.

This means that the popup you’ve created will only be displayed to the customers whose shopping experience in your store meets the conditions you’ve selected.

The Shopify targeting filter creates numerous possibilities for you. You can offer a discount on the item in the cart, free shipping based on the total cart price, entice customers with samples from the same vendor they’re shopping for, and so on. And you can display this popup at the exit as well as after the items have been added to the cart.

If you’re not sure which strategy is the best, you can always A/B test popups.

If you have no discounts to offer, it’s not a reason to stop collecting emails from your current and potential customers. Those who shop in your store, especially if they shop repeatedly, are likely to be interested in staying up to date and being the first to hear about sales. So, why not offer just that?

Instead of a modal popup, you can use a less intrusive slide-in for that purpose:

In this case, we’d recommend displaying the popup after a visitor has spent at least a few seconds on your website. You can also target returning customers or customers coming from a particular referral source.

Popups can help you grow your email list way faster

Our popup statistics show that email popups offering a discount in return for a signup, convert 4.7% of visitors into subscribers on desktop, and 7.73% on mobile, on average.

Given that email marketing remains among the most efficient conversion channels for ecommerce, if you aren’t collecting emails yet, you’re leaving money on the table.

With Getsitecontrol, you can start growing your list today even if you have zero technical knowledge. Try it for free and see it for yourself.

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.