Add a welcome popup to your website (plus 12 welcome popup ideas)

Welcome popups do exactly what the name suggests: they welcome visitors to your website. You can use this opportunity to offer a first-purchase discount, invite visitors to join your mailing list, or notify them of an ongoing sale.

The job of a welcome popup is to encourage first-time visitors to become either customers or subscribers.

In this post, we’ll show you how to create a welcome popup for your website using the Getsitecontrol popup builder. We’ll also provide several welcome popup ideas, ready-to-use templates, and best practices.

How to add a welcome email popup to your website using Getsitecontrol

First, you need to create an account and connect Getsitecontrol to your website. It’s a quick and simple process that’ll take you a few minutes.

If your website is on Shopify, you can install Getsitecontrol from the Shopify App store. If you are using WordPress, you can add a dedicated plugin. If your website is built on another platform, follow installation guides from our Help Center.

Step 1. Select a welcome popup template

The fastest way to create a welcome popup for your website is by using a template from the dedicated gallery:

You can explore the collection right on the website and click on each popup template to see them in action. Then choose a template you like and click “Take this template” on the right side of the page to take it to your dashboard.

For this tutorial, we’re going to choose a welcome popup offering a discount code in exchange for signup 👇

Popup templates are fully customizable, so you can make the necessary changes to their copy and style later.

Step 2. Customize your welcome popup

Once you’ve added the template to your dashboard, you’ll be able to edit the text and adjust its design elements, such as fields, colors, and images.

To add, edit, or remove fields, use the settings in the right-side menu. To change the text of the title, description, and CTA button, simply click on it and start typing your copy.

If you’d like to change the colors of your popup, open the Theme menu. Notice that you can adjust the color of each element manually or choose a different pre-made theme from the list.

If you know a little bit of CSS, you can use the built-in CSS editor to tailor your welcome popup precisely to your needs.

Step 3. Adjust the content on the second page

Most popups containing an email capture field come with a second page by default. However, even if your template doesn’t have a second page, adding it is easy. Click the “+” sign at the top right corner of your editor and fill it with content.

You can use the second page to confirm subscription and deliver the promised incentive, such as a coupon or an ebook.

Step 4. Set up coupon delivery

There are two ways to deliver your offer: you can let customers copy the coupon code right from your popup or send it to their inbox using a follow-up email. We suggest you do both.

💡 If a customer doesn’t use the coupon during their visit, your email will serve as a gentle reminder to come back to your store and make use of the promo.

Let’s see how to set up both options in Getsitecontrol 👇

1. Let customers copy the discount code from the popup

In our case, the ‘BACK TO WEBSITE’ button is set up to close the popup. To let customers copy a discount code, we’ll need to add a second button to the page.

To create a new button, hit + Add button in the right-side menu. Next, type something like ‘COPY THE CODE’ on it, and select ‘Copy to clipboard’ from the Actions menu 👇

From there, the app will prompt you to paste the discount code you want customers to copy. When they click the button, a brief notification message will appear. By default, it says “Copied!”, but you can edit it as well.

2. Email the discount code to subscriber (optional, premium feature)

To send the discount code to your subscriber’s inbox, you need to set up a follow-up email. Follow-up emails are sent automatically to everyone who fills out the form. Here is how to create one.

Click Next → in the top right corner to move to the Follow-up tab:

Then click + Add follow-up email —> Use premade emails. You’ll be taken to the gallery of email templates designed for different offer types:

Choose a template to your taste and adjust its content: you can edit the text, add an image, GIF, or button – and even create a countdown timer to encourage new subscribers to act faster.

When you’re finished with the main message, check the subject, preview, and sender fields (on the right). Then send the email to yourself as a test, and hit Done in the top right corner. As a last step, you’ll need to choose whether to send the email right away or with a delay.

Step 5. Choose when to show your popup (optional, premium feature)

By default, your welcome popup will be displayed on any page your visitors arrive at. These settings are included in the free plan.

If you want to change that, head over to the Targeting tab to create displaying rules and conditions, available in the Pro plan.

For instance, if you want to show the popup on particular pages only, paste their URLs in the ‘Include’ field. If you want to prevent certain pages on your website from displaying the popup, type their URLs in the ‘Exclude’ field. We also suggest targeting first-time visitors only, because this is the audience your welcome offer is designed for 👇

Another control we suggest changing is the timing of your popup. Displaying it at once is a common practice, however, displaying it after a visitor spends at least several seconds on our website creates a more user-friendly experience. In the example above, the delay is 5 seconds, but you can pick different timing based on what you think will work better on your website.

Activate your welcome popup

Once you’ve finished customizing the popup and setting up targeting conditions, click Save & Close to save the changes. Then click Activate now and the popup will go live on your website.

When your popup starts getting views, you can check its performance right from the dashboard. Some quick stats, such as views, clicks, and the click-through rate, will be visible on the widget card. More detailed information is available under the Statistics report – we’ll show you how to access it in the following section.

How to analyze the performance of a welcome popup

So you’ve created a welcome popup for your website. Great!

Another important aspect is tracking its performance, so you can see whether the popup actually brings new leads or not.

To access a detailed performance report, open Statistics in the left-side navigation bar and select the popup you want to analyze. The report includes the popup’s performance over time and a few filters, such as visitors’ geolocation, type of device, and source of traffic.

Depending on the settings you selected earlier, you’ll be able to see the statistics on action-button clicks and submissions. As you scroll down, you’ll get a breakdown of the popup performance by page.

If you are a Shopify user, you also have access to the widget-related sales report 👇

This report tells you how many sales are associated with the popup or, in other words, how many times visitors interacted with your welcome offer before purchasing from you.

How to maximize the effectiveness of your welcome popup

Now that you know everything you need to create a welcome popup, let’s find out how you can make the most out of it. Here are the points to consider when making the final customization steps.

1. Make your call to action clear

With popups, you always need to make your message as clear as possible. That’s especially crucial if you are trying to capture the attention of first-time visitors.

Proofread your copy to confirm that everything looks clear at a glance. Make your main message concise and feature it in the title of your popup, leave the details for the description.

2. Create an engaging CTA

Some phrases incentivize visitors more than others. So why not step away from the boring “Subscribe” when it’s worth it?

Try to brainstorm a list of powerful words that can encourage your visitors to take action. If you’re out of ideas, here are 12 examples of CTA button words you can use right now.

3. For email signup forms, offer an incentive

If you want visitors to leave an email address, giving something in return is a surefire way to increase your chances for success.

You can use a classic incentive like a discount on the first purchase. Or you can experiment with other forms of incentives like:

1. Free shipping
2. Gift wrapping
3. Product sample
4. Checklist or ebook
5. Free trial

If you’re in the ecommerce business, find out what other types of incentives may work for you.

4. Check the mobile view

With mobile shopping rising in popularity, you want to be confident your popup looks good on all devices. To see how your welcome popup looks on mobile, switch to the dedicated preview tab in the editor.

Although popups created in Getsitecontrol automatically adapt to mobile screens, checking the mobile preview mode can still be a good idea. For example, you may decide to remove the image or shorten the copy if you realize that it may improve your visitors’ experience.

5. Test different welcome popup messages (premium feature)

In this guide, we used the most popular scenario for a welcome popup, which is a first-purchase discount in exchange for an email. However, it’s not the only way to make first-time visitors feel welcomed.

Here are 5 alternative welcome popup message examples:

• “Welcome to Brand Name! Let us know what you’re looking for today”
• “Nice to meet you! Here is your personal coupon code”
• “First time here? Use SHIPFREE at checkout to get free shipping!”
• “You’re just in time. Flash sale is on! Today only. See the collection”
• “Join our VIP club. Never miss exclusive deals available to subscribers only”

Coupon boxes, pop-up product filters, and sale promos can be effective ways to engage first-time visitors on your website. If you’re ready to go the extra mile, you can even run an A/B test to find out which message works best for your audience.

Impress your first-time visitors with a welcome popup

When done right, a welcome popup can be a huge conversion booster that’ll help you turn first-time visitors into customers and grow your business in the long run. With Getsitecontrol, you can add it to your website within 20 minutes without coding or any technical skills. Go ahead and try it for yourself!