3 ms·

Ask HN: Do you ever sign up to a newsletter modal?

• makecheck 7y ago
  If pop-ups are designed to gain customers, they always have the opposite effect on me: I leave immediately if something is annoying the hell out of me. (Also makes me wonder why companies immediately abuse my personal information, e.g. sending daily spam practically the minute I become a customer, as if that’s going to help.) On the other hand, I can make my own “newsletters” by revisiting sites that have proven themselves to post interesting things. Sometimes I even go looking for their ad-supported podcasts. And do you know what evil, underhanded dark pattern produces this kind of reader loyalty? Having good content presented in a simple article format, with text that flows normally on a web site with no scripting tricks.
  • aledalgrande 7y ago
    What you described requires commitment and knowing your (small) audience. Scarse these days. One of its preachers is Seth Godin.
• beezle 7y ago
  I do not via modals, or anything else.
• enz 7y ago
  No. When a pop-up pops up, I hit the "back" button right away. I don't even do it consciously, actually...
• luckylion 7y ago
  > Is it one of those things that everyone reads on marketing blogs and will continue to apply mechanically for another 10 years? No, they work, just not on this audience. The same goes for exit intents ("Do you really not want to buy this great product? [] Of course I want to [] No, my life is the best it ever could be, it doesn't need improvement"), they convert for large audiences but are hated by others. The question then is: is the trade-off worth it. Apparently, it is for many.
  • aledalgrande 7y ago
    Do you have any data on that?
    • luckylion 7y ago
      None that would be considered scientific. I work for a few affiliate/seo-people, and the exit intents, newsletter popovers etc worked well on sites that target non-tech-savvy people (as in: better newsletter-signup-rate, higher overall conversion rate with exit intents; it's not gigantic, but it's large enough to be meaningful). They didn't work at all on the one site that targets tech people. While we didn't see a lot of total rejections (e.g. "I see that and I just close the tab"), we also didn't see more signups or conversions. Would be improved if it was tested on more tech-audiences, but they don't do a lot of those.
• soulchild37 7y ago
  I have a newsletter modal in my own technical blog (usually placed below the article and above the comment box), and usually I attach a gift to bribe user to subscribe (cheatsheet, completed project code etc) . Conversion rate from visitor to subscriber is around 1.5% , and conversion from subscriber to customer (once in a while I email them that I have technical ebook solving X problem) is around 4%! I avoid spammy popup modal and just place the form at the end of article, and offering relevant CTA usually. And this mode of marketing worked very well for me
• dazc 7y ago
  A lot of the time they offer a discount in return for signing up. Anecdotally, people sign up for the discount if they were going to buy something anyways, otherwise they don't.
• buboard 7y ago
  In Europe you typically have 3 popups: cookies, GDPR and then newsletter followed by a fixed header / notifications popup / something. It's every time, and a lot of time wasted. I bet HN users are not their target audience so i think it's pointless to ask here. However we should ask, how can we create a standard for these forms. (The end goal is to create a blocker for them, but in order to be adopted we have to provide a carrot to the webdevs).
• QueensGambit 7y ago
  Because it works! Google tried to penalize these sites with popups by reducing their SEO rank. Yet, they found workarounds (like 5 second delay) to show these popups. The point is - they are not "low skill" marketers. They do it, because the signup conversions are usually 4x higher than not having the popup. Popups force users to make a choice. Users who are not interested in the site will be annoyed and leave the site. Users who are interested will signup, if you offer them something more (like discounts). So, while you may not like it, it does the job!
• aledalgrande 7y ago
  I understand they work in the short term, but how is the long term churn? The only positive I can see is that you get direct metrics for your funnel.