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Will any of these techniques inform the site owners that I close the tab the instant they put up a big “sign up for our mailing list” modal? And maybe that woul

Will any of these techniques inform the site owners that I close the tab the instant they put up a big “sign up for our mailing list” modal? And maybe that would help train them to not design sites that way? Maybe that could be one good outcome of such an API.

panphora 5y ago
I think popups on page load are more of a symptom of short-term, myopic thinking than anything else. This type of thinking is strongly encouraged by always trying to live up to quarterly projections - "Did Sales meet their targets?" Popups exchange long-term trust in your brand for short-term profits. Of course it's the case that if you pop a modal in front of everyone, your conversion stats will go up. But potential life-time customers who have faith in your brand and believe in your mission will lose trust in you quickly and probably never sign up in the first place. For me, it always comes down to the primary rule of UX: if you wouldn't do it IRL, don't do it online. You can ask for someone's email if they look like they're interested in something you're selling, but don't ask for it the moment they enter your store!
- jasonlotito 5y ago
  Long term trust doesn’t pay the bills. See every underfunded open source project. Think of it this way: if the site that you have long term trust for does this, it means the previous methods weren’t working. The ‘trust’ was broken. Would love to see your advice applied to your own life.
  - jeltz 5y ago
    Long term trust pays the bills quite often, it all depends on what product or service your company is selling. And, yes, I apply this in my own projects, unless I am doing some ugly cash grab project.
    - jasonlotito 5y ago
      No. Long term trust never pays the bills. You are confusing long term trust with money. Sure, money might come from long term trust, but long term trust itself, literally, does not pay the bills.
- JaimeThompson 5y ago
  >exchange long-term trust in your brand for short-term profits That could be the motto of most every modern MBA.
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  > if you wouldn't do it IRL, don't do it online. The lack of a Remote Strangulation Protocol (https://wiki.kluv.in/a/RemoteStrangulationProtocol https://wiki.kluv.in/a/RemoteStrangulationProtocol) is a problem again.
XCSme 5y ago
Those pop-ups are usually shown on "exit intent" which is simply when you move your mouse outside the viewport (i.e. the address bar or hover over another tab).
- sokoloff 5y ago
  There was a parts supplier site that used to offer a 5% discount in this exit intent handler. (I’m not sure if they still do and I’m only on mobile at the moment.) I’d happily trigger their exit intent handler and juice their “this feature is a total game-changer for our business!” reporting.
- slig 5y ago
  Have you seen the new variation of this abomination? Now it shows another spam page after the user clicks the back button. There's no "intent" anymore, just a user trying to leave and getting a new spam.
slig 5y ago
They learned, and now there's the "back button breaker", it shows another spam page when clicking the back button.
dazc 5y ago
Since you were never going to join their mailing list, no, you are simply saving them bandwidth. What you don't realise is that x number of people join the list and x number of people tolerate being spammed with 'did you know we sell stuff' emails every day for the rest of their lives. x number of those people actually do buy something; likley the thing they intended to buy originally but joined the email list in case a discount code would be the subject of the first 'welcome' email because this is what they have been trained to expect. All this has been A/B tested and, thus, has been 'proven' to be great business practice.

panphora 5y ago

I think popups on page load are more of a symptom of short-term, myopic thinking than anything else. This type of thinking is strongly encouraged by always trying to live up to quarterly projections - "Did Sales meet their targets?" Popups exchange long-term trust in your brand for short-term profits. Of course it's the case that if you pop a modal in front of everyone, your conversion stats will go up. But potential life-time customers who have faith in your brand and believe in your mission will lose trust in you quickly and probably never sign up in the first place. For me, it always comes down to the primary rule of UX: if you wouldn't do it IRL, don't do it online. You can ask for someone's email if they look like they're interested in something you're selling, but don't ask for it the moment they enter your store!

jasonlotito 5y ago
Long term trust doesn’t pay the bills. See every underfunded open source project. Think of it this way: if the site that you have long term trust for does this, it means the previous methods weren’t working. The ‘trust’ was broken. Would love to see your advice applied to your own life.
- jeltz 5y ago
  Long term trust pays the bills quite often, it all depends on what product or service your company is selling. And, yes, I apply this in my own projects, unless I am doing some ugly cash grab project.
  - jasonlotito 5y ago
    No. Long term trust never pays the bills. You are confusing long term trust with money. Sure, money might come from long term trust, but long term trust itself, literally, does not pay the bills.
JaimeThompson 5y ago
>exchange long-term trust in your brand for short-term profits That could be the motto of most every modern MBA.
Nextgrid 5y ago
> if you wouldn't do it IRL, don't do it online. The lack of a Remote Strangulation Protocol (https://wiki.kluv.in/a/RemoteStrangulationProtocol https://wiki.kluv.in/a/RemoteStrangulationProtocol) is a problem again.

XCSme 5y ago

Those pop-ups are usually shown on "exit intent" which is simply when you move your mouse outside the viewport (i.e. the address bar or hover over another tab).

sokoloff 5y ago
There was a parts supplier site that used to offer a 5% discount in this exit intent handler. (I’m not sure if they still do and I’m only on mobile at the moment.) I’d happily trigger their exit intent handler and juice their “this feature is a total game-changer for our business!” reporting.
slig 5y ago
Have you seen the new variation of this abomination? Now it shows another spam page after the user clicks the back button. There's no "intent" anymore, just a user trying to leave and getting a new spam.

slig 5y ago

They learned, and now there's the "back button breaker", it shows another spam page when clicking the back button.

dazc 5y ago

Since you were never going to join their mailing list, no, you are simply saving them bandwidth. What you don't realise is that x number of people join the list and x number of people tolerate being spammed with 'did you know we sell stuff' emails every day for the rest of their lives. x number of those people actually do buy something; likley the thing they intended to buy originally but joined the email list in case a discount code would be the subject of the first 'welcome' email because this is what they have been trained to expect. All this has been A/B tested and, thus, has been 'proven' to be great business practice.