Popups are pretty much everywhere you go online. It’s almost impossible to visit a few websites without being interrupted by a pop up asking you if you want a coupon, if you want to subscribe or why you’re leaving their website. So needy.
While popups do have a time and a place to be useful and not so annoying, it’s hard to decide when to or when not to use them on your fitness website. Here’s a full breakdown of pop up best practices for your fitness website.
Popups Are Still Really Annoying and Over Used
First things first. Popups are pretty much unanimously the most annoying online advertising technique but this is mostly due to website owners not fully understanding how to use them. If you don’t want to be a personal trainer website owner that annoys their website visitors with free offers, a free trial, a free consult or a free eBook, you’ll need to take a step back and understand what a modal pop up is actually for.
What to do instead:
A good popup compliments the user experience. It helps provide added value to a website visitor from with the contents of the page they’re viewing.
If someone is reading a blog post, they probably don’t want to have their reading experience immediately interrupted by an offer for a free trial. But maybe, when they reach the bottom of the page, they might want to hear from you again because your content was great. So it would be a perfect time to offer a free eBook or a subscription to receive updates.
Don't Show Popups Before the Main Page Content Loads
If you’re looking for a personal trainer and you’re in research mode, while an offer may be of value to you, having it shoved in your face will just ruin the experience. When people land on your fitness website, they’re usually looking for answers to their questions. Usually competency, convenience, cost and character.
Read More: The 4 C’s of a Success Fitness Website
So your popup of a free consult or an eBook is only going to interrupt that process. Imagine landing on a home page, ready to do some research and this jumps in your way...
Read More: The 4 C’s of a Success Fitness Website
So your popup of a free consult or an eBook is only going to interrupt that process. Imagine landing on a home page, ready to do some research and this jumps in your way...
What to do instead:
Stay classy. Even if you are desperate for website visitors to become clients, don’t show it. People can sense it and it comes off desperate and tacky. Focus on showing the pop up when it’s relevant to the visitor, not when you think it will get the most views.
This could be when they’re about to leave a page without seeing the offer (exit intent) or when they click on a button themselves to find out more about your offer.
You might even discover that the content you had in a popup would better serve the website visitor actually on the page.
Either way, don’t shove it in their face as soon as the website loads. Value first, offer later.
Give Value before Asking for An Email
When setting up a popup, it’s almost instinctive to set the timer to 5 seconds or 15 seconds to show the popup. After all, what if they leave the site before then?
If a website visitor lands on your page and leaves the website within 5 seconds, they were what marketers refer to as a bounce. They weren’t interested in your content right then because they were most likely looking for something else.
Don’t take it personally.
What to do instead:
Wait for the most relevant time to show the popup. Like when they reach the bottom of the page (90%) and they’re super impressed with your content, or when they’re about to leave the site without taking any action.
If a website visitor lands on your page and leaves the website within 5 seconds, they were what marketers refer to as a bounce. They weren’t interested in your content right then because they were most likely looking for something else.
Don’t take it personally.
What to do instead:
Wait for the most relevant time to show the popup. Like when they reach the bottom of the page (90%) and they’re super impressed with your content, or when they’re about to leave the site without taking any action.
They were leaving anyway so a pop up won’t do much harm.
Don't Show Multiple Popups
Have you ever closed a popup only for another one to appear in its place? Infuriating, right? So don’t do it to your website visitors. You may end up with a completely frustrated website visitor that leaves before checking out your service because they were so frustrated.
What to do instead:
If you must use a popup, and it’s quite likely that you don’t actually need to, use only one and make sure it not only appears once per page but only once per day to make sure you don’t annoy potential leads.
What to do instead:
If you must use a popup, and it’s quite likely that you don’t actually need to, use only one and make sure it not only appears once per page but only once per day to make sure you don’t annoy potential leads.
My Advice On Popups
Popups were literally voted one of the most annoying fitness marketing strategies online. So the first step is to ask yourself, do I really need a pop up to show this information and would it serve the website visitor or me?
Then, if you still think it’s going to be useful, use them sparingly, stay classy and employ them in such a way that doesn’t annoy website visitors.
For example, instead of using a pop up that blacks out the screen, like this:
Then, if you still think it’s going to be useful, use them sparingly, stay classy and employ them in such a way that doesn’t annoy website visitors.
For example, instead of using a pop up that blacks out the screen, like this:
Use one that appears in the bottom right, like this:
Same information but without interrupting the website visitor too much. And finally, get some feedback. Set up your pop up and then ask a few people what they think. Did it interrupt their session and was it valuable to them. If not, there are better ways to showcase that information.
