Intro to Conversion Design: Pop-Ups Aren’t Outdated

Pop-Ups Are In!

Nonprofit marketers, it’s time to start utilizing pop-ups! When strategized properly, your readers will not be rushing to exit out of the pop-up box. Instead, they will be happily subscribing their emails. Their genuine interest in learning more about your brand will guide this. The misconception that pop-ups are pesky and outdated is something that your nonprofit needs to set aside, because these marketing tools can help your organization generate interest tremendously.

What Is Conversion Design?

Getting people to take valuable action as soon as they land on your website is the fundamental root of conversion design. It’s about not being invasive with the layout of your website, but being intentional with your strategy behind it. Understanding what design features will encourage your nonprofit’s website’s visitors to subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social media handles, share your story, or maybe even donate to your cause is about understanding how to build an interactive relationship with people through design. Conversion design is one of the ways that will distinguish your nonprofit from the rest.

What Is a Smart Bar?

A smart bar is a conversion rate optimization tool that you can incorporate into your nonprofit’s website design. Its purpose is to provide a shortcut that will link visitors to somewhere specific on your site. For example, this can be an informative blog post or an active donation. Smart bars are completely unobtrusive and won’t be pesky to your site visitors. While many pages on your organization’s website are important for visitors to see, smart bars are perfect for directing traffic to the one thing that you absolutely don’t want your audience to miss.

What Is a Scroll Box?

A scroll box is another conversion rate optimization tool that works as a great complement to smart bars. When mindfully integrated, scroll boxes are a very effective way to get your audience to opt-in their emails and subscribe to your newsletter or any other materials your nonprofit has to offer.

Show HOW You Are Valuable to Your Readers

Drawing people in is ultimately about value. Giving people a reason to stop and say, “hey, this is really beneficial for me,” is the mindset your nonprofit needs to have going into your marketing strategy. While smart bars and scroll boxes seem like something so small, strategically using these tools will ultimately boost your success in demonstrating your value.

To recap, smart bars help guide visitors to a worthwhile page on your site. Keeping in mind the fact that you want to prove your relevance, redirect your visitors to an informational page instead of immediately asking them to opt-in. Therefore, the use of a smart bar becomes extremely handy in cases like this. With a smart bar, you can show off an educational blog post, a successful case study, or any other resource that your audience will find useful. This will help them acknowledge why you offer something they value!

As the smart bar guides your readers to the resource that most demonstrates your nonprofit’s value, the scroll box will allow readers to get more of what they like. Be intentional about when you want the scroll box to pop up on your feed so that you can be confident that your audience is at their most willing state to complete any given action. If readers get a pop-up that suggests they opt-in to your newsletter, chances of subscriptions increase when the scroll box is activated at a certain point in the read and not just immediately.

Instead of being put off about disclosing their emails, readers should feel excited that you’ve made it as easy as possible for them to continue getting access to your nonprofit’s awesome content.

CONCLUSION: Pop-Ups Are Good!

Pop-ups have progressed. They are now an extremely versatile and useful tool available for optimizing your conversion design. Using smart bars and scroll boxes in conjunction with one another can help guide readers to the content you find most imperative to their understanding of your nonprofit, and encourage them to subscribe for more. It’s important to demonstrate the value your organization can offer customers before asking people to provide you with their information. 

Nico Emmer