Pop-up or not pop-up...

[VisualService]

What is better in the long term? have a list builder pop up, which I found to be most effective to get subscribers, but annoying for the user, or discrete subscribe form that does not bother, but is less effective.
I am using the plugin in my web SumoMe fot WordPress.

Thank you!

[max.favilli]

I regret I missed this question. Because I have been testing a lot with exit popovers and subscription popovers.

I strongly suggest you A/B test as well, including testing multiple copy for the popover.

While testing I would closely monitor bounce rate, signup rate and other target conversions you have. I would also use some visitors recording/playback service like http://www.hotjar.com/ or http://mouseflow.com/ (I suggest hotjar) to examine sample users interactions.

Depending on the nature/quality of the traffic and your target conversions you will likely find quite different results.

What I would expect based on my experience is

• users being annoyed and most of them closing the popup at an incredibly high speed,
• increase of signup,
• increasing bounce rate on pages with a high quality/targeted traffic, quality traffic mean low bounce rate, high user interaction and, if you have other goals/target a part from signups, high conversions
• lowering bounce rate on pages with poor quality traffic, if you have pages with high traffic, high bounce rate and good time spent on page a popover with a good copy is more likely to lead them to do something else than just leave

So, test it. And depending on your overall target and page specific target, choose if a popover is useless or harmful and which copy is best.

[Bryan_Loconto]

Hey Alberto!

I'd recommend taking the route that does NOT annoy the users by any means necessary.

Also, I agree with Don Ford's recommendation to check out jQuery dialog box. This is effective in my experience and is much less likely to frustrate people. Very important!!

Good luck!!

[aap82]

If you have a personal blog where you want to create a community relationship, I wouldn't use the pop up. I don't use it and in around 10 months I have nearly 1.000 subscribers.

If your blog is focused on a specific niche (not a personal blog) I guess you can use it, as it is more effective.

[donford]

Alberto, have you considered a Jquery Dialog box. While technically it is a popup, you need an an event to trigger it. If you don't have something like an ONLOAD event and more of a click to learn more then the dialog is much better than a traditional popup. It is less likely to frustrate people.

Example..http://jsfiddle.net/umkbsms3/1/

Good luck with whichever route you go with!

Don

[Allie_Williams]

Personally, I close those "join my email list" pop-ups as quickly as I can, because I find them annoying. Let users see your content and decide for themselves if they want more engagement.

If you've been soliciting users with a pop-up AND with a more discreet subscribe form, are you able to do an analysis of who subscribed via which method, and calculate engagement metrics (e.g., open rate) or the un-subscription rate for each? Maybe look at this metric by time period: past year, 6 months, 3 months, last full month, etc.

If so, you might find your answer there.

I prefer to see subscription options at the bottom of blog posts (I just read something amazing, and so I'm likely to sign up for more) or as a global element in a sidebar.

[grobro]

I personally would never risk to bother anyone. Most time a middle-way works out.