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Why do people (especially developers) hate exit-intent pop-ups?
by
Louis Nicholls
Why do people (especially developers) hate exit-intent pop-ups?
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I hate all pop ups. I don't care if they convert better, they are really annoying!
I get why people hate popups in general.
If you're leaving a site though (as in you don't care about the content any more), why would you oppose an exit-intent pop-up?
That's not a rhetorical question btw I'm serious.
It seems like there's a product idea in here somewhere, so I'd love to hear your thoughts in depth :)
Any kind of pop up wastes my time. Even if it is just a second or two to see what it is about. Anyone or anything that wastes my time deserves a slap in the face :D
If you were trying to leave a shop and someone tried to stop you, would you find that annoying? That's what I see a pop up like.
I'm an adult capable of making my own decisions. If I want to go back, I will go back. And in fact, a pop up make me rethink whether I want to return or not....rethink it in a way not in their favour.
Surely that depends on the content of the pop-up, no?
Definitely. That's a bad pop-up.
But I have absolutely no problem with a shop assistant (non-aggressively) offering me a discount voucher and a "have a nice day" on my way out of the store...
Do you object to that too? Because that's what a good exit-intent pop-up should do.
What I'm trying to work out is whether people dislike all exit-intent pop-ups (even the useful ones) for a solvable reason, or if it just boils down to certain people "not liking it when they realise they're being sold to."
Had a few of these conversations today and it seems to be the latter (which is fine).
Would you say that's the case for you too?
I guess I would say I've disliked all exit-intent pop ups that I've seen and experienced.
Perhaps I need to see a 'good one' to change my mind.
Who knows...
Maybe you do really hate all of them.
Or maybe it's one of those things where we only notice the bad ones. No idea!
Pretend you’re trying to leave a brick and mortar store and they stop to ask if you’re really sure you want to leave or offer you one last special or something as your hand hits the door handle. I can’t see it as anything but rude.
I don't like the interruption, which feels like it breaks my flow. It takes my time away, which is bad enough. In my experience, the ads also offer no value (or not enough to overcome the annoyance).
Are you thinking about using popups, or innovating to make the experience better and have value? There could be serious cheddar in that.
I don't know - just find it interesting!
FWIW, I use exit-intent pop-ups sometimes. Especially in ecommerce. They just work so well.
Based on the feedback I've received so far, I don't think there's necessarily a solution.
The majority of people seem to dislike what pop-ups represent, not the form-factor necessarily (although it doesn't appear to help).
Maybe there's a product idea in there somewhere, but I don't see it right now...
I actually have an idea for how to productize this, but it would require some testing of a hypothesis. Want to PM?
Sure - my email is in my profile :)
annoying as f##k
Yeah, I get that you don't like them.
But why don't you like them?
as I said .... annoying. If I want to exit I don't want to see an exit pop up reminding me to buy/sell/subscribe etc
B/c human beings are very lazy creatures. Any extra effort towards the goal is annoying.
because they're spammy.
If someone wants to leave your website, sending them a huge popup to get their information comes across as desperate and spammy.
Because they are bullshit. The user is trying to leave the site, and an exit popup demonstrates that the company doesn't give a shit about its customers. If you have an exit popup that stops a user from leaving, then one must assume customer service is just as shitty, and I would expect to encounter similar friction when deleting an account or removing a payment method. Exit popups immediately destroy customer goodwill.
I've disliked exit-intent pop-ups much longer than I've had dev skills or even knew their name.
Why? Because it's an asshole move that disrespects people's wishes, essentially the online equivalent of grabbing a stranger's arm when they try to walk away from your sales pitch. It's true that one time in a hundred, the next words out of your mouth might be so on target that they're grateful after the fact, but it's just not a respectful way to operate.
I'm leaving the site because I want to use some other site. It feels a little bit presumptuous to put a pop-up in the way of accessing of your own content, but way more presumptuous to put a pop-up in the way of accessing other people's content.
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