How to Use an Exit Overlay to Help Boost Your Subscriber List
Think of all the reasons you might leave a website. The site itself is complicated and difficult to navigate? The content wasn’t what you thought it would be? You got distracted and told yourself you would come back, and then you never did? These are all common examples of why 3 quarters of people leave a website intending to return and take action, and yet less than one third of them ever actually do this.
This is a big problem for online businesses that depend on users to convert once they’ve visited a site, and who spend big bucks on advertising in order to make this happen. It’s a huge blow to companies to have so many people click on advertisements, visit a site, and then leave without ever subscribing or making a purchase, never to return again. So what’s the answer? How can you prevent this from happening to your business website? Two words: Exit Overlay.
An example of an Exit Overlay by KissMetrics
What is an Exit Overlay and How Does It Work?
An exit overlay is a popup that appears in the same window that a person is browsing in, as opposed to a different window like a traditional popup. The point of it is to persuade users not to leave the site, and instead draw them in with promotions, sign ups, and other leads. The rest of the window becomes dark so that you only focus on the overlay that has appeared. For example, below is one example from Get Rooster that appeared while I was doing research for this article:
It included a call-to-action (“Get My Free Guide”) and a promise of a free product if I signed up with my email address.
Exit overlays generally appear when a site’s algorithm detects that the user may leave the website, usually based on time on the webpage. The tracking algorithm detects mouse movements, pauses, and other gestures that may suggest that a user plans to abandon the website. That’s when the overlay appears and tries to draw the consumer back in.
Why Exit Overlays Matter and How to Be Successful?
According to Fireclick, 70-95% of your website users will leave the site without making a purchase or otherwise performing an action that you would like. This is a huge percentage that results in a major loss of revenue over an extended period of time. Thus, it could be extremely helpful to enact exit overlays in your site to try to decrease that number and encourage users to make a conversion. They generally stay out of the way of users who are already taking an action, such as making a purchase, and so they target the users you want and make your marketing more efficient.
Exit Overlays are generally affordable, and because they run off an algorithm, they are mostly automatic and require very little of your own time and effort once they are created. They’re an easy and cost-effective way to keep consumers on your site for a little while longer in hope that they will take a desired action, as long as they are done correctly (more on this in the next section). When done wrong, they do little more than annoy your users and encourage them to leave your site.
So now that you know what they are and why they’re important, here are some tips for how you can make exit overlays work for you and your business in order to boost your subscriber list and keep visitors on your site longer.
Determine what your audience values
Your exit overlay should tap into an offer and/or product that is already popular with your users. Use Google Analytics or another conversion tracking tool to determine what your users are looking for. Then, make sure your offer is clear and to the point. Before a consumer is going to give up their email address, they need to understand perfectly what they are getting in return.
For example, the overlay on the bottom of this Express website clearly states that if you enter your email address, you will receive alerts and offers for promotions in the future. Then it gives you the option to choose whether you want these offers to be for men’s clothing or women’s. There is no confusion about what the user will be getting in exchange for their email address, and more than likely Express used some kind of tracking tool to figure out that their audience values coupons for their products.
If you need extra help, our marketing agency The Miami SEO Company can help you learn more about reading email marketing and other metrics to better test your exit overlay messages.
Figure out what kind of offers work best with your website traffic
Once you’ve analyzed your audience with a tracking tool and determined what you think will be popular with them, test it out. Don’t be afraid to use trial and error a few times in order to get it right. If promising a money-off coupon in exchange for an email address isn’t working, then change it to something else. Perhaps your users are looking for more of a long-term offer, such as reward points every month for spending a certain amount of money. Whatever it is, get to know your audience and then be flexible about what you choose to offer them. An extensive subscriber list is a valuable marketing tool, and it will take time to build up. Be patient and don’t expect it to happen over night.
Put thought into the design of the overlay
How big should it be? What should the headline say and look like? These are important questions to consider when designing an overlay because they will directly impact the effectiveness of the marketing tool. It should look good and be consistent with the rest of your site so that your audience doesn’t mistake it for an outside advertisement.
Put your overlay on high traffic pages
Did I mention that Google Analytics is an incredibly important tool? They have a wonderful option that allows you to run a traffic report for the last 12 months so you can see what pages your users visit the most. Most likely this will be your home page, landing page, and main product pages. A Google Analytics traffic report exported to an Excel spreadsheet might look something like this one from Next Analytics:
Don’t waste an exit overlay on a page that doesn’t generate a lot of traffic. It will be a waste of time for you, and for your consumers. Then use the valuable data you gathered before to determine what types of offers these people are looking for and what they are willing to give up their email address in exchange for.
Know when to activate your overlay
According to KissMetrics, there are 5 good ways to activate an overlay:
- Upon entry
- Upon exit
- After “x” number of page views
- Scroll-activated
- Time-activated
What you don’t want to do is screw up the timing for your overlay and instead of driving an action, you scare away a potential subscriber. Overlays can be very beneficial when used correctly, and very annoying to users and detrimental to your site when used incorrectly. In order to determine what works best for your site and your customers, you will need to test out the above timing options. Analyze your results and go from there! Don’t be afraid to make changes if something isn’t working.
Refresh your offer over time
Optimization is key for online marketing, and it’s no different for exit overlays. Make sure you’re up-to-date on current trends; your overlay should reflect that. Continue to analyze your audience and determine what they’re looking for when they access your site. If you audience isn’t converting anymore, run tests to figure out why and then do something about it. Eventually your first offer is going to get old and need to be refreshed in order to maintain effectiveness, especially if you have people continuously visiting your site (which is the whole purpose, right?) So know your competitors, learn from what they’re doing right (and what they’re doing wrong) and use this knowledge to your benefit (and the benefits of your consumers).
If you follow these important tips, you should have a sizeable subscriber list in no time! This should in turn increase your conversions, and thus improve the success of your business! Have you used an exit overlay before? Did it work for you? Do you know any other tips that might be helpful? Comment in the section below!
About The Author
Jason Hawkins / http://www.themiamiseocompany.com
Jason Hawkins is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Miami SEO Company. He has over ten years of experience in search engine optimization, conversion rate optimization and lead generation. His core responsibilities include identifying ways to increase value of services rendered, training staff on advanced SEO topics, and A/B testing internal processes to consistently improve client return on investment.
