How to Use Exit Pop-Ups Before they go, give your website visitors a reason to stay--or to come back later--with a well-timed exit pop-up.

Entry pop-ups are annoying. Online consumers hate arriving at a website, only to be immediately bombarded by an in-your-face message intended to distract them into taking the action the website owner wants. The pop-up message is almost never relevant, and the timing is so inappropriate that it can annoy visitors into leaving. So are pop-ups dead? Not exactly. There's a pop-up which, if relevant and timed right, can be an effective and nonintrusive marketing tool: exit pop-ups.

Since they're displayed as visitors leave the site, exit pop-ups don't distract your potential customers from completing their mission: conducting research, placing an order or some other action. At the end of their visit, they're more receptive to seeing your marketing message. You can use an exit pop-up to do one of two things:

1. Invite them to take additional action. You can create a pop-up to invite your website visitors to subscribe to your e-zine, download a special report, request a free quote or shop now to receive a discount. These may encourage your site visitors to order before they go, or at least give you their names and e-mail addresses so you may communicate with them in the future.