Subscription Pop Ups Are a Bad Idea

December 26, 2008 by Evan

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This piece puts a thumb on what annoys me so much about the Aweber subscription pop-ups/lightboxes that so many people in the marketing blog space seem to be using these days.

So annoying:

No-Permission Pop-up Subscriptions Are A Bad Idea:

Thanks (or not so much) in part to some meta bloggers, pop-ups have crept their way into the blogosphere. I am seeing more pop-ups on blogs, especially in the marketing, tech and social media niches.  Pop-ups are a dated tactic that were thrown out by many design and usability conscious marketers years ago for good reason - they interrupt a positive user experience on a website and are not permission based.

Go read the whole piece (especially if you’re following the “make money online” bloggers and putting, or considering putting, these on your pages).

In my opinion, let people sign up as they please. If your content is good enough, people will gladly sign up for your newsletter. You don’t have to throw a lightbox in front of people to have them be aware of subscription options.

I’m not making any “rules” here, Jim. I’m just pointing out some common courtesy for readers and how playing the long term game is often more beneficial than gunning for short term rewards.

Just sayin’

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Viewing 9 Comments

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    A site will be always popular with its content and not for it's pop up..
    A brilliant reader will always know this..
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    Racheal Ray's Diet Blog is so irritating that I would never buy her product if the alternative was to cut my own fat with an razor blade and suck it out with a shop-vac. Pop-up Blogers should be ashamed of themselves, more especially the people advertising self help.
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    I just don't like the pop ups at all, I used to love a site for it's content and all, but ever since it started showing up these pop ups I have removed it from my list.

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    I have to agree that those pop ups are a total pain in my rear. It's definitely my "preference" as well :)
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    > I’m not making any “rules” here, Jim. I’m just pointing out some common courtesy for readers

    Sounds like you're defining "common courtesy" based on your preferences.

    I think the "rule" should be there are no universal rules.

    If your visitors are taking action with a given technique, whether it be an opt-in pop, # of ads, etc., then it's working for your site.

    And, to me, building a list is the essence of the long term game.
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    "Sounds like you're defining "common courtesy" based on your preferences."

    That's the joy of having a blog and being able to express opinions.

    If building a list with a pop up is more important than not annoying people for your particular site, go for it. As I've said before... it's all about audience.

    But "buliding a list" of what? I'd rather have "a list" of people that have actively shown interest through subscribing by RSS/email etc rather than having to pop people on every visit (or every 4th visit or however Aweber allows you to configure that) to build out a list.

    Lists with better quality trump lists with more numbers any day.

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    > That's the joy of having a blog and being able to express opinions.

    I agree. Just pointing out that you bothers to say you weren't making any rules, but that is exactly what you're doing.

    I don't get annoyed at a pop-up prompting me to opt-in to a list at a site where I am interested in the content.

    And I haven't seen data that spells out pop-up opt-ins being lower quality than other opt-ins.
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    Not sure how you'd collect data on something like this since, again, it's all about individual blog audiences.

    I'm just speaking for people, like myself, that remember the terrible days of pop-ups and immediately associate pops with spam, douchebaggery, etc.

    And btw, the whole "you're making rules" thing is really annoying. Voicing an opinion or making a statement about one's preference for using a platform like blogging, twitter, etc is not a "rule."
 

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