How to Avoid Negative Impacts from Annoying Pop-ups on the Website: Сlaspo Tips and Tools

Do website popups really annoy customers? 73% of users have a negative attitude toward popups. So why do marketers continue to use them everywhere? The answer is obvious; popups work! The average conversion rate of top-performing popups is 28%. 

Perception of annoying pop ups

Indeed, poorly placed popups do annoy and repel people and sometimes interfere with the perception of content so much that users leave the site without completing the intended action. Big brands are not an exception.

6 Mistakes That Make Popups Annoying

From ill-timed interruptions to invasive designs, many mistakes can turn popups into sources of frustration for your audience. Avoiding these mistakes can help create popups that provide value, engage users, and enhance the website experience.

1. Timing

When users arrive on a website, they seek information, solutions, or entertainment. If an annoying popup on a website disrupts their experience right from the start, it hinders their ability to engage with the content they came for. Users need time to assess the website's value and determine if it aligns with their needs and interests. Popping up too early can feel intrusive and pushy. 

2. Placement

Another common mistake is placing popups in intrusive locations, such as covering the entire screen or obstructing critical content. When popups block the main content of a webpage or cover the entire screen, users are forced to interact with the popup before they can access the information they came for. This can be especially frustrating on mobile devices with limited-screen real estate. 

3. Overuse of Popups

Another significant annoyance factor is the overuse of popups. Bombarding users with multiple Annoying popups on a single page or showing popups on every page visit can lead to a poor user experience. Be strategic in your use of popups. Limit the number of popups displayed on a page. Ensure that each popup serves a specific, valuable purpose. 

4. Lack of Targeting and Personalization

Not all users have the same needs or interests. Showing generic annoying popups to every visitor can lead to a disconnect between the user and the content of the popup. For example, showing a discount code for a product the user has already purchased is irrelevant and frustrating. Consider browsing history, location, referral source, and previous interactions with your site to deliver valuable content.

5. Difficult-to-Find Close Buttons

Finding the close button on a popup is an often overlooked but significant annoyance factor. Users should have the option to dismiss a popup if they are not interested. If the close button is too small, hidden, or difficult to locate, it frustrates users who want to continue browsing. Use standard close button icons (such as an "X" or "Close" text) in a visible location, like the upper right-hand corner of the popup. Make sure the button is large enough to tap on mobile devices.

6. Neglecting Mobile Responsiveness

With a significant portion of internet traffic coming from mobile devices, neglecting mobile responsiveness in your popup design can be a major annoyance for users. Annoying popups on websites that are not optimized for mobile devices can lead to usability issues, such as overlapping content or tiny text that's difficult to read. This results in a poor user experience on smartphones and tablets.

How Brands Make Annoying Popups 

We suggest you look at them in a real example. We want to draw your attention to the mistakes that brands most often make when placing annoying popups on their sites and also tell you how to fix them.

Consider the website of the New Balance brand. When opening the site, two widgets pop up simultaneously and block the screen: A floating bar with a request to accept the Cookie Policy and a Floating box with a warning about the difference in products and prices for different countries overlapping each other.

New Balance annoying popups example

But that's not all! Right after closing both widgets, two new widgets appear on the site: a Floating bar below with an offer to subscribe to news, and a Cookie Policy popup above, which darkens the screen and covers the lower Floating bar.

New Balance annoying popups example

This way of displaying popups on a site is not quite correct and is often perceived as disrespectful by users, resulting in a negative user experience with the brand.

So to use popups successfully, don't overload your site with them and target them carefully. Having so many popups on the website, we would recommend using functions that allow you to display widgets without overlapping each other and without being annoying. In addition, when showing a lot of popups, it is worth setting a prioritization to prevent the annoyance of users, increase conversion, and gain an even more loyal audience.

6 Tips for Using Popups Effectively

So, how to avoid this and make popups on your website useful, interesting, and not annoying? 

1. Design the interface in the same style

Popups on your website should look harmonious, have the colors of your brand book, and match the site's design.

2. Do not overload popups with information

An overabundance of information, even useful, may be why the client leaves the site, and the conversion reduces. Focus on the most important points and do not ask the visitor to perform several targeted actions at once. Popups with 1-2 fields are the most converting, an additional field can reduce conversion by about 3 times.

3. Determine a good time to show

It is better to show the popup as carefully as possible so that the user does not want to run away immediately. When the window appears even before the user has time to read the title on the site, it is likely to be annoying.

And if we are talking about data collection forms, it should be taken into account that at the beginning of the session, the visitor may not yet be aware of whether he is interested in the site's services.

4. Adjust targeting correctly 

Targeted audience and display frequency need to be carefully considered, especially if you use several widgets on the same site.

Exclude registration and checkout pages from the subscription form. The user already agreed to take the desired action, don't make him change his mind.

5. Don't abuse popups

What is the main complaint about popups? 45% of users claim that they are everywhere. This problem is exacerbated if you constantly bombard users with popups. Another 19.2% of customers are annoyed when they see the same popup every time they visit your site. Many sites still use annoying popups that prevent any interaction and anything from being done on the site until the client reacts to the overlay.

When you want to show several floating widgets on your site, you should endeavor to avoid the following situations when:

• Two or more widgets are displayed simultaneously and overlap each other fully or partially.
• Two or more widgets are displayed simultaneously or too frequently, thereby annoying the site visitors.

We implemented features allowing you to show your widgets without overlapping and causing annoyance. Let's talk about them in more detail later.

Take Care of Your Users With Innovative Claspo Features 

So, what is Overlapping Protection and Annoyance Safeguard, and how can you implement these features with Claspo popups?

Annoyance Safeguard

When you want to show many floating widgets on your site, their displaying conditions may result in a situation when many widgets are shown one right after the other. This upsets the visitors and can cause annoyance.

Annoyance Safeguard (ASg) allows you to decrease the level of annoyance and establish silent intervals between displaying widgets. It determines when to show the next floating widget if:

• Another floating widget is currently displayed.
• Another floating widget was displayed recently.

If you have, for example, many current promotions or products on your site, from now on with new functions, you will be able to present them simultaneously and as safely as possible for conversion.

Overlapping Protection

Overlapping protection sets display rules for when more than one widget should be displayed on a page and prevents Floating box and Floating bar widgets from overlapping.

The following rules apply to floating widgets:

• display several floating widgets on the page at the same time.
• not shown if it overlaps a widget already displayed on the page.

If the display rules of two or more widgets are similar and may overlap, the display priority is higher for the widget that satisfies the display conditions on pages. Meanwhile, if the display rules of two or more widgets are the same and their display priority is the same, then the display widget is chosen randomly.

Advantages of these features:

1. Flexible setting silent intervals

Our Annoyance Safeguard (ASg) feature allows you to set time intervals between displaying floating widgets. This reduces the frequency of popups and the annoyance that multiple display widgets can cause.

You can choose the interval in minutes or seconds, as well as set the number of page views before the widget reappears. This gives you complete control over how and when the widgets will appear on the site. 

2. Multiple options for setting up the rules

We provide you with three display rules to choose from, depending on your needs. You can decide whether the widget should be displayed sequentially using a silent interval, or not displayed during the current session when another widget is already on the screen.

3. Improved user experience

With our protection feature, you can be sure that your widgets are displayed without any unwanted overlap. This creates a harmonious and aesthetically pleasing appearance for your site. It allows you to make popups comfortable and understandable, preventing annoyance and providing a positive user experience.

If you are already our user or you are interested in trying new functions, take a closer look at the technical step-by-step instructions for setting up widgets here. 

We hope now you can save your customers from annoyance and make your popups on the site even more effective, increasing conversion and sales.