How to Create an SMS Pop-up that Really Works

SMS pop-ups for collecting phone numbers are powerful tools for lead generation. They tap into the consumers who prefer receiving concise, direct promotional texts over emails. SMS pop-ups are ideal if you want to align with your audience's preferences, enhance communication, and guide them through the sales funnel.

In this article, we'll explore the benefits of SMS pop-ups, highlight successful implementations by various brands, and offer practical tips for maximizing their conversion potential.

What is an SMS pop-up?

An SMS pop-up is a digital marketing tool that appears on a website or mobile app, prompting visitors to share their phone numbers. This lead capture mechanism allows businesses to build a database of potential customers who prefer to receive SMS communications. 

These pop-ups typically offer incentives such as discounts, exclusive content, or updates to encourage users to subscribe. Once collected, the phone numbers can be used for SMS marketing campaigns, delivering promotional messages, alerts, or other relevant information directly to the subscribers' mobile devices.

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Benefits of SMS Pop-ups

First and foremost, SMS pop-ups serve as the foundational step in launching an SMS marketing strategy, which comes packed with numerous advantages:

• High engagement rates. According to research done by Klaviyo, click rates vary depending on the industry but can go as high as 30%.
• Immediate communication. You can expect better visibility for your messages and faster responses/actions. Texts arrive regardless of WiFi or cellular data availability. As long as there's a signal, your message will be delivered.
• Less spammy. An average person receives over 120 emails daily, most of which are irrelevant to them. On the other hand, they receive fewer than 70 SMS messages per day and consider most of them important. Thus, your marketing messages delivered via SMS are more likely to reach recipients and capture their attention effectively.

But that's not all — there are more benefits of using SMS pop-ups:

• Effortless creation: With Claspo, anyone can set up an SMS popup in minutes — no design or coding skills needed. If you're looking to collect phone numbers, you can start immediately. Our user-friendly editor and wide range of templates ensure you can launch your campaign swiftly without any steep learning curve.
• Cost efficiency: Implementing an SMS pop-up on your website is a cost-effective strategy compared to alternatives like creating a dedicated landing page or running an ad campaign specifically for collecting phone numbers. This makes it an ideal option for small to medium-sized businesses operating on tight budgets. You can even deploy it on your site at no cost with Claspo’s free lifetime plan.
• Intelligent functionality: Tailor your SMS pop-ups to visitor behavior with our smart display rules. For instance, entice users about to exit your site with a discount in exchange for their phone number or offer a free consultation to users who linger on your pricing page. This adaptability enhances engagement and boosts your lead-generation efforts.

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Examples of Successful Pop-up SMS Campaigns

To truly understand the power and potential of SMS pop-ups, let's examine some real-world examples. These cases show how different brands have effectively implemented SMS pop-ups to engage their audience and drive conversions.

1. Craft Sports NA

Craft Sports provides an exemplary SMS pop-up that does everything by the book. At first glance, you can see the value you get from subscribing, what exactly you agree to, and an easy way to back out (the “X” button to cancel the pop-up). This pop-up was displayed only to users who had already joined Craft’s mailing list. 

This strategy has several key benefits:

• Email subscribers are already acquainted with your brand and may have previously made purchases, making them more inclined to share their phone numbers, particularly for a discount. 
• You can engage with your audience across multiple channels (email and SMS), capitalizing on the trend of omnichannel marketing, which is known to enhance key business performance metrics. 
• Lastly, you deliver personalized offers, boosting conversion rates.

With Claspo, you can emulate the successful approach Craft Sports has used. Our UTM targeting feature enables you to display pop-ups exclusively to users who arrive from a specific traffic source (such as an email) or even a particular campaign. Here’s a straightforward example for better understanding:

• You launch an email campaign targeting individuals who have made between 3-5 purchases in the past six months.
• When setting up your SMS pop-up, specify the UTM tag of this campaign in the display rules.
• Your pop-up might display a message like: "Thank you for your loyalty! Here’s a special discount just for you," appearing only to those who clicked through from that specific email campaign.

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2. SolaGarden

SolaGarden has an interesting tactic of double-dipping on their pop-up. First, they ask their customers for an email in exchange for a 10% discount. But wait! There is more. The user is then given the choice to upgrade their discount to 15% by leaving their phone number. This excellent one-two punch by SolaGarden allows them to kill two birds with one stone. While the customer always has the choice of leaving without providing their phone — the value for doing so is clearly communicated, and the CTA buttons offer clear action-oriented statements.

In conjunction, this makes for an excellent pop-up for gathering both emails and phone numbers from customers.

3. Ally Fashion

Ally Fashion used SMS pop-ups to promote their newsletter, which included a nice $10 bonus. The widget displayed one of the products, offered clear steps to receive value, and explained the consequences of your consent.

One thing we want to focus on is the pop-up asking for the customer’s name. It might seem like a tiny gesture, but even mentioning your lead’s name in your promo materials can increase your engagement. For example, doing so increases open rates by a whopping 86%.

With Claspo, you can customize your popups to include any input fields required to gather essential lead information. Thanks to our seamless integration with a wide array of marketing technology tools, all collected data is automatically transferred to your chosen platform. This streamlines the process of building customer profiles and personalizing your SMS campaigns.

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4.  The Man Company

This Indian male grooming business offers users the opportunity to join its mailing list and loyalty program to receive free shipping and cashback. The company does a good job addressing customer needs by promising not to spam its users and allowing quick login via Whatsapp, India’s most popular messaging app.

Additionally, The Man Company's SMS pop-up only appears after visitors have scrolled more than halfway down the page, indicating the use of a scroll or time-based trigger for the pop-up display. This setup allows visitors to browse products and encounter several prominent 'Add to Cart' buttons before being prompted to subscribe.

This strategy exemplifies how lead conversion can seamlessly complement sales efforts. Visitors are first encouraged to make a purchase with the ease of a single click. Only after engaging with the product offerings are they presented with a discount offer in exchange for their phone number, nudging them toward a decision.

You can replicate this effective tactic using Claspo. Our default settings (we’ll discuss them in the “Best Practices” section) include a time-based trigger that delays the pop-up display for 20 seconds. Still, you can customize this timing based on the average page visit duration or opt for a scroll trigger to suit your engagement strategy better.

5. 8&9

This Miami-based premium streetwear brand asks for an email to sign up for a newsletter with an optional phone number opt-in. This gives users the freedom to decide how they want to be notified, since not everyone checks their email regularly. 

Claspo enhances this flexibility by allowing you to control which input fields are required and which are optional. Equally crucial, you can specify which country codes your SMS pop-up should accept, tailoring it to the regions where your business operates. This approach not only respects user preferences but also helps you get quality leads.

Best Practices for Creating SMS Pop-ups

Check out these practices for creating SMS pop-ups that expand your customer list and can be used for further engagement.

1. Offer Value 

To effectively gather phone numbers, clearly communicating the benefits to your visitors is crucial. Why should they share their contact information? What's in it for them? As seen in previous examples, many brands successfully offer a one-time discount in exchange for a phone number. This is a strategic move for two reasons. 

First, discounts, deals, and coupons consistently rank as top motivators for sharing contact information, according to recent surveys. Second, once a consumer has received a discount, they're more likely to revisit your site to use it, boosting your chances of securing a sale.

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However, if a subscription discount isn't a sustainable option for your strategy, consider other potent motivators highlighted in the same survey:

• Free Samples: Offering free samples lets potential customers try your products and assess their quality before making a purchase, enhancing the likelihood of a future sale.
• Exclusive Access: The allure of exclusivity cannot be underestimated. Using terms like "exclusive" taps into consumers' fear of missing out (FOMO). An SMS popup that grants access to products or perks not available to the general public can be incredibly effective. This strategy not only intrigues but also builds a sense of special status among subscribers.

2. Enhance User Experience

User experience on your website can impact  lead conversions.Therefore, it's crucial to pay attention to how your SMS popup interacts with your website visitors, not just the offer being promoted. Unfortunately, many site owners or marketers fall short due to a lack of knowledge or limited functionality of their builder, leading to the misconception that popups increase bounce rates more than conversions.

At Claspo, we're changing the game with our intelligent and flexible display rules designed to optimize user experience — many of which are preset. User surveys have found that the most aggravating issues are:

• Popups that seem to bombard them from every corner.
• Popups that appear the instant they enter the site.
• Repetitive popups that show on every visit.

With Claspo’s preset display rules, you can effortlessly sidestep these irritants:

• A preset interval of 3 minutes between popups ensures they don’t overlap or bombard the user.
• A 20-second delay on the SMS popup allows visitors to settle into your site and understand what you offer before being prompted to share their personal information.
• Pop-ups automatically cease for users who have already shared their phone numbers, avoiding repetitive messaging.

While these settings provide a robust foundation, you can customize the display rules to align with your specific strategies and insights gained from our A/B testing. This approach secures a more pleasant user experience and strengthens the potential for conversions right from the start.

3. Create an Urgency

There's a significant difference between a visitor knowing they can snag a discount anytime and one who sees the offer ticking down within a strict deadline. The latter scenario provides a compelling reason to act immediately. So, adding a countdown timer to your SMS pop-up can dramatically elevate your conversion rates. Pop-ups featuring a timer double the conversion success, tapping into consumers' fear of missing out (FOMO).

Claspo offers ready-made templates with timers and allows for easy integration of timers into any SMS popup via the editor.

However, overusing FOMO campaigns can risk your reputation and profits. Claspo addresses this with a clever twist — a personalized or relative timer.

Rather than a generic countdown, the personalized timer counts down for each individual user who sees it. If a user doesn’t act before the timer hits zero, the pop-up vanishes for them but continues for others who still have time. This allows your time-sensitive offer to remain active on your site, continuously attracting as many leads as possible without appearing overused.

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4. Start a Giveaway

Create a harmless gambling experience for your customers. When they leave their phone number, they can gain an entry in a giveaway with one or several valuable prizes.

There's nothing better than the tingling of anticipation. Participants eager to win will regularly check your text messages for updates on the giveaway and, naturally, to discover if they’ve won. These campaigns offer a perfect opportunity to introduce participants to your brand and showcase your products or services. A thoughtful gesture (such as sending consolation prizes to those who don't win) can leave a positive impression.

Giveaways have always been an effective lead generation strategy. They're easy to organize, don't require much from the client, and offer a chance to win a huge prize without even trying.

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While a giveaway might be more of a special event than a continuous lead generation tactic, it can run effectively alongside your standard SMS pop-ups. Claspo can help you manage this seamlessly. For instance, you can set the giveaway pop-up so that it does not appear to those who have already subscribed through another pop-up on your site. This targeted approach ensures that the offer reaches only those not yet in your contact database, maintaining strategic focus and enhancing the user experience.

5. Employ Gamification

Using gamification positively impacts a range of business outcomes, including but not limited to sales, engagement, and customer retention. Wheels of fortune, games of skill, loyalty programs, etc., are all viable choices depending on your strategy.

Make sure to include desirable and valuable prizes for the phone number. You can place free shipping, free items, or different discounts (a percentage or a set amount of dollars).

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Note: at the time of writing, this template is still under development, but we expect it to become available soon.

Key Takeaways on SMS Pop-ups

SMS pop-ups are a formidable asset for modern marketers focused on amplifying website lead generation. With this article's inspiring examples and practical tips, you're poised to significantly enhance your strategy.

Why wait? Start crafting engaging, compelling SMS pop-ups for your website today with Claspo. Boasting a user-friendly interface and diverse templates, Claspo makes it simple to design and deploy pop-ups that truly convert. Take advantage of our free lifetime plan and discover the impact Claspo can have on your business outcomes.