How to Create a Video Popup in WordPress

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth a million—or at least a few binge-watching sessions. In 2025, the average person spends around 17 hours a week watching online videos. That’s right, you’re practically clocking in for a part-time job as a content consumer. And if you think you’re doing too much, Gen Z says, "hold my TikTok," because they’ve practically made a career out of streaming everything under the sun.

So, how do you, as a savvy WordPress user, ride this video wave and keep your audience glued? The answer is video popups. These aren’t your average popups. Done right, adding a video popup to your WordPress site can help demonstrate your offer more dynamically and memorably while keeping visitors on your site longer. But where do you start?  We’ll go over two common ways of creating video popups, touching on the pros and cons of each and also share the best plugin for creating a video popup in WordPress.

What Is a Video Popup, and What Do You Need to Know Before Starting?

A video popup is a dialog box that contains a video a user can watch without leaving your site. It is basically a compact YouTube video player within a WordPress video popup. But unlike a YouTube video embedded into your WordPress site, simply watching isn’t the sole purpose. 

These website popups are used to promote products, make announcements, drive traffic to other pages, and achieve other marketing goals. For example, here’s a modal popup that overlays the existing content, shifting the user's focus to the video and the content of the box. 

Use this template

Also, unlike videos that are fixed into the layout, popups can appear with pre-set conditions. For example, you can have a WordPress video popup on button click or a WordPress video popup on page load. 

To sum up, when you use WP video popups over embedded videos, you get: 

1. Better Performance: Video popups typically only load when triggered. This suggests shorter initial page load times compared to always-visible embedded videos, enhancing overall site speed and performance.
2. Better Engagement Metrics: Popups capture the user's attention more effectively than embedded videos, making it easier to deliver your message. This, in turn, can lead to higher interaction rates and form completions.
3. Customization and Flexibility: Popups can be highly customized to appear at optimal moments and be triggered by specific user behaviors. They can also include additional elements, like countdown timers, that encourage immediate engagement.
4. Mobile Optimization: You can make your WordPress video popup responsive on mobile devices, providing a cleaner and more engaging viewing experience compared to embedded videos that may appear small or clunky on mobile screens.

How to Add a Video Pop-up in WordPress with Claspo Plugin

Getting a WP video popup plugin is the easiest way to integrate professional-grade video popups into your website. In the next section, we’ll cover everything you need to know to create a video popup from scratch so you can see exactly why using a plugin is simpler.

For now, let's focus on the benefits Claspo offers over other video popup plugins. First up, we have versatility. 

If you search “video popup” in the WordPress directory for the hosted version, you’ll notice that all the offers are dedicated video popup plugins for WordPress. All some plugins do is open a YouTube video in a basic popup. If that’s all you need, then it’s probably fine. 

But with the WordPress plugin by Claspo, you can integrate a video player into different popup layouts. Besides a traditional lightbox, you can add a video to a floating box, ensuring more visibility and less disruption to user experience. 

Our video popup plugin for WordPress also features a video gallery and other types of popups. This means you can also promote other messages via popups, getting you more leads than you would with a basic video popup player for WordPress.

Secondly, consider the convenience. Managing multiple popups with different plugins can be confusing and may slow down your WordPress site. With Claspo, you have an all-in-one solution to manage all your popups in one place, so nothing gets missed or overlooked.

Thirdly, analytics and integrations. How do you know if your video popup works well? Where does the information from the form go, and how do prospects become part of the funnel? What’s the point of a popup if it doesn’t lead to action? 

Claspo seamlessly fits into your marketing stack, allowing you to build a lead flow. And with built-in analytics, you can scrutinize the performance of your popups. You can also run split tests to improve performance further.  

How to Install Claspo Plugin to Launch a Video Popup in WordPress

Installing our free WordPress plugin onto your site is super easy: 

1. Download the Claspo popup maker plugin from the WP directory. 
2. Upload the .zip file to your WordPress. Then, go back to your Claspo account and copy the Script ID.
3. Go back to WordPress and paste the ID into the registration window you see on the dashboard.
4. Then, simply check the status of the connection, and you are good to go. 

How to Create a WP Video Popup Using Claspo

With Claspo, you can create popups and other widgets without coding or design skills. Watch our tutorial and read the step-by-step guide on how to make a video pop-up on a website in just minutes.

Step 1

Log in to your Claspo account and click the "New widget" button. You can either create a video pop-up from scratch or, like most of our users, choose a template and adjust it to match your brand’s look and feel.  

Step 2

In the list of use cases, select “Display video” to filter out irrelevant templates. Choose the one you like.

Step 3

Once you have chosen a template, you enter Claspo’s drag-and-drop editor. First, click on the video in your layout and replace the default link with your unique YouTube link. 

You can also upload your own cover by enabling the "Custom Cover" toggle in the sidebar.  

Step 4

Adjust the design and text, and add other components if necessary. In this example, we added a field for a first name and slightly changed the title. 

Step 5

Before going live, we insist you use the preview mode. This is especially important if you’re going to display your WP video popup on mobile devices. You can play with different screen sizes to make sure your design is responsive. 

Step 6

Adjust the display rules so they meet your specific goals. The optimal rules are configured by default, but you can fine-tune them. For example, specify the locations where the popup will be shown. Or specify the UTM parameters to execute particular campaigns. There are plenty of ways to make your popup more relevant to the visitor’s journey. 

Step 7

If your goal is to collect leads, integrating Claspo with your email service provider and CRM is necessary to ensure the campaign works like a clock. You can also integrate third-party analytics tools to track and scrutinize the efficiency of your popup campaigns. 

Step 8

If you’ve already installed our video popup plugin for WordPress, you’re all set to go live. If not, go ahead and do that and launch your video popup. 

How To Create a Popup Video With Custom HTML

If you have the time, patience, and resources, you can code your popup from scratch. While this approach gives you more control, it requires solid design and coding knowledge or a specialist who can do the work for you. Let’s understand the steps needed. 

Step 1. Understand the Basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Writing code for a video popup requires knowledge of the following:

• HTML: Provides the structure for your video popup, including the link or button that triggers the video and the container where the video appears.
• CSS: Handles the styling, making your popup look appealing and positioning it on the screen.
• JavaScript: Controls the popup's behavior—when it opens, closes, and how it interacts with the user. For instance, JavaScript can make sure the video pauses or stops when the popup closes.

Step 2. Prepare Your Video and Design Your Popup

Prepare the video you want to use, whether hosted on your server, YouTube, or Vimeo. You’ll need an embed link or video source URL. 

Step 3. Build the Trigger Element

This could be a button, link, or image the user clicks to open the video popup. It needs an HTML anchor or button element with a simple action to trigger the video display.

Step 4. Create and Style the Popup

Of course, you need the actual popup. You need to write a content for it, pick colors, and design the layout to organically include the video thumbnail. This is where CSS comes in to make the popup look professional, is centered, and can be easily closed by the user.

Step 5. Add Interactivity with JavaScript

JavaScript will make your popup dynamic, handling events like opening, closing, and any special actions (like auto-playing or stopping the video). This step can get a bit complex, especially when considering browser compatibility, mobile responsiveness, and performance.

Step 6. Integration with Marketing Tools

If you want to make the most of your video popup, you need to integrate it with marketing tools such as analytics, CRM software, and email marketing systems. This allows you to track user interactions and capture and nurture leads.

Manual integration often requires more coding, APIs, or scripts to link up with these tools and track data accurately.

Best Practices for Creating Video Popups

Clearly, a WordPress plugin for video popups wins. It removes a lot of lengthy, hard work, allowing you to implement your marketing ideas quickly. Let’s move on to some tips you should keep in mind when creating your video popup in Claspo. 

Choose the Right Video Length

Keeping your video popup concise—ideally 30 to 60 seconds—is essential for grabbing attention without overwhelming visitors. Studies have shown that shorter videos lead to better engagement because viewers’ attention spans are limited. The key is to hook your audience within the first few seconds. Use a strong opening statement, an eye-catching visual, or an intriguing question to draw them in immediately.

Optimize for Mobile Devices

A responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes will help reach a wider audience. We’ve already mentioned how preview mode can help achieve this task. Use it to make sure buttons are easy to tap so that users have a seamless experience. 

Use an Engaging Thumbnail

A visually engaging thumbnail acts as a teaser for your content, prompting users to learn more. It can make a big difference in whether users choose to click on your video popup. You can use text to make the thumbnail intriguing or an eye-catching image to pique interest. Whatever you do, do not go overboard with the amount of text and visuals. 

Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

A strong call to action is key to guiding users on what to do next. Your CTA should be clear and use action-driven language. Make sure the CTA in the video matches the popup content so that the video popup as a whole promotes the same idea and guides the visitor in the right direction. 

Set Appropriate Triggers and Timing

Timing matters when showing video popups. Display them at strategic moments, such as when a visitor scrolls halfway down a page or shows an intent to leave the site. Proper timing ensures that the popup adds value and feels natural instead of interrupting the user experience. The goal is to balance engagement with a positive user experience.

Personalize When Possible

Personalized messages are more likely to resonate, leading to higher interaction and more leads. As already mentioned, use Claspo targeting rules to your advantage. You can also incorporate merge tags to make your communications feel more personal. 

For example, address the visitor by their first name in the success message. This seemingly tiny detail can facilitate an emotional connection between you and your customer. 

Practical UX Tips and Common Mistakes

Avoid Auto-Play with Sound

Auto-playing videos with sound can give users a jump scare and send them running for the “close” button. To keep things friendly, let your videos play without sound by default or give viewers the power to hit play when they're ready. Knowing this, we’ve disabled the auto-play setting by default, but you can enable muted auto-play if it is right. 

Provide Easy Exit Options

Speak of the devil. No matter how user-friendly your display rules are, some people just can’t stand popups. So, make it easy to close the popup. In Claspo, you’ll find different styles and placements for the close button, so you’ll surely find one that works for you. 

Ensure Distinct Clickability Indicators

Note that all our templates have a play button, prompting the user to see that there is a video they can watch. You can remove this button, but honestly, we can’t imagine why someone would need to do that. The video triggers must be clear with recognizable buttons and icons and supported by action-oriented text. So, to strengthen the impact of the play button, add something like “watch the video” to the popup. 

Avoid Disruptive Placement

When it comes to mobile devices, there are not many options. An overlay video popup it is. But on the desktop, you can experiment with floating boxes and multi-step forms. Floating boxes don’t obstruct key content or interfere with user navigation. Using a multi-step form in WordPress you can turn your promotion into bite-sized pieces. 

Ignoring Accessibility

Ensure video popups are accessible with a screen reader, Include closed captions, and use appropriate color contrasts for visually impaired users.

A Video Worth a Thousand Words

And that’s a wrap. We’ve explored the essential steps to creating a video popup from start to finish.

Humans have been using visuals to communicate since the days of cave paintings, so why not harness that same power with your video popups? So now, it’s your turn to bring your ideas to life. 

Sign up for Claspo online popup maker and get our video popup WordPress plugin as part of our free lifetime plan. Enjoy unlimited access to advanced features that help create high-converting popups.