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10 Abandoned Cart Exit Intent Popup Offers That Actually Convert

November 5, 2019

Cart abandonment emails, retargeting ads, and push notifications may form the basis of your customer recovery strategy. But what about the humble cart abandonment exit intent popup?

If you read our Customer Recovery Series Vol.1: How to Capture Ecommerce Leads and Drive Conversion, then you’ll know that exit intent popups form an essential part of any customer recovery campaign – overcoming purchase barriers to avoid cart abandonment and convert first-time and returning customers. 

However, many eCommerce sellers are overlooking the potential of these powerful popups, and those that aren’t are failing to utilize them to their full extent. The average conversion rate for all popups is 3.09%, yet the top 10% performing pop-ups average 9.28%, with some seeing rates as high as 50.2%.

This week, we’re here to help your exit intent popups reach their full potential in increasing your eCommerce conversion rates, with real-life examples of high-performing popups. But first, let’s quickly recap on what an exit intent popup is. 

What is an Exit Intent Popup

A popup is an overlay that appears over the website a shopper is browsing but, unlike traditional delayed popups that appear after a set amount of time, exit intent popups appear as the shopper is about to leave the website. 

Exit intent popups work by tracking a user’s mouse movements and presenting a popup when the cursor moves beyond the upper page boundary towards the back button, address bar, or page exit. This disrupts the would-be abandoner’s intention to leave the website and engages them in a call to action. 

While you may have seen exit intent popups used across the internet, they work exceptionally well on eCommerce websites. This is because they can be used to:

• Overcome purchasing barriers such as price, delivery options, or payment methods to encourage shoppers through the checkout. 
• Gather contact details in return for discounts, newsletters, and gifts, to later use in customer recovery campaign. 
• Distract the user from their intention to leave your website by using a call to action that  encourages them to stay.  
• Target all shoppers or just those with items in their basket. 

What Makes a Good Exit Intent Popup

There are six essential ingredients for well-performing popups that contribute to your customer recovery goals. These are:

Timing

As the famous quote goes: timing is everything – and popups are no exception. It’s crucial to pinpoint the right time between a customer being engaged in your products and a customer leaving your website. Pop up too soon, and your call to action isn’t relevant to the customer’s journey; pop up too late, and your customer has already left the building. 

Relevance

An exit intent popup aims to engage the would-be abandoner, and to do this the content needs to be relevant. Popping up an offer on snowboarding gear for someone who’s browsing your swimwear category is unlikely to encourage the shopper to stay. Instead, you popup should be engaging to everyone who visits your website. 

Clarity

Humans now have a shorter attention span than goldfish – meaning that large chunks of imageless text aren’t suitable for an exit intent popup. You want your messaging to be clear, simple, and to the point, to encourage users back to your website – not far, far away. 

Psychology

The human decision-making process is driven by certain psychological influencers. A great exit intent popup will call upon one of these influencers to drive action, for example, encouraging reciprocity by offering something of value. 

Call to action

It’s also important that your exit intent popup tells your user what to do next – whether that’s entering their email address, returning to their shopping cart, or entering a discount code. 

Split testing

And finally, don’t forget the importance of running A/B split tests on your exit intent campaigns to find the right messaging and content for your audience. 

Exit Intent Popup Examples

So let’s a closer look at these six exit intent must-haves in action, with some real-life examples. 

#1 – The Don’t Leave Popup

(Source: ReferralCandy)

This popup stares cart abandonment directly in the face by asking the shopper not to leave, and it can be really effective. How often have you mindlessly ended up on Facebook in the middle of doing something else?

The ‘don’t leave’ popup works by disrupting a mindless exit and asking he shopper if they really want to leave. This particular example also utilizes loss aversion by highlighting that the shopper will be leaving empty-handed, and reciprocity by offering 20% off in return for an email address. 

Other examples of the ‘don’t leave’ popup include:

• Don’t miss out on these items.
• Don’t lose your shopping cart.
• Baby, please don’t go!

#2 – The Newsletter Offer

(Source: ReferralCandy)

The newsletter popup is common throughout the internet, especially on ecommerce stores. It is the least sale-sy of the exit intent popups, making it work well for shoppers at all stages of their buying journey. 

This newsletter popup by Draper James gets straight to the point and appeals to the human need to avoid loss by offering first-chance access to the latest collections and offers in exchange for an email address and zip code. These details can then be used to send cart abandonment emails and gather enriched contact details. 

Other examples of the newsletter popup include:

• Sign up to our newsletter for expert health and beauty tips.
• Be the first to know about our latest products by entering your email address here.
• Want to get the latest fashion news to your inbox? Sign up for our monthly newsletter. 

#3 – The “Keep up with Updates” Offer

The updates popup, also known as the FOMO popup, encapsulates the fear of missing out phenomenon by offering would-be abandoners the chance to receive the latest updates straight to their inbox.

This popup is similar to the newsletter popup – using loss aversion to encourage email input for future use. While this may not immediately recover a potential abandonment, these details can be used to run effective browse and cart abandonment email campaigns. 

Other examples of the updates popup:

• Don’t miss out on our latest sales – sign up for updates. 
• Be the first to know about new products by entering your email here. 
• Miss out on the last sale? Be better prepared by signing up to our alerts. 

#4 – The Promotion Popup

(Source: BigCommerce)

The promotion popup works by highlighting current promotions that a shopper may have overlooked, to encourage them to stay and continue shopping. 

This particular popup doesn’t ask for an email address, and there’s a specific reason why. Entering an email is akin to keeping an item on hold in your store – the shopper knows that they can continue leaving, and you’ll be back in touch. Removing the email field implies that if the shopper leaves your website, they leave behind your sale and product-wide savings for good – leading many to stay. 

This may sound like a risky tactic, but, by using a real-time, site-wide email capture tool such as CartStack, you can capture contact details from other places on your website, such as live chat and the checkout page. 

Other ways to implement a promotions popup include:

• Before you go – did you see our sale?
• Psst – don’t miss out on our 25% off bonanza happening now. 
• Click back for exclusive access to our sale preview. 

#5 – The Freebie

(Source: G-Star)

Who doesn’t love a freebie? The freebie popup appeals to everyone’s love of free things and encourages shoppers to reciprocate by returning to your website or entering their details.

In this example, the free gift is a welcome gift in return for an email address, but you can also use these exit intent popups to increase basket size, win referrals, and cross-sell items. For example:

• Receive a free gift wrap upgrade with any purchase over $50.
• Buy one, get one free on all sale items. 
• Receive a free mystery gift when you refer a friend to our website. 

#6 – Contests and Sweepstakes

Contests and sweepstakes are perhaps the most exciting popups out there. Offering unsuspecting abandoners an opportunity to win it big with prizes, discounts, and vouchers, it’s a quick win for engaging shoppers and obtaining email addresses. 

The prize can also be used to increase basket size with a minimum spend discount, get social media coverage with a free gift, and even secure a return visit with a “better luck next time!”

Other common ways to run popup contents and sweepstakes include:

• Enter our monthly prize draw to win a crate of craft beers!
• Follow us on social media to be in with a chance of winning your basket for free. 
• Fancy your luck? Enter your email address to take part in our weekly giveaway.  

#7 – The Free Shipping Offer

(Source: Everlane)

Free and fast shipping are now the top purchase motivators online, making free shipping popups especially effective. 

The offer of free and fast shipping targets several psychological triggers at once, including increasing perceived value, reducing the risk of products arriving too late, and creating the fear of losing out on an offer. 

Other ways to use shipping in your exit intent popups, include:

• Receive free shipping when you spend more than $20.
• Did you know that our members receive free shipping? Sign up (for free) here. 
• Complete your order now to receive your items by Friday for free. 

#8 – The Discount Code Nudge

The nudge popup is another example of an exit intent strategy that omits the email field. This example nudges the most engaged shoppers, those with items in their basket, to complete their order by offering a 25% off discount code. 

This is extremely effective at preventing cart abandonment because it doesn’t involve the shopper leaving your website to retrieve an email code, which could lead to distraction. Instead, it keeps shoppers on your website, making the purchasing journey seamless.

Other ways to work the nudge popup include:

• Psst – enter SAVE5NOW to receive $5 off of your entire order!
• Before you go – enter FREEDEL to receive free delivery for today only. 
• Enter the magic password SECRET10 to receive 10% off your total spend – be quick, it expires in 1 hour. 

#9 – The Cross-Sell

(Source: BigCommerce)

We’ve already touched upon cross-selling in some of the above examples, but this pop up is more direct in its approach. The cross-sell popup interrupts abandonment by presenting the shopper with a selection of products they may be interested in. 

Not only does the cross-sell popup disrupt an exit, but it also exposes shoppers to different products that they may not have come across during their time on your website. Think of it as a last chance to get your top sellers in front of your audience. 

This particular example uses new products in its popup, but you can showcase anything from trending products, best sellers, and seasonal items. 

#10 – The Alternative Payment and Financing Nudge

And, coming in at number 10 is the alternative payment and financing nudge. Another email field-less popup, this works by combating the three of the top ten reasons for cart abandonment: I didn’t trust the site with my payment details, there weren’t enough payment methods, and my payment method was declined. 

Alternative payment and financing popups alert shoppers to the different payment methods available, as an alternative to abandonment. 

In this example, the popup tells shoppers that they can pay later with PayPal credit, but other ways you can use this nudge popup include:

• Buy now, pay later with Sezzle!
• Reduce the cost of your basket with a repayment plan.
• Continue shopping to receive interest-free financing on your entire basket. 

Final Thoughts

And that’s the last of our exit intent popup examples. As demonstrated, these are an excellent way to make shoppers reconsider their abandonment and either head back to their shopping cart, or enter their email address for you to use in your abandonment email campaigns. 

Want to experience the benefits of popups for free? Sign up for a free CartStack trial to see how many email addresses and conversions exit intent popups can win you. 

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