30 exit-intent popup examples & ideas for small online businesses

Popups may divide opinions but one thing is for certain: they’re effective.

The immediate popup—those that appear almost as soon as you land on a website—convert at around 1.9%. Meanwhile, the exit-intent popup converts at 8%, more than four-times higher!

When using an exit-intent popup, the cursor of your site visitors is tracked and when it looks like they’re about to leave the site, a popup appears to grab their attention before they leave. Typically these popups offer something compelling—a discount, ebook, free gift, etc.—but as we’ll explore shortly, there are many different ways to approach them.

If you’re not yet using them, consider that Allison Caufield, the Senior Marketing Manager at FiGPiN, told us in a podcast interview that:

“[The popup has been] extraordinarily successful compared to the newsletter sign up at the bottom…in the previous six months we had about 120 or so people sign up for the newsletter link at the bottom. But we’ve had…over 2,000 sign up via the popup, so absolutely more exposure and more signups through that popup.”

Exit-intent popup best practices

Like anything related to marketing, there’s not a best exit intent popup—there are various approaches you can take, and some are more effective than others. Before we look at some real-world examples, here are six considerations to help your popups achieve strong conversion rates:

1. Have a concise message with a clear benefit. Remember that this person is about to leave the site, so you need to grab their attention quickly and require very little effort from them.
2. Ask only for relevant information. As above, you don’t want to ask for too much here, so exclude anything you won’t actually use. That said, if the visitor is already giving their name and email address, it’s worth also asking for a phone number and/or birthday—it adds just a few seconds for them to complete and gives you additional segmentation opportunities, which can pay dividends later.
3. Target the popup. Using the same popup on every page is likely to be much less effective than tailoring the message to the page. For example, a discount might make sense for a homepage, while product pages may highlight some of the benefits of your store to reduce cart abandons; e.g., free shipping, free returns, or introduce other products.
4. Try gamification. Popups don’t have to be static blocks of text and images. The Omnisend Wheel of Fortune is an interactive game that has a sign-up rate of almost 13%!
5. Use social proof, a.k.a reviews. Gaining someone’s trust can be difficult, especially when we see so many adverts every day. That’s why social proof is so powerful: it helps to remove some of the perceived risk by showing your visitors that other people enjoy what you offer.
6. Generate urgency. Urgency and FOMO can help to push your conversions up. For example, instead of just offering a discount, make it clear that it’s for a limited time or has exclusive benefits.

Watch the video below to find out what information to ask for in your popups to build a strong email list:

30 exit-intent popup examples

Now let’s dive into some real-world examples, with some of the best exit-intent popups that Omnisend customers have created. How many of the six recommendations above can you see in these?

1. Artesano

Like most of the best exit popups, this one by Artesano is concise and to the point, doesn’t request too much information from the visitor, and offers a generous 20% discount on the first order. And instead of the button having the usual “Submit” or “Sign up,” it reinforces the offer with an enticing “Get 20% off.”

2. Ecovacs

This popup offers visitors the opportunity to take money off a purchase, which plants the seed of saving money, while also promoting an early bird special. Ecovacs also uses this popup to highlight its warranty and price match guarantee.

3. Harvesto Farming

Harvesto Farming‘s a great example of tailoring content for exit-intent popups, and the large, bold “LEAVING ALREADY?” is the perfect way to grab their attention. Once the popup has that attention, it has a clear and short 10% discount offer.

4. Father’s Factory

Father’s Factory takes a different approach. First, its popup is larger and second, instead of the typical discounts, its offer is to get early access to Holiday Specials and its Black Friday event. It also shows one of its products being used by a child, making it clear to parents why they should sign up.

5. Bakell

Like Harvesto Farming, Bakell uses a large, bold “LEAVING ALREADY?” to grab attention from visitors before they leave with a 10% offer. 

6. In The Vintage Kitchen

There are different exit intent popup strategies you can use, and this is a perfect demonstration by In The Vintage Kitchen of tailoring content to the type of popup. The line “Before you go… thank you for stopping by” only works on an exit-intent popup, and wouldn’t make sense on an immediate popup. It also has a great use of personality, as well as enticing people with reasons to join, and the phone number field allows them to keep in touch via SMS.

7. Array of Beauty

This popup by Array of Beauty utilizes Omnisend’s Wheel of Fortune, which adds a fun and interactive element. Instead of a standard discount that applies to everybody, each visitor has a chance to spin the wheel and receive a specific prize—in this case, a discount between 3% and 20%.

8. Shop Spaces

This popup also uses Wheel of Fortune, replacing the Black Friday theme with Shop Space‘s own color palette and using a more concise headline. 

9. Smartwatch For Less

This popup example from Smartwatch For Less is a great reminder that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There’s nothing in this offer that isn’t used elsewhere, but the image is perfectly on brand and research has found that human faces can significantly increase conversion rates.

10. Social Shop

Social Shop uses this popup to highlight different discounts, depending on the size of an order. Although smaller orders receive an 8% discount, this popup cleverly incentivises visitors to place larger orders for bigger discounts.

11. New Balance

New Balance uses a large exit-intent popup. It has prominent and clear imagery alongside a clear offer of becoming a VIP and receiving a 10% discount. The form also asks for email, name, phone number, gender, and birthday for better personalization and segmentation in future campaigns.

12. Posh Lady Company

This is the first of two examples from Posh Lady Company. This first exit-intent popup offers a 10% discount as well as entry into an “exclusive community.” The CTA also reminds the visitor about the discount, stating “active discount” instead of a more typical “submit.”

13. Posh Lady Company

This second example by Posh Lady Company is a small teaser that appears once a visitor has visited three pages. This indicates the visitor is interested in the brand, and so they see an opportunity to claim a gift. Once they click on it, a Wheel of Fortune appears with a request for an email address and phone number so they can “spin the deal wheel.”

14. Omen Clothing

Omen Clothing‘s exit popup not only offers a 10% discount but also generates FOMO by mentioning subscribers are the first to hear about new releases.

15. Butters & Blacksoap

Butters & Blacksoap‘s exit popup also uses FOMO, but offers a 20% discount.

16. The Gears Clock

The Gears Clock also utilizes FOMO: instead of tempting people to subscribe to be the first to hear news, this popup provides a 20% discount but only for November.

17. Tulip Interiors

Notice the enticing language in this example by Tulip Interiors: “join our VIP club” “the world of luxury living” and “invite only private sales.” In addition, this popup offers an additional 10% discount on top of the existing sales.

18. The Teahouse Santa Fe

This exit intent popup example from The Teahouse Santa Fe uses strong imagery with a clear discount offer.

19. Wayre

Wayre keeps its exit popup simple: appearing on its cart checkout pages to entice potential buyers who are about to leave, it offers an additional $10 off. 

20. Haydawn

Haydawn‘s exit popup is different from the other examples as it doesn’t offer a discount. Instead, it’s offering free support and advice for growing a business. This shows a deep understanding of the audience and their desires.

21. Bounce and Bella

Bounce and Bella‘s image leave no doubt about who it caters for, and 50% off treats is a compelling offer for dog owners.

22. Balkan Bred

Balkan Bred adopts FOMO in this popup, promising an exclusive Black Friday discount—but delivered on the day. It’s clear, quick to submit, and strengthened by a bold image.

23. Homeseer

24. Morbid Mates

25. Oli & Tess

26. Atomic Defense

27. Cuisine Solutions

28. Steps to Literacy

29. Balardi

30. Amberlights

The main benefits of exit-intent popups 

Exit-intent popups can be hugely effective elements of a marketing strategy, directly leading to more subscribers and, in turn, customers. 

Omnisend completed a four-week experiment with Organic Aromas to build an audience list, and with just one hour’s work, created various popups that went on to capture 661 leads—an increase of 150% compared to Organic Aromas’ previous conversions.

Here are the four main benefits of exit-intent popups:

1. Build your list. Compared to immediate popups, exit-intent popups not only have a higher conversion rate, but they also give your list a boost by acquiring site visitors who were about to leave, having seen and ignored the immediate popup.
2. Reduce cart abandons. One of the most common reasons shoppers abandon their carts is the cost of shipping. Exit-intent popups help to overcome this by offering a discount or free shipping when signing up.
3. Increase sales. By offering an incentive—such as a discount or free shipping—you increase the likelihood that site visitors become paying customers when they were otherwise about to leave.
4. Reduce distractions. Although popups can be hugely effective, it’s possible to overdo them and distract your site visitors. As exit-intent popups only show to people about to leave, they don’t appear for people who are actively browsing your site or completing a purchase. 

How to set popups in Omnisend

Omnisend offers a variety of popups, which you have full control over: not only when they show but also what pages they appear and don’t appear on. And setting them up couldn’t be easier, so you can quickly build your own version by taking inspiration from the best exit popup examples above.

The first step is to create a popup form by selecting Forms in your account menu and then clicking the “Create form” button. From there, you can select an existing popup template:

Next you can fine-tune the layout and design of the popup so it appears exactly how you want it.

In our updated Form Builder, you can:

• Add new input fields
• Change images and headlines
• Enable opt-ins for email and SMS
• Enable GDPR and TCPA consent checkboxes
• Change the messages visitors see when they subscribe
• Add additional property fields, including custom properties

And, of course, you can change your success message and see how it looks in the preview:

Once you’re happy with the design and content, you can review and tweak the settings:

• Add a tag to place your subscribers into different segments for targeted messaging
• Enable double-opt in
• Change the timing of when the popup form appears for your visitors (e.g. immediately, after a few seconds, or set it to be an exit intent popup)
• Target to choose who will see your form
• Limit how often the form appears

Omnisend’s popups also have the ability to include a discount code. Just set it up in your store’s admin and add it to the popup—each contact will receive an identical code, with a seamless user experience because they won’t need to leave your website to access it.

Conclusion

Incorporating an exit-intent popup on your site is a highly effective method for growing your contact list and boosting your sales and revenue. A particular benefit is that they can be used in tandem with other popups, catching some of the visitors that ignored your other sign-up forms.

They’re highly customizable and, as this article has shown, there’s no shortage of different ways to use them. The best exit-intent popups are direct with clear benefits, so try to incorporate your personality, branding, and an appealing offer.
Omnisend includes exit-intent popups on every plan, so you can try them out for free today.