Bad pop-up form VS Good pop-up form

Reader

In the previous email, I told you that one of the biggest levers in your email marketing is going to be your pop-up form.

The reason is simple...

The more people join your email list, the more money you can make.

But the average industry signup rate is only 2-3%.

That's not good...

Especially for a brand constantly driving traffic to its website through ads or content.

Imagine you've got 100k website visitors and only 2% subscribe.

That's 2,000 subscribers.

But with a pop-up form that converts at 8-10% that's 8-10k subscribers every month.

So how does a good pop up form and a bad pop-up form looks like?

First let me show you an example of a bad pop-up form:

Why is this a bad pop-up form?

It asks for multiple pieces of information on the first page.
The offer is unclear. Nobody cares about hearing from you without getting something in return.
It's too easy to click off.

In 2026, that's not very effective anymore.

It's boring. People are used to it.

The moment they see it, they click away.

A good pop-up form puts people into a commitment bias that makes them feel like they've earned the discount.

It gamifies the process.

Graza has an exceptional example of what a great pop-up form looks like...

Let me show you:

Here's why this is a good pop-up form:

t tells people they've already got the discount. They just need to claim it by answering a few simple questions.
It puts people into a commitment bias. The moment they start the quiz, they're more likely to finish and enter their email.
It covers the entire screen on both phone and desktop, so people clearly see the offer.
The offer is clear.

Using these methods, my clients' pop-ups stay well above 5-8%.

And when we have a good offer and a big wave of traffic, this is what happens:

22.43% subscription rate.

16.5% the entire month.

So Reader avoid the generic pop-up and use what's working now.

Quiz-based pop-ups are showing again and again that they're one of the best formats.

Are there other formats?

For sure.

You can gamify your pop-up however you want.

But always test and see what's working.

Now you know how to build a pop-up that can convert 8-10% of your website visitors.

But there's another big lever hiding inside it...

Your offer.

10% off all the time won't cut through.

You've gotta keep testing.

Here are some offers to test:

Play around with them until you see which one your subscribers respond to best.

That's where the real game begins.

Until next time.

Elton

Can I get your email address real quick?