How to add a popup on Shopify? – A step-by-step guide

Learning how to add a popup on Shopify can be your solution to a stagnant email list and a conversion rate.

Because most of the website visitors vanish before you even get the chance to show them what you’ve got.

One way to make them stay is showing popups at the right time to capture their attention and make them sign up for your email list, welcome them to the brand, prevent cart abandonment, and more.

In this blog, we’ll dive into how to create popups in Shopify store and the benefits of doing it.

Why creating popups is important on Shopify?

Shopify popup offers a dynamic way to collect email addresses, present offers, and reduce cart abandonment. When executed well, pop-ups can significantly enhance the shopping experience and drive conversions.

Here are more reasons why adding popups to Shopify is important.

• Capture leads and grow email lists
  Pop-ups like Shopify newsletter popups are the best when it comes to capturing email addresses and growing your subscriber list.
  By showing a simple sign-up form and an incentive as your pop-up, you can significantly increase your chances of turning visitors into subscribers.
• Reducing cart abandonment
  Shopify add-to-cart popups can act as a last-minute nudge to visitors leaving without completing their purchase.
  Offering a small discount or reminding them of what they’re about to leave behind in the popups can encourage them to proceed to checkout and prevent cart abandonment well before it happens.
• Increase conversions
  A well-timed popup on Shopify can nudge visitors towards making a purchase by offering limited-time discounts or showcasing exclusive deals. This direct approach can effectively increase conversion rates on your site.
• Promote content
  For stores that also focus on content marketing, Shopify popups can be a way to promote new blog posts, tutorials, or product demonstrations, helping to drive traffic to valuable content and engage customers further.

How to add a popup on Shopify?

You can add a popup on Shopify in two ways:

1. Using the built-in Shopify Forms app
2. Using a third-party app

1. Adding pop-ups using the built-in Shopify Forms app

Step 1: Installing Shopify Forms

From your Shopify Admin, go to Apps -> ‘Forms’. Install the app to Shopify your store.

Step 2: Creating a popup on Shopify

Select whether to create a popup form or an inline form and enter a name for the form.

Step 3: Customizing the pop-up template

Customizing a Shopify pop-up template involves choosing how you want to display it, writing the teaser content, styling the popup’s look, and CTAs.

• Choosing the display type:
  • Floating pop ups are less intrusive. They appear in a smaller size and are often displayed at the corner or bottom of the page.
  • Overlay popups cover the entire webpage or a significant portion of it with a noticeable background dimming.

• Editing the teaser content
  A teaser in pop-up form is a small preview that appears on a website before the full pop-up is displayed.
  In Shopify, you can edit the content, position and title of it.
• Crafting the content of the Shopify popup message, like the title, body of the pop-up, and the fields.
  You can also add new fields to the sign-up form.
  Add the CTA and optional disclaimer message to the pop-up.

• Crafting the post-submission message
  In this section, you can edit the message that will be shown after someone successfully submits the Shopify newsletter popup.

Step 4: Setting the pop-up trigger

In this section, you can set up when and where your Shopify email sign-up should be displayed.

As a trigger, you can set it to display a Shopify form or pop-up when a visitor views a certain number of pages on your Shopify store after a certain time delay.

Another option is available to trigger the Shopify popup when the visitor is about to leave the page.

Step 5: Automations and workflows

The settings allow you to integrate your Shopify popup with an existing marketing automation in Shopify. You can connect to an existing automation like a Welcome email or create a new one.

Step 6: Go live

Click save, and your Shopify pop-up will go live.

You can see that Shopify Forms can serve basic needs when it comes to creating and adding popups on Shopify. Third-party apps provide a broader set of features tailored for more nuanced marketing strategies.

2. Adding popups on Shopify using Retainful

Retainful is a Shopify email marketing app that allows you to automate your email campaigns with easy-to-setup email automation and make it targeted with advanced segmentation. Along with that, it also offers smart pop-ups/sign-up forms to grow your email list effortlessly.

Unlike the built-in Shopify Forms app, Retainful’s popups aren’t limited to one type. And you can customize the pop-up template easily with a drag-and-drop editor.

These popups are triggered automatically based on visitor behavior and can be targeted to a specific group of customers.

Here are the steps to add popups on Shopify using Retainful.

Step 1: Choose the type of pop-up

Login to your Retainful dashboard. Go to Sign-up Forms and click on ‘Create a Form’.

Retainful offers 4 types of Shopify popups:

• Exit-intent popup
• Add-to-cart popup
• Welcome popup
• A generic popup

In this case, let’s create an exit-intent pop-up.

Step 2: Choose the popup template

Retainful has many pre-designed pop-up templates to choose from, or you can create your own from scratch.

Step 3: Customize the popup template

Retainful’s drag-and-drop editor offers a range of customizable blocks such as text, images, CTAs, and more. With these you can edit your Shopify exit-intet popup as you like easily.

Step 4: Configuring the settings

With the popup settings, you can set the following:

• Devices: Options to enable the popup for Desktop and Mobile.
• Teaser: A toggle to enable or disable the teaser of the popup.
• Edit template: A button to edit the popup template.

Step 5: Choosing the audience

You can target the Shopify exit-intent popup to a specific group of customers that satisfies a condition.

You can add an existing list or create a new empty list from ‘List and Segments’ for new users using Retainful’s segmentation feature.

Step 6: Setting the trigger and targeting

Set the trigger to choose when to show the popup.

In this case, let’s choose ‘Exit intent’.

You can also select multiple triggers to make your pop-ups more tuned to the visitor’s behavior.

To choose who should see or shouldn’t see the popup. For example, you can show the Shopify exit-intent popup once a visitor spends a specified time on a page.

Step 7: Enable the pop-up

After confirming your settings, enable the pop-up. Your pop-up will be set live.

Why choose a third-party app like Retainful to add popups on Shopify store?

Feature	Built-in Shopify Forms App	Third-Party App
Variety of Pop-ups	Limited to basic pop-up forms for sign-ups and simple notifications.	Wide range, including exit-intent pop-ups, timed pop-ups, scroll-triggered pop-ups, and more.
Customization	Basic customization options, allowing for changes in text and colors.	Extensive customization options, including the ability to adjust layouts, add images, create branded designs, and even incorporate animations or interactive elements.
Targeting	Basic targeting based on simple criteria like page or site-wide displays.	Advanced targeting options, including visitor behavior, demographic information, device type, and customer segmentation, allowing for highly personalized experiences.

Wrapping up!!

Adding popups to your Shopify store can significantly enhance your marketing strategy, helping you capture leads, promote offers, and engage with your audience at key moments in their shopping journey.

The key to creating a successful pop-up lies in balancing attention-grabbing messages with a non-intrusive user experience on your store.

With the right approach, pop-ups can become a tool to convert casual visitors to customers and drive more conversions.