WooCommerce Popup: How to Create [+Top Plugin]

WooCommerce popups are the best way to convert window shoppers into loyal customers. 

Imagine a strategic conversation starter, a well-timed nudge that tempts your customers to finish their purchase: that’s what a popup does for your WooCommerce store. When they are crafted with intention, they can be your secret weapon for engagement and conversion. 

This comprehensive guide will walk you through the creation process and explore the best WooCommerce popup plugins that turn a casual browse into a fulfilling purchase.

What is a WooCommerce popup?

A WooCommerce popup is a temporary window that appears on your website designed to capture a visitor’s attention. These pop ups can contain various messages, promotions, or calls to action (CTAs) aimed at converting visitors into customers or subscribers. WooCommerce itself has some built-in notification features, but popups offer a more customizable and targeted approach.

Why do you need WooCommerce popups?

Here are 5 compelling reasons why you might want to incorporate WooCommerce popups into your online store:

Boost Sales and Conversions: Well-crafted popups can grab attention and deliver targeted promotions or discounts at just the right moment, enticing visitors to complete their purchases or explore other relevant products.

Reduce Cart Abandonment:  Let’s face it, shopping carts get abandoned all the time. Strategic popups can remind visitors about forgotten items, offer incentives to complete their purchase or provide support to address any hesitation, and convert abandoned carts into sales. 

Grow Your Email List: Popups are a powerful tool for building your email subscriber base.  By offering valuable content like exclusive discounts or early access to new products in exchange for signing up, you can nurture leads and convert them into loyal customers.

Customer segmentation: This lets you create target popups based on user behavior or browsing history. For instance, offer abandoned cart discounts to those who leave items behind or showcase relevant product recommendations.

Promote Special Offers and Events:  WooCommerce popups are fantastic for creating a sense of urgency and excitement. You can use them to announce flash sales, highlight seasonal promotions, or showcase upcoming product launches, driving targeted traffic toward specific campaigns.

Gather Customer Feedback and Insights: Popups can be surprisingly useful for gathering customer feedback.  Simple surveys or polls integrated into popups can provide valuable insights into user preferences, buying habits, or areas for improvement in your store.

How to create a WooCommerce popup using Retainful?

While there is a default way to create WooCommerce popups without any plugin using editing theme files, it is not recommended because you would need coding knowledge. This can be tricky and lead to unexpected issues if you’re not familiar with the code.  Plugins offer a much simpler solution.  With a plugin, you get a user-friendly interface, drag-and-drop functionality, and pre-designed templates. This saves you time, avoids potential theme file problems, and makes creating high-converting popups a breeze.

Installing Retainful Plugin & activating it

Go to your WordPress dashboard, search for the ‘Retainful’ plugin, and install it. To connect the WooCommerce store with Retainful, copy the API from the Retainful Dashboard and enter it in the WordPress Dashboard under the ‘Connection’ tab.

Creating WooCommerce popup

Step 1: Log in to Retainful Dashboard -> sign-up forms -> create form

Step 2: Assign a descriptive name and purpose to your popup form. Select the desired popup type from the available options. Click “Create Form” to initiate the design process.

Step 3: Choose between “Start from Scratch” for complete creative control or leverage a pre-designed popup to craft popups that flawlessly align with your brand identity.

Step 4: The drag-and-drop editor with the popup form elements appears. You can just drag and drop the elements into your popup and customize it to your liking.

Step 5: Ensure optimal user experience across all devices by previewing your popup on desktops, tablets, and mobile phones. This step allows you to refine the layout and guarantee a seamless visual experience regardless of screen size.

Step 6: Click “Save and Close” to finalize your popup design. Define automation triggers to determine when and how your popups appear. Select the target email list for specific campaigns or choose to display the popup to your entire audience.

Step 7: Click “Edit Triggers” to delve into the advanced targeting options available within Retainful. Customize popup visibility based on a variety of criteria, including:

• Frequency of visits
• Geographic location
• New vs. returning visitors
• Browsing language
• Specific URLs within your store
• Time spent on individual pages and overall site duration

Step 8: Finally, select who gets to see your popup. This can be based on frequency, geographic location, new or returning visitors, language, URL specific, time spent on pages and time spent on site.

Step 9: Click “Save” to finalize your targeting settings. Finally, “Enable” the popup to activate its display on your WooCommerce store.  

Best WooCommerce popup plugins

1. Retainful

Retainful is a WooCommerce popup plugin that has a user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop editor to craft stunning popups for your WooCommerce store.  Seamless integration ensures a smooth workflow.  Go beyond basic popups with exit-intent triggers to capture abandoning visitors, or use add-to-cart popups to boost conversions.  Welcome new customers and personalize the experience with ease using welcome popups.  

Its powerful features include trigger-based popups for targeted messaging and dynamic coupons to incentivize purchases.  Retainful is the best WooCommerce popup plugin because it also has automated email marketing which is a complete solution to nurture leads, recover abandoned carts, and drive repeat business.

Key Features

• User-friendly interface
• Drag and drop editor
• Easy customization 
• Trigger-based popup automation 
• Welcome popup
• Add to cart popup
• Exit intent popup
• Dynamic coupons
• Seamless WooCommerce integration 

2. Sumo

Sumo is a WooCommerce popup plugin that simplifies building high-converting popups for your WooCommerce store.  Choose from a variety of opt-in forms to capture leads and segment your audience.  Not sure which one works best? A/B testing lets you experiment and optimize your popups for maximum impact.  

Sumo’s List Builder empowers you to trigger popups based on specific visitor actions – clicks, time spent browsing, or exit intent – ensuring you deliver the right message at the right time

Key Features

• Opt-in Forms
• A/B Testing
• List Builder
• Segmentation
• Trigger-based popups

Pros

• Free plan available
• Targeted popups

Cons

• Limited features in the free plan
• Free plan popups display Sumo branding

3. OptinMonster

OptinMonster lets you design high-performing popups for your WooCommerce store. Its drag-and-drop builder allows complete creative control over text, visuals, fonts, and color schemes. This WooCommerce popup plugin enhances engagement with multimedia elements like photos, videos, and countdown timers. 

The plugin helps create target campaigns strategically based on visitor behavior and demographics, maximizing relevance.  Furthermore, OptinMonster offers precise control over popup placement and timing, ensuring optimal impact.

Key Features

• Drag-and-Drop Builder
• Complete Customization
• Multimedia Integration
• Behavior-Based Targeting

Pros

• Highly customizable
• Advanced targeting options

Cons

• Advanced functionalities requiring a paid subscription.
• Pricing can be a barrier for smaller businesses

4. Thrive Leads

Thrive Leads streamlines WooCommerce popup creation with its drag-and-drop builder and library of conversion-focused templates. With this WooCommerce popup plugin, you can craft lightbox popups that capture attention without disrupting browsing.  

Thrive Leads goes beyond design, offering advanced targeting options to deliver the right message to the right audience. With actionable reports, you can gain valuable insights and optimize your popups. Plus, seamless integration with popular email marketing platforms lets you nurture leads effortlessly.  

Key Features

• Drag-and-Drop Builder
• Popup Templates
• Lightbox Popups
• Actionable Insights & Reporting

Pros

• Email marketing integration
• Advanced Targeting

Cons

• One-time purchase fee
• Fewer integrations compared to some competitors

Related Reading: Learn How The Add To Cart Popup can help you Boost WooCommerce Sales.

5. Popup Builder

Popup Builder lets you craft unique popups perfectly aligned with your brand aesthetic.  This WooCommerce popup plugin also lets you build targeted email marketing campaigns directly within the plugin, nurturing leads seamlessly.  

Ensuring a flawless user experience, Popup Builder guarantees your popups are responsive and mobile-friendly.  The plugin also helps boost engagement further by integrating social media sharing buttons, encouraging product buzz. You can also embed videos directly from popular platforms or upload your own for a truly dynamic popup experience.

Key Features

• Highly Customizable Design
• Integrated Email Marketing
• Social Sharing Integration
• Video Popups

Pros

• Extensive design options
• Mobile-responsive popups

Cons

• Limited free version
• Targeting capabilities might be simpler compared to more advanced popup plugins

6. Poptin

Craft high-converting popups for your WooCommerce store with Poptin’s user-friendly drag-and-drop editor. This popup plugin for WooCommerce allows you to go beyond standard popups—explore lightbox popups for a focused message or social popups to encourage sharing.  

Poptin offers versatility, with top and bottom bars to subtly grab attention. If you’re feeling adventurous, gamified popups add a fun element to boost engagement and increase conversions. 

Key Features

• Drag-and-Drop Editor
• Popup Variety
• Additional Display Options
• Gamified Popups

Pros

• Variety of popup options
• Free plan available

Cons

• Limited free plan functionality
• Free plan popups display Poptin branding

7. Elementor Pro

Elementor Pro offers a seamless experience by choosing where your popups appear – on every page or triggered by specific actions like clicks, scrolls, or exit intent.  You can personalize your approach by setting popups to display based on visitor behavior, like devices used or pages viewed. Also, this WooCommerce popup plugin lets you craft custom forms within each popup, catering to diverse needs like lead generation, email signups, or event registrations.

Key Features

• Flexible Display Control
• Advanced Targeting Options
• Customizable Forms

Pros 

• Seamless integration
• Provides tools to manage and analyze lead capture data effectively.

Cons

• This functionality is only available with the paid Elementor Pro plugin.
• Steeper learning curve. 

Related Reading: Learn How to Setup Exit Popups for Abandoned Cart in WooCommerce?

8. Popup Maker

Craft dynamic popups for your WooCommerce store with Popup Maker.  Go beyond text and integrate engaging video popups to grab attention.  You can personalize the experience further with custom images that seamlessly align with your brand. 

This WooCommerce popup plugin lets you leverage cookies for strategic targeting, ensuring the right message reaches the right audience at the right time.  Utilize the intuitive visual theme builder to design popups that flawlessly match your store’s aesthetic.  

Key Features

• Multimedia Popups
• Cookie-Based Targeting
• Visual Theme Builder
• Device Targeting

Pros

• Engaging popups
• User-friendly design

Cons

• Limited free plan functionality
• Limited in-depth analytics or complex lead capture forms compared to some competitors.

9. Yith WooCommerce popup plugin

YITH WooCommerce Popup is a user-friendly plugin that offers a library of pre-designed templates to jumpstart your workflow. You can craft the perfect message by adding relevant content – social media links, a contact form, or a simple announcement.  YITH helps with precise control over popup placement, ensuring optimal visibility on your store’s pages.  

This popup plugin for WooCommerce allows scheduling popups for specific times or displaying them continuously. For multilingual stores, YITH seamlessly integrates with WPML for effortless translation, ensuring your popups resonate with a global audience.

Key Features

• Pre-Designed Templates
• Content Flexibility
• Flexible Scheduling
• WPML Integration

Pros

• Precise Placement Control
• Multilingual support

Cons

• Limited free version
• It might not offer advanced targeting options available in some competitor plugins.

10. Ninja Popups

Ninja Popups is a WooCommerce popup plugin that lets you create high-converting popups in a flash with over 70 pre-designed templates and a library of eye-catching animation effects.  Ninja Popups’ anti-adblocker technology ensures your message reaches its target audience.  It lets you deliver targeted campaigns with trigger-based popups that appear based on user behavior.  Beyond design, Ninja Popups lets you lead capture forms and campaign management tools. 

Key Features

• Drag-and-Drop Builder
• Extensive Template Library
• Animation Effects
• Anti-Adblocker Technology

Pros

• Trigger-Based Popups
• Lead Capture & Campaign Management

Cons

• While user-friendly, managing complex campaigns might require some learning.
• May not offer the most in-depth analytics available in some competitor plugins.

Wrapping up

This comprehensive guide has explored the strategic implementation of WooCommerce popups to optimize the customer journey. By harnessing the power of targeted messaging and conversion-oriented design, businesses can effectively capture attention, nurture leads, and ultimately drive sales. 

Remember, a well-crafted popup can act as a gentle nudge, prompting visitors to complete purchases and establish long-term customer relationships.

Read next:

10 Best WordPress Exit Intent Popup Plugins to Boost Conversions