Popups, Exit Consoles, the GBU

Hey people,

I just started promoting a fairly new program. And when I tested the banner, I got an exit console, then another, and another, and finally, a fourth.

Do you think this sort of thing is overkill?

Does it work having that many exit consoles (even to sites that have nothing to do with your niche)?

Do you think we should respect a surfers desire to leave our sites after the first exit console and stop hitting them?

Do you remember Bear Lovin' from years ago when it was impossible to get out of the pop-up and exit console hell, the only thing you could do was restart your computer? Isn't this bad for business?

Cheers
Dzinerbear

I agree. Don't surfers frantically try to close all consoles and pop-ups without looking at them? That's what I do. Am I giving surfers to much credit for having a brain in their head?

Yes way too many. Surfers do try to close them without looking at them. Something to consider when choosing a sponsor who does this. I have found that many times you loose your afflilate tracking code on these consoles. I guess the sponsor feels that once the surfer has rejected your directed link, the traffic is now his and he'll do what he pleases with it.

Another thing to consider is that most major isp's plus independent software companies offer popup blockers. Depending upon how the sponsor (site) triggers the popup can cause the system to either slow down or to lock up. Mostly where the popups are trigger by script which has a loop checking to see if the window has been opened or not.

Just bad business to me! I think the days of popups are coming (slowly) to an end.

There is an article i wrote a few months ago about this very same topic somewhere on the forums lol

In it I detailed some stats i noticed where for each additional console you add you cut the chances of a sale down.

You might want to do a quick forum search for it :)

Regards,

Lee

Well to me the answer is simple, if it ticks me off it aint going on my site... exit consoles & pop ups annoy me no end, so why inflict it on my visitors?

And as has been said, many have pop up blockers so its a waste, hell most of the time I don't even notice there were pop ups cause my pop up blocker knocks em off... so to me its a wasted effort.

just my thoughts
Ian

It annoys me, as it annoys my surfers. I communicate with my surfers often and when they complain of someone having too many popups and exit consoles and I agree, I drop that sponsor.

for larger companies, who dont give a fuck about members, those popups pay for your $40 per join paychecks.

for smaller guys, who actually try to retain their customers, as a means of paying $40 per join, the popup is an annoyance and is counter productive.

the worst part about this is that the larger companies can afford to hire tricky programmers who embed popups into java scripts that get around pop-up killers, kinda using spyware technology for their own purposes.

cheers,
Luke

I think there's something to be said for the value of gaining the trust and loyalty of one's surfers.

Does the money generated from the small ratio of conversions off of 2+ level popups and consoles outweigh loyalty earned from surfers who have come to trust the banners and links on your site?

Too much importance is given to the sole dimension of signups, ignoring all of the other dimensions through which money can be earned simply because those dimensions do it indirectly, less overtly, and over time.

Say you get one sale off of the 1000 people you exposed to that 3rd popup.

But how many of those other 999 will be less likely to click on one of your ads or trust one of your outbound links in the future?

I agree with Brian on this. Once I see a site and find that it has all those pop ups, pop unders, or exit consoles, I will not go there again.

I was thinking about adding them to jocksnow, but when I did I had 14 emails asking me why they where poping up and how much they hated them. I'm all for making a buck, but just not something that I would do on my main site. Maybe on some TGP stuff or AEN. But no more then 1-2 pop ups at the most.

I think what BDBionic and andymike said is quite true, also I think it is what sets most gay sites apart from their hetro counterparts. I think we tend to lean more towards earning surfer loyalty and want retention of members/customers than our hetro friends do.

Maybe its just part of being queer, but I believe we look more at a long term solution than for a quick buck.

just my pennies worth
Ian

You know it seems like the standard reply from sponsors/aen owners that whatever the questionable or objectionable item is what pays for those signup or bonuses. This is sure and simple poppycock. We are not talking about the first or maybe second popup. We are talking about the third or more popup. I have found that companies which employ such popup hell usually remove the referring webmasters tracking id after the first or second popup. The webmaster, in turns, receives nothing other than pissed off customer traffic. It would be a sad state of affairs for any company, adult or mainstream, that depends on the poor conversion ratios of third plus popup traffic to pay its referral webmasters. Reality is that whatever cash that is made from such tactics is what pays for that sponsor's expensive fleet of sports cars, homes, and other luxuries.