Stop treating customers back on your website like strangers

Your website shouldn’t forget your best customers

Imagine being a regular at a local clothing store.

You've been going there for years, the staff know you by name, and the owner's so good at relationships that he remembers what you've bought, your style, and even the names of your kids.

But today, you walk in and the owner acts as if he's never seen you before.

"Hi! Welcome. Can I help you with something?"

How weird would that be?

That would feel ridiculously awkward in person. Online, it happens constantly.

Your email platform or CRM may know that someone subscribed last month, upgraded their plan last week, or has been a customer for three years. But if your website popup can’t use that information, every visit effectively starts from scratch.

Popups aren't the problem. It’s what they ask for.

Website popups are pretty polarizing.

Some marketers hate them. Others swear by their effectiveness.

But I wouldn't pass blame on popups as a technology per se...

The problem is that these popups are almost always configured to just do one thing: give a (presumably anonymous) visitor a good reason to become a subscriber or lead.

The mistake is making that its only job.

Once someone subscribes or buys, what they need from you next does also:

A smart popup doesn’t need to know everything about a visitor. It just needs enough reliable information to avoid an obviously wrong ask.

Begin with the person’s relationship to your brand:

1. Are they an unidentified visitor?
2. Are they already a subscriber / lead?
3. Are they a customer?
4. Have they already accepted the offer you’re about to show?

Your job is to curate who should see what, and when. Whatever you're using for popups should be aware enough to at least discrimenate between strangers and contacts, and use that context to deliver a more appropriate next step.

The data exists, but your website probably isn't using it.

Your email platform or CRM is often the "single source of truth". It holds tags, fields, segments, and purchase information. Your website is where many of those same people return to learn, compare, buy, or get help - and it's where many of the emails you write point people to.

The gap is the disconnect between the two.

A cookie that says “this browser closed the popup already” can make your website a little less annoying to people. But this dismissal cookie can’t reliably tell you that the visitor:

• Subscribed through a different form a month ago.
• Clicked through from an email today.
• Bought a particular product.
• Is tagged as an active customer.
• Has already taken the action this popup promotes.

And “returning visitor” isn’t the same as “known subscriber.” Someone can visit ten times without joining your list, while an existing customer can arrive in a new browser and appear unknown.

The goal isn’t to guess.

It’s to use the reliable customer data you already have when the visitor can be identified—and keep a useful ordinary version when they can’t.

How RightMessage fixes this.

RightMessage connects your existing website with a supported email platform or CRM with the addition of a small bit of JavaScript to your website's code.

Once a visitor is identified through a form submission or because they clicked on a link in a marketing email, RightMessage can use the data you keep on their record. That context can then change the popup from an introductory ask to the next appropriate action.

For example:

• An unknown visitor sees your normal newsletter signup.
• A known subscriber sees an invitation to an upcoming workshop.
• A customer who bought your entry-level product can see an upgrade offer.
• A high value VIP customer can get asked to leave a review or refer others.

This does two things:

First, it generates more downstream results. People largely want to be told what to do next. Rather than pestering someone to join the email list they're already on, you can instead offer them a credit or something if they leave a review.

Second, this provides a user experience bump for your brand. It doesn't look good when you send an email campaign to people that links to your website, and then everyone who clicks over gets hammered with popups asking for their email address (you just emailed them!)

Our advice? Start simple.

You don’t need to map every stage of your customer lifecycle before improving one popup.

Start here:

Stop asking known newsletter subscribers to join your newsletter.

And when you're ready to layer more on, replace the popup's content with an obvious next step:

• A resource that will make them more ready-to-buy.
• A flash offer or promotion to turn a lead into a new customer.
• Help using something customers already bought.
• A referral or testimonial invitation for someone who's successful with your product.
• Nothing, when another interruption wouldn’t help.

Then tack on UTM parameters onto the button links you're using and start measuring results.

If you're anything like us at RightMessage, 20% of our site traffic is made up from existing leads or customers. That's a lot of people. And those are high quality people who took the time already to give us their email address or buy something.

Same traffic. Better next steps.

Getting more from your website traffic doesn’t always mean more leads.

Sometimes it means recognizing that the person has already subscribed. Sometimes it means helping a customer get more from what they bought. Sometimes it means making a relevant offer. And sometimes it means leaving them alone.

That’s why we at RightMessage try to get all of our customers to set up personalized popups. We're not trying to convince you to woo your site visitors with flashy popups that shake and sparkle. Instead, just give people what makes sense.

Start a RightMessage trial and turn your popups into the right next step. Or see how RightMessage uses customer context across your existing website.