Forcing the Issue: The Modal Window Opt-In Method
Monday, March 22nd, 2010Professional email marketers know the ugly truth: 9.5 out of 10 website visitors aren’t actively looking to opt-in to your email list. We need to sell it. A simple “Email Newsletter Sign-Up” call out isn’t enough any more. We have to put on our ‘Billy Mays’ hats and sell it to users. We can give them discounts to sign up, or promise them the world with a opt-in. Or, we can just be more aggressive in getting the option in front of them.
When laying out website strategy, we preach that you need to have the opt-in box in the UI of a website – on every page. That might not be enough anymore. A lot of sites are being more aggressive and pushing a modal window with an opt-in – on entry, mid-visit, or exit – to get you to sign up for those great emails you’re missing out on. In this post I want to highlight this modal window opt-in technique so you can test this out and see if it increases new email sign-ups and/or engagement.
What is a Modal Window?
“In user interface design, a modal window is a child window that requires the user to interact with it before they can return to operating the parent application, thus preventing the workflow on the application main window. Modal windows are often called heavy windows or modal dialogs because the window is often used to display a dialog box.
Modal windows are commonly used in GUI systems to command user awareness and to display emergency states. In the web, they are often used to show images in detail”
(Wikipedia)
Facebook has been a huge driver of the modal window on the web, forcing you to make a decision – yes or no – before moving forward. Developers may refer to the modal window as a LightBox, ColorBox, FaceBox, etc… commonly implemented with jQuery.
Will Users Revolt?
The honest answer is no, as long as you give a clear “No Thanks” or “Close” dialog. They will choose yes or no to signing up and continue on their way.
A website that I feel does a great job of Forcing the Issue is Bleacher Report. They are serious about getting you to sign up for each team’s personalized email list. Take these examples below, if you don’t sign up for their email list, it wasn’t because you couldn’t find it:

Bleacher Report UI Header

Bleacher Report UI Sidebar

Modal Window Opt-In
Signing up for an email list on a website can be very disruptive to their original purpose of visiting your site. If they are taken to a thank you page and then asked to check their inbox for confirmation, you may traded one goal with another. The modal window opt-in can make things very quick and easy for them, allowing your user to quickly get back to the business of browsing, and hopefully converting.
Also adding pervasive call outs on every page of your website as Bleacher Report has done in their UI will only increase opportunities for new subscribers
Test it out and see if you can grow your email list!
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eROI participated in a few panels and attended almost all of the sessions collectively. The saying at the New Orleans Jazz Fest is that “it’s not what you saw, it’s what you missed to see it”, which is exactly how I felt this year. Rather than go into deep analysis of each session, I compiled a few of my favorite soundbites, quotes and tidbits from 4 of my favorite sessions from the event:
Apparently I opted in to the “small_test” list. I am assuming they also think I may speak Spanish.





