Program a window

You can program a window to pop up whenever a new visitor leaves your site without having accomplished a specific goal -- such as filling out your opt-in form. The cookie would alert you if they've already opted in, so you wouldn't bother existing subscribers.Smart pop-ups can also appear offering a customer who's just made a purchase another, complementary product. Or you can use them to present a survey asking customers who didn't complete a purchase why they decided not to buy.

Programming these "smart" pop-ups takes a little work, but it can be very worthwhile.Since pop-ups appear unexpectedly and are generally small, it is crucial that your salescopy immediately communicates a strong benefit and a call to action. Have a brief headline explaining the benefit and, at most, one image (if it serves a purpose). You don't need to take up space with any unnecessary distractions.

Also, make sure the pop-up is related to the site, or even the page the person is on when it appears. If it isn't clear, make it clear right away. For instance, if you have a gardening site and you decide to show everyone who buys your pruning shears a pop-up featuring gardening gloves, make the relationship between the two products clear in your headline: "If you're tackling a pruning job, these heavy-duty gloves will protect your hands!"

Part of the power of pop-ups is the level of control you can have over them once you learn a little bit about how they work. You can set their position on the page, control when they appear, and even determine who sees them and who doesn't. In fact, like Jermaine, you can even make them pop up long after visitors have left your site!For example, when you use an opt-in pop-up window, you may want it to show up in a prominent place on the screen. A "help" pop-up, on the other hand, shouldn't cover the area of the original window that it refers to. Plus, since pop-ups are smaller than a normal browser window, you can save some space and set them up so the toolbar, address window, and other elements of the browser don't appear. All your visitors will see is a thin gray border and whatever HTML content you've included.