When to show a popup (and how often)

Every Winky campaign has a Show it tab with five decisions: when the popup appears, on which pages, on which devices, for which shoppers and how often. Get these right and the same offer feels like a welcome rather than a nuisance.

Timing: when the popup appears

• Right away. For shoppers who came for the offer, such as visitors from an ad that showed your prize game.
• After 3 seconds. The page has loaded and the shopper has had a moment to see where they are.
• After 10 seconds. They've started looking around. A good default for most stores.
• After 30 seconds. Only shoppers who are clearly browsing see it.
• Halfway down the page. Waits until the shopper has scrolled, so it reaches people who are reading.
• When they're about to leave. Exit intent, explained below.

Exit intent

On a computer, exit intent shows the popup when the cursor heads out through the top of the window, toward the tabs or the address bar. Phones and tablets have no cursor, so there it shows once the shopper has browsed for 30 seconds and read halfway down the page. You can still set an exit intent campaign to computers only, and run a separate timed campaign for phone shoppers if you'd like a different offer there. The exit intent popup page has more on setting it up.

Pages: where it shows

Choose all pages, the home page, product pages, collection pages, the cart page, or pages you choose. Product and collection pages reach shoppers who are already looking at what you sell. The home page reaches first impressions. Be thoughtful with the cart page: a prize there reaches someone who was already about to buy, which can be lovely for loyalty but costs margin on an order you might have had anyway. "Pages I choose" is ideal for a landing page or a single collection.

Devices

Choose phones, tablets and computers, phones and tablets only, or computers only. A phone screen is small, so check the popup on your own phone before publishing and pick a layout that suits it: Middle, Side panel, Corner or Floating. The Bottom bar layout can't hold a game, but works for a simple offer.

Who: targeting by traffic source

Show the popup to everyone, or only to shoppers arriving from ads and links, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or Google. This is how you keep a promise: if an Instagram ad shows your wheel, show the wheel right away to shoppers from Instagram, so they find what they clicked for.

How often

• Once per visit, up to 3 times a week: the balanced default.
• Once a day: for stores people visit often, or during a sale.
• Once a week: for slower buying cycles.
• Only once ever: for a one-off welcome offer.
• On every page they visit: rarely right for a game, better for a short sitewide notice.

Winky also handles repeat winners for you: a returning winner gets their earlier code back instead of playing again.

Recipes for different stores

A fashion or beauty store with lots of browsing

After 10 seconds, on collection and product pages, all devices, once per visit (up to 3 times a week). Codes for 1 hour.

A store with higher-priced products

When they're about to leave, on product pages, all devices, once a week. Codes for 24 hours or 7 days, with a minimum order.

A store running social ads

Right away, for shoppers from Instagram or TikTok, on the pages your ads link to, once a day. The game they saw in the ad is the first thing they see.

A one-product store

Halfway down the page, on the product page, once per visit. Shoppers who read that far are seriously considering it.

A sale weekend

After 3 seconds, all pages, once a day. Codes for 1 hour, to match the sale's urgency.

For what to put on the wheel in each case, see spin to win prize ideas.

Judge it in Winky Analytics

Analytics shows views, plays, clicks, orders and sales for each campaign, read live from your Shopify orders. An order counts when the shopper used the popup's button, a Winky prize code or a Winky link.

• Lots of views, few plays: the popup may be showing too early or on the wrong pages. Try a later trigger.
• Few views: the targeting may be too narrow, for example exit intent set to computers only on a store where most shoppers use phones.
• Plays but few orders: timing is fine; look at prizes, minimum order and code life instead.

Change one setting at a time so you can tell which change helped. New to Winky? Start with adding a spin to win wheel.