Many times, online shopping ends with a full basket and no sale. Online sellers lose around $3 billion annually due to cart abandonment. This is one of the biggest frustrations for online sellers. A shopper finds something they like, adds it to their cart, forgets it, and leaves. Just like that, the sale slips away.
With nearly 70% of shopping carts left behind, it’s clear that having a way to bring visitors back is important. This is where an exit intent popup can quietly make a real difference. They have a noteworthy impact on visitor retention and can save up to 15% of potential customers from abandoning carts or leaving your e-store.
These exit popups are quick and effective and can help recover potential sales before they’re lost. In this article, you’ll find practical ideas, examples, and tips to use exit intent popups in a way that works without feeling pushy or forced.
What’s an Exit Popup?
An exit popup is a small message that appears on your website when someone intends to leave without buying something. This can occur when the visitor moves the mouse to close the browser tab, presses the back button, or switches to another tab. Such hovering or movements can trigger a popup that offers something like a discount, free shipping, or just a friendly reminder about their abandoned cart.
Unlike entry popups that appear the moment someone lands on a page, exit popups wait until the buyer is about to leave. This makes them feel less intrusive. They give shoppers a reason to stay and reconsider before they go elsewhere or abandon their shopping altogether.
Why Exit Popups Work So Well to Catch Leaving Shoppers
Many people visit online stores without having a clear intention to make a purchase. They might be comparing products, checking prices, or waiting for a better offer. So, it’s not surprising that many visitors leave without making a purchase.
But the good part is that shoppers are often just one small step away from completing the order. A gentle nudge right at the point of exit can make the difference between a missed sale and a completed one.
That’s what makes exit intent popups so effective. They work by compelling visitors with a hard-to-ignore offer just as they’re about to exit the page, turning 7% of visitors into email signups with a discount or recovering nearly 13.5% of sales that might have been lost by offering checkout incentives.
If you do it in the right way, they feel more helpful than annoying. They can:
- Offer an incentive just before the shopper leaves.
- Squeeze in some end-moment personlised offers based on what the visitor viewed or engaged with, making it more relevant and appealing.
- Include discounts or deals that encourage people to stay or make a purchase.
- Help reduce cart drop-offs by reminding visitors of what they’ve added.
- Collect email addresses or get signups in exchange for updates, offers, or useful content. You can then follow up with these potential buyers with future offers.
- Gathers insights about visitor behaviour, helping brands improve their website and messages
- Clear up last-minute doubts by offering live chat or FAQs.
Check Out These Exit Popup Examples That Get Results
A close look at 20 exit intent popup ideas that brands have used to recover their sales successfully:
1. Mamaearth
Mamaearth uses gentle exit-intent popups to let visitors know about current discounts. The popups are designed to blend seamlessly with the site’s look while still catching users’ attention.
2. Wonderchef
Wonderchef, a popular kitchenware brand, uses exit-intent popups to encourage new user signups. This strategy has helped them grow their email subscriber list significantly, which enhances their email marketing efforts.
3. Zendesk
Zendesk targets visitors exploring pricing plans with an exit-intent popup offering a free product demo, aiming to re-engage potential customers.
4. Instamojo
Instamojo promotes giveaways through eye-catching exit-intent popups, so that visitors don’t miss out on their offers.
5.Booking.com
Booking.com uses exit popups during booking to show how many people are viewing the same property. It also warns users that their entered details may be lost if they leave. This creates urgency and encourages them to finish the booking.
6. Skullcandy
Skullcandy incorporates humour in its exit-intent popup with phrases like “No, I hate saving money,” offering a 20% discount to entice users.
7. CoSchedule
CoSchedule features a progress bar in its exit-intent popup, effectively utilising the Zeigarnik effect to encourage users to complete the signup process.
8. Skin Science
Skin Science appeals to emotional needs by offering a “VIP Insider” status through its exit-intent popup, giving added value to subscribers.
9. Milledeux
Milledeux uses positive emotional cues like “We would love to see you again. Get 15% off your purchase next time you shop with Milledeux” in its exit-intent popup. The message is followed by a signup prompt. The brand uses such exit intent popups to make visitors subscribe before leaving the site.
10. Zutano
Zutano offers a coupon code via its exit-intent popup to visitors about to abandon their carts, aiming to retain potential customers.
11. Xero Shoes
Xero Shoes creates urgency with an exit-intent popup that appears only to users with items in their cart, which pushes visitors towards immediate action.
12. Roadside Vapes
Roadside Vapes designs an emotionally appealing exit-intent popup offering a 10% discount to persuade visitors to return.
13. Casper
Casper presents an exit-intent popup inviting users to complete a short survey in exchange for a discount, gathering feedback while offering value.
14. Sivana
Sivana provides a coupon code through its exit-intent popup to users attempting to leave the checkout page without completing a purchase.
15. Pricefalls
Pricefalls uses polite yet assertive language in its exit-intent popup to remind users that their order hasn’t been placed, encouraging completion.
16. KBauthority
KBauthority approaches users with an exit-intent popup offering assistance for future tasks, instead of plainly promoting newsletter signups.
17. Green Mountain Mustard
Green Mountain Mustard combines humour with a 10% discount in its exit-intent popup to entice visitors to subscribe. Like one of their exit popups says, “You’re leaving without your mustard! Enter your email to get 10% Off”.
18. Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan takes advantage of the element of curiosity in its exit-intent popup by offering makeup hacks and ‘secrets’ in exchange for email subscriptions.
19. Skates.co.uk
Skates.co.uk used a smart tactic by showing a discount code after 25 seconds of no activity on the cart or checkout page. This helped them bring back over 10% of visitors who were about to leave without buying.
20. Crossrope
Crossrope, known for its weighted jump ropes, uses a simple two-step exit popup across its website. The popup first asks visitors if they’d like a discount, then follows up with an email form once they say yes. This small action creates a sense of involvement and makes people more likely to follow through.
Tips to Make Your Exit Popups More Effective
Exit popups work well, but you need to create one with care. A badly written or poorly timed popup can do more harm than good. So, take a peek at some useful tips:
Keep it short and clear: Most visitors have a short attention span and won’t read long text. So you should use a catchy headline and one clear offer.
Use friendly, natural language: Don’t use pressure tactics and speak the way you’re talking to or addressing a real person.
Pick the right offer: Not everyone who’s visiting your e-store wants a discount. They might have landed looking for a particular product. Free delivery or a gift at checkout might work better for some audiences.
Give them an easy choice: A “Yes” and “No” button makes it simple for customers or visitors. A prompt or exit-popup like “Yes, I’ll take 10% off” vs. “No, I’ll pay full price” adds a human touch.
Test out different styles: Create a few different versions of exit popups to find the highest-performing one. Change your design, timing, or offer and see what works best.
Don’t show it to everyone: Use settings to limit how often the popup appears. Show it only to select visitors (new visitors, or only once every few days) so it doesn’t feel repetitive or annoying. This helps keep the experience smooth and respectful.
Easy Ways to Add Exit Popups to Your Site
Adding exit intent popups to your site doesn’t need to be technical or time-consuming. Many popular tools offer hassle-free configurations that allow you to set them up without needing to code.
Well-known platforms like Sumo, Privy, etc. let you build and customise your popup. They come with templates, drag-and-drop features, and settings for when and where the popup appears.
If you use Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento, you’ll likely find easy integrations there. You can have the exit intent popup live within minutes, whether it appears as a full-screen, slide-in, or just a corner message.
You can even create popups based on visitor behaviour, such as the pages they visited or how long they stayed.
Is the Exit Popup Strategy Right for You?
If you run an online store, there’s a good chance you’re losing sales that could be saved with the right message at the right time.
You’ll find exit popups the most helpful if:
- You have high traffic but low conversion rates on your online store.
- You want to grow your email list without slowing down the shopping experience.
- You often run time-limited offers or discounts to lure customers.
These popups are not a fix for everything, but they can become an easy, low-effort tool to encourage shoppers to take that final step.
How Shiprocket Checkout Can Help Reduce Cart Abandonment
Shiprocket Checkout already gives sellers the tools to create smoother, faster payment pages. But that’s only part of the puzzle. Sometimes, even the best checkout process can’t stop people from leaving at the last moment.
That’s where exit popups come in.
By adding them to your Shiprocket Checkout flow, you get one last opportunity to win back a sale. You can trigger messages at the point where most people tend to leave, just before payment, or show a small popup offering a discount for signing up.
Since Shiprocket already tracks key steps in the checkout process, it’s easy to spot where people are dropping off. With that insight, you can create a popup that speaks to the exact hesitation your shopper might have.
It could be free delivery, a limited-time deal, or a friendly reminder that their items are still waiting.
With just a few tweaks, Shiprocket Checkout and exit intent popups can work together to prevent lost sales, without requiring significant changes to your current setup.
Conclusion
An exit intent popup might seem like a small detail, but it can have a big effect. These popups speak to the shopper just before they leave and give them a good reason to stay, whether that’s a better price, free delivery, or a gentle reminder of what they liked or are leaving in their carts.
They’re easy to set up, quick to test, and don’t require much maintenance. If you’re looking for a way to bring down your cart drop-off rate, this is a great place to start.
And with tools like Shiprocket Checkout by your side, adding these helpful nudges can be smoother than you think. Your next sale might be just one popup away.
