Thursday February 19- Pop ups

Ephraim Gopin
February 19, 2026

Hi !

Al Pacino: What’s cookin this week

In this week’s enews…

Annoying but they work
A really punny email!
Great post: Build a donor centric fundraising strategy
Get your tinfoil hat on

The solution to the the Triple E (enews easter egg) from last week: Names of characters in Lord of the Flies. Remember that book? I had to read it in grade nine. Went back and read it again a few years ago. Enjoyed it much more the second time.

Enewsletter signup. Event attendance. Fundraising campaign. Checklist download.

When people visit your website, you want to encourage them to read… and take an action. You want them doing something which helps to build the relationship and engages them.

But how to make that happen? Let’s talk this week about a PITA (pain in the tuches) that could actually be a big help.

Jon Voight: They’re annoying but they can work

You visit a website. You’re ready to read, scroll and search for what you came for. And then your screen is covered. The dreaded pop up ad. And you scream at your screen:

Giphy

Holy heck, I hate those things!

And yet so many websites utilize them. Why? Because they can work. And convert. And help build relationships with users and readers.

Like me, you might consider them annoying, intrusive, distracting. And they are!

But here’s the rub: It’s worth testing pop up ads because they can convert bigtime. So although I hate them, I used to have one on my website to encourage enews signups. It was very effective. (It’s currently not up on the site for technical reasons.)

Given everything you have going on at your organization, a pop up ad can help people discover something they didn’t know. And for your organization, you just got another sign up.

Now before you skip the rest of this section (“I hate pop ups and we’re not using them on our site!”) please keep in mind: You are not the target audience!

My advice is to test them. See what happens. But before you do that, know the rules:

Don’t have it appear right away: I just got to the page. Calm down! Have the pop up ad appear after I’ve scrolled 1/3-1/2 down the page or after I’ve been on the page 10-15 seconds.
Don’t cover up the whole page: This gets super annoying on mobile. Make sure your pop up ads are much smaller than the surface size of the screen.
Where’s the X: Don’t make it hard to find the “X” to close the pop up ad. Making it difficult just makes users upset… and they’ll leave to another site.
Don’t ask for more than you need: It’s a small form. Keep the fields to an absolute minimum. The best is to just ask for an email address.
CTA matters: Just like with everything else, use verbiage that provides a call-to-action that the user will find valuable.

Let’s look at some examples and what you can learn from them.

What’s working: Pop up ads with images convert 83% than those without (Sleeknote). Good choice by Living Classroom to put a picture in the background. They ask for the minimum- email address. It doesn’t cover the whole screen. The “X” is pretty easy to find.

What’s not working: The picture is a little too bright and prevents readers from seeing every word in their CTA. The CTA isn’t great- what value do I get if I subscribe?

What’s working: Good picture. “X” is easy to find. Title is bolded, a larger font and in their branded color.

What’s not working: It covers too much of the page. They ask for too much information (I’ll give you first name IF you’ll personalize your emails to me. But last name? You do NOT need it! Asking for too much info creates friction in the sign up process and results in fewer conversions.) The CTA isn’t great- what value do I get? All I see here is I’ll get periodic updates. That doesn’t mobilize me to sign up.

What’s working: The humor! It doesn’t cover the whole page. Great CTA- I see the value in signing up. They only ask for email address.

What’s not working: I feel like I’m nitpicking but the “x” is gray and a bit hard to see.

Sure they’re annoying and intrusive and people within your organization may be vehemently opposed to them.

But my advice is to test pop up ads on your site. Test different variations- change up the CTA, the value offer, the picture.

The data will tell you if it is or isn’t working. Then you can make an informed decision about whether to continue with the pop up ad or not.

I’M LOOKING FOR EXAMPLES:

If your organization uses a pop up ad that is working, please email me a screenshot!
Want me to have a look at a pop up ad you’re using and share my feedback? Reply to this email with a screenshot and I’ll get back to you ASAP!

Val Kilmer: This was really punny

In this section I’ll share with you something good being done by a nonprofit that you can learn from.

Last week was Valentine’s Day. A bunch of organizations emailed to show donor love and give gratitude to supporters. The email I received from Second Helpings in Indianapolis stood out.

The email opened with this great GIF:

Here’s the content of the email:

The organization rescues food and delivers it to nonprofits for free. That’s why I appreciated even more all the food puns in the email.

Yes, to some it might seem cheesy (whoops) but the fact is this type of email can bring a smile to someone’s face. Nothing wrong with doing that!

Show love, share gratitude, make your audience smile.

Robert DeNiro: A little of this and that

In this section I’m going to share with you great content I’ve picked out that you can learn from.

Build a donor-centric fundraising strategy. MUST READ!!! (Hands On Fundraising)
Learn about bounce rate and why it’s important to your email efforts (CleverTap)
25 places where you can share your online donation form. I do NOT agree with 16!!! (DonorPerfect)
Use donor data. Don’t just store it (Fundraising IP)
6 P2P fundraising mistakes and how to fix them (Eventgroove)

Ashley Judd: Ah, the crazy Interwebs

Rumors are flying (rim shot) that August 12 is gonna be a very… interesting one.

This circulated the Internet so quickly that NASA had to come in and make an official statement. Then again, maybe it’s NASA who’s not telling the truth?

In a little less than six months we’ll find out if the conspiracy theory is true or not.

🎶 This week I managed to compose the enews without any music in the background. Don’t ask me how or why. It’s just the way things happened.

I’ll be back in your inbox next Thursday. Have a great weekend!

P.S. Anyone else?