Have you ever been on a website and totally bombarded by pop ups? Those pesky little windows that sometimes stop you from scrolling through (or leaving!) a website can be extremely annoying. Imagine if you were in a store and a salesperson kept getting all up in your face, relentlessly trying to sell you stuff every 30 seconds. Jeez!

So why would you want to use pop ups on your Showit website, anyway?

Well, if they’re set up right, pop ups can actually improve your visitor’s experience. That’s because (if they’re triggered by a click), pop ups can give people relevant information they’re actually interested in (and asking for). 

And (when they appear after a certain amount of time), pop ups can highlight important resources or information that your visitor may have missed – like a free resource. According to OptinMonster, pop ups are shown to increase conversions by a whopping 2100%! So they can really help you grow your business.

If you have a Showit website, there are 2 ways to set up native pop ups to appear:

• Triggered by scrolling
• Triggered by a click

First we’ll look at how to set up your pop up canvas, then how to trigger it by scrolling and by clicking.

I’ve got a video tutorial for you. But if you’re more of a reader, just scroll on for the written version.

Let’s get started! 

How to Create a Pop Up Canvas in Showit

The style and layout of your pop up will depend on what you’re using it for. 

Is the pop up a contact form? You might want to add a native Showit form.

Is the pop up inviting visitors to sign up for your newsletter or to grab a free resource? You might want to embed a form from your email marketing platform, like Flodesk, ConvertKit or MailChimp.

Is the pop up just giving visitors additional information? Then you don’t need a form at all! Just add the text and images. 

You can create your pop up canvas in Showit as you would any other canvas, but with a few important additions. When you’ve got your pop up canvas selected, choose the Canvas tab and then:

1. Make sure the stacking order is higher than the other canvases on your website (usually of between 3-5 should work).
2. Under canvas type, select “Window Height”
3. Under sticky, select “Top”
4. Most importantly, scroll to the bottom of this tab and check “Hidden to start”
5. Make sure you do this for BOTH desktop and mobile!

You also need to make sure to include a way for people to close the pop up (generally an X). 

Once you add and place the X, click to select it, then under the Click Actions tab, under Actions, click ADD. Select “Hide Canvas” and then “This canvas”.

Showit also gives you lots of options for how your pop up will appear once it’s triggered. To check out the different options, just select the canvas then click on the Animation tab. Under Canvas In, you’ll see a dropdown menu with lots of options for you to try and experiment with. My preference is to have the canvas slide in from the right, but do what’s right for you and your visitors! 

Now onto the next step, adding a trigger to reveal the pop up.

How to Trigger Pop Ups by Scrolling in Showit

This kind of pop up appears after your visitors has scrolled a certain amount on your website. And you would usually use this type for offering your visitor a free resource, quiz or asking them to sign up for your newsletter.

To create the trigger, add a blank canvas to your page. Rename it “pop up Trigger” and drag it up so it’s near the top of your web page (below the hero area usually works well). 

Now resize the canvas by clicking the Canvas tab and scrolling down to Minimum Height. Change this number to “2” on both desktop and mobile. Don’t forget to change the canvas background to the same colours as either the canvas above or below your trigger so it blends in!

Now select the Scroll Actions tab and click “Add Action”. For Trigger, select “Off Screen”. For Action, select “Show Canvas”. For Canvas, select your pop up canvas (it can be helpful to name your canvas pop up or something similar!). 

And that’s it!.

Let’s move on to the second way you can reveal a pop up: click actions.

How to Create Pop Ups Triggered by Clicking in Showit

The process for setting up your process canvas is exactly the same for this option, so follow the instructions above if you need to build your pop up out!

Then you just need to add a click action to the text, image or button that will reveal the pop up:

• Click to select the text, image or button you want
• Select the Click Actions tab
• Under Actions, click ADD
• Under type, select “Show Canvas”
• Under Canvas, select your pop up canvas. Again, it’s helpful to name your canvas “pop up” or something similar!

That’s it! Make sure to test both the mobile and desktop versions of your website.

Pop Up Sum Up

So, now you know how pop ups can help both you and your website visitors when done carefully (and respectfully). And you have 2 different ways of triggering them on your Showit website.

If this post has been helpful or you have questions, don’t be shy about leaving a comment!

And thanks for reading.

Michele xo