Halloween, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas sales… During the season, shoppers’ minds are in complete chaos, and the desire to grab the best deal at a reduced price leads to impulsive decisions and purchases. According to Shopify, the merchants of this platform drove $11.5B in sales over BFCM 2024, +24% YoY, with a peak pace of $4.6M per minute.

But how do you make sure customers notice your discount among dozens of competitor offers? There’s an effective tool for this—pop-ups (widgets), which not only appear at the right time and in the right place to engage the user but also gently nudge them toward a purchase.

In this article, we’ll walk through step-by-step how to use widgets to influence key business metrics: from reducing CPA during peak traffic to decreasing abandoned carts and increasing revenue from cross-selling.

What Are Pop-ups and How They Guide the Customer Journey

Pop-ups are interactive elements on a website that display relevant content and suggest what to do next. They come in various forms and serve different purposes.

Depending on placement, these can be pop ups, floating windows, floating panels at the top or bottom of the page, or interactive or static blocks organically integrated into site elements. They also differ by purpose and can be:

• subscription forms (for data collection);
• informers (notifications about promotions or events);
• request forms (for handling service inquiries);
• call buttons;
• age restrictions.

Research shows that within 17 milliseconds, users manage to assess a website’s visual appeal, and this assessment strongly influences their desire to stay. Pop-ups allow you to instantly focus that first attention, initiating communication at the most critical moments—upon entry, after certain customer actions, or in their absence.

During sales season, their role becomes crucial, as shopper behavior changes dramatically: users open dozens of tabs comparing offers. In these conditions, when fear of missing out overrides rational analysis, pop-ups become a tool for managing customer attention and behavior. Their role comes down to four main tasks:

1. Focus attention on the main offer.
2. Create a sense of urgency and scarcity.
3. Reduce hesitation and simplify choice.
4. Collect data to attract hesitant shoppers.

Essentially, during the sales season, a properly configured pop-up acts as the perfect sales consultant who appears exactly when the customer needs them and disappears when their help becomes unnecessary.

The ability of pop-ups to appear on time isn’t magic but the result of precise settings. Pop-ups truly unlock their potential through triggers. These are specific events that launch rule checks, determining to whom, under what conditions, and at what time to show them. Yespo allows you to launch pop-ups based on dozens of conditions, including:

• behavioral factors—time on page, exit intent, number of pages viewed;
• traffic source—showing unique pop-ups to users who came from a specific ad campaign, social media, or search query;
• customer data—purchase history, belonging to a specific segment (for example, new or VIP customers);
• cart interaction—adding a product, reaching a certain order amount.

The key advantage is that when configuring the display, all these conditions can be combined. For example, show a pop-up with a delivery discount only to those who came from an email campaign, added products worth 100 euros to the cart, and are about to leave the site.

And this approach has proven to work. According to McKinsey, personalizing offers for different audience segments directly impacts revenue, increasing it by 10-15%, and for leading companies—up to 25%. Such clicks convert to actual orders much more frequently.

Now that we understand how flexible this tool is, let’s walk through step-by-step how to influence shoppers during sales season using pop-ups.

How to Turn Anonymous Traffic into a Valuable Asset

According to Yespo research, during Black Friday, the number of new users specifically increases:

• “New users”: +97% to the base (T-7), +141% on BF, +156% on Cyber Monday.
• “Returning users”: +43% on Wednesday before BF, +30% on BF.

During the first website visit, over 97% of visitors leave without making a purchase. During sales season, when you’re paying for every click from advertising, losing this traffic is an unaffordable luxury. That’s why, besides an immediate sale, the primary task is obtaining a channel for further communication by converting an anonymous visitor into an identified subscriber.

And while the classic subscription form with a bonus still works, during periods of high competition and banner blindness, its effectiveness drops to 1-3%.

Gamified Pop-ups

To break through the information noise, more interactive methods are needed, one of which is gamified pop-ups.

Gamification is the use of game mechanics in a non-game context: instead of a simple “Subscribe and get a discount” offer, you offer the customer interaction. This approach works much better because for the shopper, a won discount is perceived as something more valuable. At the same time, ecommerce also gets its own benefit—engagement grows by 100-150% and an emotional connection with the customer is created.

Here are the results our clients achieve with gamified pop-ups:

Wheel of Fortune

The most popular example of this mechanic is the “Wheel of Fortune.” Instead of a static form, the user sees a bright wheel with various prizes: discounts, free delivery, etc. The process is simple and exciting: the customer enters their email, clicks a button, and excitedly watches what bonus they’ll win.

How effective this mechanic can be is illustrated by the case of ticket search service Busfor. When, on the eve of Halloween, the team faced the task of attracting the maximum number of new contacts in a short time without resorting to large discounts, the solution was the “Wheel of Fortune.”

The results exceeded all expectations: in just 12 hours of the campaign, the company collected three thousand new contacts, achieving 10% conversion (with typical conversion of ~2% for pop ups with discounts on their site). Moreover, 94% of collected contacts turned out to be valid.

Scratch Card

On the eve of Black Friday, book platform Yakaboo launched a gamified pop-up with a scratch card that offered a discount in exchange for contact details. It was seen by everyone who spent more than 5 seconds on the site and didn’t click to place an order. As a result, compared to regular subscription forms, the number of new customers increased by 35%, and orders—by 11%.

Gift Box

Women’s clothing brand GEPUR used another popular mechanic—“Gift Box.” New site visitors were offered to choose one of three gifts to receive a discount promo code. The pop-up was shown after the user spent 5 seconds on the site or viewed 10% of the page.

Compared to a regular subscription form, the gamified pop-up showed impressive results: the number of new subscribers increased 9 times, and the use of received promo codes grew 3 times.

Want More?

Yespo users now have access to a new gamified pop-up mechanic—“Slot Machine.“ It’s quite simple and clear: you make a spin, the reels rotate, and the winning combination of matching symbols determines the prize.

Welcome Pop-ups

However, it’s not necessary to use animated pop-ups to attract audiences. You can use static welcome pop-ups. This is the first point of contact between a brand and a new visitor. Their goal is not just to collect the user’s email but also to demonstrate care for the user and value from the first seconds.

A properly configured welcome pop-up offers users a bonus, and brands—data for future personalization. For example, by asking about a name or birthday, you’ll already have information to populate two segments.

Surveys

An excellent example is the case of online supermarket MAUDAU, which using the “Survey” pop-up was able to instantly identify audiences interested in specific product categories. Visitors were offered to answer several questions in exchange for a gift.

The result of this approach: 52% of new subscribers immediately placed an order, and the business received a ready segment for highly relevant campaigns.

How to Drive Website Visitors to Purchase

So, you’ve obtained the visitor’s contact. Great! But this is only the beginning. In the chaos of a sale, the customer can easily forget about your promotion and go to competitors’ sites, actively migrating between tabs searching for the best offers.

The main task at the next stage is constant but unobtrusive reminders of why staying on your site is beneficial; maintaining customer motivation to purchase, proactively addressing possible objections and doubts. For this, the following types of pop-ups are used:

1. Informers

Floating panels on average improve usability by 22%, and websites with interactive elements have a 40% lower bounce rate. This is a horizontal strip that remains on screen during scrolling, and users constantly see important information. This increases message reach.

2. Countdown Timers

Nothing motivates action like time running out: according to Hivenet statistics, during Black Friday sales, 60% of shoppers are motivated by fear of missing out (FOMO).

A dynamic timer with hours counting down to the end of the promotion, placed on a product page, won’t let you postpone the purchase.

Pop-up conversion with timers averages 14.4%—almost 5% more than regular ones!

Did you know… Thanks to Yespo’s advanced segmentation, you can show different informers to different customer categories. For example, new visitors will see a timer until the start of the sale, and VIP customers—a message about access to an exclusive promotion.

3. Scarcity Pop-ups

When a customer hesitates on a product page, the best argument becomes other people’s actions. Scarcity pop-ups can directly indicate limited product quantity or, as in the example below, create personalized pressure.

Another effective approach is time limitation. An example is another MAUDAU case, where floating windows with a “right now only” discount offer helped increase transactions in the “Alcohol” category by 19%.

4. Social Proof Pop-ups

The effect is amplified by social proof when the customer sees a message that they’re not the only ones interested in this product.

At the same time, to remove doubts about store quality and reliability (especially if the customer is buying from you for the first time), pop-ups with high ratings, positive reviews, or payment system or postal service logos work effectively.

Comprehensive use of these tools not only improves conversion by up to 270% but also increases trust in your platform.

5. Birthday Greetings

Birthday greetings are another example of pop-ups that work both during sales season and year-round. For example, Adidas marketers configured an informer that showed a gift reminder to every birthday person visiting the site for a week. The display condition was no orders in the last 7 days, and a birthday coming soon.

By combining the tools listed above, you don’t allow the customer to aimlessly scroll through pages. They constantly feel that the beneficial offer could disappear at any moment. This pushes them to add the product to the cart.

But what if even after this, the customer decided to leave the site? When carts risk remaining unpaid, it’s time for the strongest weapon—exit-intent pop-ups, which we’ll discuss next.

Retaining Visitors After First Contact

If you’re facing the problem of abandoned carts during sales season, don’t worry—you’re not alone. According to recent research, due to intensive search for better offers and product comparisons, the abandoned cart rate keeps growing. Specifically, on Cyber Monday it rises to 80%.

This means 8 out of 10 customers who added a product to the cart will leave the site without purchasing. To save at least some of these orders, marketers use a multi-layered strategy. Counters for free delivery can retain the shopper before they decide to leave. According to research, 58% of shoppers consciously add additional products to the cart to get free delivery.

However, if the user still has a clear intention to leave, the exit-intent pop-up comes to help. It doesn’t read the customer’s mind but triggers when the cursor moves to close the tab or after a certain time without activity on the page, giving one last chance to stop them.

But for the action not to be in vain, the offer must match the stage at which the customer decided to leave.

Scenario 1: User Leaves from Site Page or Category

The customer hasn’t yet added a product to the cart and is hesitating, browsing categories or products. At this stage, to keep them on the site, the simplest move is to immediately offer a discount.

But what if the reason for hesitation isn’t price? A much more effective strategy is to immediately diagnose the problem, which is why survey pop-ups that trigger after a certain period of inactivity on the page are used. This way, you not only save the sale but also collect data about weak points of your site or offer.

Scenario 2: User Leaves, Abandoning Products in Cart

One of the most common yet straightforward scenarios is when a user leaves having already collected products in the cart. In this case, an exit-intent pop-up with a time-limited offer will work especially effectively.

It’s important not just to show a promo code but to frame the offer as a direct call to action. After all, according to statistics, well-thought-out offers for exit-intent pop-ups save up to 15% of orders.

Scenario 3: User Leaves from Checkout Page

A customer may leave at the final checkout stage when they’re not satisfied with the cost or delivery terms. In this case, a pop-up offering a discount or free delivery will remove the last barrier.

And if the user still left, Yespo will continue the scenario through email or Viber reminder—with the same promo code they saw in the pop-up.

How to Sell Not Just Sale Items and Increase Average Check

We have customers, we’ve reduced abandoned carts, but what if the average check barely covers advertising costs? During the sales season, shoppers are focused on hunting for discounts, and the key task becomes motivating them to buy more rather than limiting themselves to only the cheapest offers.

Statistics are on your side here. Specifically, when it comes to offering a more expensive or improved product, 10 to 25% of customers agree to the purchase. This brings up to 30% additional revenue, and if offers are personalized, the percentage grows by another 3-5%.

Using pop-ups, you can implement several strategies to increase the check.

1. Cross-sell and Upsell

Cross-sell is offering complementary products at the moment when the customer adds a product to the cart, because at this moment their purchase intent is maximal, and they’re most open to relevant offers. For example, when buying a smartphone, a user won’t refuse a case, and with clothing—accessories that complete the look.

The effectiveness of this approach is convincingly proven by the MustHave store case. Using Yespo pop-ups for manually configured product recommendations, they not only increased customer retention but also achieved 240% ROI.

The second strategy—upsell—is offering a more expensive or additional product after placing the main order.

2. Motivating Customer to Buy More

The customer journey doesn’t end on the thank-you page for a purchase, because a successful purchase during sales season creates a satisfied customer, and a satisfied customer opens opportunities for additional sales. And you can immediately turn their purchase into several new ones.

Configure the "Promo Code Sharing" pop-up display after a completed purchase and enjoy new orders—conversion of such pop-ups in 2025 ranges from 3 to 5%.

This way, you not only increase the average check but also attract new customers through recommendations from existing ones, turning every successful purchase into a potentially new order.

How to Double the Effect: Combining FOMO and Gamification

We’ve already seen how effective gamification is for collecting contacts, but its potential is much broader than data collection. The most powerful strategy during the sales season is combining the excitement of the game and the fear of loss.

Most purchases during this period are impulsive. According to Hivenet, 60% of shoppers make impulsive decisions under the influence of “if not now, when” feelings, often within 24 hours. This means you have a very short window for action. Here’s how this combination works:

1. Gamification (wheel of fortune, slot machine, gift) engages the user, brings positivity from winning, and creates a sense of uniqueness—as if the discount is given to them personally.
2. FOMO (countdown timer) adds a sense of urgency to the win, that the unique opportunity must be used immediately.

Yespo allows you to easily create gamified pop-ups with built-in dynamic timers. You can configure the start of an individual countdown for the user when they win a promo code.

It's important to remember that clicking on a widget isn't the end of the interaction—it's just the beginning. In Yespok, widgets are full-fledged triggers that pass data into the system and launch automated omnichannel workflows.

Every user action is recorded as an event, and if a customer wins a specific prize, the system automatically sends an email with the exact promo code that the player received. Instant segmentation works the same way: as soon as a user confirms their city in the widget, their profile updates, and they automatically enter the relevant group for localized offers.

Launching a workflow enables sequential user engagement: for example, send an email, and if it goes unread after a certain period, follow up with a reminder via Viber, SMS, or another channel convenient for them.

How Not to Annoy but Help

Even the best strategy can fail due to poor execution. The main power of pop-ups during sales season (and not only) is not in quantity but in precision and relevance. For your pop-ups to help customers navigate the purchase journey with ease and satisfaction rather than annoy like screamers in cheap horror films, it’s important to follow three golden rules:

1. Limit display frequency for one user to avoid causing banner blindness or irritation. For example: no more than one blocking pop-up per session and no more than 2–3 displays of all pop-ups total per day. Also, set a “quiet period” of 12–24 hours before showing the user the same offer again.
2. Show pop-ups not to everyone but only to specific segments based on their behavior, traffic source, and purchase history.
3. Make sure your pop-ups look perfect on small screens, because according to our research, mobile traffic share on main sales days reaches 73%, and on weekends, it even grows.

You’ll never guess which pop-up will bring the most conversions, so definitely conduct A/B testing. Here are the key offer elements worth testing during sales season:

1. When to Show

What works better for your audience—showing the pop-up 5 seconds after entering the site, 10 seconds, or after 50% page scroll?

2. What to Offer

To find out what motivates your audience to purchase more, the field for experiments is huge:

• Compare a fixed discount (500 UAH), percentage (-20%), free gift, and free delivery.
• Check whether a personalized offer (for example, discount on the category the customer viewed) gives a better result than a universal offer for everyone.
• Add a timer to one of the variants and see how much fear of missing out affects conversion.

3. How It Should Look

The visual component and pop-up interaction mechanic play a key role—for example, adding images to a pop-up increases conversion by 60%. Test:

• What brings more conversion—a pop-up that appears over other elements or an unobtrusive floating panel at the top or bottom of the page? 
• Conduct a test drive of the sales season. Compare the effectiveness of gamified mechanics with a regular subscription form.

4. How to Say It

As you already know, a properly formed offer raises conversion. So definitely check which CTA is more effective for your audience: one that promises direct benefit or one that creates urgency (for example, “Offer valid for only 15 minutes”).

5. What Happens After

Don’t limit yourself to testing the pop-up itself. Check what works better: an isolated offer or an omnichannel workflow where, after interacting with the pop-up, the customer receives a series of reminders through email, SMS, web, and mobile push.

6. How to Test

Yespo has built-in functionality for A/B testing pop-ups that doesn’t require developer help. You can easily test different texts, images, calls to action, or even the form itself to find the variant that brings the most conversions.

Turn Holiday Chaos into Profit

Pop-ups during sales season aren’t spam but a precision tool for managing customer attention. They turn cold traffic into subscribers, save from lost orders, and increase average check, improving not only immediate sales but also customer LTV in the long term.

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