Exit-Intent, Scroll and Timed Pop-Ups: Which Trigger to Use
Exit-intent, scroll-depth and time-delay pop-ups each catch a different visitor. What each trigger does, which one to use for an email sign-up, a sale or an event, and how to keep pop-ups from annoying people.
A pop-up trigger decides when the pop-up appears. Time delay shows it after a visitor has been on the page for a while, scroll depth shows it once they’ve read a set share of the page, and exit intent shows it as they move to leave. The right one depends on how long your page is and what you’re asking for. Most pages do best with time delay plus exit intent, shown once.
On a Keepp page, all three are switches on the Spotlight block. Here’s how each one works and when to reach for it.
What is a time-delay pop-up?
A time-delay pop-up appears after the visitor has spent a set time on the page. On a Keepp Spotlight that’s 20 seconds.
Time is a simple signal of interest. Someone who bounces in five seconds was never going to sign up. Someone still on the page after 20 seconds is reading, looking at your work, or comparing prices, and is far more likely to say yes.
Use it for:
- Email sign-ups on short pages, where most visitors never scroll.
- Pages people read, like a menu, a price list or a portfolio.
One detail matters: if the visitor is in another tab when the time comes, the Spotlight waits for them to come back. A pop-up nobody sees is a pop-up wasted.
What is a scroll-triggered pop-up?
A scroll-triggered pop-up appears once the visitor has scrolled a set share of the page. On a Keepp Spotlight that’s halfway down.
Scrolling halfway is a stronger signal than time on a long page. It means the visitor has gone past your first screen and kept going.
Use it for:
- Long pages: a shop with many products, a page of articles, a services page with prices.
- Offers that build on what they read: halfway through your products is the moment to say “everything is 20% off this weekend”.
What is an exit-intent pop-up?
An exit-intent pop-up appears when the visitor looks like they’re leaving. On a computer, that’s when the pointer leaves the page through the top, heading for the browser tabs, the address bar or the close button.
It’s your last chance to ask, so it works best for the offer with the lowest bar:
- An email sign-up, so a visitor who isn’t buying today still hears from you.
- A discount or a flyer for a sale that’s on now.
Exit intent is a computer signal. On a phone, the 20-second and halfway-down triggers do the job, which is why the Spotlight turns on the 20-second trigger and exit intent together by default.
Which trigger for which goal?
| Goal | Best trigger | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Grow your email list | 20 seconds, plus exit intent | Catches readers early and leavers late |
| Sell a product | Halfway down the page | Asks people who have already browsed |
| Fill a booking or workshop | 20 seconds | Short pages, and the date matters now |
| Promote a sale or event flyer | Exit intent, plus halfway down | A last-minute reason to stay |
You can switch on any mix. They never stack: whichever fires first shows the pop-up, and the others switch off.
How to keep pop-ups from annoying people
Pop-ups have a bad name because of a few habits. Each one has a fix, and the Spotlight follows all of them:
- Never pop up on arrival. A visitor who came from your post wants to see your page first. The Spotlight never opens as the page loads.
- Show it once. It pops up by itself once at most on each visit, then every trigger is off.
- Stop once they’ve answered. After a sign-up, a purchase click or a link click, it never pops up again on that visit.
- Stay small and easy to close. The pop-up is a small window, not a full screen. It closes with the X, the Escape key or a tap outside. Google’s own guidance on intrusive interstitials warns against dialogs that obscure the entire page.
- Never interrupt a purchase. If the visitor is in a checkout, a booking calendar or your chat, the pop-up waits.
- Let people come back to it. The button beside Share opens the Spotlight at any time, so a visitor who closed it can find it again.
Measure which trigger works
The Spotlight panel in your page’s Analytics shows how many visitors saw it, how many took it up and how many closed it, split by what opened it: the 20 seconds, scrolling halfway, going to leave, the button beside Share, or the card on your page. Run one trigger for a week, then another, and keep the one with the better take-up.
Questions
Does exit intent work on phones? Phones have no pointer heading for the tabs, so exit intent is a computer trigger. On phones, the 20-second and halfway-down triggers show the pop-up.
Can I use all three triggers at once? Yes. The first one to fire shows the pop-up and the rest switch off for that visit.
Can I show the offer without a pop-up? Yes. Turn off all three triggers and keep the Spotlight as a card on your page, a button beside Share, or both.
How do I set it up? See add a Spotlight to your page.