If you can double your opt-in rate, you double your email revenue. And the fastest place to find that double is your popup. Here are four A/B tests you can set up in 15 minutes, ranked by how often they win.
Test 1: move or remove the X button
The most important one. Take the close button out of the right corner: either move it to the left corner or remove it completely, and add a decline link under the CTA instead. Something like "No thank you, I'll pay full price."
This one change can double your list growth by itself. The default right-corner X is muscle memory; making the decline a conscious choice makes people actually read the offer.
Test 2: stop offering 10% off
Every one of your customers has seen "10% off" from a hundred different brands. It is wallpaper. "Here's a mystery discount", "a special discount", or "an exclusive discount" converts better nine times out of ten, because curiosity beats a number they've already seen everywhere.
Test 3: fix your CTA copy
If your popup button says "Continue", that is the worst CTA you could use. It implies more steps before they get anything. "Claim offer" or "Get my mystery discount" tells them the reward is one click away, and it converts better.
Test 4: add a step (yes, really)
If your popup is just two pages, an offer page and a thank-you page, you need to test more formats. It sounds controversial that adding steps converts better, but the data says otherwise.
Add a micro-commitment first page: "Do you want a mystery discount?" with "Yes, I want it" as the CTA and "No thank you, I don't like discounts" as the decline. That tiny yes makes the email field on the next page feel like finishing something they already started. In our testing it wins 9.5 times out of 10.
Proof this matters
The popup we built for Warmnest Candle drove £16,000 in its first month with a 17.4% submit rate, on a store where email had been producing £261 a month. The list is the multiplier on everything else you do: here is the full path from 10% to 40-50% of revenue.
Want to skip the testing queue? We'll design you a free popup and welcome email, no call required.
Want this done for you instead?
We run email and SMS end to end for ecommerce brands doing $50K+ per month, and every claim in this post has a Klaviyo screenshot behind it. Book a free audit, or start with a free popup and welcome email built for your brand.