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Stop Leading With a Discount. Start Leading With This.
The strategy behind interactive popups that educate and convert.
Kody Nordquist
June 05, 2025
Welcome back to the 114th edition of Nord Media
A few years ago, it worked like magic.
Visitor lands on your site. Popup hits. You trade a discount for an email. Everybody wins.
Until it stopped working.
Consumers got smarter. Inboxes got fuller. And now “10% off” feels like table stakes, not a reason to buy.
The problem:
You’re asking for value (their email) without offering any in return.
Brands are noticing this and switching trajectories.
Instead of offering a discount, they’re offering clarity. Direction. Confidence.
Because when your popup helps shoppers choose better, not just buy cheaper, you don’t need to race to the bottom on price.
In today’s email, we’ll break down:
Why most popups fail to convert meaningful traffic
What today’s customers actually want from the first touchpoint
And how interactive popups can turn visitors into high-intent leads, before a single sale is made
Let’s dive in:
At Alia, all they do is popups.
That’s all they care about and that’s what they live and breath. Nike Strength, Plunge, Create Gummies, Patrick Ta, BREZ, and Hostage Tape are some of the 1000+ brands using Alia.
They focus on robust analytics, real A/B testing that delivers meaningful insights, lightning-fast load times, and an impressive range of customization options. What truly sets Alia apart is the support team.
They’re incredibly responsive, genuinely helpful, and will build your popups for you. If you book a demo with them and mention my newsletter on the demo, they’ll do 30 days free and 20% off!
Why “10% Off” Doesn’t Cut It Anymore
The average popup today is a race to the bottom.
You give a discount. They give an email. Then they bounce, maybe for good.
You’re solving for price, not purchase intent.
Here’s what’s really happening behind the scenes:
Shoppers don’t trust you yet.
They just landed on your site. Why would they give you their email for a few bucks off something they’re not sure they want?
Discounts commoditize your product.
The moment you lead with a promo, you anchor your value to price. Not quality, not experience, not brand.
There’s no reason to engage.
Most popups feel like spam. Zero personalization. No guidance. Just a generic “10% off” and a hope that they’ll convert.
The result is a bloated list of unqualified leads and low conversion rates.
If you want to turn visitors into real buyers, the strategy needs to evolve.
What Today’s Best Popups Actually Do
The highest-converting popups aren’t giving away discounts.
They’re giving people a reason to care.
Instead of jumping straight to “Buy now,” they meet shoppers where they are: with questions, guidance, and tailored recommendations that feel more like help than a sales pitch.
Here’s what sets them apart:
They educate.
Instead of pushing a promo, they walk the customer through a quick quiz or guide. Something that adds value even if they don’t buy right away.
They personalize.
The output isn’t a generic message. It’s a tailored product recommendation, routine builder, or tip sheet that feels like it was made for them.
They build trust early.
By offering clarity (instead of coupons), these popups turn the brand into a guide, not just a seller. And that trust leads to higher conversion later.
Think about it this way:
A visitor who doesn’t know what to buy doesn’t need 10% off. They need help making a decision.
That’s why quiz-style popups work really well. They move people from “just browsing” to “this is what I need,” without feeling pushy or transactional.
One of the biggest incremental improvements you can make for your brand is monitoring what your traffic does when they get to the website.
Knowing what people do, what they click on and how they react to aspects of your website is the easiest way to improve your website and drive more revenue.
My favorite tool for this is Heatmap.
» Start your 14 day free trial with Heatmap Today «
How to Turn Browsers into Buyers Before They Checkout
Site visitors may not be ready to buy, but that doesn’t mean they’re not interested.
They’re exploring. Comparing. Looking for clarity.
And the faster you help them get it, the more likely they are to trust you, engage, and come back ready to purchase.
Interactive popups create that bridge.
Instead of pushing a promo, you guide the shopper toward the right product or solution. They leave with more clarity, and you walk away with a more qualified lead.
Here’s how to make it work:
Ask 2–3 questions that help segment intent (e.g. skin type, experience level, budget)
Offer personalized results or product recommendations at the end
Collect the email only after value has been delivered
Send a follow-up email based on their quiz answers, not a generic welcome flow
The goal isn’t to get more emails. It’s to get the right ones with higher intent and stronger purchase signals.
Final Thoughts
Shoppers want to feel understood, not sold to. And the brands winning today are the ones guiding, not pushing, their customers toward the right decision.
If you're still relying on generic discounts to drive signups, it might be time to upgrade your approach, because in a world where every brand is fighting for attention…
Being genuinely helpful is your most underrated growth lever.
Want growth that looks like this👇?
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HOW??
We Use Strategies and Systems that Produce Consistent Results.
We’ve helped 100+ brands—from early-stage DTC startups to global brands—scale smarter, grow faster and get profitable. Whether your goal rapid growth, consistency at scale or just to be profitable again, we've built systems and strategies to achieve that for hundreds of brands over the years.
The results? You get reliable and consistent growth without sacrificing your profitability.
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