How to write an email popup that isn't just a discount

Your store's popup says "10% off your first order", the same as most other stores. A few people join your email list, use the code once and never come back, and some sign up again with a new email to get it twice. Here is how to write an email popup that isn't just a discount: give away the answer shoppers want before they buy, ask one question back, and send enough people to it every day that you know within weeks whether it works.

Do these three things

About 5 and a half hours to set up today, then about 4 hours a day for 4 weeks. Judge the whole routine after 2,800 messages, by first orders rather than signups.

Show the three actions in fullHide the full list

1. 1Today: swap your "10% off" popup for a free answer to the question shoppers ask before they buy, such as a "which one is for me" chart or a routine, plus one question about them. Set it up in Shopify Forms, shown after 5 seconds.
2. 2Every day: send 100 personal messages, give 20 answers in 5 places where your shoppers ask for help and make 2 posts on each of your 2 channels, all pointing people to your free answer. Write back within 24 hours to everyone who joined, using the answer they gave.
3. 3Every Sunday: count popup views, signups per 100 views and first orders from people who joined. After every 500 views, change one line of the popup.

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1. Find the question shoppers ask before they buy

The best popup offer is the answer to the question shoppers ask right before they buy. Collect 30 of those questions today, find the one asked most, and make your free thing answer it.

A free thing people get when they join is called a lead magnet. Most stores use money off, because it is easy. But a Klaviyo strategist wrote in August 2026 that "most customers don't even redeem the welcome code". So the code is often not why people join. A useful answer can do that job without taking money off every order, which matters when what one order leaves you is small.

Open a Google Sheet and copy in 30 questions people asked before buying, word for word. Take them from:

• your Instagram and TikTok messages and comments, and any emails from shoppers;
• the questions people ask in your customer interviews and chats with friends who bought;
• the reviews and questions on 3 products like yours, on Amazon or their own stores. A competitor analysis shows where to look;
• threads in communities where your shoppers talk.

Paste the 30 into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to group them by meaning and count each group. Check the counts yourself. Then pick the offer from the most-asked group:

Write one line that says what they get and who it is for. It is your offer, and a small value proposition of its own.

[The free answer] for [who it is for, in their words]. Free, the moment you join.

Send the line to 5 people who fit your buyer and ask: "Would you want this?"

• Tool: a Google Sheet, and ChatGPT or Claude to group the questions. Free.
• Time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
• You will have: 30 real questions, the one asked most, and a one-line offer.
• It worked if: at least 3 of the 5 people say yes. If fewer do, pick the second most-asked question and try again.
• Common mistake: "Join our community" or "Get updates". That promises nothing. The other mistake is a 20-page ebook that takes a week to write and nobody opens.

2. Write your email popup: a headline, one line, a question and a button

Write a headline that names the free answer, one line that says who it is for, one question with 3 or 4 answers to tap, and a button. Keep the email field as the only thing to type.

Shopify Forms sets hard limits: the title can be 50 characters, the text under it 100, and the button 25. That is enough for one clear promise and one call to action, and nothing else. A store owner on the Klaviyo Community in July 2026 swapped the headline "Join the Fam" for one that said what you get, and it worked better: "Clever can wait. Clear can't."

The question matters as much as the headline. Klaviyo reports that one brand, after testing 30 versions of its form, got the most signups when the form "asked for more context, not less", such as who the shopper was buying for. Your question tells you which product to suggest when you write back in step 6. Make it one tap: 3 or 4 answers, no typing.

Let AI draft. Give ChatGPT or Claude your one-line offer, your 30 questions and the limits, and ask for 10 headlines. Pick the one a stranger would understand without seeing your store. Read it to 5 people who fit your buyer and ask them to say back what they would get.

Title (up to 50 characters): [The free answer] for [their problem]Text (up to 100 characters): [Who it is for, in their words]. Free, the moment you join. [Second line, optional: a small first-order extra.]Question (tap one): [Which one is you? / Who is it for?] → [Answer A] / [Answer B] / [Answer C]Email: [field]Button (up to 25 characters): Send me [the free answer]After joining, title (up to 50 characters): Here it is. [Short line on what to do first.]

If you want to keep a discount: put it in the second line, never in the headline, and keep it small: free shipping on the first order, or a small amount off that is less than the profit one order leaves you. Big discounts at the start teach people to wait for the next sale, and they bring people who join twice to use the code twice. Store owners on the Shopify Community were still asking how to stop that in September 2026.

• Tool: ChatGPT or Claude to draft, and a note to count characters. Free.
• Time: 1 hour.
• You will have: the title, the text, one question with 3 or 4 answers, the button and the success message, all inside Shopify's limits.
• It worked if: at least 4 of the 5 people can say what they get and who it is for after reading it for 5 seconds.
• Common mistake: a clever headline that does not say what you get, or "% off" in the headline again with a guide hidden under it. The other mistake is asking for name, phone and birthday as well.

3. Make the free thing and send it the moment someone joins

Put your free thing on a page in your store and send people to it the second they join. Then send a welcome email with the same link, so they can find it again.

Make the page. In Shopify, go to Online Store, then Pages, and add a page for your free thing. Give ChatGPT or Claude your notes, the most-asked question and how you answer it in messages, and ask for a one-page draft. Then add what only you know: your real steps, your products by name, what to do if it does not work. Check every claim, especially about results. Link each product you mention to its page, with a product description that answers the same question. Add 2 or 3 first reviews or shopper photos (user-generated content) under it if you have them. The page works like a small landing page: one promise, kept.

Send people there at once. In the popup's Success section, choose "Redirect to another page" and paste the page's link. Shopify Forms can also show a discount code after joining, in the same section. Leave it out unless you chose a small extra in step 2.

Write the welcome email. In Shopify, go to Apps, then Messaging, then Automations, and click "Create automation". Choose the welcome template, "Welcome new subscribers with a discount email", and click "Edit email". Make the first thing in it the link to your free page. Keep a code only if you chose one in step 2. Click "Send test", read it on your phone, then click "Turn on". Shopify Messaging includes 10,000 free emails at the start of every month on the Basic plan and up, so a new list costs nothing to email.

Every email needs your postal address and a clear way to leave the list. In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act says you must remove anyone who asks within 10 business days. Gmail wants fewer than 3 in 1,000 of your emails marked as spam, its spam complaint rate line. People who get exactly what the popup promised rarely mark it as spam.

Subject: Here is your [free answer]Hi,Here it is: [link to your page].Start with [the one part to use first]. It takes about [number] minutes.You told us you are [their answer to the popup question]. For you, I'd start with [product], because [one reason, in plain words].One question: [a question about their problem]? Just reply. I read every answer.[Your name], [your store]
[Postal address]
[Unsubscribe]

• Tool: Shopify pages, Shopify Forms and Shopify Messaging. Free on the Basic plan and up.
• Time: about 2 hours.
• You will have: a live page with your free thing, a popup that sends people to it, and a welcome email that is turned on.
• It worked if: you join with a Gmail address and an Outlook address, land on the page at once, and both get the welcome email in the inbox, not spam, within 5 minutes. If it lands in spam, check your email deliverability before anyone else joins.
• Common mistake: a popup that promises a guide and then sends a discount code, or "your guide is coming soon". Send exactly what the popup promised, the moment they join.

4. Set up your Shopify popup to show after 5 seconds and check it on your phone

Build the popup in Shopify Forms, a free Shopify app. Show it after 5 seconds, keep it small on phones, and test it in a private window before anyone else sees it.

Nobody wants a popup the second a page opens. A shopper on Hacker News wrote in July 2026 that when popups appear, "I just leave the page". Klaviyo says the same from its data: do not show forms "immediately on page load"; try a 5-second delay. Google also asks sites not to cover the page with popups on phones, and to use banners "that take up only a small fraction of the screen" instead.

Set it up in this order:

1. Turn the app on. Install Shopify Forms from the Shopify App Store. It is free. Go to Online Store, click "Edit theme", open "App embeds", turn on "Forms" and click "Save".
2. Make the phone popup. Go to Apps, then Forms, click "Create form", choose "Popup form" and name it "Phone". Under "Popup display", choose "Floating" and a bottom position. Paste your words from step 2.
3. Add the fields. Keep "Email". Click "Add new field", choose "Radio buttons", type your question and its 3 or 4 answers, and tick "Also store as customer metafield", so each answer is saved on the customer. Click "Done".
4. Tag and consent. In "Tags", add the tag "popup", so you can find everyone who joined this way. For marketing consent, choose "On form submission if a box is checked" if you sell to the UK or the EU. In the UK, you may not send marketing emails to people without their consent, such as a ticked box. For US shoppers, "On form submission" works, as long as the popup says they are joining your emails. Anywhere else, check that country's rules first.
5. Set the behaviour. Under "Behavior", set "Devices" to mobile only, and "Trigger" to the first page view, after a delay of 5 seconds. Under "Teaser", set "Show" to "If the customer closes the form without subscribing", so a small tab stays for anyone who changes their mind.
6. Make the desktop popup. Repeat steps 2 to 5 with a form called "Desktop", "Devices" set to desktop only and "Overlay" display, and tick "Show form when visitors attempt to leave page (Desktop only)". Use the same words, so you can count them together.
7. Turn them on. Click "Turn form on" on each one.

Once you close a Shopify popup, your browser remembers it and stops showing it. So test in a private window each time.

• Tool: Shopify Forms (free) and your own phone.
• Time: 1 hour.
• You will have: two live popups with the same words: a small one on phones and an overlay on computers, both tagging new subscribers "popup" and saving their answer.
• It worked if: in a private window on your phone, the popup appears after about 5 seconds, covers less than half the screen, closes with one tap and leaves the teaser. In Apps, then Forms, the "Views" number goes up after your test.
• Common mistake: a full-screen popup on phones the moment the page loads. It is the one shoppers close without reading, and it is the kind Google asks sites to avoid. If your store is slow, people leave before 5 seconds, so fix your site speed as well.

5. Bring 100 people a day to your free thing

Your popup only works on people who visit. Every day, send 100 personal messages, give 20 answers and make 2 posts on each of your 2 channels, all offering your free thing.

At a few hundred visits a month, a popup that 3 in 100 people join brings about 10 subscribers a month. Klaviyo measures this as the conversion rate of the form. Klaviyo calls 3 in 100 "a low bar", and says most popups get 3 to 8. Either way, you would wait months to learn if your popup works. So bring people to your store yourself.

Give it its own page with a form. In Apps, then Forms, click "Create form" and choose "Inline form", with the same words and question. Make a page called "[Your free answer]" and add the Forms block to it in your theme editor. This is the link you share. Tag each link with UTM parameters, one per source, so you know which brought each subscriber.

100 personal messages a day. Start with people you know, then everyone who has ever messaged or commented on your posts, then small creators who fit your buyer, then people who asked your question in groups. Offer the free thing; send the link only when they say yes. Let AI draft 10 at a time from what you know about each person; you add one true line and send. That is about a minute each. If an app warns you or blocks your messages, stop for the day on that app and send the rest on another app or by email. Do not cut the 100. Follow up once, 3 days later, with anyone who has not answered.

20 answers a day in 5 places. Answer the question your free thing answers, wherever shoppers ask it: a subreddit, a Facebook group, a forum. Read each place's rules on self-promotion first. Answer fully. Share your link only where people ask for more, or the rules allow it, and say it is yours.

2 posts a day on each of 2 channels. For most stores that means Instagram and TikTok. Each post gives one part of your free thing: one step, one tip, one "which one is you". End every third post with "Want the full [free answer]? Link in my bio." Use 9:16 short videos where you can. AI drafts 10 posts at a time from your free thing; you rewrite them in your voice. More post ideas for D2C brands fill the rest.

Hi [first name],[One true line about them: something they posted, asked or said.]I made a free [free answer] for [who it is for] who [the problem]. It takes about [number] minutes to use.Want it? Say yes and I'll send the link.[Your name], [your store]

• Tool: Instagram and TikTok messages, email, ChatGPT or Claude to draft, Shopify Forms for the inline form, and a Google Sheet to log each message. All free.
• Time: about 2 hours a day for messages, 1 hour for answers (3 minutes each), and 40 minutes for posts.
• You will have: 2,800 messages, 560 answers and 112 posts on each channel over 4 weeks, each pointing to your free thing.
• It worked if: after 1,400 messages (2 weeks), your forms show at least 500 views together, and at least 5 people join for every 100 messages.
• Common mistake: waiting for store traffic to fill the list. At a few hundred visits a month, you learn nothing for a season. The other mistake is a link in every community answer; those get removed.

6. Write back to every new subscriber within 24 hours

Write a short personal email to everyone who joined in the last 24 hours, from your own email address. Use the answer they tapped in the popup, so the email is about them.

Most of your first subscribers will not buy from the popup alone. Many buy after someone answers their question, the same way your first sales came from people you talked to. A personal note within a day is how a small store does what big stores cannot, and the replies are free feedback from your first shoppers.

Every day: in Shopify, open Customers and filter by the tag "popup". Open each person who joined in the last 24 hours and read the answer saved on them. Write from your own email: thank them, answer their question in two lines, suggest one product for their answer, and ask one question. If they reply, answer the same day. Ask "Where did you hear about us?" too; it is self-reported attribution, and it catches what links miss. AI drafts each note from their answer in about a minute; you make it true and send it yourself.

Subject: Your [free answer], and one questionHi [first name, if you have it],Thanks for joining. I'm [your name], and I started [store].You picked [their answer]. For that, I'd [one tip in one line], and start with [product], because [one reason].What have you tried so far? And where did you hear about us? Just reply.[Your name]

• Tool: Shopify Customers and your own email. ChatGPT or Claude to draft.
• Time: about 30 minutes a day.
• You will have: a personal note to everyone who joined, and their replies in one place.
• It worked if: at least 1 in 5 people reply.
• Common mistake: leaving it all to the welcome email. The automated email delivers the free thing. The personal note is what gets a reply, and a reply is how a first order starts.

7. Count views, signups and first orders every Sunday

Every Sunday, write down how many people saw your popup, how many joined per 100 views, and how many who joined have placed an order. Change one line of the popup after every 500 views, not by the calendar.

Get the numbers. In Apps, then Forms, each form shows "Views", "Submissions" and "Completion rate", the share of people who saw it and joined. Add your three forms together. Then, in Customers, make a segment with customer_tags CONTAINS 'popup' AND number_of_orders >= 1. The count is how many people who joined have bought. Write one row a week in your sheet. Paste the numbers into ChatGPT or Claude to work out "per 100 views" if you like, then check the sums.

Use this rule. Do not run an A/B test: at a few hundred views a week it would take months to give an answer. Change one thing at a time and give each version 500 views.

• Fewer than 3 joined per 100 views: change the headline first. Use the second most-asked question from step 1, or say the free answer more plainly.
• 3 or more per 100 views: keep the headline. Change one other line: the question, the answers, or the button.
• 30 or more people joined and none has ordered after 4 weeks: the free thing does not lead to your products. Change it, then the welcome email. Ask the people who replied what stopped them. If people do join but no one buys anything on the store, the problem is the store, not the popup. Why no one is buying shows how to find the reason.
• People join, but few reply to your note: your question is too broad. Ask about one moment, such as "What did you try last?"

Judge the popup by first orders, not signups. A "20% off" popup can bring more signups and fewer orders at full price. The Klaviyo Community store owner who switched from money off to free shipping in July 2026 got slightly fewer signups, and more people who bought at full price and came back. Once people buy, set up emails that run on their own, follow up on carts left behind, and work on the second order and order size. Subscribers who joined and then go quiet get a win-back email later.

Week: [date]Popup version: [headline]
Views (all forms): [number]
Joined: [number]
Joined per 100 views: [number]
Joined and ordered (all time): [number]
Replies to personal notes: [number]Next change (only after 500 views on this version): [one line to change]

• Tool: Shopify Forms analytics, a Shopify customer segment, and your Google Sheet.
• Time: 30 minutes every Sunday.
• You will have: one row a week, and one change to the popup for every 500 views.
• It worked if: you can name this week's joined per 100 views and how many subscribers have ordered.
• Common mistake: changing three things at once after one quiet day. You will not know which change did what.

Your popup checklist for the next 4 weeks

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Work through this list with an AI assistant

It drafts the work and keeps track of what is done.

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Step 1 · Find the question shoppers ask before they buy

• Copy 30 questions shoppers asked before buying into a sheet and group them.
• Pick your free thing from the most-asked question and test the one-line offer on 5 people.

Step 2 · Write your email popup

• Write the popup words, one question with 3 or 4 answers, and the success message.

Step 3 · Make the free thing and send it at once

• Put your free thing on a store page and redirect the popup to it.
• Turn on a welcome email that sends the link, and test it with two addresses.

Step 4 · Set up your Shopify popup

• Build the phone and desktop popups in Shopify Forms with the tag, the question and the right consent setting.
• Test the popup on your phone in a private window.

Step 5 · Bring 100 people a day to your free thing

• Put an inline form on its own page and tag a link for each source.
• Every daySend 100 personal messages offering your free thing.
• Every dayGive 20 answers in 5 places where shoppers ask your question.
• Every dayPost twice on each of your two channels.

Step 6 · Write back to every new subscriber

• Every dayWrite a personal note to everyone who joined in the last 24 hours.

Step 7 · Count views, signups and first orders

• Every SundayCount views, signups per 100 views and first orders from subscribers.
• After 500 viewsChange one line of the popup using the rule in step 7.

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