Gamified Popup: 7 Types, Data + Examples

A gamified popup asks a visitor to play before it asks for an email. Across Wisepops campaigns, that order takes the signup rate from 4.82% to 10.6%.

The result varies more than the average suggests, and most of the variation comes from the trigger, the traffic it runs on and how long the game stays live.

Below: the seven formats in use, what our campaign data says about each, five examples from Wisepops customers, and the setup steps in the builder.

In this post:

• What is a gamified popup?

• Types of gamified popups

• Are gamified popups effective?

• Which traffic responds to a gamified popup

• Examples of gamified popups

• How to create a gamified popup

• More popup formats to try

What is a gamified popup?

A gamified popup is a popup campaign designed to engage website visitors with some kind of interactive activity, such as spinning a wheel with prizes, in exchange for a reward. Gamified popups drive more conversions than traditional popups thanks to their interactivity.

Below, a gamified popup with a prize wheel, an email field and a phone number field:

Types of gamified popups

Seven formats cover almost every gamified popup on an ecommerce site, and spin-to-win is the one most brands reach for first:

• Spin-to-win. A wheel divided into prize slices, each with its own probability. The default for a seasonal promotion with one offer behind it.

• Daily or advent calendar. A new prize behind each day or each short window, which gives a returning visitor a reason to come back. Common in December and during summer promotions.

• Giveaway or prize draw. One prize, drawn at the end of the period, in exchange for an entry. Works when the prize is worth more than a discount code.

• Quiz or product finder. Two to four questions about what the visitor wants, then a recommendation with the email field at the end. Captures preference data alongside the contact, which suits a catalog with a wide price range.

• Mystery reveal. An unnamed offer the visitor unlocks by submitting the form. The quickest to build, and it depends entirely on the promise being worth opening.

• Pick a gift. Two to four closed boxes, envelopes or icons, one of which holds the offer. Fits in a smaller popup than a wheel does.

• Scratch card. The visitor scratches a coupon with the cursor or a finger. The rarest of the seven, and the quickest for a visitor to finish.

Are gamified popups effective?

Across Wisepops popup campaigns between August 2025 and July 2026, gamified popups signed up 10.6% of the visitors who saw the form. Standard popups signed up 4.82%.

Both of the main format groups sit well above the standard popup:

Click-through follows the same order: 14.9% of the visitors shown a gamified campaign click something in it, against 3.9% on a standard popup.

The gap holds on both devices, which is worth knowing because a wheel is often assumed to be a mobile format:

Desktop gives a wheel or a quiz more room to be legible and more room to be ignored, and the two cancel out. Build for both and split the campaign only when the design needs it.

The average holds only if the campaign is set up well. Across individual campaigns the signup rate runs from 2.4% at the weakest tenth to 27.0% at the strongest:

On when to run one, from our own popup research:

Which traffic responds to a gamified popup

Splitting the same campaigns by where the session came from produces a range of almost six points:

Social and search visitors usually land without a specific product in mind, so a game is the first concrete thing on the page. Paid visitors land on a product page with an offer already in the ad, and a second offer competes with the first.

Target the wheel at social and organic landings, and give paid traffic a campaign that repeats the promise in the ad. Source conditions are set in the display rules, covered in the popup targeting guide.

Examples of gamified popups

Four gamified campaigns from Wisepops customers, all running on ecommerce sites:

• Emma Sleep, an interest selector before the email field

• La Belle-Iloise, two quizzes instead of a discount

• émoi émoi, an annual spin-to-win wheel

• Aime, a card draw in summer and a calendar in December

Emma Sleep: an interest selector before the email field

Emma Sleep sells mattresses, pillows and sleep accessories in more than 20 countries, and a first-time visitor has no way of knowing which product page to start on.

The always-on landing campaign opens with a choice, mattresses, pillows, beds or other, and only then shows the email and phone fields. The answer travels into the CRM with the contact.

Across all active markets the campaign holds a 5.5% average signup rate and has captured 2.2M contacts across markets. Ireland runs highest at 10.9%, and a localized Irish Week version of the same campaign reached 17.3% against the 7.4% the always-on version scores on that site.

Below, the Emma Sleep campaign with the preference step:

La Belle-Iloise: two quizzes instead of a discount

La Belle-Iloise has canned sardines, tuna and mackerel in Quiberon since 1932 and sells them through 92 boutiques as well as online. The reason a shopper pays more for the tin is the story behind it, and a discount popup carries none of that.

The group runs two quizzes instead. One asks about flavor preferences and routes the visitor to a product recommendation. The other tests knowledge of the brand, with a gift set as the prize.

Both reach near-total engagement rates and collect preference data the team exports for later campaigns. Onsite campaigns account for 7.6% of ecommerce revenue on the main site, with popups clicking at 9.9% across more than 100 campaigns on two brands and three websites.

Below, the flavor preference quiz:

émoi émoi: an annual spin-to-win wheel

émoi émoi sells family lifestyle products and runs its largest promotion around Mother's Day, the one week of the year when every competing brand is discounting at the same time.

The brand runs a spin-to-win wheel offering products, free shipping and discount codes, and has launched a new edition of it every year since 2023.

Each edition runs for a few weeks and then comes down, so the wheel stays tied to the promotion rather than sitting on the site all year. Onsite campaigns influence 20% of online revenue at the brand.

Below, the émoi émoi wheel:

Aime: a card draw in summer and a calendar in December

Aime sells skincare and supplements, and runs a game at both ends of the year, when a returning customer has the most competing offers in front of them.

The Game of the Summer shows three face-down cards and asks for an email before the visitor draws one. Every card wins something, from a full-size product to a voucher, so nobody reaches the second screen empty-handed.

The prize arrives on that second screen with a unique code, redeemable on the next order over 80 euros. Attaching the reward to a basket threshold is what stops a giveaway from costing more than it brings in, and it turns the prize into a reason to come back rather than a discount on the order in progress.

Below, the card draw and the prize reveal:

In December the brand switches to an advent calendar that opens a different gift each day. The campaign stays in place all month while the reward behind it changes, which gives someone a reason to come back to the site rather than to an inbox.

Aime attributes €300K in revenue to its onsite campaigns.

Below, the advent calendar:

How to create a gamified popup

Six steps take a spin-to-win campaign from a template to a live campaign in the Wisepops popup builder:

1. Choose a gamified template

2. Customize the design

3. Set the odds for each prize

4. Connect your email and SMS tools

5. Set the display rules

6. Publish and check the numbers

The same six steps on video:

Step 1: Choose a gamified template

In the Popups tab of the main menu, click New popup campaign.

In the template library, open the Gamification category:

Step 2: Customize the design

Double-click the element you want to change and the customization options open beside it. Match the wheel colors to your site so the campaign looks like part of the store:

Step 2 of the campaign is the prize reveal, which opens after the visitor submits the form and spins the wheel. Click Step 2 above the preview to edit it, or use Apply this design to all steps to carry the colors across.

Below, the prize reveal step:

Step 3: Set the odds for each prize

Click the wheel inside Step 2 to open the prize list. Each slice takes a label, a discount code and a win probability.

Keep the strongest prize rare enough that the offer stays credible, and give every slice something, because a losing slice ends the session:

Step 4: Connect your email and SMS tools

Go to Blocks and then Sync, select your provider, and choose the list the contacts should land in. Submissions sync in real time, so the welcome message can go out while the discount code is still on screen.

Below, the sync settings:

Step 5: Set the display rules

Open Display Rules and then Trigger. On Landing with a delay in seconds is the usual starting point for a wheel, and 10 to 20 seconds gives the visitor time to see what the site sells first.

Add a source condition here if you want the wheel on social and organic landings only, and a page condition to keep it off checkout.

Below, the trigger settings:

Step 6: Publish and check the numbers

Preview the campaign from the top right of the builder, then publish. If the campaign does not appear on the site, work through the display troubleshooting guide.

Give the campaign a week, then compare its signup rate against the 10.6% benchmark above.

FAQ

Do gamified popups convert better than standard popups?

On email capture, yes. Across Wisepops campaigns from August 2025 to July 2026, gamified popups signed up 10.6% of the visitors who saw the form against 4.82% for standard popups, and clicked at 14.9% against 3.9%. Whether those contacts buy depends on the offer behind the game, which is why redemption rate belongs in the reporting.

Which gamified popup format works best on Shopify?

Spin-to-win at 9.3% and the quiz, calendar, prize draw and mystery formats at 11.0% sit close enough that brand fit decides it. A quiz suits a catalog with a wide price range because it captures preference data with the email. A wheel suits a seasonal promotion with one clear offer.

When should a gamified popup appear?

After 10 to 20 seconds on the landing page, or after the second page view. On-landing triggers average 3.93% across all popup campaigns and campaigns shown after two or more page views reach up to 9.8%. Exclude checkout and cart pages so the game does not interrupt a purchase in progress.

Do gamified popups work on desktop?

Yes. Gamified campaigns sign up 10.8% on mobile and 9.4% on desktop, a difference of 1.4 points, against 4.98% and 4.82% for standard popups. The format roughly doubles the signup rate on either device, so there is no reason to run it on phones alone.

How do you stop a discount code from being reused?

Issue a unique code per signup instead of one shared code, and set an expiry date on it. Unique codes also make redemption countable per campaign, so you can see how many prizes turned into orders.

More popup formats to try

Formats that pair with a gamified campaign, or replace it when the promotional window closes:

• Welcome popups for the always-on capture campaign

• Exit popups for visitors about to leave

• Countdown timer popups for the last hours of a sale

• SMS popups for phone number capture

• Sticky bars for a persistent, low-interruption offer

• Black Friday popups for the peak weeks

• 50+ popup examples for design references