Discount Popup: 8 Examples & Best Practices [+How to Create]

There are many ways to share discounts…

Yet, a discount popup is the second most popular channel in ecommerce:

Here’s why: discount popups have an unmatched ability to focus visitors’ attention on marketing offers. That’s essential for motivating them to become customers.

But it’s not just about invading the screen and getting attention. Discount popups can be a versatile tool for converting traffic with sales promos of your choice.

Here, you’ll learn how to use discount popups the right way.

Click to go to sections:

• What is a discount popup?

• Playbook for discount popups

• Why use discount popups

• Discount popup examples

• How to create a discount popup

What’s a discount popup?

A discount popup is a popup window whose goal is to convince website visitors to convert (signup for a newsletter or make a purchase) by giving them a discount or a coupon. Over 60% of ecommerce businesses use discount popups to motivate visitors to make purchases.

With discounts being one of the top reasons for buying online, many ecommerce stores rely on promotion popups to get sales with this incentive. Discount popups are a great tool here because they grab and focus the attention of visitors.

Discount popup playbook

This playbook breaks down the highest-performing discount popup campaigns we see online brands using today. Click them to see how they work.

Why discount popups are a effective strategy for increasing conversions

Everybody loves to save.

Discounts are a tried-and-tested way to get window shoppers thinking about buying. But it’s not just the anecdotal evidence we rely on: ecommerce research gives us these insights into what customers think.

These findings mean that discount popups can:

• Increase your sales

• Help you get new customers faster

• Improve customer satisfaction with shopping

So, the takeaway here is—

Offering discounts with popups encourages customers to buy and, because of the savings, many of them will even be likely to spend a bit more (because they believe they’re getting a great deal).

Now, let’s see how successful businesses sell with discount popups.

Discount popup examples

We’ll take a look at these examples of discount popups:

• Email subscription discount popup

• “Buy one, get one free” popup

• Discount popup with segmentation form

• Minimum purchase discount popup

• Gamified (spin the wheel) discount popup

• Free shipping popup

• Product category discount popup

• Customer referral discount popup

1. Email subscription discount popup

Website: Nutrimuscle

Goal: Capture new leads and convert visitors into subscribers/customers

This popup gives a 5% discount on the first order for email and phone number signup. To make the offer more compelling, the campaign also emphasizes access to exclusive content, like nutrition tips, workout guides, and early access to product launches.

Why this discount popup works:

• Value-packed headline: Clearly communicates the reward (“Get 15% off your first order”).

• Relevant product imagery: Shows popular supplements and protein powders, aligning with the visitor’s interests.

• Highlighting the main benefit: The discount percentage stands out with a bold color, making it instantly noticeable.

• Extra perks: Access to guides and early product launches increases perceived value and encourages signups beyond just the monetary incentive.

Discount popup best practice:

• For Nutrimuscle, a percentage discount works better than a fixed amount because the average order size is moderate, making the discount feel substantial but not eroding profit margins.

• Pairing the discount with exclusive content or early access makes the offer feel premium rather than just transactional.

2. “Buy two get one free” discount popup

• Website: Blume

• Goal: Increase sales by generating a sense of urgency

Blume, a self-care brand, invites customers to buy two products and get the third one for free. Such discount popups are popular because online shoppers perceive this offer as a great value. Blume showed this discount offer popup on the homepage for one weekend to maximize the awareness of the deal.

Why this discount popup works:

• Enticing headline

• Beautiful design and branded color scheme

• Simple explanation of the terms

Discount popup best practice:

Use discount popups for time-limited “Buy one, get one free” promotions.

Such promos are great for selling items that need regular replenishment (like self-care), and products that complement each other.

The total price of the promo should be a bit over the average order value (AOV) at your store. For example, if your AOV is $50, go for no more than $60. Because if the difference is significant, many customers are likely to pass on the offer.

3. Discount popup with subscriber segmentation form

Website: Primal Pet Foods

Goal: Convert first-time visitors and segment them

A discount popup is also a nice opportunity to collect some information about visitors. In this example, the popup also asks to choose a pet along with their preferences—just what the brand needs to personalize future marketing emails.

Why this discount popup works:

• Visitor info collection form

• Creative format thanks to an awesome image of pets

• Quick to fill out—it takes only two clicks to answer the two questions

Discount popup best practice:

Use discount popups to also collect information about your potential customers. You can ask about their product preferences just like the example above. This info will be super helpful for your email marketing team to move visitors down the website conversion funnel.

Related: What is a website conversion funnel?

4. Minimum purchase popup

• Website: CODAGE Paris

• Goal: Get more orders over €100 in value

This discount popup example helps the brand upsell and increase the average order value. To motivate visitors to buy, it offers a 100% discount on a specific product. The choice of a product (a travel kit) is also right: it would introduce customers to multiple products.

Why this discount popup works:

• Limited-time, enticing offer

• Easy navigation thanks to the “Discover” button

• Convenient addition of the free product to the cart

Discount popup best practice:

Apply a minimum purchase discount or a free product for items that need to be regularly replenished or refilled. Add this offer to your discount popup and place the campaign on your homepage to raise maximum awareness.

5. Gamified (spin the wheel) discount popup

• Website: OddBalls

• Goal: Increase sales with discounts

Enter, spin, and win. That’s what spin-the-wheel popups are all about. A great thing about them is that you can choose to share any kinds of discounts or include perks like free shipping. Also, these discount popups can be extremely effective, converting up to 30% of visitors.

Why this discount popup example works:

• Gamification is a unique way to engage shoppers

• Colorful and eye-catching popup design

• Very easy to participate (only email required)

Discount popup best practice:

Use a spin-the-wheel discount popup to gamify the shopping experience on your website. 

It’s a proven way to generate leads. For example, this wheel popup campaign, generated 5,000 emails in one month. No worries about discount cheating, too: you can just limit the number of spins per visitor.

6. Free shipping popup

• Website: Atelier D'amaya

• Goal: Reduce hesitation to buy among first-time visitors

Extra costs like shipping are the top reason why online shoppers leave even after adding a product to the shopping cart. You can encourage your customers to buy with a free shipping discount popup like this.

Why this discount popup example works:

• Minimum copy to make the details of the offer clear

• Large field for the discount makes it super readable

• Multiple ways to close the popup: the CTA button and the "close" button

Discount popup best practice:

Show your free shipping offer on product category menu or on specific product pages. Viewing those pages suggests a real buying intent + you can reserve the homepage for other campaigns.

More : How to add popups to specific pages

7. Product category discount popup

• Website: Shutterstock

• Goal: Generate more sales of a product category

This discount coupon popup motivates customers to buy a particular product category. A campaign like this can drive traffic to that category and encourage visitors to explore more of your website. Note that this promotion popup requires no signup.

Why this discount popup works:

• Clearly stated benefit in the headline

• Brief but comprehensive description of the offer

• Easily available discount code

Discount popup best practice:

Use discount popups to drive visitors to specific pages, product categories, or products.

When visitors click Redeem now in the Shutterstock popup, they go straight to the product category. It’s an effective way to help your business grow by driving visitors to explore more pages from the homepage.

8. Customer referral discount popup

• Website: Saint Jane Beauty

• Goal: Encourage customers to refer friends

Want to build a popular customer referral program? You can drive referrals with a discount popup like this example from Saint Jane Beauty. This way, you can let every visitor know about this offer and get sales on autopilot.

Why this discount popup example works:

• Clear description of the benefit

• Makes friend referral easy with the share link

• Encourages customers to advocate for the brand

Discount popup best practice:

Use discount popups to motivate your loyal customers to spread the word about your business. It’s a win-win, really: both shoppers will get a nice discount coupon and you will also get two more orders (and possibly more loyal customers).

How to create a discount popup

Let’s create an email subscription discount popup, the most common campaign type.

I’ll be using Wisepops, a popup software rated 4.9 stars on Capterra and 4.7 Shopify (see examples of campaigns you can launch today).

Get an account to begin:

Step 1: Choose a popup template

Once in Wisepops popups dashboard, choose New popup campaign.

Next, you’ll see a selection of popup templates—I'll choose this one in the Shopify category:

Step 2: Customize your popup design

Of course, we need to make our discount popup look natural and good-looking. It’s easy thanks to the drag & drop popup editor in Wisepops: just click the element and start customizing.

Step 3: Add the discount code in the last step

A thank-you window appears when the visitors submit their emails and click Sign up in our campaign. That’s where you give the discount to them.

To customize this window, go to the Step 3 tab.

Once there, write the message and add the discount code. Here are discount code ideas for you. And add product recommendations there—bestsellers are a great idea!

Step 4: Choose where to show your discount popup

You should show your discount popup at the right time to maximize conversions.

By default, Wisepops will display your campaign:

• Only one time

• To every visitor

• On all website pages

• After they spend 5 seconds on your site

But you can make any changes: with Wisepops, you can trigger any visitor category and when the discount appears.

To change who will see your discount popup, go to Display Rules > Audience. For example, I chose to show the popup after one pageview:

Step 5: Publish your discount popup

Once you click Done Editing, Wisepops will take you to the campaign overview. 

There, click Publish to activate your discount popup.

To actually add the campaign on your website, just insert the Wisepops code snippet with a few clicks.

Additionally, if you prefer to have the gathered emails sent directly to your email application, you can easily set up the integration.

Discount popup: your next steps

Want more info about how to create and use discount popups to get sales? 

We got you covered.

Detailed instructions for your website:

• How to add a popup to Shopify

• How to add a popup to Wix

• How to make a popup for WooCommerce

• How to make a popup for a Webflow website

If you prefer a plugin, here’s our WordPress popup plugin for you.

Also, see more useful posts:

• Examples of cool popup designs

• Best practices for popups

• Beginner’s guide to popups