Pop-ups on website can be very annoying because most of them pop-up at a time when audience are about to savor the content that brought them to the site. This usually cause distractions to blog readers and visitors. I’ve heard people complained bitterly about it to the extent of taking a discussion never to come back to such site again.

Let truth be told, pop-up can be very annoying when it is not properly managed in such a way that it doesn’t stand in the way of audience to get what they wanted on a website. This is a major challenge for pop-up users. And that is where I found Popupally very useful among the free WordPress pop up plugins I’ve sampled.

Though, the Popupally free version is limited in about 3 critical ways, but that have been taken care of in the pro version. I’ll discuss this much later on this post.

The developers of popupally- Nathalie Lussier and Robin Li of Ambitionally really understood the challenges of internet marketers when it comes to effective use of pop up hence the solution they provided through this plugin.

True to their words; the plugin is really a polite, non obtrusive pop up that help you put the plight of your audience into consideration in the array of setting they made available and in-depth tutorials and documentation provided. Let’s try to X-ray the two versions of this plugin one after the other.

Popupally free version

The free version of popupally comes with so many features such as:

– Customization of the two default opt-in form templates.
– Ability to add an image to form.
– Awesome colour mix at your control including form background.
– Text box for individual form inputs that can also interprets HTML codes.
– Two form positions- at the bottom of post and pop up with time delay and exit intent capabilities.
– Ability to determine pages to show the form.
– Works seamlessly with any email system that generates HTML code for form design.
– Customisable ‘Thank you page’ new subscriber could be redirected to immediately after sign up.

These are wonderful features you least expected could be included in the free version. That is why popupally is the best free WP pop up around. And that is why we use it for now on this blog even though we have plan underway to upgrade to the pro version.

Nathalie and Robin really exemplifies the marketing concept that gives out the complete package of a quality product free of charge with no string attached but require you to pay only when you need the add-ons that are equally important. What a fantastic insight!

Like I said earlier, though the free version is complete in itself, it is limited in terms of offering a truly polite and unobtrusive pop up that does not annoy visitors and subscribers at every stage of opt-in process.

For instance, a subscribed audience should not be greeted with a popup for an offer he or she has subscribed for. This happens on a free version, but cleverly taken care of on the pro version through one of the add-ons.

Below is a table that lists the difference that exists between the pro and free versions.
As much as the pro version is better than the free version, I strongly feel popupally free version is still the best pop-up plugin on WordPress repository if you use the exit intent option. This should be the way to go if you’re on low budget. The only challenge you’ll experience is the repetitive popup that subscribed audience or customer will continue to see until you’re buoyant enough to upgrade to premium.

Do I here you say how do I set the free version to exit intention? Well, that is what I’m about to walk you through.

How to install popupally and set to exit intent

All you need do is to either download it from WordPress plugin repository and then upload to your WordPress blog or install directly within your WordPress website.

To install within your site which is easier and better if you ask me; you’ll go to ‘Plugin’ on your admin dashboard and click on ‘Add New’. Type Popupally in the search box on the right. Hit enter on your device. You should see popupally in the search result.

Click on ‘Install’ and then follow the process to activation.

Download our eBook on ‘How to install plugin like a pro‘ if you need more insight into plugin installation.

You’ll have to design your pop up form before setting the delivery options. For in-depth tutorials, I suggest you read the documentation provided by the developers here. You may also watch installation tutorial below.

Welcome back! To set the plugin to exit intent; mouse-over popupally on your WP dashboard and click on ‘Display Settings’. On the setting page, you’ll see two setting options which you can rename under the ‘Style Settings page’.

There are three options available. The time delay, exit intent and embed options. Check the exit intent box and set the pages you want the popup to show up. You can also set the time interval you want the popup to re-appear.The option for ‘Thank you page’ activation can be set within the box too. Don’t forget to prepare a dedicated page for this purpose which you can set as the thank you page within the setting page.

Please note that I’ve not been able to get this thank you page to work on the free version. Then, the fact that Popupally does not provide support on the free version makes it a little difficult to wriggle a way around it.

These are some of the short fall of the free version which continues to justify the need to upgrade to the premium version.