NewsMatch Pop Up Best Practices

Posted on by Miranda Krapf

There have been some changes since our last blog post around Pop Up best practices for NewsMatch and other special campaigns, so we're releasing an updated guide.

Here are some general recommendations and best practices for using popups as part of NewsMatch, year-round campaigns, or special campaigns on your site. 

Installing the plugin

We recommend using Popup Maker plugin for setting up donation and newsletter signup popups on your site. 

Instructions for installing the plugin and creating a popup.

Recommended Pop Up Settings

Your popup should:

  • Be size “Large” or smaller from Popup Maker’s settings
  • Appear at the center of the bottom of the reader’s screen
  • Appear by sliding up from the bottom of the screen, over 350 milliseconds
  • Have an obvious “Close” button
  • Allow readers to interact with the rest of the page (do not use a full-page overlay)
  • Automatically open after 25 seconds (or more) on the page, because immediate popup appearances can be jarring. It can also be set to open after scrolling down a percentage of the page.
  • Be configured to not appear again for 2 weeks or more once dismissed by a reader
  • Be configured to not show on your donation page

You'll need to configure which pages the popup appears on, using the built-in conditionals feature. For disabling the popup on certain pages or in certain cases, read on in this blog post, or check out Popup Maker's paid extensions.

You'll also probably want to review the Popup Maker themes available and modify them to suit your own site's appearances. Once you've modified or created a theme, edit your popup to make it use your theme.

In addition to using Popup Maker themes, you can style popups using your site's WordPress theme's CSS, Jetpack’s Custom CSS Editor, or any other tool that allows you to define custom styles on your site.

What goes in a popup?

NewsMatch will provide calls to action, images, and gifs to be used leading up to and during the campaign. 

Here are some examples: https://www.newsmatch.org/info/downloads

Non-NewsMatch popups should have an engaging, short call to action along with an eye-catching button.

Need help?

There is a ton of additional information on the WP Popup Maker support pages: https://wppopupmaker.com/support/

If you have questions, sign up for one of INN Labs’ NewsMatch technical support sessions or email the INN Labs team at support@inn.org.