The Top 10 Popup Templates to Increase Conversions

Popup windows, which overlay website content to capture user information or deliver a compelling message, are incredibly effective tools for turning visitors into customers. Most web users are familiar with “list builder” popups—the kind that appear as you enter or exit a website and prompt you to share your email address in exchange for a perk or offer. 

But there’s more to popups than building your email list. In fact, there’s a flavor of popup for every stage of a shopper’s buying journey and for different types of conversion goals. When integrated with other personalization platform features like personalized search and customized product recommendations, popups become even more powerful.

A good popup —one that delivers your message at the perfect moment and motivates a shopper to act—requires a combination of compelling design and relevant messaging. 

Monetate has your back here. Our library of customizable popup templates and action prompts are focused on moving and motivating shoppers to take meaningful action. We’ve got a popup for every step of the customer journey. Here’s a step-by-step list of how to integrate popups into a flawless customer journey, one popup at a time.

Ten Popup Templates to Support the Ecommerce  Buying Journey

1. HTML Countdown Timer

• Experience type: Banner, HTML Countdown Timer
• Customer Stage: Purchase

Nothing motivates shoppers quite like the ticking clock of a limited-time offer. Monetate’s HTML Countdown Timer taps into this powerful psychological trigger by displaying a live, dynamic countdown that creates genuine urgency. Countdown timers work particularly well for flash sales, holiday promotions, and moving stock quickly. 

Our HTML Countdown Timer template is fully customizable so you can easily match your brand aesthetics by adjusting colors, fonts, and positioning. Set it to count down hours, minutes, and seconds for short-term promotions, or days and weeks for longer campaigns. Either way, it creates that visceral sense of “now or never” that transforms browsers into buyers.

2. Sticky Countdown Timer

• Experience type: Countdown Timer 
• Customer Stage: Awareness, Consideration, Purchase

A sticky countdown timer remains visible as shoppers scroll down the page. This persistent reminder that time is running out creates continuous urgency without interrupting the shopping flow. It’s particularly effective for long-form product pages where customers might spend significant time reading details or comparing options.  

Monetate’s Sticky Countdown Timer template can be attached to any offer or campaign to increase urgency (it works particularly well for flash sales, limited-time shipping deals, and seasonal promotions).

3. HTML Recurring Countdown Timer

• Experience type: Countdown Timer
• Customer Stage: Awareness, Consideration, Purchase

The HTML Recurring Countdown Timer adds a powerful dimension to time-sensitive promotions by automatically resetting at specified intervals. Monetate’s Recurring Countdown Timer template makes it easy for retailers to maintain continuous urgency for regular promotions like daily deals or weekend specials. 

It’s perfect for sharing express shipping cut-off times or displaying open/closing hours for stores and call centers. The recurring format helps establish shopping patterns that align with your promotional calendar.

4. Social Proofing for Product Detail Pages

• Experience type: Social Proof
• Customer Stage: Discovery

Our Social Proofing for Product Detail Pages template lets you showcase real-time customer activity, reviews, and ratings directly on product pages. It’s a powerful way to build immediate trust and credibility at two important phases of the buying journey: consideration and purchase. 

Shoppers who see others actively purchasing or positively reviewing products are significantly more likely to convert. Works extremely well for high consideration purchases where social validation helps overcome purchase hesitation. Think of it as a confidence creator.

5. Geolocation Action

• Experience type: Pop-Up
• Customer Stage: Awareness

A Geolocation Action popup prompts visitors to share their precise location, dramatically improving targeting accuracy—especially effective on GPS-enabled devices like smartphones. When customers opt in, you can deliver hyper-relevant experiences based on their exact location. Monetate’s Geolocation Action template makes it simple to allow users to opt in to receiving location-specific  notifications. 

Once permission is given, you can show nearby store details or location-specific promotions that feel personally relevant to each user. This creates an instantly more meaningful shopping experience for customers on the go which can boost conversions for region-specific promotions, sales, and events.

6. Drop a Session Cookie

• Experience type: In-Session Cookie
• Customer Stage: Awareness

The Drop a Session Cookie template lets you personalize a shopping experience  based on-session shopper behaviors that standard tracking might miss. A Monetate session is defined as, “consecutive activity on your site by one Monetate ID,” where Monetate ID = individual user. 

Session cookies store information for 30 minutes up to 12 hours, allowing you to target a visitor with relevant content as they navigate your site. For example, if a user adds an item to their shopping cart, you might recommend similar products based on this plus other pages the shopper has visited during their session. Session cookies expire when the browser closes, so they’re great for in-the-moment personalization experiences.

7. Add Video to an HTML Lightbox

• Experience type: Lightbox
• Customer Stage: Awareness, Consideration

Capture attention instantly with video content that appears in an elegant lightbox overlay. According to Wyzowl, 84% of video marketers credit video for directly increasing sales and keeping visitors on their site longer. Monetate’s Add Video to an HTML Lightbox template lets you seamlessly integrate product demos, promotional content, or brand stories that engage visitors without disrupting their browsing experience. 

A lightbox differs from a traditional popup in that it doesn’t open new windows or block page content.  Video lightboxes are perfect for adding short explainer videos, showcasing new collections, explaining complex products, or highlighting limited-time offers that demand immediate attention.

8. HTML Lightbox

• Experience type: Lightbox
• Customer Stage: Awareness, Consideration, Purchase

Monetate’s HTML Lightbox template lets you create an elegant overlay that dims the background while keeping visitors on your page. Deliver high-impact messaging without disrupting the browsing experience. Use lightboxes to prompt users to take an action like clicking over to their shopping cart or booking an appointment. With adjustable sizing and complete HTML/CSS flexibility, you can create compelling overlays that drive engagement while maintaining brand consistency.

9. Bazaarvoice Insert Images

• Experience type: Banner, Bazaarvoice
• Customer Stage: Any

Monetate’s Bazaarvoice UGC template makes it easy to integrate social media posts and customer photos curated through Bazaarvoice, creating the kind of visual (and authentic) shopping experience that digital shoppers have come to expect. 

According to Bazaarvoice, products with user-generated images see 140% higher conversion rates when shoppers interact with this content.  Perfect for homepage banners or product detail pages, these real-world images help shoppers visualize products in use, reducing purchase anxiety and increasing engagement.

10. Bazaarvoice Badging and Secondary Ratings

• Experience type: Badging, Bazaarvoice
• Customer Stage: Awareness, Consideration, Purchase

Our Bazaarvoice Badging and Secondary Ratings template allows retailers to display quality, value, and fit ratings from Bazaarvoice reviews. This is a form of “badging” (e.g., displaying a label that highlights something compelling about a product) which creates an instant credibility signal that influences purchase decisions. 

For example, showcasing “Rated High Quality” or star ratings for product qualities (e.g., 4.8/5 for Value) badges gives shoppers specific reasons to trust your products by addressing key purchase concerns.