Interview: Tom Hermans on the menace of popups

The well-known WordCamp speaker on how popups have taken over the web, and why that’s a bad thing.

From tech-savvy web designers to ordinary consumers, everyone seems to get annoyed by popups. Yet they’re growing ever-present on all sorts of websites, from editorial to corporate. So what’s really behind this trend? We chatted to Belgium-based WordCamp speaker and freelance web designer Tom Hermans, who’s spoken publically on this issue; to find out more…

net: Could you introduce yourself to anyone who doesn’t know you?

Hi, I’m Tom. I’m one of the regular speakers at WordCampNL in the Netherlands, co-organising and speaking at WordCamp Belgium and WordPress Meetup Antwerp. I also attend, and sometimes speak at, other frontend and WordPress-related conferences.

net: You’ve said that you feel too many web designers are using popups, notifications, etc right now. Where do you think that comes from?

A lot of the incentives come from marketing, in my experience. They’ll request a popup to direct people to the company Facebook page, to beg for Likes, to have people subscribe to the newsletter, to promote something, or to have desktop notifications turned on (WHO DOES THAT ?!).

No one I know purposely clicks on these, apart from the newsletter signups. They just click them all away, getting more annoyed with every click. Often the sites are also not aware of the fact that I might have followed a link to an article FROM their social feed, so I’m already subscribed to their Facebook page, Twitter or newsletter.

Another reason is: “Site X is doing it so why don’t we?” I even once met a client who asked about a cookie notice popup not showing on his site. When I explained him that it was because the site didn’t use cookies, he insisted I put one on “cuz it looked professional”. I declined, of course.

GDPR is mandatory in some cases, but even then it can be done less intrusive than it’s often done nowadays.

net: And a lot of it is just unthinking, I’d expect.

Yes, some web designers just see these trends and just follow without thinking. I asked a question about who uses those big Google Maps cards you often see on web pages. Answer: no one. But one said: “I don’t use them, but I put them in my clients’ sites because they look nice”. That he’s unnecessary loading a bunch of JavaScript, wasting screen real estate, etc, for no reason didn’t occur to him. “If site X throws three popups, I can too.” That kind of thinking.

net: Interruptions of this sort are obviously annoying, but can there ever be a good reason for them, from a UX point of view?

Possibly. I’ve discussed it with three colleagues here, and one we might tolerate is the sliding in of a panel asking to subscribe to newsletter or a promotion at the end of an article. Not bam! in your face when you open the site. And also not a popup you need to click away from.

Another one is maybe the popup notification from Google Calendar, for example, when a meeting is starting soon, but that’s something you’d choose, not that’s imposed on you.

Sales and promotions can be handled without relying on a popup. In fact, it’s counterproductive, because people are starting to get conditioned to click all popups out of the way, so they can perform the task they came for (read the article, find your phone number, buy stuff, etc.)

net: Have you ever been asked to implement these kind of things, and if so, how did you respond?

In anything that I’m asked to implement, I always consider the impact on the user, and always try to make sure the end result is the most beneficial for him or her and the company. That’s why I advise against all popups, carousels, and annoying stuff in general. I visit a LOT of websites, and I recognise the pet peeves: the things that don’t work, or are confusing for people. And hence I try to avoid them in my own work.

Carousels can work: for example, to display a product from 16 sides, colours, etc, in a limited space. But not because “something needs to move on the home page” It’s the same as asking 16 required fields in forms; your signup rate will drastically go down.

It’s the same for annoying popups, music, littering your site with unexpected and unasked for interactions. The question is mostly: why would you do this ? The answer is mostly only beneficial for the company and not taking the user experience in regard. And also not thinking twice how annoyed people are by that experience and leave your site, possibly to never visit again because of it.

So, I advise, I object, and I won a lot of times, but I lost some too. Life quoi.