It is absolutely annoying when someone drops by without notice and does not leave till we show them the door. The key is to first have permission and then use it effectively.
A lot of websites suddenly ask a visitor to complete ‘customer satisfaction suvery’ like below and force him to make a choice before he inteacts with the rest of the site.
The site does not have the permission to ask such a question & interrupt the visitors browsing and yet a lot of site do this. This simply leaves a bad impression about the site & brand in the visitors mind of being interrupted without permission.
The right to ask for permission not automatic – it’s need to be earned or given.
A better way to do this is :
- Leverage the permission you already have e.g., from registered site visitors who opted in
- Request permission without ‘interupting’ their experience. e.g., the modren web allows this in several ways including using a fluid popup that dont require the person to fully stop his browsing experience in order to respond.
- Gain their attention first (say by offering a reward/benifit) and then gently seek permission in the process.
Every detail matters when you seek to build a great brand & great customer experience. Teaching your website some good manners is a start.