Update: After a few years of trying out various different plugins, we realized that most solutions were buggy and didn’t solve all the problems. That’s why we created a much better solution for our own sites. It has A/B testing, built-in reporting, tons of great designs, various different optin types, exit-intent and much more. You can get it at Check out OptinMonster.
Recently Grant Griffiths of Headway Themes informed us about their newest product called Pippity, a WordPress based popup solution. Normally, we are strictly against using popups because it ruins the user experience, but Pippity may have changed our mind. You are probably wondering why? Because just like they say it, it is a people pleasing popup that increases conversion. Now before you start thinking we are just praising this plugin to create hype, let us explain to you why we hate popups, and how Pippity is different.
Note: Few of our users asked in the comment which one is better between Pippity and Popup Domination: Popup Domination vs. Pippity Review
An average popup is usually opened on a separate window (normally when you visit a website or when you click on the screen). Those are freaking annoying as heck. Then there are the other lightbox popups that you probably see a lot of bloggers using. Now those are not so annoying, but the reason why it ruins the user experience is because they are always generic. Usually those sites always promote the same offer on all pages no matter where the user comes from, what page they are viewing, etc. Now only if you could make the popup even more friendly that it doesn’t even seem like a popup (i.e offer useful information that is targeted and relevant). Well that is where Pippity comes in play. It allows you to show post specific popups, category specific popups, page specific popups, referrer specific popups, and much more. You can totally streamline the process and do split A/B testing to make sure that your users are not getting pissed of.
Now that is cleared and out of the way, let us continue with showing you why we were so impressed with Pippity. For those who don’t want to read the long tutorial, you are more than welcomed to watch the video below:
How to Create a Popup in Pippity?
After you have installed and activated the plugin, you will see a new tab added in the menus called Pippity. You can find the Create Popup link there to begin. First you have to select a base theme (from the available choices).
Once you click on that, you have the option to stylize. Each theme comes with a selection of color schemes for you to chose from. There are quick styles where you can simply change the color scheme, and then there is the option for you to customize fonts, font sizes, overlay and/or add advanced CSS. For the sake of our example, we will simply go with quick styles.
Notice, how I changed the purple scheme to the red one. You can also change other options as you can see from the options panel. Once you hit Save & Continue, you will be taken to the screen to edit popup copy.
Now if you notice in the screenshot, the edit copy is mainly built for email conversions. This is something we didn’t like because that is confined with the old school marketing mindset. What if we want to utilize a lightbox to promote a plugin of ours? What if we want to point a user on a specific post to another post that they might like? An option like that does not exist YET. We reached out to Grant Griffiths and expressed our remarks. He assured us that this feature is in the works and will be released in the future updates.
Once you are done editing your copy that is when the interesting things come up. Setting the Popup Behavior.
As you can see in the screen above, there are quite a few neat options there for you to control your popup behavior. This is only part one of this page. The part two will follow after this. Any ways lets cover part one. First option allows you select the time before popup appears. We set it to 30 seconds. Default value is 60 seconds. This keeps the user from getting pissed of by showing the lightbox right away (which is annoying). We also checked the option to open at end of article. So basically, if the user scrolls down all the way and they are done reading, that is when the popup will show.
Showing popups to new users is not a good idea because it may turn them away (unless ofcourse it is a welcome popup). But for this one, we said the user must have viewed one page on the site before a popup appears. The other option is to not display the popup for 60 days if the user clicked the ‘X’ button to close the popup. We also turned on Basic filter for this poppup to only show on posts pages. So it will not show popups on your category archive pages, etc. Note: We expect behavior settings to vary depending on how you are using the popup.
Now the next part is more interesting. It is called “Power Filters”. We are truly in love with this specific section because it lets you specify tons of parameters. See the image below:
So the options available are if the user is on a specific page type (Posts only, or custom post type). You can specify if the user is on a specific post (this can be helpful). If the user is in a specific category which will allow you to show targeted advertisement. If the user is referred by a specific source (which we think is the best option ever). Because now you can partner up with companies who send you regular traffic and show welcome notes or special offers to their users. You can also show popups by user status for example if the user is not login, you can ask them to register for your site (if it requires registration). The possibilities are infinite.
You can also add multiple filters to target even more. Once you are done setting up your Popup behavior, you will be taken to the screen where you can simply paste your Email Newsletter snippet. You don’t have to customize anything there. Just go to Aweber or MailChimp and copy the webform HTML code they provide you. Then paste it in the box and Pippity will take care of the rest.
Again, this screen should not be mandatory for popups if you are running a custom designed popup that doesn’t require email signups. As Grant Griffiths pointed out that they are working on adding more themes that will allow users to make the popup (non-email capture) then hopefully there will be a setting so only email newsletter specific themes will show this option whereas others don’t see it at all.
Once you paste the email code, then you have created your first popup. But it is not Active yet. You have to activate it. Which was a bit tricky for us while doing the review. We are waiting on the page to load the popup only to realize nothing is happening. Then we went and took a closer look and there is a very tiny button called Activate which can you find on the main Pippity screen next to each popup.
Now we are hoping that they make an upgrade and fix this to improve user experience. Because if we can miss the activate button, then a lot of users can miss it. There should be a better transition or maybe another screen that says Activate this popup now or Skip for now.
Pippity does provide analytics for each popup such as impressions, converstions, etc. We haven’t had to extensively try it on a live site, so we don’t know how good the analytics system is. But from what it seems, they provide details of Impressions, Conversions, Conversion rate, Time on Popup, and Time on Page. Would be cool if we can embed heat mapping software like CrazyEgg to see what the user is looking at most at our popup.
Now if you can’t tell already, Pippity is made for conversions. Their is another exciting feature that lets you A/B split test between popups. All you have to do is click Clone on a popup from the Pippity panel. Then edit what you want to edit then activate both popups. Obviously keep the different name, so you can tell which one is which.
Pippity team also releases theme packs which if we are correct is delivered to you for FREE as long as your 1 year support package is active. Uploading a theme is pretty simple. Click on the Upload Themes menu option under Pippity. Then select a file and click on Upload Theme Pack.
While Pippity has a lot of pre-made designs to offer, it may not satisfy the needs of designers and developers working on a custom project. Well you have nothing to worry because they have a developers option available which lets you customize your theme the way you want. At the bottom of every page, there is a link called Dev Tool and Make $ With Pippity. Again, this is a bad choice to put important links like those at a place where it cannot be seen. These links deserve to be under the main menu where it can be seen by more users.
Well aside from our ranting about the menu placement, this custom theme tool is pretty nifty. You can select a pre-existing theme and duplicate it, so you have a base to start with. Or you can just go on ahead with creating your own custom theme. We probably will be using this section a lot once we start running these on WPBeginner.
Now you are probably wondering about how much does this plugin cost because it certainly has tons of cool options. The pricing structure goes something like this:
$49 for Single Site License with 1 year of support and updates
$87 for 5 sites License with 1 year of support and updates
$164 for Unlimited sites license with 1 year of support and updates. You also get early access to beta releases.
Grant and the Pippity team were kind enough to provide all WPBeginner users with a 25% coupon “wpbeginner25“. Not sure when this coupon will expire, so get this amazing deal while it lasts.
Have you used Pippity? If so, then what are your thoughts about this plugin? What are your thoughts in general about popup plugins like these? Do you think with the Power filtering options, does Pippity make popups more user friendly? Let us know in the comments below.
Heather says
I am using Pippity and Mailchimp and right now it is adding new sign ups to my subscribers but they aren’t a member of any groups. Is there a way to designate a specific group for sign ups through the pippity plug in, I’d like to be able to target specifically those signing up via this method.
Jk says
I suppose the best place to get a guaranteed response from pippity are on blog comments for reviews of their product. I purchased their service based on the reviews on this site, however, their support is less than stellar. ‘Nicky hajal’ responded once and I never heard from him again even after leaving four consecutive emails from jan 13th till today.
The plugin does not work and I have received no response from pippity, which, from the reviews I’ve read online is common.
hey, Nicky Hajal- if you ever read this – case # 1220 is still waiting and your plugin still does not work.
Antonio says
Sorry to say that the plugin doesn’t work on my site either! I purchased it after reading the reviews and I wish I could ask for a refund. I doubt though…
Miha says
Hi!
I’m looking for a solution that will open Post in a popup?
(when visitor clicks on a post from archives page…)
Any help?
Thanks!
Sean Malarkey says
Mobile? Does Pippity support or offer a mobile opt-in? I have a site where more than half the traffic is mobile…
Thanks in advance!
Editorial Staff says
Don’t think it does.
Admin
Chel says
I want to use Pippity for a client’s popups but he’s requested something I’m not sure I can make work in Pippity.
He wants to add a “Don’t show this again” option/link for users to click on if they don’t want to see the popup again.
Is this possible to add? I can’t really find an answer in the support system or documentation (looked at a friend’s documentation).
If you know, please let me know!
Thanks!
Editorial Staff says
It’s possible, but you have to understand that “close” feature works with browser cookies. You can set it so that if a user clicks the close button, it shouldn’t show the popup for 365 days. BUT if the user uses another browser or another computer, they will see the popup again. If the user clear their browser cookies, they will see the popup again as well.
Admin
Daisy says
As much as I’d like to like this plugin, the promised functionality just isn’t there. The advanced filters don’t really work, and there are several other issues that prevent it from working. The support guy seems nice, I got a personal response, but I’m afraid it still doesn’t work
I’ll likely be looking for a refund soon.
Nicky Hajal, Pippity Developer says
Hey Daisy,
Just seeing this!
If I recall, we got all your issues straightened out but feel free to get back in touch if you need more help!
-Nicky
Bharath Gurram says
By reading this article I bought this plugin with “WPBEGINNER25” Coupon code. I’ve downloaded the Pippity V 1.7 and Installed it in my Blog and I tried to upload the Theme Packs which came with the Purchase. Unfortunately even though the upload is successful, I didn’t get the theme packs installed. They’re not showing up when i tried to created a New POP-UP. This was my first Problem.
My Second Problem was the Loading time of my WP Blog is Doubled, Before Installing Pippity It was 1.5 Sec, After Installing Pippity It was 3.2 Sec.
My Third Problem, Pippity Analytics is Not Working. My Google Analytics Account shows hundreds of Impressions but Pippity not even showing 10% of the Number. I’ve enabled the POP-UP on every page. So For Every Impression I would get that POP-UP.
So, I sent a email to Pippity Support Informing the 3 Problems. It has been 3 days after that but No Response from them. So I sent the email once again, Fortunately I got the Response from “Nicky Hajal”.
I was asked to Install the beta version instead of stable Version and they asked me my blog url to check the loading time. So, I’ve downloaded the beta version and installed it and my first problem was solved. All the Theme Packs are working fine.
I’ve sent an email to Pippity Support informing my blog URL and the Screenshots from “GTMETRIX” showing them the loading time when Pippity was Installed and when Pippity Was not installed. I waited for reply for 4 Days but No Reply from them.
I really can’t understand, why’re they so irresponsible?
I sent them a email once again Yesterday asking them to refund my money since they’re not able to solve my Problems. I has been 24 HRS still no Response.
I bought this plugin only because WPBEGINEER Rated it so high and because of the Analytics Feature. But All the stats of Pippity are Wrong. For my Other Blogs i use Aweber. They’ve a Inbuilt Lightbox POP-UP which loads very fast. I’ve seen some great conversions with Aweber.
Since I’m using Mailchimp and Feedburner for my Other Blogs I bought this Plugin.
Guys, My Best Suggestion “Don’t Every BUY PIPPITY”. It’s waste of your money. They don’t even answer your Problems. Very Very Irresponsible.
I really can’t control my anger because of there irresponsibility. I never saw such a irresponsible company. I’ll surely make an article in my blog about this so that every user should know about this.
I also request WP BEGINNER not to promote companies like this. I Personally lost trust on WPBEGINNER because of your review. You said it was great. From now, I’ll think twice before taking any suggestion from WP BEGINNER. Thanks for the Review WPBEGINNER.
Editorial Staff says
Hello Bharath,
First of all, let me apologize for the bad customer service experience that you have had with them. Our experience was more than pleasant, so we can only write about our own experience. Secondly, it worked great at WPBeginner when we ran the lightbox popups.
Because it is a jQuery plugin, sometimes themes or even other plugins may conflict with the lightbox. On List25, we noticed a conflict with our slider plugin. So we had to change positioning and such.
Sometimes bugs are being fixed that’s why Beta version might come handy. I’m by no means trying to defend Pippity and their customer service. From what you describe, it definitely seems like a horrible experience. I will nudge one of their guys to take a look into this issue. Hopefully they can help rectify the situation.
-Syed
Founder of WPBeignner
Admin
Nicky Hajal, Pippity Developer says
Hey Bharath,
Sorry to have missed this until now and I hate to hear your experience with me was so awful!
Looking in our support history, I see my response to you on the 18th and yours 4 days later on the 22nd, Sunday. We communicated that same day and I worked on resolving your issue immediately (during my weekend).
Monday I had to be away unexpectedly as I mentioned in an email to you. You requested a refund that day and I processed it as soon as I returned on Tuesday.
I am very sorry that my service didn’t meet your expectations but I also feel that I worked hard to resolve your issues promptly with solid communication throughout.
I also happily provided you with your refund with absolutely zero questions asked despite that I’d already put in time on your request – I understand that Pippity just isn’t for everybody.
If you have any suggestions of how I can improve my support response, I am very open-minded and would love to chat more.
Thanks!
Nicky
Mkusua says
Hi, this is very cool and is something i have been looking for. In fact since most pop ups didnt have this “pop up on specific pages and posts “i was thinking of having one developed or suggesting it other pop up creators. Just imagine using this with optinskin ,(which is a plugin that is not a pop up but has the same targeting feature)- MAD conversions. Although i wish it was a one time fee i will still get one.nice work
robolist says
This WordPress Plugin seems very cool. I am defiantly going to give it a go for the blog we are building now. Cheers guys.
JDetroit says
I went to the web site and filled out the form as I had a quick question and never for a reply.
I’ll ask here as perhaps there were technical issues with my message getting through.
What if I don’t want to have the CTA be a mailing list sign up. What if I want to direct people to a Facebook page, or a WordPress entry, or a WordPress page, or Amazon link or any other URL? Does Pippity support this?
Thanks!
nhajal says
@JDetroit Hi there! Yes, I’m glad you left a comment here and that I saw it – we have been having some trouble with the contact form, I’ll have to take a look at that.
As for your request: I think that too is something that this post focused on and it’s something that we’ll absolutely be working on making easier for our upcoming release.
At the moment, this _is_ possible, however it requires manually editing the theme (which is fairly easy to do). Soon, it will be a part of the native interface.
If you have any questions, I’m happy to help here or email support@pippity.com (I’ll be on the other end of the line).
Thanks!
-Nicky
MariAdkins says
@wpbeginner but … but … i need my socks so my feet don’t freeze and fall off …. #WordPress
wpbeginner says
@mariadkins i guess then you can keep your socks on
nhajal says
Hi there!
I’m one of the main developers behind Pippity so I just wanted to say thanks for genuinely sharing your experiences, likes and dislikes, with the plugin. It’s so helpful for me to see other’s interaction with it step-by-step in an unbiased way.
You’re right about the activate link. This will be fixed in the next release – I’ll probably make it a standalone button and have a tooltip pointing to it, with a message, after creating a popup.
As for the footer links – I do see what you’re saying. However, I saw the DevTool and Affilate Program links as being pages for very specific users and wanted to keep the main interface as concise as possible for the average user. Hope that makes sense!
The most important update, as you mentioned, is providing more ‘end-points’ in Pippity. It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about and plan for the next release or perhaps one after that. I agree that this will really add to its versatility.
I was really happy to add click-trigged popups (http://pippity.com/how-to-make-a-clickable-popup) in the update right after our initial release because that to potentially opens up a whole new use, besides just email-marketing.
Thanks again! Feel free to email me (nicky at tumbledesign.com) if you’re interested in discussing your specific needs more deeply; I love to gather user-input and work from there.
-Nicky
wpbeginner says
@nhajal Thanks for taking your time and replying to this thread Nicky. I certainly understand your point about the DevTool and Affiliate program. What I was suggesting was that some users might not even know such thing exists unless they look closely. Sure developer tools may be something that not everyone wants, but the make money part is definitely something that everyone would be interested in (“I may be speaking just from my point of view”).
geoffreygordon says
@nhajal the link us dead probably because you included the end bracket in the URL, it just be http://pippity.com/how-to-make-a-clickable-popup
scottwyden says
I was considering the plugin until I read “1 Year Access to Support & Updates” – I’m not a fan of having to renew for updates. That is one advantage of popupdomination, that it’s a one-time fee.
wpbeginner says
@scottwyden Most certainly that is one of the advantages of Popup Dom. But for a sustainable business model, many top notch plugin developers are going this route.
This allows them to continue to produce addons, and new features.
Take Gravity Forms for the example… I’d happily renew at the end of the year because they release kick ass add-ons.
scottwyden says
@wpbeginner understandable to a point. For something like Gravity Forms I could see myself paying for support if I had to (but I’m glad they don’t do that). For a plugin like this I would never pay extra.
nhajal says
@scottwyden That’s certainly a fair concern and one I can empathize with. It’s always a game of trade-offs.
We’ve put a ton of time into working with our users to answer their needs since launch – that’s where features like Power Filters have come from. If we didn’t feel this would be a sustainable project in the long-term, we would have to invest that same time elsewhere.
Pippity certainly isn’t for _everyone_ but I think customers who are pleased with the current arrangement feel:
1) That a powerful marketing tool pays for itself in a single sale (or two)
2) Protected knowing they’ve got someone immediately available if they need help
This is something we think about and actively question, so I appreciate hearing your thoughts on it and would be happy to discuss more!
scottwyden says
@nhajal My suggestion would be to offer another level with unlimited support and upgraded
wpbeginner says
@scottwyden@nhajal Then how the heck would they be able to innovate… Does Microsoft provide unlimited support and upgrades? Does Apple provide unlimited support and upgrades?? Does Adobe?? I can go on and on with this list…That model is not scalable…
Your suggestion essentially ignores what he is saying…
One thing they can do is have lite version and pro version. Lite version being one time fee with basic features and unlimited updates (ehm bug fixes)…
Pro feature with all new features and support.
scottwyden says
@wpbeginner@nhajal I’m not saying to get rid of the subscription option. I’m saying add another level that is a lifetime plan. Like how Themedy, Press75 and so many other companies do it.
wpbeginner says
@scottwyden@nhajal Are you suggesting that this unlimited plan pricing be extra high??
scottwyden says
@wpbeginner@nhajal $299 or $399 maybe. I mean, to get the full popupdomination plugin and all of its add-ons you’re talking $200-ish
wpbeginner says
@scottwyden@nhajal Yeah that is an idea…. Lets see how Pippity team decides to work this.
geoffreygordon says
I have to put my 2 cents here, it look like a great plugin, I wonder if its themes are as good looking as http://www.popupdomination.com . However the analytic’s looks like a good feature. Looks promising.
wpbeginner says
@geoffreygordon We actually intend to do a side by side review of Pippity and Popup Domination later this week.
geoffreygordon says
Sorry, I stole the thunder a little early, look forward to the comparison
AdamWarner says
I’ve just purchased Pippity and have owned Popup Dom for awhile. My opinion is that the Pippity themes exceed (or at least match) the visual styling of the Popup Dom themes.
In fact, I’m not sure if it’s outlined above, but after I activated Pippity, it gave me the option to import my Popup Dom themes.
I’m VERY happy with Pippity with only a few minutes of playing with the backend. The features are far and above what Popup Dom offers and judging by the replies of @nhajal above, the support is (and hopefully will continue to be) top notch. Just do a search for Popup Dom’s Get Satisfaction support page to compare;)
I’m one happy customer so far. Great work @nhajal …now how do I contact you for freelance plugin dev projects? Checked your profile here but no info…I guess I’ll just have to Google your name;)
wpbeginner says
@Adam W. Warner@nhajal Thanks for sharing your insights Adam.
Adam W. Warner says
It’s my pleasure:) @wpbeginner @nhajal
nhajal says
Adam, thanks for the kind words and I’m so glad you’re enjoying Pippity!
Interacting with users is half the fun so solid support isn’t going anywhere
Best email for me is nicky at tumbledesign dot com. Feel free to get in touch anytime!