Elementor Popup Builder Review & Tutorial (2024 Guide)

Are you looking to grow your email list and boost conversions on your WordPress website? Using popups is a proven way to capture your visitors‘ attention and encourage them to take action. While popups done wrong can be annoying, when designed well, they are an extremely effective tool for generating leads and sales.

Elementor, one of the most popular WordPress page builders, includes a powerful popup builder in the Pro version. In this in-depth Elementor popup review and tutorial, I‘ll show you exactly how to create high-converting popups on your WordPress site using Elementor in 2024.

I‘ll also share some tips and best practices for designing user-friendly popups that don‘t hurt the user experience. Finally, I‘ll compare Elementor to some other top popup builder plugins and help you decide if it‘s the right tool for your needs.

Let‘s dive in!

What Are Elementor Popups?

Elementor is a drag-and-drop page builder plugin for WordPress that lets you visually design custom pages and posts. It‘s become hugely popular due to its flexibility, extensive widget library, and ease of use compared to coding layouts from scratch.

With the premium version, Elementor Pro, you get access to the popup builder. This essentially lets you use Elementor‘s visual, drag-and-drop interface to design popups and opt-in forms.

You can create many different types of popups, including:

Modal popups (appear in the center of the screen)
Slide-in popups
Top/bottom bar notifications
Full-screen popups

The popup builder gives you full control over the content and layout. You can use any Elementor widget inside your popups, giving you a ton of flexibility in the design.

Some key benefits of using Elementor popups include:

No coding required – The visual, drag-and-drop builder is beginner-friendly
Highly customizable – Full control over the content, style, size, position, animation, etc.
Targeting and trigger options – Display popups on specific pages/posts and set triggers like time on page, scroll depth, exit intent, and more
Built-in integrations – Easily connect your popup forms to popular email marketing services like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign and more

Whether you want to grow your email list, promote a sale or time-sensitive offer, reduce cart abandonment, or highlight key content, custom-designed popups can help you achieve your goals.

Next, let‘s look at how to actually create popups with Elementor.

How to Create High-Converting Popups With Elementor (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

Here is the step-by-step process for creating conversion-optimized popups using Elementor Pro in 2024:

Step 1: Install Elementor Pro and Connect to Your Email Marketing Service

First, make sure you have installed both the free Elementor plugin and Elementor Pro on your WordPress site. You‘ll need the Pro version to access the popup builder.

Once installed, navigate to Elementor → Settings → Integrations. Here you can connect your site to your email marketing service.

Elementor currently supports direct integrations with:

MailChimp
MailerLite
ActiveCampaign
Drip
GetResponse
ConvertKit
HubSpot
Mailster

Simply paste in your API key or follow the prompts to authorize the connection.

If you use a different email provider, you can connect to it via Zapier. Zapier lets you connect Elementor to 1000+ apps.

Step 2: Create a New Popup

To create a new popup, go to Templates → Popups → Add New.

Give your popup a name (this is just for internal reference), then click Create Template.

Now you can choose a pre-designed popup template from the library, or start with a blank popup. Elementor provides 100+ popup templates to help you get started quickly.

For this tutorial, I‘ll choose the Market popup template under the Promotional tab. You can of course pick whichever one you prefer, or build your own design from scratch.

Step 3: Customize the Popup Content and Layout

Now you‘re in the Elementor popup editor, which looks and works just like the page editor.

To customize the content, simply click on any element in the preview to edit its properties in the left sidebar. You can change text, images, colors, and more.

The popup template I chose has the following elements:

Heading
Text editor (for the description)
Form (email opt-in)
Button (submit button)
Image

You can add new widgets by dragging them from the left panel onto the preview. Remove elements using the X icon in the top right of the element box.

Feel free to use any of Elementor‘s widgets to make your popup stand out and match your branding. Some effective ones to consider are:

Countdown timer – Create a sense of urgency
Star rating – Provide social proof
Progress bar – Encourage completion
Video – Explain your offer
Testimonial carousel – Showcase happy customers

Elementor provides a ton of style and layout customization options. Adjust things like colors, typography, size, padding, alignment and more to get the look you want.

Once you‘re happy with the design, let‘s configure the settings and publish the popup.

Step 4: Configure the Popup Settings and Triggers

In the bottom left, you‘ll see the Popup Settings panel. Here you can configure the popup layout, style, entrance animation, and other behavior.

Some key settings to consider:

Layout: Choose the popup position (top, bottom, middle) and enable/disable the overlay (the semi-transparent background that appears behind the popup).
Close button/Esc key: Enable if you want to let visitors easily dismiss the popup.
Entrance animation: Choose an animation effect for how the popup appears, like fade in or slide in.
Prevent closing on overlay: Enable to force visitors to interact with the popup before they can close it. Use carefully to avoid frustrating people.

Once you‘ve customized the settings, click Publish to open the publishing options.

Here you can set display conditions and triggers that control where and when your popup appears.

In the Conditions tab, set the pages, posts, or other content where the popup should display. For example, you might want a popup to appear only on certain blog posts, or on all product pages.

The Triggers tab lets you choose what makes the popup appear. Options include:

Immediately on page load
After a delay (e.g. 30 seconds)
On scroll (e.g. once the visitor scrolls 50% of the page)
On click (when the visitor clicks a specific element like a button or link)
On exit intent (when the visitor‘s mouse moves towards the browser close button)

In the Advanced Rules, you can set some other helpful conditions, such as:

Show after X sessions or page views
Hide for logged-in users
Show when arriving from a specific URL (e.g. Facebook or a specific blog post)

Make sure to enable the "Don‘t show again" option so return visitors don‘t get annoyed by seeing the same popup over and over.

When you‘re done, click Save & Close.

Your popup is now live! View it on the front end of your site to test that it‘s working as intended.

Elementor Popup Design Tips and Best Practices

While popups are highly effective for generating leads and sales, they do run the risk of harming the user experience if implemented poorly. A popup that appears at the wrong time, is difficult to dismiss, or provides no value is only going to annoy people.

Here are some tips and best practices to make sure your popups engage rather than enrage your visitors:

Offer something valuable in exchange for the visitor‘s email address or other information. No one wants to subscribe to yet another boring newsletter. Offer a relevant lead magnet like an eBook, whitepaper, coupon code, free course, etc.
Write compelling copy and use strong calls-to-action on your popup button, e.g. "Get My Free Report", "Send Me the Discount".
Use exit-intent triggers if you want to capture visitors before they leave, without disrupting their browsing experience. Elementor lets you trigger popups when the mouse moves towards the browser close button.
If using a time-based trigger, set a delay of at least 30-60 seconds so the visitor has a chance to get value from the page first. No one wants to be bombarded with a popup the second they arrive on a website.
Design mobile-friendly popups that don‘t take over the whole screen. Google will penalize sites with intrusive interstitials on mobile. Elementor‘s responsive options make it easy to adjust the size and layout for different devices.
Limit how often the same visitor sees a popup with frequency capping and "don‘t show again" settings. You can also exclude existing customers or email subscribers.
A/B test your popups to optimize the copy, design, offer, and targeting for the highest conversion rate. Elementor doesn‘t have a built-in A/B testing feature, but you can set up an A/B test in Google Optimize.
Make the popup easy to close, with a clear "X" or "No thanks" link for visitors who aren‘t interested. Don‘t try to trick people into subscribing.
Personalize and target your popups as much as possible so they feel relevant to the individual visitor. For example, you could have different offers for people browsing different product categories, or for visitors who arrived via specific ad campaigns.
Focus on growing your email list with discount offers may get people to make a quick purchase, but getting them to opt in to your email list allows you to build a long-term relationship and make repeat sales down the road.

By following these guidelines, you can harness the power of popups to grow your business without jeopardizing your brand reputation or SEO.

Elementor Popup Builder Pros and Cons

Now that we‘ve covered how to create popups with Elementor and some design best practices, let‘s recap some of the strengths and weaknesses of using Elementor for your opt-in forms and popups.

Elementor Popup Pros

Visual, drag-and-drop builder is user-friendly even for beginners
Highly flexible and customizable with tons of design options
Can use any Elementor widget inside popups to create compelling, multi-media offers
Powerful display rules and targeting options to precisely control where and when popups appear
Integrates directly with popular email marketing services, CRMs, and webinar platforms
Exit-intent and scroll-based triggers help capture more leads without hurting user experience
Responsive design controls ensure popups look great on mobile devices

Elementor Popup Cons

Built-in popup analytics are limited – you can‘t easily see view and conversion counts inside the plugin
No native A/B testing feature to help you optimize your designs (however, you can set up an A/B test using Google Optimize or another tool)
The popup builder is only available in Elementor Pro which costs $49/year for a single site license
Since the popup builder is part of a bigger page building tool, it may have a steeper learning curve than a dedicated popup plugin

Overall, I believe Elementor is an excellent option if you want full control over the design and layout of your popups and you‘re already using Elementor to build other parts of your WordPress site. The extensive widget library and targeting options make it easy to create unique, high-converting campaigns.

However, if you don‘t need so much design flexibility and you want more robust popup analytics and optimization features out of the box, you might prefer a dedicated lead generation and popup plugin like OptinMonster or Thrive Leads. These tend to be a bit easier to use and include A/B testing and reporting functionality.

Inspiring Elementor Popup Examples

Need some inspiration for your own popup designs? Here are a few examples of effective Elementor popups being used by real websites:

Sleeknote‘s spin-to-win gamified popup: https://sleeknote.com/lead-generation/spin-to-win-popup
DealDoktor‘s exit-intent coupon popup: https://www.dealdoktor.de/magazin/online-shop-gutscheine/
Happier Human‘s lead magnet offer on a relevant blog post: https://www.happierhuman.com/how-to-be-happy/
Kennedy Blue‘s time-limited discount popup: https://www.kennedyblue.com/collections/best-sellers
Rich Page‘s "Save Your Spot" webinar popup: https://richpage.com/ufll-live-room/
VWO‘s multi-step popup survey: https://vwo.com/

Notice how each of these popups offers something of value that is highly relevant to the page content and the target audience. This is key to getting people to actually fill them out.

Elementor Popup Builder Review 2024: The Final Verdict

So, is Elementor the right solution for creating popups on your WordPress site in 2024?

If you want complete freedom to visually design high-converting popups and you‘re already using Elementor for other parts of your site, the popup builder is an excellent choice. No coding skills are required and you can leverage Elementor‘s full library of widgets, templates, and design options.

However, if you want the most user-friendly popup builder with the most comprehensive analytics, A/B testing, and optimization features, you may want to consider a dedicated tool like OptinMonster or Thrive Leads instead.

Ultimately, the most important thing is to follow popup best practices, create campaigns that offer genuine value to your visitors, and continually test and optimize your approach. When done right, popups are one of the most effective ways to quickly grow your email list and boost conversions.