By adding a fade-in animation to the popup container, we believed that the smoother, more polished reveal would create a more refined user experience. This would help the popup feel less intrusive and potentially boosting opt-in conversions for both email and SMS.

An A/B test was conducted across multiple brands’ website popups to evaluate the impact of introducing a fade-in animation to the full popup display.

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Visitors were randomly split between the two experiences.

We measured impact based on:

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• Email Conversion Rate – The percentage of users who submitted an email address.
• SMS Conversion Rate – The percentage of users who submitted a phone number.

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Conversion rates were calculated as opt-ins divided by popup impressions.

The fade-in animation variant outperformed or matched the control in the majority of cases, particularly for email conversions. While some brands saw flat or even negative lifts, others showed modest gains. This would suggest that the animation contributed to a more engaging or polished visual experience.

Subtle UX polish, like adding a fade-in animation, can help popups feel more modern and less jarring, which in some cases nudges more users to engage. While the gains here were generally small, the approach proved promising across most brands.

When paired with other conversion-friendly optimizations, animations like this may offer a low-effort win in improving popup performance. Especially in environments where brand polish and smoothness matter.