Where Should You Put Your Pop-Up? Here’s What Our Conversion Data Revealed

You’ve created a pop-up, written an offer you think visitors will like, and switched it on.

People are seeing it. Almost nobody is converting.

So you change the headline. Try a different button. Maybe make the offer more generous. Then you check your conversion rate again, and it has barely moved.

That’s frustrating, especially when you’re already working hard to bring people to your website.

As the founder of Poper, I wanted to understand why some pop-ups convert while others barely get a response.

To investigate, we researched our customers’ pop-up campaign data from the previous 365 days, looking at how placement, triggers, and timing related to conversions.

The research covered approximately 5,300 domains, 15,700 campaigns, and 133.8 million pop-up displays. A few findings surprised me.

Center pop-ups appeared most often, but they didn’t have the highest conversion rate. Some less-used positions recorded better results. That prompted a closer look at where website owners should start, and which findings needed more context.

So, where should you put your pop-up?

Here’s what I found, how I’d interpret it, and where I’d start with a new campaign.

What we found while researching our customers’ pop-up campaigns.

Our Pop-Up Research at a Glance

These figures come from our research into customers’ pop-up campaigns across different website categories. Overall, approximately two out of every 100 displays produced a recorded conversion event. That event depends on the campaign and doesn’t necessarily mean a purchase.

To understand what sat behind those overall numbers, we looked at display volume by industry.

Our research covered different types of websites

The position with the highest conversion rate surprised me

I expected center pop-ups to be prominent in the data. They were: 56.2 million displays, far more than any other individual position.

But top-right recorded the highest conversion rate.

Here’s how the main positions compared:

At first glance, the answer looks obvious: put your pop-up in the top-right corner.

But look at the display counts.

That 8.80% rate came from approximately 1,300 displays. Center’s 3.91% came from 56.2 million. Those are very different amounts of exposure.

Top-right is an interesting position to test. I wouldn’t use this result to tell every website owner to move their pop-up there immediately.

Center-left also caught my attention. It recorded 4.16% CVR across 137,000 displays, slightly above center. Meanwhile, bottom-left recorded 0.32% across 33.3 million displays.

Those differences deserve investigation. They don’t prove that moving the same pop-up between those positions would produce the same results.

The campaigns had different audiences, offers, designs, and settings. This was an observational analysis, with possible bias, rather than a controlled placement experiment.

So, where would I put a new pop-up?

I’d start by testing center.

It recorded a relatively strong conversion rate across substantial display volume. That makes it a reasonable starting point when you don’t yet have results from your own audience.

A centered pop-up gives an offer focused attention. That can be useful when the visitor needs to read a short message and make a clear decision.

The tradeoff is interruption.

If it covers something the visitor is trying to use, the placement may work against the experience you want to create.

Imagine someone comparing product details. They’re looking for delivery information when a pop-up appears over the page. Even a worthwhile offer can feel awkward at that moment.

Or picture a pop-up sitting over a purchase control on a smaller screen. The visitor now has to dismiss your promotion before continuing with the action you wanted them to take.

These are illustrative situations, not measured customer case studies. But they show why positioning needs to be judged on the actual page.

After center, I’d consider center-left or center-right, depending on the layout. I’d also test top-right, particularly if that area leaves important content accessible.

The question I’d ask while previewing is simple:

Can visitors understand this offer and still use the page comfortably?

You don’t have to settle on one position straight away. With Poper’s A/B testing, you can compare versions of your pop-up in different positions.

For example, keep a centered version as your control and create another version positioned at center-left or top-right. Keep the offer, copy, design, and timing the same so you’re testing placement.

Add both versions to an A/B test and choose how to divide traffic between them. Poper lets you set a test duration or impression target, then compare each version’s impressions and conversion rate.

That’s how I’d use our research: choose a promising starting position, then test whether another placement works better for your visitors. Give both versions enough exposure before choosing a winner.

Should you avoid bottom-positioned pop-ups?

The lower conversion rates make bottom placements worth reviewing, especially if your current campaign is underperforming.

Bottom-right recorded 1.45% CVR, bottom-center 0.86%, and bottom-left 0.32%.

Still, I wouldn’t remove those positions from consideration altogether.

Sometimes you want an offer to remain visible while leaving the main content accessible. A bottom placement may fit that goal, depending on its size and the page layout.

What I would avoid is assuming a corner placement automatically creates a better experience, or that being less prominent will help conversions.

Check what’s already occupying that space. A pop-up can compete with a chat widget, cookie notice, navigation control, or another floating element.

On mobile, the same combination may leave very little usable room.

If you’re currently using a bottom placement and seeing weak results, testing center or a side position would be a sensible next step. Keep the rest of the campaign consistent so the comparison tells you something useful.

Position matters. The moment it appears matters too.

While looking at placement, I found two other patterns worth sharing.

On-click pop-ups recorded an 8.93% conversion rate.

That’s interesting because the visitor chooses to open the pop-up. They may click to view an offer or access something they already want.

Those visitors may arrive with stronger intent, which helps explain why the rate could be higher. The trigger itself isn’t necessarily responsible for the entire difference.

Display delay showed another noticeable pattern:

The delayed group recorded a higher rate, but it also had far fewer displays.

I wouldn’t turn that into a rule that every website should wait exactly 11–15 seconds. I would use it as a reason to question an immediate trigger.

A visitor who has just arrived may still be figuring out what your website offers. Giving them some time before presenting another decision is worth testing.

If your pop-up feels intrusive, review both where it appears and when it appears.

Let’s put this into practice in Poper

Start by opening the pop-up you want to improve and finding its positioning settings.

Before changing anything, preview the current version on the page where visitors encounter it. It’s easier to make a useful adjustment when you can see the surrounding content.

Look at three things:

Then select the position you want to test.

If you’re starting from scratch, center is a reasonable first experiment. If you already use center and it obscures important content, consider a side placement. Top-right is another candidate suggested by the data.

Preview the result on desktop and mobile. Pay particular attention to smaller screens, where the pop-up can occupy a much larger share of the available space.

Check the full experience, including the button, close control, surrounding page content, and other floating elements. If spacing controls are available for your layout, use them to resolve visible overlap.

Also review the trigger and delay settings. You may discover that the placement is acceptable, but the pop-up appears before visitors have had a chance to engage.

For your first positioning comparison, however, keep those settings consistent. Apply the placement change through the campaign’s save or publish workflow, then check how it appears on the live page.

How to know whether the change helped

Once you’ve changed the position, give the comparison enough exposure before deciding.

A few conversions can make a percentage look impressive when display counts are small. That’s exactly why I’d treat the top-right finding carefully.

For a useful comparison, keep the offer, copy, design, audience targeting, and trigger consistent. Use comparable traffic, or a controlled split where available.

Track both conversion rate and display count, and be clear about what counts as a conversion.

If the new position performs better, you have a reason to keep investigating it. If it doesn’t, move on to another candidate.

Your own results should guide the final choice.

Give your pop-up a better chance

Low conversions can tempt you to rewrite everything. Sometimes, the next useful step is checking where your pop-up appears.

Researching our customers’ campaigns gave us a useful starting point: center is a reasonable position to test, while center-left and top-right also deserve consideration.

If your pop-up isn’t converting, review where it appears before rewriting everything. Start with these findings, make one deliberate change, and compare the results from your own campaign.