April 18, 2026
SMS marketing is efficient and effective, but you need a list to market to first! Learn how to create high-converting pop-ups that maximize SMS opt-ins and collect more phone numbers.
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When your phone buzzes, it’s hard to ignore—especially when it’s a text message. SMS consistently delivers high visibility and fast engagement, which is why more brands are investing in it as a core marketing channel.
That performance translates into real results. SMS marketing campaigns often see stronger open and conversion rates than email, making them an effective way to reach customers quickly and drive action. As more shopping shifts online, on-site experiences have become a key driver of SMS list growth.
On-site experiences, like opt-in pop-ups and forms, play a critical role in that growth. When designed thoughtfully, they don’t just capture phone numbers; they create a structured path for users to opt in at the right moment, with the right context.
This is where identity becomes essential. Instead of treating each visit as anonymous, brands can use progressive experiences to identify users over time and connect their behavior to a unified profile. That enables more effective capture of SMS and email opt-ins, while also improving targeting across channels.
For example, EMUAID saw a 54.5% increase in email and SMS subscribers by using progressive pop-ups and Digioh’s identity layer to better recognize and engage site visitors. As Miranda Mattson of ATTN Agency noted, this approach allowed them to create a more seamless experience while significantly improving list growth.
As you build your SMS strategy, it’s important to balance performance with compliance. Clear consent, transparent messaging, and user control are essential, not just for meeting regulations and preventing unwanted messages, but for building trust and long-term engagement.
With the right combination of on-site capture, identity, and timing, SMS becomes more than a channel; it becomes a reliable driver of growth and customer connection.
In this post, we’ll cover the following:
More importantly, we’ll look at how SMS opt-ins fit into a bigger strategy—helping you move from anonymous traffic to known users you can recognize and engage across visits.
Whether you’re new to SMS marketing or your onsite pop-ups need a makeover, keep these guidelines in mind as you create your SMS pop-up.
A clear call to action is essential in SMS pop-ups to encourage users to subscribe or redeem offers. Using SMS pop-up templates can streamline the signup process and help collect phone numbers efficiently, making it easier to build your subscriber list.
When making the offer, ensure your SMS pop-up delivers immediate value, such as discounts or early access, to encourage users to opt in right away.
For form types, remember that different collection methods, like embedded sign-up forms and pop-ups, can be used to collect SMS opt-ins from your audience.
When writing your CTA, make sure it stands out and provides a clear call to action so users know exactly what to do.
To improve mobile-friendliness, the signup process should be streamlined to ensure a smooth experience. Effective SMS opt-in pop-ups should offer immediate value, use compliant language about message frequency, and appear after 15–30 seconds of engagement.
There are several types of pop-ups, varying in size, on-screen location, behavior, and level of intrusiveness.
While placement options and naming conventions may vary across pop-up builders, the Digioh screenshot below shows where each form type appears on your site.
Digioh allows you to find the right form template with ease, giving you the option to choose templates for lightboxes, sidebars, banners, and inline forms. In addition to pop-ups, embedded sign-up forms are another effective way to collect SMS opt-ins, especially for visitors who prefer not to interact with pop-ups.
Digioh’s Themes provide pop-up templates of each type to get you started, or you can create the pop-up of your choice from scratch.
As you decide what type of pop-up to use, consider the benefits and drawbacks of each:
Banners allow you to promote opt-ins in a static bar at the top or bottom of the page. These small bars remain in place as the visitor scrolls, making them an effective way to convey important information. While ecommerce sites often use banners to communicate free shipping information, you can also use them to promote your SMS communication.
These boxes appear in the center of the screen, commanding your visitors’ attention. Visitors must close lightboxes to continue browsing the site, making them more intrusive than other types of pop-ups. When used tactfully, they can grow your list effectively.
Sidebars slide in from the side of the page. The sliding movement captures visitor attention without being intrusive, providing a good balance between conversions and user experience.
Inline forms appear embedded within your site content. While these aren't technically pop-ups, you can use them alongside pop-ups so visitors who close your pop-ups can opt in when they're ready.
If you’re promoting your SMS communication on your site, you should be able to offer something in return for signing up. This offer will vary by vertical:
Offering immediate value, such as discounts, discount codes, free shipping, or early access, is proven to improve SMS subscriber list opt-in rates and conversions.
Once you lock down your value, it’s time to convey it to your site visitors.
Keep your main message brief. Get to the point, and communicate the value of signing up for text updates before visitors close out your pop-up. Make sure your call to action clearly states that users are providing explicit written consent to receive marketing messages via SMS, setting clear expectations and supporting compliance. For example:
To many visitors, giving out a mobile number feels more personal than signing up for an email list. Establish trust by keeping your pop-up design in tune with your site's branding.
A poorly designed pop-up or one that doesn't fit your site may appear spammy to visitors, making them less likely to sign up.
The best way to grow your list is with a fully custom pop-up that aligns with your brand guidelines, including fonts, colors, and images. If the pop-up tool or templates included with your SMS or email platform don't provide the flexibility you need, it may be worth considering a dedicated pop-up solution with more customization options.
If site visitors are opting in to communications sent to their mobile devices, you can assume many are doing so while using that device.
To convert mobile visitors, follow mobile design best practices when creating your opt-in forms. Use responsively designed forms, or create a targeted, mobile-only form to show to mobile visitors.
Also, make sure the form fields and buttons are appropriately sized and spaced so visitors can comfortably complete the form on their phones.
Once you create your pop-up, test it on multiple devices and mobile browsers to ensure it appears as intended.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) requires businesses to collect “express written consent” from recipients before they can receive text messages or automated promotional texts. Opt-in pop-ups must include legal disclosures to comply with TCPA regulations and ensure express consent for marketing texts.
You can collect this consent via a web form, but only if you include the language required to comply with the TCPA and CTIA guidelines.
The example pop-up above shows some sample compliance language in the bottom-right corner. Note that this example includes the purpose of the text communication, the sending frequency, links to the Terms of Service and the privacy policy, and information about message and data rates.
Every compliant SMS opt-in pop-up must include disclosures about automated messages, message and data rates, estimated frequency, opt-out instructions, and links to the privacy policy to ensure explicit consent and legal compliance.
A best practice for SMS marketing is to use a double opt-in process. This involves a two-step confirmation, such as sending a confirmation message after the initial sign-up, to verify explicit consent. The double opt-in method helps ensure that subscribers genuinely want to receive promotional SMS messages and enhances compliance by obtaining clear, written permission.
Businesses must honor opt-out requests and stop sending messages to customers who have opted out.
If you have an existing text message marketing program, you should have familiarized yourself with compliance by now. Marketers new to text messaging can read SimpleTexting’s SMS compliance guide to catch up on compliance, then consult with legal counsel or your in-house compliance team to ensure your opt-in paths and messaging are compliant.
If you’re not using your SMS provider’s native pop-up, you’ll need to configure your form to pass new opt-ins into your system.
For marketers who use form builders like Digioh, this step is usually quite simple. Digioh integrates with Postscript, Attentive, and other mobile marketing platforms to pass mobile numbers (and other user data) to your SMS solution and other marketing technologies in real time. That way, you can start engaging new users with targeted, relevant messaging right away.
Additionally, integrating your pop-ups with your SMS marketing platform enables you to leverage subscriber data to personalize and optimize future campaigns across key marketing channels.
Once you’ve designed your pop-up, think about where and when you want your pop-up to appear. Ecommerce brands often use timing and targeting strategies, such as triggering SMS opt-in pop-ups based on scroll depth or on the checkout page, to collect opt-ins at high-engagement moments and drive sales. For instance, you may have certain pages that shouldn’t trigger a pop-up, and you probably don’t want your pop-up to appear the second your page loads. Pop-ups should not show immediately upon landing to avoid bounce rates; instead, wait for meaningful user engagement, such as when a visitor reaches a certain scroll depth or is on the checkout page.
Use your pop-up builder’s targeting features to set up the conditions that trigger your opt-in pop-up for best performance.
In Digioh, the targeting and trigger conditions look like this:
The above example shows the targeting configuration for a checkout abandonment pop-up that appears when a visitor moves their mouse out of the browser window.
If you display a pop-up the millisecond a visitor arrives on your site, that visitor hasn’t even had a chance to see your site. Why would they sign up for something they don’t know about yet?
To increase conversions, let visitors browse your content or products for a bit, then display an SMS pop-up when they are more likely to opt in.
Some common timing and trigger conditions include:
Digioh’s targeting conditions include all of these, along with cookie values, page content, and other advanced options.
Another common pop-up tactic is to target visitors who are about to leave the site. With an exit-intent pop-up, you can set your pop-ups to display as a visitor moves the cursor out of the browser window, indicating that they may be navigating to a new site.
Ecommerce sites often use exit-intent pop-ups to prevent shoppers from abandoning their carts before checkout. These sites typically offer visitors who abandon their carts a discount in exchange for their email address or mobile number. Additionally, integrating SMS opt-in prompts directly on the checkout page is an effective way to capture consent from highly engaged customers at a critical point in the purchase journey.
That way, even if shoppers don’t complete their purchase, the brand can still market to them through abandoned-cart emails and targeted text messages.
If you only send text message marketing to your American audience, target site visitors in the US with SMS opt-in pop-ups. That way, when visitors from other countries view your site, you can target them with email signups instead.
You can also take it one step further by targeting visitors based on their default browser language to show pop-ups in their native language.
This is especially helpful for brands or organizations that send SMS updates in multiple languages.
The right pop-up configuration can help grow the SMS list more effectively, but just what is the right configuration?
While every site's audience is different, A/B and multivariate tests can help you optimize your pop-ups for conversion. Experiment with timing and design to find the configuration that best grows your list.
The easier it is to opt into your messaging, the more likely interested users are to complete the opt-in process. Responsive, mobile-friendly forms are a good start, but you can make things even simpler.
With one-tap opt-in buttons, visitors can opt in to your SMS communications without filling out a form. When visitors tap the button on this pop-up, it automatically populates an opt-in text in their phone's native text messaging app. All users have to do is hit “send” on that message to opt in to your text messages.
If you already display pop-ups on your site to capture email addresses, adding SMS opt-ins into the mix raises a few questions. Should you ditch the email pop-ups? Should you prioritize SMS over email? How can you grow your SMS subscribers without sacrificing email list growth?
With progressive multi-step forms, you can collect both.
The first page of this pop-up collects and submits the email address, then a second page invites the visitor to sign up for SMS updates. You can also leverage your existing email subscribers by encouraging them to sign up for SMS updates, ensuring you obtain their explicit consent before sending any text messages. Even if visitors don’t complete the second page, you still get the email address collected on the first page, giving you a connection to visitors after they leave your site.
Use progressive forms to connect with your visitors across multiple channels or capture additional data to personalize your communication, such as location or product preferences.
Digioh customers find that personalized pop-ups can increase conversions by up to 7x.
One way to make your pop-ups more personal is to use dynamic content to tailor them to the page visitors are currently viewing. For new subscribers, it's important to tailor the content specifically to their onboarding experience and send a welcome message as the first touchpoint. This welcome message should introduce your SMS program, set expectations, and provide any compliance details or incentives.
Immediate confirmation is essential; an automated welcome text should be sent right after opt-in to confirm the subscription and deliver any promised incentives.
For example, if a shopper is viewing women’s athletic shoes, you can display pop-ups featuring running shoes and copy that invites visitors to “sign up for the latest deals on women’s athletic shoes.”
For businesses with many in-person locations, such as retailers or restaurants, using dynamic content to show promotions specific to a visitor’s local store can increase the relevance of messaging, potentially making visitors more likely to convert.
QR codes provide a practical way to connect in-person interactions with digital growth. Instead of losing touch with customers after they leave your store or event, you can offer a simple path to opt in to SMS while they’re already engaged with your brand.
Placed on signage, packaging, or printed materials, QR codes make it easy for customers to take action in the moment. A quick scan can lead directly to a streamlined opt-in experience, whether that’s a short form or a keyword-based sign-up, reducing friction and increasing the likelihood of conversion.
Because these interactions happen in real time, they often capture higher-intent users. For example, a retail brand might place a QR code at checkout with an incentive, such as a discount or exclusive offer, turning a one-time purchase into an ongoing relationship.
When integrated into your broader strategy, QR codes help bridge the gap between offline and online engagement. They make it easier to identify customers, grow your SMS list, and continue the conversation beyond the initial interaction.
Landing pages are one of the most effective ways to drive SMS opt-ins because they remove distractions and focus on a single action: subscribing.
A strong SMS landing page starts with a clear value proposition. Make it immediately obvious what users will receive, whether that’s exclusive offers, early access, or updates, and pair it with a direct, easy-to-understand call to action. Keep the form simple, typically limited to a phone number, to reduce friction and improve completion rates.
Reinforce that value with supporting elements such as example messages, incentives, or proof points that show subscribers what to expect. This helps build trust and gives users a clear reason to opt in.
Distribution matters just as much as design. SMS landing pages can be used across email, social, paid campaigns, and in-store touchpoints to capture subscribers at different stages of the customer journey. Ensuring the experience is mobile-optimized is essential, as most users will be signing up from their phones.
When executed well, landing pages provide a consistent, high-performing path to grow your SMS list while supporting a more connected, data-driven marketing strategy.
A strong SMS marketing program starts with proper consent. Customers must provide explicit, written opt-in before receiving messages, both to meet regulatory requirements and to establish trust from the outset.
Your call to action should clearly communicate what users are signing up for. Use straightforward language that outlines the nature of the messages, any applicable rates, and how their information will be used. This consent should be captured at the point of sign-up, whether through a pop-up, landing page, or QR code experience.
Equally important is making it easy for users to opt out. Every message should include clear instructions, such as “Reply STOP to unsubscribe,” so customers can manage their preferences without friction.
Clear, transparent opt-in and opt-out processes do more than support compliance; they set the foundation for a more trustworthy and effective SMS program.
While list growth is important, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the user experience. Here are a few ways to maintain a balanced, high-performing experience for site visitors:
Here are the key takeaways to create high-converting pop-ups that grow your SMS list:
Digioh’s drag-and-drop pop-up builder lets text message marketers create fully customizable, targeted SMS opt-in forms that maximize conversions while maintaining a great customer experience for your audience. To learn how you can grow your SMS and email lists with Digioh, talk to us!
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