Email capture is collecting a visitor's email address, usually through a signup popup, an embedded form or a checkout checkbox, so you can market to them later.
In our database, the offer and the format of the popup move capture far more than the color or copy of the form: a $30-off-$150 offer beat 15% off by 43% in email capture, and taking a popup away cost one store 20.51% of revenue per visitor.
A typical popup turns about 2% of the people who see it into subscribers.
This page covers what A/B tests show about email signup popups, then how to measure your email capture rate and what a normal number looks like.
For every popup test we have, see popup A/B tests.
Email signup popups: what the A/B tests show
Most stores capture email with a popup offering a discount.
The tests below were run by agencies, tool vendors and brands, and each one says who ran it.
Several vendor results are before/after comparisons or changed many things at once, and we flag those.
Should you have a popup at all?
Store owners often find popups annoying and want to remove them.
Dave Diederen tested exactly that: removing the email popup lost, with revenue per visitor down 20.51%, conversion rate down 12.18% and AOV down 9.49%.
Dave reported the same test lost again on a second store.
The answer is not "always keep it," though.
Oliver Kenyon tested removing the email popup from a top product page for the solar lighting brand Litehouse, and removal won: +9.80% conversion rate and +7.46% revenue per user, worth about $36,721 a month at 93.1% confidence.
A popup that interrupts a high-intent product page can cost more in sales than the emails are worth.
OptiMonk ran a holdout for NuBest, comparing visitors who saw a question-first discount popup with visitors who saw none.
The popup group placed 20.87% more orders, with a 7.58% signup rate.
A holdout group like this is the cleanest way to answer whether your popup pays for itself.
The practical rule: test removal by page type, not site-wide only.
A popup on the homepage and one on your best-selling product page can have opposite effects.
The offer matters more than the design
The biggest capture gains in our database come from changing what the popup offers.
Convertibles tested four variations for an adult wellness brand: a $30 off $150 popup beat 15% off with +43% email capture, +21% AOV and about $45,000 more revenue a month. A free-gift-at-$150 version lost.
For a dog treats brand, Convertibles found the reverse ranking.
Three named, pictured free treats on a first order over $60 beat 15% off, with +26% email capture, +25% AOV and about $60,000 more revenue a month.
A $20-off-$120 version was held back by its higher threshold.
Bigger discounts do not automatically capture more. OptiMonk reported that Sassy Scents' 15% off popup converted fewer visitors than 10% off: 21.55% of popup viewers signed up, against 29.02% for 10% off.
A minimum spend tied to your AOV, or a concrete gift, can lift both capture and order size.
See discount tests and free gift tests for more.
| Test | Control | Winner | Email capture | Ran by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult wellness brand | 15% off | $30 off $150+ | +43% | Convertibles |
| Dog treats brand | 15% off, no minimum | Three free treats over $60 | +26% | Convertibles |
| Sassy Scents | 10% off | 10% off (15% lost) | 29.02% vs 21.55% signup rate | OptiMonk |
| Vegetology | Flat 10% off | Mystery discount plus other changes | 7% to 13.8% signup rate | OptiMonk |
The Vegetology result changed three tactics and the popup tool together, so it shows the package worked, not which part.
Ask a question first: two-step and quiz popups
A popup that opens with an easy yes/no question before asking for the email often captures more.
OptiMonk reported that illCurrency's two-step yes/no popup with the same 15% offer raised signups 76% overall: 3.83% to 6.75% on mobile and 1.04% to 1.83% on desktop.
That was a before/after comparison with a tool change, so treat it as a strong idea to test rather than a proven lift.
At the far end, CraftMystic's fullscreen quiz popup with a mystery discount took the signup rate from 1.36% to 16.67% in a three-week A/B test, while order conversion moved only from 1.75% to 1.82%.
The tool, size, offer and flow all changed at once.
That gap between signups and orders is the main warning on this page.
More emails do not mean more sales until your flows convert them.
Quizzes work as capture tools too. Surefoot tested making email required to see The Pro's Closet's Bike Finder results: +49% unique email captures and no impact on purchases.
More on this format in product quiz tests.
Format and placement
An overlay that appears beats a link people have to find.
CleanChoice Energy replaced a footer newsletter button with a pop-in shown within 15 seconds and got 204% more email submissions on average across three pages.
Noble Studios moved Travel Nevada's signup from a separate page into a widget that opens at 75% scroll: +385% signups in seven days, or 104 extra signups.
Golf Channel tested bottom bars and corner boxes against a center-screen takeover, and the takeover won, though no figures were published.
On mobile, weigh that against Google's guidance that intrusive interstitials that obscure the page can hurt search performance, and that small banners are the safer pattern.
Don't forget the quieter capture points. VWO reported that new newsletter checkbox copy at Showpo lifted signups 175.52% on the sign-in page and 146.78% at checkout.
Dutchento added a benefit list to a newsletter box and saw 190.31% more newsletter clicks, though that counts clicks, not completed signups.
Timing and exit intent
Timing results are weaker than offer results. Clean Commit tested a promo popup delayed by 60 seconds against one shown on arrival: +7.9% conversion rate, but on 23,328 visitors with 24% power, so it was inconclusive.
Mobile went up 15.0% and desktop went down 10.1%.
Omnisend's 2025 data across 1.24 billion popup displays found popups shown after 6-10 seconds converted 2.4%, against 1.9% for 0-1 seconds and 1.8% for exit-intent triggers.
That is a correlation across stores, not a controlled test, but it matches Dave Diederen's advice to fire after 8-10 seconds.
Exit intent can still win when it replaces something weaker.
Blend Commerce swapped an exit popup that pointed to content for an exit-intent discount signup for a plants brand: +4% AOV, +2.9% conversion rate and +37% popup CTA clicks. More on exit-intent popups.
@oliverkenyon
ConvertiblesConvertibles
OptiMonk
@DaveDiederenEmail capture rate: how to measure it and what's normal
Email capture rate is the share of people who give you their email.
The catch is the denominator, and tools use different ones.
| Metric | Formula | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Form submit rate | form submits / form views | Comparing popup designs and offers |
| Site capture rate | new subscribers / unique visitors | Tracking how much of your traffic you capture |
| Revenue per visitor | revenue / visitors | Deciding whether a popup change actually pays |
Klaviyo defines submit rate as submitted form events divided by viewed form events, and suggests aiming for about 3% or higher on popups and flyouts.
Its overview counts total views, while its A/B test results use unique views, so the two screens can show different rates for the same form.
Worked example
Say 50,000 people visit in a month, 30,000 of them see the popup (the rest bounce first, already subscribed or are excluded), and 750 subscribe.
- Form submit rate: 750 / 30,000 = 2.5%
- Site capture rate: 750 / 50,000 = 1.5%
Both are correct. Quote the one that matches your benchmark, and say which one you mean.
What is a good email capture rate?
Across Omnisend's 2025 data, the average popup converted 2.1% of displays, down from 2.3% in 2024. Spin-to-win popups averaged 3.5%, standard popups 2.0% and exit-intent popups 1.8%. Mobile-only popups (2.2%) beat desktop-only ones (1.4%).
So a submit rate around 2% is typical, 3% or more is good, and well-built multi-step popups in our database reached 6-17% at the top end.
Segmentation can change the picture too: OptiMonk reported that BOOM! by Cindy Joseph's segmented popups took opt-in from under 1% to 3.5-20% depending on the segment.
Why capture rate is the wrong goal on its own
Capture rate rewards the popup that interrupts the most people with the biggest discount.
That can lower sales, as the Litehouse test showed, or raise signups without moving orders, as with CraftMystic and The Pro's Closet.
Make revenue per visitor the primary metric for popup tests and keep capture rate as a secondary one.
Popup tests also need enough traffic: the Clean Commit timing test had 24% power, so check statistical power before you call a result.
Once the emails come in, the flows you send decide what they are worth.
For more test ideas across the site, browse all A/B tests or go back to the CRO hub.