2 Plugins that Target New Readers

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Have you ever been to a new department store before? You’re not familiar with the place, and the friendly staff is there to help you find your way. That’s nice.

20 visits later, that same staff gets on your nerves. The extra help has turned into extra irritation; he keeps greeting you the same way, stands near you as you’re browsing around, and keeps giving you a recommendation, clearly showing that he can’t remember who you are. You’re forgetable. That gets to you, more than the shopping experience itself.

Sites which offer great content can sometimes be like that department store. I’m talking about popups (often used to call the reader to subscribe to the newsletter). These popups can be effective in increasing site subscription, but after that, it can also turn off readership experience during subsequent visits. Your reader has subscribed, and yet he keeps seeing the same “Hello, thank you. Please subscribe. Here’s why…”, followed by a few lines of ridiculous claims that every other site can do too.

So the trick is to make these notifications targeted to new readers, cause these are whom these popups are supposed to be for in the first place right? Seth Godin says…

One opportunity that’s underused is the idea of using cookies to treat returning visitors differently than newbies. It’s more work at first, but it can offer two experiences to two different sorts of people. (Source: In the Middle, Starting)

Here are two WordPress plugins I recommend to offer that added differentiated service:

1. What Would Seth Godin Do Wordpress Plugin: - allows you to add a customized header at the beginning of your page. New visitors will see a different message (customizable) from regular readers.
2. Wordpress Popup Scheduler Plugin: - makes popups less annoying. You can set the popup (for subscription or special announcements) to appear only for new users at the specific page which they visit your site (landing page)

The “What Would Seth Godin Do” plugin is a gem because you can also set a custom message for returning visitors (e.g. “Welcome back”).

Do you have your own favorite plugins that do targeting? Share them here.