In the same way, pop music reaches millions of listeners, pop traffic can gain the attention of a wide audience and promote your affiliate offer without huge advertising efforts. This marketing channel is underestimated by publishers because, despite preconceptions about its intrusive nature, pop advertising can be a real goldmine if set up correctly. In this article, we will look into all the nuances of working with such advertising, the positive aspects and potential challenges of it. As well as learn how to distinguish between popunder and pop up advertising to choose the most effective format for your case. Let’s pop into this topic like a real pro!
Pop traffic and pop ads explained
In the fast-moving world of affiliate and digital marketing, pop traffic has become a powerhouse tool for driving visibility and conversions. This type of advertising can be incredibly effective when strategically deployed, allowing marketers to maximize impressions and engagement within a cost-effective framework.
What is pop traffic?
This term stands for the total online audience that comes to an offer after interacting with popup or popunder ads on websites and apps. This type of traffic allows brands to reach audiences that may have been missed by the lack of brightness of traditional advertising. It turns out to be some effective combination of factors for high visibility across a wide range of user demographics.
What are pop ads and how do they work?
Pop ads are the actual advertisements that generate pop traffic. They come in two main types: popups and popunders. Both types can serve different marketing goals. Pop up ads are ideal for grabbing attention in the moment, while its twin allow for a more subtle, delayed engagement with the user.
The mechanism of action of such ads is simple: pop ads are usually served programmatically, i.e. they are shown to users based on certain targeting criteria that the advertiser has set in advance. This can be geographical location, interests or browsing behaviour. When a user visits a site or app that hosts such an advert, the platform triggers the display of the ad according to these settings.
Popups vs. Popunders: choosing the right type for your campaigns
Pop traffic is a diverse, adaptable channel that marketers can customize to suit various campaign goals, thanks to its two primary formats: popup ads and popunder ads. Each type offers unique advantages and targets different user experiences. Let’s compare and contrast them in this section to find out whether you should choose popup or popunder traffic.
What are popup ads?
Popup ads are immediate, attention-grabbing advertisements that appear directly in front of the user’s main browsing window. As soon as a visitor arrives on a webpage, the popup ad opens, interrupting their browsing flow and drawing their focus entirely to the ad content. This format works exceptionally well for campaigns that need to deliver an urgent message, such as time-sensitive offers, flash sales, or limited-time sign-ups. With pop up ads, marketers can create a sense of immediacy, encouraging users to engage on the spot. Pop up advertising is particularly effective for e-commerce, promotions, or subscription models where direct user interaction is essential. The key is to keep the ad visually compelling yet concise, offering clear calls to action that make it easy for users to click through.
What are Popunder ads?
Popunder ads, in contrast, appear in a new browser window or tab behind the main one, allowing users to complete their initial browsing experience uninterrupted. This subtle approach can be less intrusive, allowing the ad to remain in the background until the user closes their primary tab. These ads are well-suited to campaigns focused on long-term engagement or those that target audiences who may need more time to consider their options, such as financial services, educational programs, or B2B solutions. By the time the user sees the ad, they’re often in a more open frame of mind, making them more receptive to exploring new offers. This format allows advertisers to foster engagement with a “soft sell” approach, reaching users without interrupting their immediate browsing goals. When combined with the offers of a robust popunder ad network, you have an effective synergy.
How to choose which type of pop traffic suits your campaign
Choosing between these two ad formats depends on the nature of the product and the level of user engagement required. We suggest you to explore both ways in a convenient format of a comparative table.
| Criteria | Popup ads | Popunder ads |
| Level of user intrusion | High (directly interrupts user activity) | Low (appears in the background) |
| Immediate attention | Yes (grabs attention instantly) | No (less immediate impact) |
| Long-term engagement | No (focused on immediate interaction) | Yes (user engages when ready) |
| High-converting offers | Yes (flash sales, subscriptions, app downloads) | No (focused on awareness or exploration) |
| Resistance to ad blockers | Moderate (may be blocked on some browsers) | Moderate (can bypass some blockers) |
| User Experience Impact | Potentially negative (can frustrate users) | Neutral (minimal disruption) |
| Effectiveness on mobile devices | Limited (often blocked on mobile browsers) | Limited (often less noticeable on mobile) |
| Preferred industries | E-commerce, promotions, gaming | Finance, software, education, B2B |
Benefits of pop traffic for your marketing strategy
This traffic has emerged as a key component of profitable affiliate marketing initiatives with a number of attractive benefits to advertisers looking to optimize outcomes while cutting expenses. You can find a summary of its main advantages below.
High visibility
Pop ads are impossible to miss. Whether they’re popups or popunders, these formats ensure your message is seen by users with instant attention. This makes such traffic a powerful tool for driving immediate engagement, especially for time-sensitive offers or highly visual campaigns.
Cost-effective traffic solution
Compared to other advertising channels, pop traffic offers a lower cost per mile or so-called cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM). That is why it is one of the most affordable option for affiliates with tight budgets. Despite its cost-effectiveness, such traffic still delivers quality leads and conversions.
Broad audience reach
This ad will do well for those interested in scaling campaigns to different GEOs or demographics because it can target a wide range of audiences. And it’s a pretty universal benefit for promoting a niche product as well as a global service. It’s a kind of guarantee for you that your message will get where it’s needed most.
Flexibility in campaign design
It’s about versatility in supporting a variety of ad formats and creative strategies, from eye-catching visuals to interactive elements. This flexibility allows publishers to tailor campaigns to their specific goals and target actions from users, whether it’s elevating brand awareness, boosting conversions or increasing the number of app downloads.
High ROI potential
The combination of low cost, wide reach and targeted delivery makes pop traffic one of the most highly profitable affiliate marketing channels. Its ability to directly engage users and prompt them to take immediate action ensures a steady stream of conversions and maximizes the return on your advertising spend at the same time.
Some other unobvious advantages:
Beyond the straight-forward benefits, we can also discuss some unexpected perks:
- Fast results
Pop ads generate instant visibility, that allows affiliates to quickly evaluate campaign performance and make real-time adjustments. This is especially useful for testing new offers or creatives. - Improved retargeting opportunities
While capturing user interactions early in their browsing journey, pop traffic can enhance retargeting efforts, funneling users back to complete conversions.
Potential drawbacks of working with such traffic
While pop traffic offers many benefits, it’s not without challenges. Here are some of the key disadvantages to be prepare for.
Intrusive user experience
Pop ads can negatively affect your relationship with your audience, there are two reasons for this. On the one hand, a pop up ad can disrupt the user’s browsing experience, leading to frustration or annoyance. This is difficult to combat, but you can minimize negative reactions by properly adjusting the frequency of display and by pleasing the design of the ad itself. On the other hand, somehow such ad pieces have a spammy vibe. It appears uninvited and does not always offer what the user really needs. To reduce the loss of trust in this case, it is important to properly set up targeting.
Limited mobile reach and ad blocker challenges
We’ve already touched on this topic in a comparison table of two pop ads types. While pop traffic is effective on desktops, on mobile devices its reach and impact is often limited. This is because many modern mobile browsers and operating systems have inbuilt blockers or restrictions for such ads, especially in markets where users are privacy-conscious. Marketers may find it challenging to bypass these blockers without compromising user trust or violating regulations.
Potential for high bounce rates
This point follows directly from the first one. If users perceive a pop up ads as irrelevant, too aggressive, or spam-like, they may immediately leave the page on a wave of emotion. When this happens more regularly, it will lead to a high bounce rate, which can reduce the effectiveness of the campaign and affect the overall profitability of your marketing efforts.
Which affiliate verticals perform well with pop traffic?
Pop traffic is a valuable channel for many affiliate verticals, thanks to its ability to deliver high visibility, broad reach, and cost-effective results. Certain niches, in particular, thrive with pop ads due to their natural need for immediate attention and high conversion potential. Here’s a look at the verticals where this type of traffic shines brightest.
| Vertical | Why relevant | Relevant CTAs |
| iGaming and sweepstakes | Online casinos, mobile games, eSports, sweepstakes, and giveaway campaigns benefit from instant visibility, encouraging quick participation and momentary excitement. | “Play now”, “Claim your bonus”, “Join the game today” |
| Dating and social apps | Pop ads target specific demographics based on age, location, or interests, matching users and boosting sign-ups and app downloads. | “Meet singles near you”, “Start chatting”, “Find your match” |
| Finance and loans | Financial services, including payday loans, credit repair, and personal finance tools, leverage such ads to target users actively searching for fast and effective money-related solutions. | “Apply now”, “Get your loan today”, “Fix your credit now” |
| Software, mobile apps, and utilities | Perfect for promoting software downloads, VPNs, and utility tools. There is high competition in this vertical due to the abundance of analogues, so it is important to get the user’s attention as quickly as possible, which is perfectly handled by pop ads | “Download now!”, “Install for free”, “Start your free trial” |
| E-commerce | Pop traffic delivers quick response for flash sales, special promotions, and product launches. Seasonal campaigns and limited-time discounts achieve significant ROI by using ads of this type to create urgency and attract buyers. | “Shop now”, “Limited time offer”, “Claim Your Discount” |
Tips for using pop traffic in affiliate marketing for maximum results
Such traffic is an efficient affiliate marketing tool, but in order to fully utilize it, marketers must handle it strategically and precisely. Get the most impact and return on investment from your pop ad campaigns with these professional ideas.
Choose a top-of-the-line ad network
You weren’t going to go into battle alone, were you? The success of your campaign starts with choosing your strategic partner wisely, namely choosing the right ad network. Partnering with a reliable platform like HilltopAds will offer you a host of benefits, such as access to premium traffic sources, advanced targeting capabilities, and real-time optimization tools. Powerful players among the networks also provide detailed analytics to help you fine-tune your campaigns as much as possible. Choosing among the best popunder ad network you guarantee yourself peace of mind, because its representatives are familiar with all the nuances of working with this particular type of traffic.
Leverage landing pages
The first thing a potential lead will see after clicking on an advertising link is your landing page. You’d like it to be a strong, well-optimized web template that loads quickly, has a clear CTA, and delivers on the promises you made earlier in the ad. To increase engagement and conversion, tailor landing pages to the uniqueness of the specific offer and the narrow needs of the audience.
Implement proper targeting
Pop traffic, in fact, like any other type of traffic, will only work and justify your marketing investment when it reaches the right user. You can’t do without fine-tuning your targeting. Carefully set up geotargeting, device-specific campaigns, and audience segmentation to reach the right users at the right time, drill down by device type, OS, behaviour, and cultural characteristics of the audience. Avoid generic language and one-size-fits-all audience characteristics.
Optimize your budget and bidding
When starting out with pop traffic, set clear budget limits to control costs and prevent overspending. Implement a Smart CPM bidding system to find the perfect balance between visibility and profitability. Regularly monitor campaign performance and adjust bids to maximize ROI before you run out of budget to waste.
Utilize whitelisting and blacklisting
To refine your traffic sources, use whitelisting and blacklisting strategies. The white one is for high-performing traffic sources, and the black list is for those sources that haven’t shown high enough conversion rates. This division will help you reflect on your experience in one direction or the other so that you can do the work on mistakes and reallocate your budget to the most winning areas.
Experiment with custom rules
These custom rules allow you to determine how and when ads will be shown. For example, you can limit how often ads are shown or specify peak audience hours to increase the likelihood of engagement but not overwhelm users. It’s a mix of psychology and analytics — shape the most personalized approach to create a more loyal audience.
Generate informative and engaging creatives
Your ad creatives should be eye-catching but clear and concise at the same time. Focus on being really useful, so that the user is clearly motivated to click and learn more about your offer. Use high-quality and webpage-optimized visuals, compelling headlines, and clear CTAs to make your ads stand out from the competition.
Test, analyze, and optimize
Just because you’ve created an ad that converts well with pop traffic doesn’t mean your work here is over. Continuous testing and optimization are essential for long-term success. We’re talking A/B tests of creatives, landing pages, and targeting options to determine what resonates best with your audience. Likewise, use analytics tools provided by ad networks like HilltopAds to track key metrics and make data-driven decisions.
Final thoughts
Traffic from popup and popunder ads remains a highly effective, yet often underestimated, channel in the world of affiliate and digital marketing. It is a great tool for promoting dating, iGaming, e-commerce, and other offers at great savings. The benefits of this type of traffic can be listed endlessly, there is a wide reach, instant visibility, and high engagement as the cherry on the cake. If you manage to build the right marketing strategy using pop traffic, namely, you will constantly optimize each element, from targeting and bidding to creatives and landing pages. And of course, don’t forget to arm yourself with a strong support in the form of a reliable partners (regardless of whether it is a popup or popunder network) like HilltopAds to scale your efforts and keep getting richer. Start experimenting today and discover the yet-to-be-tapped potential of this highly effective channel!
