Ponyfoo’s Magical Newsletter Call To Action Made Me Weep For Joy

I have a big hate-on for intrusive call-to-action modals. You know the ones — you’re in the middle of reading some article, and a pop-up appears, interrupting your flow, asking you to subscribe to another damn newsletter, or subscribe, or donate, or whatever. It’s the surest way to make sure I never, ever sign up, or subscribe, or donate, and more than once I’ve rage-quit rather than finish reading.

Still, though, we want people to sign up for whatever it is we’re hawking, and to do that, they need to know we’re hawking it in the first place. I love the way Nicolás Bevacqu at Ponyfoo handles this.

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You’re reading an article, scrolling along, and at some point, after you’ve been reading for a bit, a charming and very obvious heart icon appears. It doesn’t block any content, but you definitely know it’s there. “Golly,” I thought, “I do love this article. I’m going to click that heart so Nic knows that I do.”

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Well golly gee! Look at that! He gets the information he wants me to have in front of my eyes, but I only see it if I actually liked what I’m reading. I read at least half the article, I liked what I saw, and ONLY THEN do I get pestered to sign up. If I wasn’t already a subscriber, by George, you betcha I would be after this delightful interaction.