Case Study Pop-Ups vs. Pop-Unders - Are they different?

[servandosilva]

A few days ago someone in the forum asked this question and being the numbers person I am I just had to set up an experiment and do a test.
If you work with pop traffic, you'll know there are different ways to present a pop.

• Pop-up
• Pop-under
• Tab-up
• Tab-under

The difference between pops and tabs is just the way the page is triggered in your browser. It could be in a new tab as people tend to use tabs all the time nowadays, or it could be a new window, in which case is a pop-up/under.

Now the difference between up and under is simple too. One appears above all of your Windows, screaming right at you, while the pop-under appears below your current browser window, waiting patiently for you to notice it when you switch apps or close the browser.

So in terms of design and how it's triggered, in theory, we all know the difference and it makes obvious sense that a pop-up will be more annoying and aggressive than a pop-under.

All good?

However, as I have mentioned before, there's more to it. Some browsers decided to stop annoying pop-ups and have