[onion2k]

These obtrusive popups "enter your email to get newsletter", in the history of the web has even a single user opted to provide their email to such a popup?

Yes. They're very effective at capturing people's email information. Shockingly so. https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/opt-pop-ups/

[tjoff]

Thanks, though that site gdpr "compliance" must be the most disgraceful thing I've ever seen.

Hard to take anything on that site remotely seriously.

You will never win me over using a popup though. I'd guess it's one of those things that gives great results but at the same time literally pisses off lots of visitors.

So for a reputable site that cares about its users I'd think very carefully before attempting that.

[DisruptiveDave]

They work. All the annoying things that so many consumers claim they hate...they work. A decent enough # of those people click, hand their emails over, and then buy the thing. It happens every second of every day. (Of course I'm over generalizing here.)

[tjoff]

Click-baits work. Fine-print: For a certain type of sites that most despise.

Okay, so popups work. Do you care about where or in which context they work or is it binary?

[DisruptiveDave]

No, not just click baits. Pop-ups, chats, modals, interstitials, recapture emails, drip campaigns, ads, and so on. They work. In many cases. Don't ever listen to what consumers "say" they want if their actions cast a different vote.

Now your question is getting to the heart of things. Crappy sites just throw all that stuff up and walk away. They just hope the giant net catches some fish amongst the tires and plastic bottles. Good sites obsess over the data; split test damn near everything, kill what doesn't work, double down on what does work. And most importantly, look at everything in the long term, through metrics like LTV.

That's the difference between good marketers and hacks.